Sivart wrote:HelloI am due an upgrade on my Orange contract in early September &, obviously, I am looking at all their available phones one of which is the Nokia E71.
My last 3 phones have been from HTC on windows 5, 6 & 6.1. My current phone is the HTC Tytn II which is touchscreen & great but too big. In addition I am getting bored with touchscreen as I think it is over rated & distracting phone manufacturers in their attempt to be' iphone killers'. Frankly, it is not needed.
Sorry about the rant, but to get back to the question I must have read about 10 reviews of the E71 & they all think this phone is great, apart from the Blackberry connect thing which is totally irrelevant to me as I presume I can schedule the phone to check my BT email at intervals I decide.
So my question to those who have been using the E71 is - is that good & would I be disappointed if I got it.
I've had my E71 for nearly two weeks now and my experience so far has been very good. I also have an E90 and wanted a smaller 'backup' phone to save lugging my 'brick' around at the weekends or when I go away.
I find I can do pretty much verything on the E71 that I can on the E90. I have no need for the BB email and the 'out of the box' email solution works just fine for my IMAP and POP3 email accounts.
The 'qwerty' key pad was a priority in choosing the phone and although the keys are considerably smaller than than those on my E90, I get on just fine with typing out lengthy emails and texts.
Its not until you actually have the E71 in your hand that you fully appreciate just how small and compact the phone is, and yet still being comfortable to hold and use with one or two hands.
There are times when I miss the collosal screen of the E90, but I find that I am managing quite well with the E71's screen. Its an acceptable compromise for me, considering just how small and conveniently the E71 can be slipped into a pocket (even when inside its slip case).
I am using Garmin XT mobile navigation software and have not had any problems so far. The GPS receiver seems just as responsive as my E90's and also makes use of A-GPS downloads. Voice instructions are louder on the E71 too. Probably because the speaker is positioned on the top edge of the phone I guess, but generally the speaker volume is louder anyway.
The camera is 3.2MP like the E90 and I've used this alot for work purposes, quite happilly. Video recording is not on a par with my E90 but suffices for my needs.
The only draw back that I have noticed is that the signal reception can fluctuate depending on how I hold the phone - more so compared to other Nokias that I have owned. The signal will frquently drop from 4 or 5 bars on the indicator, down to zero when holding the bottom of the phone. This is more of a niggle than anything else though as luckily I live and work in areas with good signal strength. I would imagine that this would cause problems with call drop outs and data connection in areas where coverage was not so good - maybe something to watch for if you are considering buying an E71. The E90 also suffers from the same problem (when held in open position with both hands) and so I'm kind of used to it now.
Generally, the E71 is a damn good phone and its quick - very quick. Navigating through menus and opening programs is pretty much instantaneous and noticibly quicker than my E90. I'm suprised to admit it but I find myself using this 'back-up' phone more often than the E90 now. On the plus side though, both phones take the same battery - so at least I always have a fully charged spare for the E71 and a very expensive qwerty kyeboard charger!
So to answer your question, yes the E71 is really that good - well at least for me. If you want a small qwerty key pad, non Blackberry phone then I believe that you will not be dissappointed.