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The E71 brought me back to Symbian again

5 replies · 5,123 views · Started 06 August 2008

PDADoc 06 Aug 2008, 23:25

Due to my relationship with Nokia over the years, I have more than a few of these devices in my desk drawer (N95, N82, E61i, E51, E90), but I always had more than a few gripes about them (too big, don't need multimedia or fancy camera, no qwerty keyboard) and tossed them in a drawer.

With the introduction of the E71, however, that might be about to change. Sure, there are a couple of small things about the device I don't like (i.e., the size of the keyboard or that it's a fingerprint magnet), but it has come closer to what business professionals need than any of the others, save the E90, and that was too large for me.

I'm a medical professional and I just wish that Skyscape and Epocrates would include the S60 platform in their arsenal of products. It's the one glaring reason I keep returning to Windows Mobile, no shortage of medical software. While I'm testing this device out, I'll have to go back to writing prescriptions by hand and using actual books for medical reference.

But I have to say that this device is a darn good start.

timsalmon 07 Aug 2008, 19:45

Welcome back Doc!

If there's one thing that I'd trade off with the E71, it's making it a little bigger (maybe so the whole depth of the unit is the same depth as the point where the camera is?) in exchange for a 5MP camera (with good quality software so one could expect similar results that can be acquired with the N95), so I could finally not have to bother with a Compact Digital. Of course, the camera is most adequate in many ways, but it just isn't quite what it could be. This is also true of the gorgeous E66. I'm not bothered about the music, gallery and video being a step behind (unlike some other people), but the camera being 'up there' would have just been a real nice touch.

Hope you stick with Symbian this time.

Tim

PDADoc 07 Aug 2008, 20:47

Hi, Tim.

I want to make this work, I really do, as there are so many positives to the device/Symbian OS. But there are just as many limitations for me, as well. I'm not partial to any device or operating system, unlike many of the fanatics out there, I feel that they all bring something good to the table in one way or another.

But if I cannot adequately use said device seemlessly in my everyday professional life, then what good is it? Again, unlike many people, I don't purchase devices for the fashion factor or to be the first one to get it; my life is far too hectic for such nonsense. The biggest stumbling block for me with the Symbian OS is the dearth of medical software. Love it or hate it, Windows Mobile was one-stop shopping for me; every app I needed, prescription writing software, medical reference software up the wazoo and more coming everytime.

To me, as good as it is, Symbian is still a fringe market, at least here in the U.S.

When I visit Nokia in Finland, or whenever I'm at a medical conference in Europe, I'm always amazed at the market saturation that the Symbian OS enjoys. They, however don't seem to think the same of the the USA. Almost none of their devices offered US-based 3G until very recently, and even that was only after someone decided that there was money to be made on it.

By contrast, all of my Windows Mobile devices have tri-band 3G (Touch Cruise, TyTN II, S630 Cavalier), even the 16GB iPhone 3G some drug rep gave me last week has tri-band 3G (and for the record, I reported it and it's in my desk until they tell me where to send it).

It's nice to see Nokia opening up their devices more to the US market, but they still hedge their bets with only 900/2100 or 850/1900 bands. It can't cost that much more to incorporate a tri-band radio, and none of the Nokia corporate people can ever give me a satisfactory answer on this. Oh, well.

Anyway, I'm trucking along and hope to stay this time.

blizzardwarning 20 Aug 2008, 22:06

Dear Doctor,

Considering how many phones / pdas you have purchased, as a general question, what is your intuition about a phone such as (but not limited to) the E71 with respect to 3G radio and radiation? Are we still in the early years of empirical discovery akin to the days before anyone knew definitively that smoking was bad for us? Are we humans today's lab rats for tomorrow's generation? Will we all wake up one day with lots of cancer and say, "wow, we should never have used cell phones"?

Best regards,

Blizzard

PDADoc 31 Aug 2008, 17:36

blizzardwarning wrote:Dear Doctor,

Considering how many phones / pdas you have purchased, as a general question, what is your intuition about a phone such as (but not limited to) the E71 with respect to 3G radio and radiation? Are we still in the early years of empirical discovery akin to the days before anyone knew definitively that smoking was bad for us? Are we humans today's lab rats for tomorrow's generation? Will we all wake up one day with lots of cancer and say, "wow, we should never have used cell phones"?

Best regards,

Blizzard

I apologize for the delayed response; I've since left the Symbian platform again and gone back to Windows Mobile. While the E71 is indeed an impressive device, I had too many issues with the availability of the software I need/use on a daily basis: No financial management software, no medical software or prescription writing apps, and --particularly annoying to me personally-- poor subfolder management when dealing with Exchange Mail. I know that DataViz' RoadSync does it (I should know, I bought it), but it does this relatively poorly and not to my personal satisfaction.

I've since thrown the device into the device desk drawer of forgotten devices (along with an E90, N95, and E51). Maybe I'll take it out and use it again, but most likely I'll give it away to a friend or colleague. I'm not a rabid fan of ANYONE'S OS, but WM does much more of what I need it to do.

Blizzard: to answer your question regarding dangers of possible radiation from phones, I'm afraid I'm not at all qualified to answer that. Unlike a lot of people, I have no problem admitting when I do not know something, and I don't know this. The fact is, even the trained experts in this field aren't completely sure what the long- or short-term effects are. Many people read one thing and take it for the gospel, but it's not that simple, nor do many (if any) of said people have the base of knowledge needed to disseminate the information to place it in its proper context.

Bottom line: read what research is out there and try and draw your own conclusions, but take them with a grain of salt. 😉