GTD Gadget Review: Nokia’s E71 Smartphone is a Blackberry Destroyer
July 11th, 2008 Oliver StarrCategories | Features | Gadgets | Getting Things Done | Mobile
Nokia’s Sexiest Phone Ever
I’m still shaking my head in wonder at the new Nokia E71. Is this really a phone by Nokia? This phone, which is barely thicker than the battery that powers it, is one of the all time sexiest phones I have ever seen. Hardly the sort of device made by the company that is to phones what Russia is to tanks and assault rifles.
Don’t get my wrong. I’m a die hard Nokia fan. I have many, many Nokia phones and I use them every single day. A least 8 of my lifetime top ten favorite devices have been Nokia phones but that doesn’t mean that I am so blinded by my Nokia gadget lust that I fail to see that Nokia usually makes phones more like tanks than like jewelry. This is not in and of itself altogether a bad thing. Nokia phones are by far the most durable, reliable and functional devices of their sort bar none.
But sexy? That’s hardly a word you see in conjunction with most Nokia devices. Until now.
Did I mention that the E71 is thin? How thin? It’s a bit difficult to measure something this thin but my guess is that it’s between 6 and 7 mm at the thickest point. What’s amazing is that in spite of the svelte package this is as fully featured a device as Nokia has ever introduced.
Let me give you a quick rundown on the specifications:
Form
- Form: Candy bar with full keyboard
- Dimensions: 4.49 x 2.24 x 0.39 in
- Weight: 4.47 oz
- Full keyboard
- High quality QVGA display
Display and 3D
- Size: 2.36″
- Resolution: 320 x 240 pixels (QVGA)
- Up to 16 million colors
- TFT active matrix (QVGA)
- Two customizable home screen modes
Connectors
- Micro-USB connector, full-speed
- 2.5 mm Nokia AV connector
Power
- Battery: BP-4L 1500 mAh Li-Po standard battery
- Talk time:
- GSM up to 10 h 30 min
- WCDMA up to 4 h 30 min - Standby time:
- GSM up to 17 days
- WCDMA up to 20 days
- WLAN idle up to 6.9 days - Music playback time (maximum): 18 h
Memory
- microSD memory card slot, hot swappable, max. 8 GB
- ~110 MB internal dynamic memory
A down-loadable PDF with the comprehensive specifications can be found here: nokia_e71_complete_specifications.pdf
As you no doubt noticed the device has GSM, Edge, UMTS, HSDPA, WiFi and a GPS radio. It also has a huge battery - the same battery, in fact, that comes in the much larger N810 Internet Tablet so you can pretty well anticipate that this phone is going to have about the best battery life of any phone you’ve ever used.
What does it do?
Out of the box it has support for Microsoft exchange mail as well as for Blackberry mail, though for that you’ll have to pay a subscription fee to Rimm. Out of the box it also has the ability to auto-detect your network settings and configure your services automatically so no holding for hours while someone at your carrier tries to look up how to set up MMS on your handset, it just configures itself.
The keyboard is a pleasure to use. Much better, for instance than the keyboard on my Sony Ericsson P990 which was a phone I had extremely high hopes for given the incredibly advanced P800 from about five years ago, alas the P990 failed to deliver unlike the E71 which does so in spades.
The E71 does everything you’d expect it to do starting with having excellent reception and very, very good call quality. Since it’s a 3G phone you can be on a call and provided you are on a 3G connection (or WiFi) you can browse the net at the same time. This means that having either a headset or a good speakerphone is vitally important. The E71 supports the full blue tooth specification including both stereo and EDR so headsets like Nokia’s BH-993 are a great accessory. The speakerphone is loud and clear and the microphone does a good job of picking up your voice without managing to pick up every other sound in the room - at least according to people on the other end of the call.
Other notable features on the E71 include the ability to “switch modes”. This is a feature that lets you have a complete second set of settings - an alternate personality if you will; say one for work and one for weekends. You can have games on the second profile but come Monday when you let your boss borrow your phone you won’t have to worry that he discovers your “Bejeweled” addiction. A simple click on the black and while icon initiates a mode change that takes about fifteen seconds which is almost as fast a personality change as my ex…no, I won’t go there.
