Nokia E71: Final Review

UPDATE 20NOV2008: Camera can focus, and to do so one pushes the "T" key, waits for the focus to acquire a lock, then presses the center select button to take a picture. Quality of photos is massively improved in regards to sharpness and clarity, although a slight blueish tint remains. So please note that when reading.

Well this is it. I have to return my E71 probably about Tuesday/Wednesday of this week, so I've finally gotten some good pictures taken of it as well as a final-thoughts review in mind to which I am now going to write. To sum things up... this is, in my opinion, the best business-oriented device out there in regards to design. Just like the original blackberries were the device-to-have back in their day, in terms of their functional design, the Nokia E71 is as functional as it is good looking. And in this case, there's a lot of good looking stuff to enjoy. All of the beautiful, stainless steel and slick feeling aspects of this handset just scream "I'm beautiful and I know it.

For example, just look at the beautiful screen. It's covered behind a solid piece of glass... the idea of a near gapless presentation of glass and stainless steel is well implemented here, and there's much to like. I very much like how the glass covering goes beyond just the physical boundaries of the usable screen. It's similar to the iPhone or iPod touch, and gives the feeling of a more durable design and one-piece construction compared to having only the bare minimum hardware and pieces. I didn't have the guts to give it the same scratch test as I gave my iPod Touch by attempting to scratch the surface with a key, but it gave me the same feeling of scratch resistance. So although I personally put my devices in my jean pockets without a case or anything else (I never put anything else in the same pocket and treat all my devices quite well), I would have no issue telling others that they couldn't do the same.

That said, this keyboard might end up becoming a problem if someone else does jam multiple items into their pockets. I'm not sure how this keyboard was molded and painted. I have a feeling that abrasion might rub off many useful labels. This would be a big concern if it wasn't for my previous encounters with Nokia's repair team which leads me to believe that the keyboard could easily be replaced for very little to no extra money. Same with the frame- Nokia's repair facility seems to have no end to what they're capable of fixing or replacing.

Usability of the keyboard is excellent, of course. Not nearly as roomy as my E62, but after a little bit of a warm-up, quite usable. I have to say that the tradeoff between button-spacing and keeping the phone's dimensions manageable was worth it, and I would definitely choose the E71 over a roomier alternative. The rubberized keys feel... "good". That's the best way to describe them. It's like the T-Mobile Sidekick 2 (aka Danger Hiptop 2), which I found it's keys to be more attractive to use than the original Sidekick or even the 3rd version of the model. They had great tactile response, and always seemed to invite my fingers to type something on them. Something like that really stands out to me, since at that point I had neither texting nor even service on that phone... I had it just to have it.

Back to the E71 though... the keyboard is great. Not as roomy as might be perfectly comfortable, but more usable than first impressions might lead you to believe. It does require repeated usage, as switching to another device and then back will lead you to have lose your typing edge. The secret here is how easy it is to type using one hand. This phone is actually quite easy to use one-handed, while walking, and it's not too sluggish doing this either. It feels much more natural to walk across campus with only one hand typing and the other hand free. Allows the phone to be held higher, less awkwardly, and give you better peripheral vision of what's going on around you. So kudos to Nokia for that.

Even the back speaks of a seamless design. The pattern of squares on the stainless steel battery cover is a nice touch to spiff up the phone. It reminds me of the lid-designs HP puts on many of their new laptops, but in this case it interacts with light and reflections in a way that I've never come across before. It's a good thing they didn't go art-design like HP, though, because that would ruin much of the business appeal of this phone.

Next to talk about is that 3.2mp camera up there. I'm having a hard time figuring out why the E71 would be the phone Nokia would decide to chuck a camera on. I mean, I can understand the E61i having a camera... it's a response to consumers other than the strict business market who wanted a phone. So they basically just mildly updated the E61 and threw a camera in there. But the E71 is an entirely new handset that's way more than just skin deep. In addition to  it's snazzy new design, it also features a GPS, front-facing camera, easily-accessible memory card, and more. But how is this supposed to be a business phone when rumor has it that most business places ban camera phones? Is one simply supposed to leave this at the front security desk? I'm confused about this bit, but I'm willing to ignore it for sake of simplicity.

