Nokia E70
One of the most under appreciated Eseries devices in my opinion is the Nokia E70. The device has all the required features; camera, WiFi, expandable memory, 3G etc. The Nokia E70 also run the most important software including corporate email applications such as Mail For Exchange, BlackBerry Connect etc. All in all it is a very capable device.
But my favorite feature is the fold-out, full QWERTY keyboard.
Anyway, I don't think I am alone and I expect many Nokia E70 users feel this way. We wonder why the E70 is not a runaway hit.
Maddox, who runs the satirical blog "The Best Page In The Universe" seems to agree with me. He has written a blog post about Nokia E70 in comparison to the iPhone.
I should warn those of you who are not familiar with Maddox blog. It's pretty crude and his jokes can be quite rough and a bit profane. If you are easily offended, this is not for you but if you have tolerance towards humor, sarcasm and can stand some cuzzing then take a look at his blog post about the Nokia E70 and the iPhone.
Thanks Malcom~!
iPhone - Nokia E70 Comparison chart.
August 25th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
E70 has a really great mega high res screen too. Well, it is great if you have no problems reading the teeny tiny text.
I think there is a reason the E70 is not very popular. The keyboard is poor compared to the E61(i), or requires a lot more getting used to. The phone itself is really quite thick and cumbersome. Main problem is slow response, when you open the keyboard it can take a second or two before the phone decides to rotate the screen. Flipping open the keyboard actually eats 4MB of RAM, which is 20% of what you have! I can see a few low memory errors on the horizon for E70 power users.
Flawed in my opinion.
August 25th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
I think E70 is the best phone after using 6310i till its grave. I am so addicted to the keyboard that I cannot use any other phone from now on.
August 25th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
I have the E70 and I agree that it is awesome. However the low internal ram is a problem. i have had programs close on me do to memory issues. Why is the Smartphone manufactures so stingy on internal RAM? Also can someone recommend a AIM chat client?
August 25th, 2007 at 7:11 pm
I _love_ my RM-24 E70. However, it DOES annoy me that Nokia seems to have chosen to cut off support for this phone. Although there are known firmware updates for RM-10 they haven’t made it to RM-24. What gives? It’s pretty poor behavior on the part of any company to cutoff support for a product after less than a year of existence. Nokia, I love your phones, but if you can’t get it together to understand that this sort of thing is LAME, then I’ll start buying from companies like Apple who do NOT do this sort of thing.
My suggestion for Nokia. Make FEWER different models, and support them BETTER. You situation reminds of the mid 90’s Apple. A product line which is broad, fragmented and confusing. Consider fewer, more carefully thought out models with better support.
Also iPhone performance is WAY beyond the E70. E70 battery life is WAY better than iPhone. How about a way to kick up the performance on E70 when I want performance over battery life.
August 25th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
The E70’s keyboard blows all the candybar and hockeypuck phones’ keyboards out of the water. It might take a little getting used to…as you do with all small keyboards…but the position of your hands while typing is vastly more comfortable than the finger-scrunching nail-clicking frustrationfest on the E6*’s, Treos, and Blackberries. The only key-related issue is the joystick…it’s nowhere near as nice to use as the new-style directional pad. Unfortunately I have to agree with the complaints of ridiculously low memory. I have a 2gb SD card…why oh why can’t that be used as some sort of paging system? Still, I have no intention of replacing my beloved E70 anytime soon.
I’ve heard that the Nokia store in NYC is no longer selling the US E70. I know a guy who had to comb Craigslist and eBay to find a replacement for his lost one. He found one on Craigslist eventually, but it was the Euro version (no 850mhz). I seriously hope that Nokia isn’t abandoning this form factor!
August 26th, 2007 at 12:57 am
Damn i love my E70 ! It is by far the best phone i have ever had. Sure it has quirks like the poor joystick and the minimal RAM, but compared to all other phones out there, it still beats them all. My E70 is my….
Phone - i love voicedialing !
Email - Profimail rocks ! (Best email client i have ever seen on a phone !)
SMS - my thumbs fly on the E70 keyboard
Websurf - Opera Mini browser
GPS Navigation - Nav4all or Activepilot
SSH client - putty and i can SSH onto our servers at work
RSS Reader - i use Bloglines, which works great via the browser
Addressbook & Calendar - Syncs perfect with my Apple Macbook
Notes - I send shitloads of texts via BT to my E70 for later reading
Access my Mac @ home - Soonr is so awesome
If i could change something on the E70…
Better Joystick (way too many false clicks that turn into moves !)
Faster Processor (phone could be snappier)
More RAM (no more memory errors, even tough they are seldom for me)
Thinner. It’s not really fat, but would be nice if it were thinner.
I have lost interest in new phones because so far nothing compares to the E70. I am tempted to try the iPhone once i have been properly hacked and i have tested the keyboard.
