I haven't even got a chance to finish up my Nokia N78 review yet, and low and behold the brand spanking new Nokia E71 arrives at my door late today. I've been anticipating this phone more than anything since the release of the N82 (my favorite Nokia device) and so far I am extremely impressed. The E71 is exactly what business people have been waiting for.
Most of you already know the Nokia E71 features a 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS, Wifi, 2.36" screen, full qwerty, Symbian S60 3rd Edition, the works. The processor is ultra fast, even faster than my N82. Navigating through menus and settings have never been so fast on a Nokia smart phone. I've taken a few pictures in low light conditions and they came out horrendous. We'll see tomorrow when the sun comes up here in Southern California if the day pictures look any better.
Like I said this is one of my first times using a full qwerty keypad and my absolute first time using a Nokia Eseries device. So far I find the keypad to be extremely easy to type on and all the buttons are laid out really well. It's going to take some getting used to forgetting about T9 and imagining a real keyboard, but I'm quickly catching on. My girlfriend owns a Blackberry Pearl and has loved it, but after typing on the E71 for a few minutes she gave up on the "mine's better" argument. I have a few other people that I will have try out the keypad to see how it compares to the iPhone and Blackberry Curve.
The one thing really stands out to me is the build quality. Holy smokes this thing is built like a rock. The back cover is stainless steel and has small grooves that help you get a grip on the phone. The rest of the E71 has a metallic chrome finish that really makes this thing look high end and expensive. All the keys are gray and have a slight rubberized plastic feel. The D-Pad is one of the best I've felt - think N82 but even better.
I've only had the E71 in my hands for a few hours so I haven't got a chance to fully dive into the phone. I have installed a few themes and Google Maps, but that's about it.
For now check out these E71 photos I took below (flash slideshow). Some are next to the Nokia E62, N78, a beer, and a pack of gum. You really do get a good idea of how thin the phone actually is which is one of the main selling points.
For more about the E71 head over to my new sister site called E71Fanatics.com which will be run mostly by my cousin (who is the E71 Fanatic) and also by myself.
If you have any questions about the new Eseries flagship device feel free to ask.
And keep checking back for the rest of my N78 review that should be completed by Thursday. I'll be covering the impressive audio quality, my thoughts on Feature Pack 2, and the build quality. Mixed in will also be more of my thoughts about the E71. Should be a busy week!
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Hi Mike,
Like you, I too haven't used Nokia E series phones or a qwerty cellphone. And for this I am really in doubt about the typing speed with rather small keys of E71. Please tell us how is your experience of typing in E71 as a formerly exclusive T9 user? Does E71 qwerty improves data entry speed noticeably? Or, should we remain happy with T9 (my T9 typing speed is 30 words per minute).
Thank you sooo much for such a nice review.