As you can see, though, picture taking is a very straightforward and... dare I say it... design oriented process. There is very few icons to muck-up the very large screen with their presence. And so all that's left is a very large preview of the image to be taken. The "traditional" camera-function menus can still be accessed by pressing the left soft-key, bringing up the set of icons on the right edge of the screen as most users of S60 devices will be used to. The problem is once you have made all of your settings modifications, you have to wait about 5 seconds for the menu icons to disappear, allowing you to take the picture. That's because the center/select button is also the shutter button and the menu select button. So press the center button while the menus are still up and instead of taking a picture, you'll be back changing settings again.

Another problem I noticed is the severe lack of a usable macro function. The device is supposed to have autofocus, but so far I have yet to see it actually do anything useful. While in photo mode, the focus brackets do appear onscreen, however they fail to do the typical focusing procedure, blinking while the focus is acquired and then turning green once locked on the subject, ready to snap the image. Instead the picture is just taken. Blurry unless far away. It's a bit of an annoyance, and an especial annoyance for one coming from as stellar camera phones as the Nokia N93, i-Mobile 902, and the Nokia N82.

In terms of other features around the side of the device, the new location for the MicroSD card is a move in the right direction. The rubberized cover stays closed solidly, which is good because I always end up with rubber covers that have learned to pop open through repeated use. The USB port is covered by the same piece of rubber, and opens the same way. Other that that, not much to speak of on the left side of the device.

On the other side, we're confronted with easy to use volume controls (the E62 I owned had volume controls that were terrible to use), with a special key in the center which, when held, turns on the voice dialing feature, and a 2.55mm stereo headset jack. I'll touch on the voice dialing feature briefly and say... it actually works. And it works quite well. I've had many phones with voice dialing, most of which required a certain amount of "programming" in order to work with my voice. This one's worked the first time, flawlessly, without any problems at all. I like that, but not enough to use it regularly, especially without a bluetooth headset and car to drive since that would be the most useful time to use it.

The battery Nokia choose to use is quite large and very much up to the job. I never ran into one situation in which my battery had dropped even a bar from full, and I'm the type that charge my phone every night since I use all of the features a lot everyday. Battery life was similar to that of my E62, really, which basically means noticeable enough to stand out from my N82, which already has a stellar battery life. Not much more to continue with besides noting that the E71 has the exact same battery as the E90, so I'm curious to find out which uses the battery more efficiently for all of the types of things I do.

I like Nokia's new take on SIM card insertion. Keep it simple seems to be the underlying theme. Don't make it difficult and attempt to hide the SIM card out of view like Sony Ericsson seems to do, but rather display the SIM card while at the same time holding it securely. I remember how Nokia used to use a plastic pivoting tray for the SIM card, which seemed to me, at the time, to be a great solution to holding the SIM card. But having seem how the E71 accomplishes SIM card insertion, I have to change my mind. There's less fragile circuitry exposed with this new method, and displaying the SIM card is still a feature.

Other than that... the circuity is very basic. It seems that Nokia has basically exposed the back of the circuity, probably covered with a thin sticker, but basically exposed anyway. I kind of like seeing this... lets me know that Nokia didn't give the phone any extra fluff, and used up all of the space available within the frame of the phone.

And as you can see from this picture, the battery really is large in comparison to the rest of the phone. And you can also see how the phone appears to be mostly unibody construction out of steel (?). I'm a big fan of this solid build.

Finally, it's time to move on to software. The S60, as you might guess, is one of my favorite cell phone operating systems of all time. It's reliable, solid, middle-of-the-bunch aesthetically pleasing, and well featured. It doesn't require a touchscreen, which I have a bit of a thing against, yet could easily support one as Nokia develops future handsets. It also has a very good home screen, displaying more useful information than an iPhone but without all the chaotic clutter of a Windows Mobile handset. Same comes to application support... it has less programs than found for a Windows Mobile device, yet the implementation of the applications is much better on a S60 device than even an iPhone in most cases. It's basic applications, including a calendar, are excellent. It also supports VOIP on a better level than Windows Mobile or the iPhone (which barely does at all).

The only problems with S60 are it's occasional sluggishness. Also, to many unfamiliar with the system, the shortcuts don't make themselves apparent for quite some time. Also, it appears like every other cell phone to users of Windows Mobile or Palm OS devices (who consider themselves to be the "true" smartphone users). That's part of what I find in the beauty of a S60 device. The way it can blend in with other phones with a superior design, yet best the rest when it comes to actual feature capabilities.

As you can see, themes are quite simple to setup and personalize. While it occasionally isn't the most visually appealing, a custom wallpaper is possible for the home screen.