Enjoy,
Jay
Heidelberg, Germany)
August 26th, 2007 at 4:35 am
Yes, the E70 is indeed an under-appreciated device which Nokia has treated shabbily. In reality, it is the greatest phone feature by feature with a blowout screen, the best of both the E and N-series, and a QWERTY keyboard which is infinitely more comfortable to use than the cramped E61’s which Nokia screwed up badly at the design stage (Sorry! Mr Hussein Jodiyawalla, you could not have been more absurdly wrong on this score). Also great stereo speakers with great sound
The only downside is inadequate RAM as compared to the phone’s internal memory of 64MB, and the delay in switchover from portrait to landscape. The joystick is also an irritant. I have the E61 and the E50 as well, but it is the E70 that I love the most. I can never think of sacking it.
August 26th, 2007 at 9:13 am
I guess coming from two Treo 600s and a Treo 650 I’m biased towards the E61(i)’s keyboard layout. Each to their own, eh.
On the face of it the E70 and E61i are actually pretty similar. Only real difference I see is the E70 has moving parts, loses 4MB RAM when flipped open, is thicker and has a slightly lower battery life. E61i has a slightly lower res screen, is wider and has a mono speaker.
They’re both decent.
August 26th, 2007 at 10:32 am
Hey folks! Judged by the nature of responses from all we E70 owners, isn’t there a a good case for an E70i?
Well, if Nokia could relent to release an E61i, a minor upgrade to the flawed E61, there is every reason to believe that a vastly improved E70i could rekindle the interest of loyal E-series fans.
My gut feeling is that Nokia has always produced great phones more by accident than conscious design (eg. the 6600). The Finnish giant has over the years invested the bulk of its resources in the N-series, most of which proved to be crudely designed duds. Take the N90, N91, N93. Truth to tell, except for the N70 and the N73, the N-series has failed to make the desired impact. Even the N95 lacks real class like the iPhone.
The E-series phones are the best that Nokia has ever produced.
August 26th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
I like the E70 the biggest problem is that its tri-band and the US version is harder to find and more expensive than the e61.
August 26th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
I just wish that us E70-2 owners get a new FW update like the guys with the E70-1.
other than that i love my E70.
August 26th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
Love my E70 , the only draw back it’s stick has died , prefer it over my E61 because of Camera , better Wifi Coverage and ease of putting it in trouser or shirt pocket and no more why are you talking to your calculator jokes
August 26th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
With the latest software flipping open the keyboard doesn’t eat 4MB of memory any more. Not that it helps much. I constantly run out of memory and can hardly open any websites in the browser because of this. It isn’t possible to run things like Jaiku in the background at all because eventually no other apps will open. Seems that something is leaking memory over the space of a few days.
August 26th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Finally some appreciation for the E70. Everyone looks at me like I have some flying brick in my hand when in fold closed mode. As soon as I open the phone and use the qwerty keyboard people change and say how nice the phone is. It is a joy to use this phone. The active standby, MFE sync and Blackberry work like a charm. Was the 6820 and 6822 a bigger success? I remember when I had the 6820 I felt unique again because nobody had it. I do not get why the E70 is not a success. Nokia claimed in an official press conference that they learned from their mistakes and will not repeat them. .Apparently, people do not like the E70 form factor that much. What can I say? The majority always decided. One thing I hate about this phone. Once you go qwerty you can never go back and the fact that you have no desire to change your phone. It is so complete and it keeps its price.
August 27th, 2007 at 2:15 am
I really would like to have a new version of E70 with the same processor as in Nokia E90. It still rocks - and it is my first phone I DON’T want to change. (Only for E70i
August 27th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Are you guys using the Nokia browser or Opera Mini for web surfing?
the only time i get out of memory is when i have a bigger program running in the background. other than that i can have MSN Live Messenger and Nokia browser running all day without crashing or out of memory errors.
August 28th, 2007 at 1:57 am
Been Speaking on the E 70 every time I post. Glad to hear yall reppin the HOTTEST PHONE NOKIA HAS.. Not hating on the E61i or n95 cuz it DOOOOOPE!!! THe E 70 is just tops. THe Screen resolution/pixels or whatever..un matched! Just BRILLIANT. I’ve even posted videos to youtube taken with the phone and posted by the phone. IPhones get smoked when sending messages or mails. I have friends who have challenged me.
The Ram and lack of Nokia support SUX and the way they intro’d the phone, took and extra year and a half to finally release it and then followed other marketing successes like the Treo Killing E 61i is why people aren’t into it. Timing is everything but I don’t dislike any of these new devices ….also, having a keyboard is an absolute must so the flip out wins hands down. Way more comfortable in my pocket than a 61i or Treo and it takes much less time to execute..copy/paste etc. I’ve used those, Cingular 8125 and nothing touches the E 70. I never understood they allure of ringtones when you can make your own.. maybe the world hasn’t figured that out but Bravo to my fellow 70 users.
