Nokia E71 Cell Phone Review
By Marianne Schultz
Reviewed.com Editorial Staff
Published on August 14, 2008
The Nokia E71 is the latest business-oriented device from Nokia. With a full keyboard, built-in GPS, world phone capabilities and support for AT&T's 3G network, it packs a large amount into a rather diminutive package. It's also a full smartphone with a wide range of messaging, organizer, and internet capabilities. Perhaps the biggest drawback is price as it will cost you $500, although as an unlocked device, it will function on any GSM network.
The primary navigation tool on the E71 is a D-pad centered below the screen. The center portion of the keyboard is also numbered and is meant to be used as the dialing keypad to make calls. Dialing a number on the E71 is fast - much more so than expected given the embedded dial pad. With a full keyboard, typing email and text messages can go quickly. Unfortunately, the keyboard can be a bit hard to work with - the keys are small and close together and they don't offer a lot of tactile feedback.
The organizer applications on the E71 are robust, offering full synchronization with your computer by USB connection, Bluetooth, or Exchange Server. Adding, searching, and modifying contacts, calendar entries, and tasks is easy and painless. The E71 can also record voice memos. Email is strong on the E71, with push capability support for at least 5 email accounts. Email attachments can be viewed and edited easily with included software.
SMS and MMS on the E71 is pretty standard - nothing particularly impressive, but nothing that will cause you problems either. Web browsing on the E71 is quite good, with a browser that renders pages as they appear on your desktop computer. You can easily view an entire page at once and then zoom into the section you'd like to read. There are also applications for music and video playback. As with many popular digital music players, you can create playlists and view your music by album, artist, genre, and other criteria. The video playback software is poor.
The E71 has a full range of connectivity options beyond its GSM/3G capability, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and even infrared. The E71 also has a GPS receiver and mapping software to help you get around.
Performance (read in-depth lab performance data at WirelessInfo.com)
Performance-wise, the E71 did fairly well in our call audio tests. Audio received from the E71 is decent, but sounds in the higher frequencies may cut out. The audio sent by the E71 is good and should present no problems for those on the receiving end of calls. We also test side tone - this is the small amount of your own voice that a phone pipes back into your ear so you can judge how loudly you are speaking. The E71 side tone is a bit less than ideal and may cause you to speak more loudly than you need to as a result.
The 3.2 megapixel camera has an auto-focus features and takes good pictures, better than the Blackberry Curve and the iPhone 3G. Resolution is very good while color capture is is about average. The E71 also has an LED flash with limited range. Video capture is good overall, with not much of the blurring or other issues you see when moving the phone as with other cell phones. The interface to take pictures and record video is very easy to use.
The E71 has a high-capacity battery, but call time is below average at 4 hours, as is web browsing time. You can increase battery life by turning off the 3G radio and transmitting on the slower EDGE network, but this will negatively impact the E71's browsing speed. It does have one of the best music playback times we've seen, lasting over 16 hours.
Comparisons (read in-depth comparisons at WirelessInfo.com)
Primary competitors of the E71 are other devices with full keyboards like the Blackberry Curve and Samsung Blackjack II. The E71 has a lot to like, with an above average camera and excellent calendar and contact management features. The only snag is its $500 price tag. The Blackberry Curve can be had for hundreds of dollars less and has comparable organizer features, a good camera, and does a better job with email. The Samsung BlackJack II also costs significantly less, with roughly equivalent email and organizer capabilities, but with a very inferior camera. And the iPhone 3G, though it lacks a physical keyboard, has comparable business-oriented features for email and personal information management and costs as little as $199 with a contract. The Nokia E71 does offer a slightly more complete package than these other devices, but unless you need the flexibility of an unlocked device that can be used with any GSM carrier or you're just one of those people who wants the most complete all-in-one phone, you're probably better off saving money and going with one of these other devices.For a more in-depth review, visit the Nokia E71 Review at our partner WirelessInfo.com
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