GPS certainly shines on the E71. Once the Nokia Maps application started, it took only about 10-20 seconds for the device to get a satellite lock. It utilizes aGPS to obtain a faster fix, and this works wonders. Once a fix it acquired, all the other features of Nokia Maps really shine. As far as GPS programs on a phone go, this piece of software is above the rest on a level I cannot even begin to describe. Google Maps on iPods and iPhones cannot do justice to the navigation features available on this device. Maps are either stored offline on a memory card prior to using the application, or are downloaded over-the-air from the maps server using WiFi or the cellular network.

Voice navigation is a standout feature of Nokia Maps as well... voices for lots of languages are available, which really stands out to me. Because that means that in addition to an intuitive application, they've also made it accessible on a global level. If you want to find a gas station nearby, just type in gas. If you want to browse for stuff, you can do that too. Satellite imagery is possible, if you want that as well. A night-mode which makes all of the screen become darker and the colors change to reduce glare is a feature added in. In short, this navigation system simply works... and it's beautiful how well it all functions.

Returning back to how it works on the E71... it's amazing that Nokia built in as great of a GPS receiver into as thin a device as this is. Where did they find the space? How did they make it so good at acquiring a fast GPS fix? I don't know but I love them for it.

Nokia Sports Tracker is quite an amazing piece of software. That said, there's not much to talk about it... it tracks your progress in physical activity, plotting your fastest, slowest, highest elevation, and lowest elevation points on your journey when you view the run online. But it is quite buggy. For example, that above picture shows when I had started Sports Tracker with the (not so smart) idea of tracking how fast I could take my motorcycle to. I pulled out of the parking structure, turned east, went about 5 miles, then turned south onto the freeway when the program decided to stop recording data points. This is a frequent problem, and I can only blame it on the program's beta status being responsible for this bug. It's free, though, so I'm fine with dealing with it.

Another piece of software that I like to call "experimental" is the We:Offset application. Installed on your phone, it allows you to input your CO2 emitting activities such as travel by airplane or car manually, or having the program automatically detect such travels. It then basically tells you how much you've harmed the environment, and gives you an option to donate to an environmental cause which will offset your emissions.

Now, I admire Nokia's noble intentions for this piece of software. However, I can't imagine anyone actually downloading and installing this program on their handset of their own accord. Preinstalled, I can see this program only being used by a handful... especially here states-side, where the prices given for offsetting my environmental damage is presented in euros. It's a great program, but I really think that Nokia should be putting more effort elsewhere... like offering a lifetime warranty for Nokia Maps or at least reducing the costs for the various available licenses.

In terms of Media, the E71 is lackluster. It's design exterior certainly doesn't lead me to expect a boring media browser. I expected a more animated and aesthetically pleasing browser as found on the latest N-Series devices. That would have been a feature I wished Nokia had installed.

I'm glad, though, that Nokia did put a familiar MP3/Audio player in the E71. It's the same I had in my Nokia N82, and I'm happy to find it here. Gone is the awkward E62's MP3 player, while new is the much more feature packed and streamlined player. It even supports album art, which is a bit difficult to setup, considering a direct export out of iTunes will not automatically attach the image to the MP3 file.

In conclusion... I'm left wondering who this device was exactly targeted for. Nokia seems to have hit all the bases required in a device of this type, yet didn't hit exactly all of them with the same approach that might have thrown this device into one category over another. While it's attractive exterior might attract the design conscious, it's bland media browsing leaves a fair amount to be sought. And while the phone seems as solid as a chunk of steel, it certainly wasn't made for the outdoor explorer with it's lacking camera and what may end up being damage-prone keys.

What I'm left feeling is that this is a business phone... but only for someone working in the right field of work. Design is valued, as are features. But an obsession with design isn't really the necessary bit here... which makes me believe that it could easily find itself in the pockets of mobile professionals, or at least cubicle dwellers who do much of their work away from their desk yet don't rely on their phone to do everything. Because, let's admit, with a stereo jack on the side of a handset, audio playback isn't really a big attraction. I'm glad Nokia at least kept the jack a 2.5mm one, because someone using a nice pair of headphones with a device like this would simply be ridiculous.

So to chop that down... this is a very solid handset, with great features, but many of the appealing design aspects are lost further into the handset's software, which left me slightly disappointed.

My next review will be of the Nokia E90... the E71's older and larger brother, and hopefully I will figure out if these new E-Series devices are actually targeted more at individual power users as opposed to business consumers.