Yall know what time it is!
August 28th, 2007 at 2:08 am
And if yall didn’t know, nokia.com has a version of the Nokia Multimedia Transfer package available that works with Mac first time..no additional anything needed and you can transfer Itunes and Iphoto files back and forth and all I can say is it has made my experience with the Mac..seamless!
August 28th, 2007 at 8:49 am
Yeah, another E70 love/hate-er.
The form-factor is just great, but the lack of RAM makes it a real pain to use. The worst thing is that it’s still the best thing on the market.
Mine has a dying battery, and the joystick is getting unresponsive, but I can’t find anything to replace it. When the iPhone comes out in the UK I will try that, but what I really want is an E70i.
August 28th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
I think the reason for the not-really-overwhelming success of the E70 is quite simple: IT IS UGLY. Coming to this world with an exterior from the last century the E70 stands in the corner of the geeks… “and I do not mean that in a small way, I mean it in a big way”.
I have bought my E70 (2007) without having seen it before in real life. Read about the specifications on the internet and could not believe that I haven’t heard anything about this killermobile before. For me there are just two different kinds of phones on our planet. The ones that are tiny and look *nice* and the E70, of course. I can do literally everthing I want on a mobile with it (call my beloved ones from abroad using my own line via asterisk (for free), download and listen to my favourite podcast on-the-fly, restart my server just because I can) and I am able to put it in my pocket.
So Nokia, put the E70i in a nice shape, tell the world about it (mention a few multimedia-features of the E70) and you will have the iphone-killer for x-mas! And yes: I am a geek, fellows.
August 29th, 2007 at 1:46 am
I had Nokia 6800 for 3 years and even if it was an old phone i didn`t wanted to changed because there was no phone on the market with this form-factor .. until Nokia launched E70, and i moved fast to it.
The v3 firmware fixed alot of issues and maybe a 4th one will solve the rest of the small remaining issues (ram consumption and the delay on keyboard opening).
Tring to use as little ram as possible i use programs like Fring (messaging), Spodtronic (internet radio), Truphone (voip), Quickmark (mobile barcode).
The VOIP on this phone using Truphone works like a charm. The Wi-Fi is another strong point, but unfortunately you can only use one connected program at a time. Maybe an firmware update will let us use simultaneous connections. Ah .. and a codec update would also be great (i can`t play video files made with N95).
Anyway .. i`m not going to change it until Nokia will launch an E70 succesor.
August 29th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Steve……turn off the phone…..immerse a cotton swab into some rubbing alcohol and clean the area around the joystick. let it soak even. then wait for it to dry off and the turn the phone back on. it should be more responsive again.
do this at your own risk of course. i have done it a couple of times and its worked great for me. you can do it to the hinges on the keyboard as well.
September 1st, 2007 at 8:01 am
I love my E70, although its @ the Nokia Service Center at the moment because of the joystick ;-(
Currently I’m using a E50 until my E70 comes back. Come back soon baby!
I’d love to see a E70-successor and full ack regarding the keyboard: I’m able to write with it better than with any other phone except the communicators.
September 1st, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Well, i agree. The E70 is the best cellphone ever. But more RAM and a bit more processor would be much better.
I imported this phone from europe almost one year ago. It’s very hard to find it here in Brazil. Only a few months ago they started to sell it here and is very rare to find.
I think we could create a forum or a site to discuss about E70, the applications that runs better, some tricks… The foruns that i’ve visited rarely have a topic for E70 and when they have, nobody posts.
September 2nd, 2007 at 3:05 am
I can’t delete mail from e70 folder! help me!
September 3rd, 2007 at 2:01 am
I dont have sounds anymore when I lock the keyboard. Yes warning tones are enabled. Flashed the phone 3 times and performed a couple of hardware reset and no result. I have all the sounds except that one. I think everything started when I installed a dumb auto key lock software. Every time it locked my keys my phone started playing some short fancy tone. Since i uninstalled and performed everything I mentioned above, bye bye, keylock warning sound. ….could I just be imagining things and the latest OS does not have the warning sound?
September 4th, 2007 at 6:02 am
I am another die-hard E70 follower and I love the phone (having progressed through 6800, 6820, 6822 and now E70). The phone is fanatastic including the often mentioned VoIP support which really reduces roaming charges abroad.
Now, why is this phone not a big seller? Because it is neither a good voice-centric phone nor a good data-centric device. Let me put it simply, most people who use data/email a lot prefer the blackberry form factor (E61). Most people who use the phone for voice, prefer the candybar factor. When you give them something inbetween they get confused and do not buy even though the device is good.