I could go on and on about this device but I really don’t need to. Let it suffice to say that this is a device that simply works. Everything you expect it to do, it does as well if not better than any phone you’ve used before. Unlike its predecessor, the E70 which was a great phone made painful by insufficient memory, the E71 has no such issue, and although I will forever love the “butterfly wing” configuration of the E70, the E71 is vastly superior in every conceivable way.
Compared to the others?
This is, in my humble opinion, the finest execution of the QWERTY phone I’ve ever seen and by far Nokia’s best effort to date bar none. Honestly, I don’t have a single complaint about this device which is pretty hard to imagine coming from someone as spoiled as I am when it comes to handsets. If I were forced to find any weakness at all the only thing I could even mention is that having become used to the camera on the N95 and the N82 respectively which both have 5 megapixel capability and Carl Zeiss optics, the camera on the E71 is a bit less exciting but still hands down better than any camera on the iPhone, or any Rimm device.
The final touches on this great package are the thin leather sleeve protective case and matching lanyard, both of which are black with a red suede lining. The case fits the phone perfectly and the lanyard attaches to the phone through a discrete eyelet - and it’s something I recommend using, the phone is so thin and rounded that it might be easily dropped. Not that you have to worry about it breaking - in spite of how gorgeous this device it, it still has the guts of a tank, it is a Nokia after all, but why risk marring the finish of the sexiest and most technologically well conceived phone that Nokia has ever made?
Nokia’s sexy iPhone killer (for business users). Period. I was considering buying iPhone when it becomes available in Poland in October, but E71 wins. Way ahead in functionality and much cheaper.
Why does Nokia’s product manager need to post here such primitive marketing story? GTD Times looses more and more reputation with such tricks.
Dear “Angry Reader” with the non-existent return email address; I can assure you that your baseless accusation that the above piece was authored by a Nokia product manager is both incorrect and in poor taste. I have never been employed by Nokia in any capacity nor have I ever worked for the company as a consultant.
I have used and reviewed many Nokia devices over the last several years. Some have received quite positive commentary such as the E71 which as I wrote above, I found to be quite an exceptional device.
I view my role as editor of this online publication as one in which I have an obligation to truthfully author articles that will be of value to the people that choose to read what I write.
My reputation and the credibility that you suggest was somehow damaged by my piece would only be damaged were the words I wrote untrue. As an author and editor I am constantly putting that reputation on the line with every new article I write.
Was I accurate? Did I report truthfully? Do the facts of events or the description of a product that I have written about align with reality?
If they do not - if I fail in my effort to be accurate, to be truthful or even to make solid recommendations, I will surely hear about this failure from a reader and my reputation will justifiably suffer as a result.
This is the bargain that I strike when I choose to do what I do as a profession. Clearly I accept this state of events since I choose to make a living writing and editing.
Over the years I have established a certain amount of credibility and in particular a reputation for being knowledgeable about mobile devices. I would hardly put that reputation at risk over a single handset regardless of the company that manufactured it - even were I employed by that company. A good reputation is something that is difficult enough to earn and easy enough to lose that I wouldn’t put it on the line in such a frivolous fashion.
Personally, I think you have exhibited some rather questionable judgment to have posted a comment that is based upon an accusation (that I am employed by Nokia) which can easily be established to be untrue and to further suggest that I have harmed the reputation of this publication or myself as the result of a favorable review.
Do you have a Nokia E71? Have you even held one in your hands? I do and I have. My review, like all my reviews, is based upon real world experience using the device. Not just for five minutes at a show, but over days and weeks and in many cases months. I will not review a device that I have for only a limited time. This has been my position for a number of years and it has served me well.
Now I have no way of knowing if you have a particular bias - if , for example, you are employed by a competitive manufacturer or rather you simply happen to be trolling - you see, unlike you, I won’t make unfounded accusations and impugn upon the reputation of someone else for such a spurious reason.
I will, however, sincerely suggest that if in the future you wish to trod upon my reputation or state as fact something which can easily be proven to be false that you have the courtesy of doing so without the cowardly tactic of hiding behind the shield of anonymity.
