I had the opportunity to trial a Nokia E71x for a few weeks.  My first impression of the phone was that it was a lot like a Blackberry in design.  It has a full QWERTY keyboard with a navigation button in the middle similar to the Blackberry’s trackball.  (Others compared it to a Samsung Blackjack.)  I liked the form factor and the metal finish.  The phone fit comfortably in my hand and the keys are a good size.  The E71x, which runs the same operating system as the Nokia S60, is available on the AT&T network.

Phone

The phone quality is pretty good.  I like the loudspeaker mode as it was pretty easy to hear my phone calls.  With other phones it has been somewhat difficult to hear on speaker mode above background noise.  Another feature I like about the phone is the audible caller ID alert.  Though some names sounded strange others were pronounced very well.  This is a neat feature though I’d probably never use it in real life.

There was one day when my calls kept dropping but this only happened when talking with one person in particular.  It did not happen with anyone else I talked to that day or any other day.

Messaging

The first thing I tried to do after inserting my SIM card was send an MMS message but found that I could not – this is most likely because my AT&T account is set up for my iPhone.  The next thing I did was set up Mail for Outlook to use Google Sync to synchronize my calendar and address book.  I was happy that my calendar and contacts were synched.  Included were photos for any contacts for which I had photos attached in my Google contacts.  I then set up Express Mail for two of my GMail accounts and one Yahoo mail account.  I was not as happy about the email client since not many emails were displayed and the emails are displayed in plain text format.  I also did not like that individual mailboxes were displayed instead of one box containing all email and SMS messages (like Blackberry).  The phone also does not seem to support IMAP so I could not organize my mail.  It is likely that Mail for Outlook supports multiple folders but I can’t use this with my GMail accounts.

Browser

The browser can render an entire website but not necessarily the same way it would be viewed on a computer screen.  Navigation in the browser takes a little getting used to but includes a thumbnail window to see what you are looking at in context of the page.  Some pluses of the browser are that it supports multiple browser windows (similar to Safari on the iPhone) and that it supports Flash.

Bluetooth

The phone is has full Bluetooth capability.  Not only does it allow you to use stereo Bluetooth headsets but it also allow you to access files on the phone via Bluetooth (OBEX).  I transfered my images and video from the phone that way.  It syncs the address book, calendar, notes, text messages and bookmarks via Bluetooth as well.  In addition, I was able to  share wifi or other internet connections with other devices via Bluetooth.  I did this with my Palm LifeDrive.

Media

The device can play audio files.  I was able to play my voice mails that I received in email.  I did not use the phone much for audio but there is an included audio player.  In addition to audio, the phone plays video.  The miniSD slot can be used to expand the phone’s memory to hold more media files.  Other helpful apps included are QuickOffice and Adobe PDF viewer which allow you to view various email attachments.

Camera

The E71x’s 3.2 megapixel camera has scene modes that allow you to change the picture taking settings (i.e. portrait, landscape, night, close up, etc.) much like that on standalone digital cameras.  There are various settings for flash, timer, white balance and color settings as well.  The camera has a light instead of a flash.  It stays on a while most likely to prevent red eye.  The camera does pretty decent quality video as well.  While shooting video the light stays on.

Apps

I installed Qik right away and Twibble (a Twitter client).  I tried to install Gravity several times with no success.  I eventually installed Google Maps, which I used to find my way to Assateague Island, Virginia from Pocomoke City, Maryland.  It is a good alternative to the fee-based AT&T Maps service.  I also installed the GMail Java app, Google Mobile and Fring.  I definitely preferred the GMail app to the included email client.  Fring allowed me to make VOIP calls via AT&T’s 3G as well as wi-fi connections.  It also allowed me to connect to Skype and all of my IM accounts.

There are a lot of apps included on the phone including games, XM radio, MobiTV and mSpot Music.  I never used them so I offer no opinion of them.

Verdict

I really enjoyed this phone primarily for the media features (i.e. photos, videos, etc).  I also enjoyed being able to retrieve the files via Bluetooth.  Another feature I liked was the ability to sync my calendar and contacts as I am not one to enter this information into the phone by hand.  It’s a pretty decent phone to use for business and for fun.

You might also be interested in:

• No Related Post