Nokia E71 Unlocked Cell Phone Review

07 Feb

Author: admin // Category: NOKIA

3 Different Review

Review 1

first a comparison to the e61i: i had both the e61 and e61i and this is a major improvement over both. the form factor is incredible as it is only 10mm thin, much narrower than its predecessors, and feels very solid and sleek with its all metal body. the phone is just beautiful to look at. nokia has improved its processor greatly and the phone has almost no wait time with all its functions now. when i went back to use the e61i, it was unbearably slow compared to the e71. the keypad on the e71, although a little cramped, feels good on the fingers. one of my biggest complaints about the e61i was that earphone speaker was hard to hear out of, but the e71’s narrower body and seemingly louder speaker solves the problem. the e71 has also added a microUSB port, and 2.5mm earphone jack. in terms of software, the e71 has an updated symbian os that includes some additional features and programs that were pleasant to see. the biggest program improvements for me was the updated organizer and the shortcut key options. for all e61 and e61i users out there, the e71 is a must update to nokia’s wonderful line of phones.

comparison to competitors: function-wise, it has all the features blackberry’s and the iphone 3g have. however, the e71 is much smaller than both (just put the e71 side to side with the blackberry curve and the iphone and they both look like monsters compared to the e71). i have no complaints with the 3g and 3.5g (umts/hsdpa), and I’m not sure what the other reviewer was talking about– it must be a network/area dependent problem. i live in the SF bay area and i almost always connect to the 3.5g network with att and the internet is extremely fast, comparable to web browsing on a computer with broadband cable access. i really dont like the all touch screen of the iphone, so i would never consider it. i was debating between the curve and e71, but e71 beats it in both function and form-factor. the e71 has a umts/hsdpa, 3mp camera, and better battery life. all the rest (OS mainly) is just up to personal preference.

concluding remarks: if you ask “why should I get the e71″, i would answer with these points based on what “I” feel is most important:
- very fast 3G capability
- excellent size, feel, and look,
- speedy processor with no lag in navigation
- improved OS and great computer connection software (nokia pc suite)
- long battery life
- 3MP camera with flash
- comes with carrying case, carrying strap, stereo earphones, and data cable
- and lastly, did i mention that this is the most beautiful i have ever seen? see one for yourself (i know its hard b/c they dont really have them in stores) and you will love the look and feel of it.

Review 2

Some notes to consider for this phone:

3G — Despite Amazon saying this is the US Version of the phone (which it is,) this phone does NOT work with T-mobile 3G in the US. T-Mobile 3G in the US uses the 1700 mhz spectrum (you can read on wikipedia as for the reasons why) and there are no 3G roaming agreements with AT&Ts 3G spectrum like there is with EDGE. That being said, I have found that EDGE is fast enough for my web browsing and e-mail use (220 kbps+.) Using GSM/EDGE only also more than doubles your battery life, so this is not an entirely bad thing for T-Mobile users. The 10 hours talk-time and 17 day standby is no joke with GSM either.

Network Settings — Nokia has a great website that will text you all the internet, voicemail, and MMS settings for your carrier to the unlocked phone.

Bluetooth Tethering — This phone does not tether with Mac OS 10.4 Tiger. It does tether perfectly with 10.5 Leopard. It tethers with Windows XP via included Nokia PC Suite. It would be nice if a Mac suite were included from Nokia but Apple provides everything necessary with Leopard. It obviously tethers perfectly with Nokia N800/N810.

GPS — The GPS in the phone is first class with both an actual GPS receiver and assisted GPS through cell tower. It works much better than my TomTom One especially indoors. The phone comes with a great program called Maps but the only drawback (and it is a HUGE drawback) is that you have to pay a monthly fee to use any sort of route guidance. You’re allowed to see your position and browse maps for free but if you want to plan a route it costs extra. It comes with a 7 day trial that you should save for emergencies in my opinion.

Networks in General — This phone works great on both AT&T and T-Mobile but each has their drawbacks. AT&T has the faster network but limits you to 5Gb/month bandwidth and charges extra to tether. T-Mobile allows actual unlimited data on EDGE and allows free tethering to any device but has the slower “2.75G” EDGE data network. Wifi is available on the phone and works flawlessly.

Third Party Apps — Two must have apps are the S60 Divx player and the Slick IM client (AIM, Jabber, Etc.) The Nokia mail client works great and a third party solution is not necessary.

All in all this is a first class phone whose only missing feature is a touch screen. Depending on your need for a QWERTY keyboard I would say this and the N95 are battling it out for best phone in the world right now.

Review 3

This is an all-around amazing phone, from feature set to call quality.

While the E71 doesn’t have the amazing UI of the iPhone, if you like Symbian/S60 (which was designed for one-hand use), a real keyboard, and excellent battery life, this is your phone.

My only complaint is the mail app, but Nokia’s working on a subscription-based push email service (beta is available now) that looks good so far.

One bonus of the E71 that you don’t get with the iPhone — you can tether it to your computer using Bluetooth or WiFi (via Joiku) to get 3G internet speeds on your PC.

I *highly* recommend this phone for business and/or power users who need to be productive on their phone no matter their location.

Side note: I have no idea what the other reviewer it talking about in terms of speed — both GPS and network/web access are terrific on the E71.

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