That way, when your accusation turns out to be false and your facts are proven to be untrue, it is your reputation that will suffer rather than that of the individual at whom you pointed your own biased finger.
Editor
Nice review, thanks. I knew E71 was pretty slick, but but it seems to be even better than i thought.
Oh, i forgot to ask. You reportedly liked the qwerty keyboard. How big hands do you have?
Uncle J,
Hi. Thanks for the comments. My hands are actually pretty big- big enough to palm a standard sized basketball if that helps.
I do not have fat fingers, however. I have been told that my hands look like I’d be a good surgeon or piano player - except for the crooked fingers that come with crashing on skies and bikes a few dozen times each at over fifty miles per hour…
Editor
It looks great but none of the carriers in Chicago offer it!
I bought one a week ago, love it to death, just need to find more websites that are similar to crackberry that can give some insight and free downloads into the devices … that would be way cool (Nokia I hope you read this). I too am a Nokia fan (also my Finnish roots are not biased - not!), for the last two years I’ve had to use a Sony Ericsson (for work) and frankly they are rubbish, plastic bits of rubbish, but now I’m back to the fold, and I feel safe and secure.
good review… and unlike the angry reader upstairs, i trust you. i use this phone myself (61i) and i find the feature set is unbeleivably exhaustive.
I have had an E71 for a couple of weeks and love it to death as a device however it does not appear to support Blackberry in any form…none of the Nokia provided Blackberry Connect versions work so I am really interestd in your statement that you can license the software from RIM. Can you qualify that please and confirm it?
Would really appreciate the help as lack of Blackberry support is major drama!
Thks
Dear Happy, It appears that Nokia and Rim are having some sort of a dispute and for that reason there is a current dearth of Rim support for this device. I am pretty sure thought that it will finaly dawn on both companies that resolving their dispute is in both their best interests so I would just hang tinght and keep my eye on Nokia’s website for a software update that includes blackberry support for the E71.
Editor
1) can it record calls?
2) how good is UNASSISTED gps (ie. no network use). How quick is it to lock on? I’ve heard slow (3mins or so)
3) not to discount your review, but I heard the speakerphone reception (both mic and speakerphone) is average
These are the things I want. Good RF performance, good GPS performance, good speakerphone performance, but most reviews don’t talk about these “non-checkbox” performance criteria.
Olef,
Yes, it can record calls. In my experience the GPS gets a satellite lock in a minute or two but you need the network to download the maps (unless you have already stored them on the device).
As for the speakerphone, everyone probably has a unique opinion on what loud enough and clear enough are for them, but in my own experience including using the speakerphone while driving it was both loud enough and clear enough that I could carry on a conversation and the other party didn’t have any complaints about ambient noise so I figure it is good enough.
Thanks for commenting.
Editor
Just a couple of queries:
1. Can you save images from the in-built browser in the same way you do in the 9300i (Shift+Joystick Click)
2. Is there a timed SMS sending function like the 9300i.
thanx,
Andy
Andy,
Both of these functions are standard features of the S60 3rd edition OS on the E71, although saving images is accomplished by using the option menu button and selecting save image…
editor
thanx ed,
just a couple o q’s more while u’re at it:
1. can you open pdf & word attachments from the installed gmail mobile interface as there are some private mail accounts i’d like to access without IMAP.
2. How can you compare the 9300i joystick with the one in the e71.
I still can’t get rid of my 9300i, i feel its perfect except for the sluggish processor. What do you think?
Andy,
You are comparing apples and oranges. These are two very different devices with a considerable amount of time between the 9300 and the E71. If you like that form factor maybe the E90 would be the right phone for you. I haven’t had the good fortune to use one of those so I can’t review it for you but I’ve heard good things about the E90 and I would absolutely love to try one myself.
If three G isn’t that important to you you could also try and find a 7710. This was the iPhone before the iPhone was even on the drawing board,
It’s a Nokia device with a Touch Screen, a lot of screen real estate (more than the iPhone by a lot), support for DVBH (full specs here: http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_7710-921.php).
This platform was actually S80 which Nokia abandoned as it was simply too far ahead of its time (although perhaps now that the touch screen has become important they will resurrect development as I thought this device had incredible promise)
Oliver
owstarr,
thanks for your answers regarding GPS. GSMArena seem to think the device is slowish to lock on, which is a no-no for me.
I definitely want something comparable to a dedicated GPS device regarding unassisted GPS lock-ons. Poor GPS performance is one of those things that aggravate me.
Do you have any advice in this regard? ie. a device with fast (unassisted, not network-dependent) good GPS lock-on speeds, with the features you can find in this phone (full tactile QWERTY, etc)? I guess it’s time to look into the HP IPAQ range.
Olef, for the most part I’ve had a hate/hate affair with Windows mobile devices. I have consistently found them to be slower, to crash far more frequently and to have a much less usable interface than either the iPhone or Symbian S60 or even UIQ.
I don’t think that you’ll find a mobile phone or even a hand held PC that is truly competitive with a dedicated GPS device like a Tom Tom. However, I haven’t felt that the E71 was so slow to lock that it was inconvenient or rendered the device impractical to use on the fly.
I’m not quite sure I understand your objection to having network assisted functionality since many of the programs for mobile devices are pushing the actual map data to the phones on the fly and this requires network connectivity anyway.
Editor
owstarr,
The E71 comes with maps on-board. No downloads necessary. The thing is I will not be using 3G functionality at all; just GSM for voice and just the GPS satellites for GPS. I will not be using any data network for GPS location. I also live in Australia where 3G data is expensive even if I were to use it. So that’s a bit of the background about why I want half-decent GPS sensitivity in a phone.
I do appreciate your comments on Windows Mobile, but if I can’t find a Symbian device that works the way I want it, I will try a Windows Mobile device. For instance, the BlackJack II, from what I have been reading, comes with good GPS lock-ons, but no wifi, unfortunately. It also has other downsides that irritate me but really if I can’t get decent unassisted GPS, I’ve lost all interest in any device.
My plan was to install a dedicated app for turn-by-turn directions on whichever device I get, anyway. As I understand it, Nokia asks for payment for turn-by-turn so I won’t be using their app, though it would be OK for me for “this is where I am” scenarios if the GPS hardware were faster, IMO.
I really appreciate you making a page like this with Q and A. Thanks!
Olef, If the things you are looking for are your primary concerns than one phone you should really consider is the A1000 by Motorola or the A1010
(difference is A1010 has wifi) - a slightly older symbian/UIQ touchscreen device that has good GPS (at least mine was quite good) and complement that with GPS software from NHGPS . A small third party GPS for UIQ developer that does an excellent job.
Moto seems to have recently added some new A series phones to their lineup (A1600, A1800) that are probably better still. Both appear to be linux based and may be well worth exploring.
The weakness in the A1000 (besides the lack of WiFi that was rectified in the A1010 is that the camera is cruddy and the handwriting recognition feature is far worse than the Sony Ericsson P800, or the P990 both of which I own but which lack the GPS you require).
I will say once more though that the E71 doesn’t appear to have slow location lock, even with the sim removed at least in my experience with the phone - perhaps this varies from one phone to another though?
Hope this helps you identify the perfect phone for yourself
Editor.
For some time now I have wrestled with the thought of buying a Blackberry (BB). And then came along Nokia’s E71. I am intrigued at how you have stated that this phone is a BB destroyer. My concern though is the screen - isn’t it that the E71’s screen is a bit small compared to say perhaps that of the BB 8320 or even the Blackjack II?
Other than this, it seems that the E71 is a sure winner. I’ve been a Nokia user all my life, but this will be my very first smartphone to purchase. I hope you can further convince me.
Thanks for your time.
owstarr,
Thanks for your suggestions.
I forgot to mention I need QWERTY though! (that really is the other primary reason I want to get a smartphone; I’ve had it with the numpad).
Basically I want to write the odd email over wifi and make texting a lot less taxing in my future phone (in addition to the GPS).
Something tells me I will probably make do without the wifi though (I suppose I could always wait ’til I get home to use the net but it sure is handy on-the-go).
Thanks again for your suggestions.
PS. when i say qwerty, I mean tactile keypad. In any case, I’m all ears if you have any other suggestions in the same bar form-factor as this Nokia.
Who knows, if worse comes to worse maybe I’ll get one and sell it if the GPS is not good enough for me. At least then I know first-hand.
I got a nokia e71 as soon as I realized it was available and I even did it before reading any info regarding the phone. I love it but the fact that there is no blackberry software available for it it makes the phone USELESS.
Very sad!
is ther a charge to use gps say from my home to a unknown place or ist it free
Hello. Can you tell me about the E71’s VPN options. Specifically, is there support for PPTP connections? I know that past Nokia devices have not supported PPTP VPN connections. That is the ONE thing holding me back from purchasing this device.
Thanks.
Its worth noting that Nokia phones don’t natively do Category sync with Outlook (or anything). Which may be a problem for GTD users.
Your article mislead me into thinking there was Blackberry Connect on the E71. Had to sell it off after a few hours. Plus, I think it is ridiculous that a so called business phone cannot search by company & profession (like the 9300i). It is a major goof and Nokia seems to lose more & more business like features with each successive new phone. I still use my 9300ibut it is fallingapart and need a replement whichNokia seems not able to provide. Such a pity!
The speakerphone on the E71 is rubbish. Really rubbish.
I have the E61, E61i and now I upgrade to the E71, and guess what , the speakerphone is so bad I can hardly hear anything from it even in a normal office environment.
The other end of the call seems fine, but what good is it if I cannot hear it !!!
Teetom, I totally agree. I have had 9110, 9210, 9300, E61, E61i and now the E71.
I think Nokia is getting all confused about what a business phone really needs. The old 9-series had at least basic features to quickly search almost all the fields in contacts. But now the S60 series phones, they can’t even search anything other than names ! Ok, you can use the other application Search to do it, but it is clumsy and slooowwww.
Who cares whether I can surf the web at warp speed or download all sorts of things over the air !!! Or even listen to music !
I just want to simply use my phones as a littel database and so I need to search contacts info fast ! That’s all. Don’t even give any excuse that the processor is too slow ! I don’t think so,, but they allocate so many CPU time to other overheads, like GPS, phone call, networking etc.
And what you get is, a phone that is slower to use than one that is almost 10 years old (my 9110 was better) !!!
Nokia, pls just go back to basic !
And another comment, it seems the E71 was developed by a totally different group of engineers who never used the previous E-series or 9-series before !
Good things like Ctrl-Click is gone ! This helps me trememdously to jump to the next word when typing. But now, they hide the Ctrl button over the Char button. You have to press three buttons to do the same thing ! Insane !!!
Also, why disable the Speakerphone activation when dialling ?????
Before, the Speakerphone menu comes on as soon as you dial, now you have to wait for it to connect first !!! How stupid !!!!!
When driving, I dial, then press Speakerphone and just lay it down on the dashboard. BUt now, I can’t do that !!
Plain stupid and not user friendly.
Nokia, pls bring all these basic good features back !!
I am seriously thinking of moving platform now.
John WONG
That was a great review. Switching from my constantly rebooting Palm Treo 680 to Nokia E 71 has been bliss, except for the E71’s inability to be a good GTD system. I’m trying Agendus and Papyrus, as I’m writing this. Any suggestions?
BTW, there is a good search function, rather a new app. for that exclusively on the E71
Jp
Hi Editor,
Could you please advise how can I set up my E71 with Lotus Notes emails? The company now provides me Blackberry, but I bought E71 for myself as it is really much better. But IT told me that E71 doesn’t have the function to have Blackberry related software installed.
So sad…
Hi,
I really wanted to know the same question as Eileen. The only difference is that i haven’t buy the phone yet because i really wanted to know if i can connect this device with Lotus Notes by any means. I relly hope that there is a way to do this, cause only then it will be more that complete for me.
LOL at the rant in the 3rd comment
I bought e71 few days ago and the next day the memory card got corrupted. Is there any way I can get the softwares that come along with the phone re-installed?
Thanks
Sampang, are you talking about the software that was on the memory card or on the memory of the handset itself? For the handset you can go to Nokia.com, locate the software section, download “PC Suite” install it on your PC and then run the phone software updater to restore your device to the most current version.
For the memory card, most likely you are gong to have to go back to the place where you bought it but I don’t recall there being much of anything besides some multimedia content on the card in the E71.
Editor
Hi Friends,
can anybody pls let me know about E71’s compatibility with Lotus notes emails. is it works with this phone.
Thanks
If Lotus notes works on this phone, then pls let me know the procedure for installing lotus notes on this phone, i have lotus notes 6 installed on my laptop. so is there is some beta version for phones, or the same i can install.
pls help………to share this knowledge…
thanks
Nokia doesn’t care about its business users too much!
I’ve always been a Nokia user, but one of the one biggest business related holes which I’ve noticed in Nokia S60 devices is their VPN implementation.
Power / Business users need proper VPN, even the crappy version 1 iPhone can do basic PPTP connections. Nokia can only do the horrible and expensive to implement ‘IPsec’ (Who uses that?). Good luck finding affordable IPsec VPN providers for home use.
Eseries has been out for years, why isn’t Nokia covering PPTP and Open SSL/OpenVPN? It’s just software isn’t it?
This means a lot to those who live in countries like United Arab Emirates, China, & Saudi Arabia where most of the cool sites/services like Last.FM, Flickr, All SIP services, Skype etc, have been blocked for years. This lack of proper VPN support hurts us financially, as much I like Nokia, they really suck at implementing proper VPN.
This lack of proper VPN support hurts us financially, Nokia enough of this!
If someone here is in direct touch with Nokia, please pass this message on…
dear Editor,
While still making up my mind about BB Bold or Nokia E71, I simply want to compliment you for a most thorough and professional response to “Angry Reader”’s unethical and biased (read ‘baseless’) criticism.
If any thing, E71 has a far better camera! And, smartphones are suposed to a lot more than just shuffle emails! It appears that business ppeople touting the BB’s (or, RIM’s) email abilities are not really doing much else. With really cheap additional s/w I hv extended my E51’s abilities to edit text, spreadsheets and presentations -w/out the benefits of QWERTY! Giving BB’s email all the credit/weightage appears a bit biassed.
how does the BB compare on WLAN with a comparable Nokia? (The e51 seems to beat my friend’s BB Curve in speed.)
Have you any idea if the E71 now has BB connect ability?
Thanks for a technically sound review.
I am using PPTP VPN software on my N95.
Cannot see any reasons why it wouldn’t run on E71.
I have received this software for beta testing, but to this point I can not see the reason why it can’t be a normal production version.
The bad news is that right now the developers have suspended all software distribution on their website for unknown reason.
Why no response to Lotus Notes compatability?? Same deal as others IT dept only supports the crackberry. Turds. A response to this would be in Borats words “very nice”.
I was wondering if the E71 has the capability to edit text and create simple documents in Word, Excel and Powerpoint
Please advice asap as I am really in the mood to buy this phone after reading all the reviews
Mirza,
That functionality does not come native but there are a number of excellent third party software packages that allow you to do exactly that with this phone. Just do a search on office software for S60 on Google and I’m sure you’ll find exactly what you need.
Editor
I am sure once I download that software it will also have a copy and paste function?
Mirza,
all N and E series devices from Nokia have copy and paste though the way to do it varies a little from device to device. The owner’s manual that comes with each phone explains how to copy and paste text.
Editor
hi
thx for your great reviews about E71.
personally i’m considering about buying one. i’m just comparing right now, between e71 n blackberry.
and it comes to my needs that mostly i used internet… uploading is very important
is E71 friendly enought to be used for friendster-ing n facebooking-ing?
ex: when u want 2 insert images or photos to your friendster / facebook, does it provided “browse images from your computer” menu?
coz if it’s not…, i’ll have to reconsider buying this smart phone gadget.
-my intention is to change my laptop’s daily usage, so i can bring something lighter in small enough to be in my pocket (if i just want to surf n browse)-
thx
i’m using 9300, i like th E71, but i need to receive and view faxes using my gsm fax number. is there any s/w for it or any solution that can help me replace the 9300 with E71?? thankx in advance