The E70 is a nice compromise between the two but as a compromise it cannot sell too well. Its screen is too small for decent web surfing or photos/video and it is too big to be used as a regular phone. Thus, the only people who love it, are us, the geeks.
I think Nokia should follow on the E70 with a smaller, 6820 style phone, with a 320×240 or a square screen that is small, fast, instanteneous but at the same time has all the flexibility of Series 60. This will then be the smallest full-features blackberry phone, with good multimedia, etc.
The big screen guys should go to the E61i and the iPhone. It is still idiotic though to have a 2.8″ screen at 320 and a 2.1″ screen at 416 ?!
September 18th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
is there a E70 model that has Both 850Mhz and 900MHz?
I can’t use it because I often travel around in the world…
why can’t they just put 850 and 900 together? this is a business phone!
September 28th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Hello Everyone!
I have bought an E70 nine month ago and won an E61i three month ago.
I see greater potential in - and I am compassionate about - the E70, but E61i software is more stable.
I am putting together a summary but here is the exeuctive summary:
Both phones have the same amount of memory, but E61i has 20 megs free after 2 days, while the E70 should be restarted daily.
the solution is to release the E61i software for the E70. The E70 and the E61 (without the i ) already has the same firmware number!!!
Let’s lobby for this!
October 12th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
E70 is the very BEST phone hands down! It does so much and it does most of these items very well. Never had an issue with it except after 1 1/2 years it’s starting to get worn out but I can’t even think of buying another phone except another E70. Darn they stopped selling them! The I phone sucks and PDA are just too dam big. Well guess I’ll just have to wait till they upgrade the E70 or buy another on e-bay
October 22nd, 2007 at 1:34 am
I’m very fond of my E70 and I use it with GPS as well. The only problem is that Smart2go (and Nokia maps) doesn’t support the E70 anymore and after I installed the latest firmware upgrade, the previous versjon doesn’t work any longer.
November 2nd, 2007 at 11:50 pm
E70 is the best, Nokia sucks for cutting support!
I agree with that blog LOL especially about the shitty support Nokia has for this phone!!
November 5th, 2007 at 7:33 pm
Gosh man, it looks like mine Old
Nokia 6800, paint is badly peeled,
no alternative 2 change fone
housing. Bought in 2002 btw,
yep. . .still Lov it though !
Coz it turned quite a few heads
in its time, * a fone that opens up*
n that got me
quite a few cute chicks too yah.
Chicks were greatly impressed
by mine gizmos.
Pete N.
December 16th, 2007 at 10:04 am
This is the perfect example on how a good product becomes a lemon just because somebody in Nokia decided that there was a better way to go. Let’s look at what is around in the market:
1. Blackberry is the stupidest cell phone I’ve ever seen: I it is impossible to write anything because the buttons are so small you end up pressing something else; on other hand is impossible dial a number because… again the buttons are too small.
2. Iphone is a “toy”.
3. Looking at other E series products:
a. E90: too big
b. E5X,E65: Where is the keyboard?
c. E61: Why Nokia wants to make a Blackberry?
Nokia get smart. Don’t let go one if the best product you have come out just because of lack of support.
This is just my humble opinion
January 11th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
My E70 has old firmware and is so slow, but I still love it.
Ive never seen anything so easy to text with so I`m holding out
for an updated model. (unlikely I know)
People that see my phone think its a cool phone since you don`t see many
of them in the UK.
Come on Nokia, bring out the E70i and stop being boring !
January 12th, 2008 at 2:40 am
Does anyone know if there is a new Nokia phone coming out with the same type of keyboard? I agree that the E70 keyboard is absolutely one of best seen on mobile phones. Like many people have said, the idea of going back to a “numeric” keyboard is almost scary. Some people say that the E70 is large, but hey, it’s got the full keyboard and you can still keep it in your trouser pocket unlike eg. a communicator.
I’ve had stability issues and memory issues with my E70, eg. the joystick stops working in one direction and I have to reboot the phone to get it working again. Battery life is also very limited, after talking for one hour it’s time to recharge if you want to talk some more.
One thing that occured to me is that Nokia could modify the “next” E70 so that you could operate it like a clam-type mobile, that is you would just open it and have the speaker and the microphone at the opposite ends of the keyboard, in addition to the present arrangement. It’s much easier to talk to a “long” mobile than to a short one, especially if one is outside and wearing winter gear.
I really hope we are going to see a new E70.
February 4th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Chris said it right! These days it seems that cell phones are just disposable products. Nokia, Ericsson, Motorolla…are all coming out with newer models rather than updating existing models to perform better…..its all about the bottom dollar and that is very unfortunate. I am willing to pay for updated firmware to make the phone work better and last longer, but I hate to cough over another $500-$900 for a new phone that will be supported for only a year.
When I have paid around US$600 for my E70, I expect to use it for a good few years like a laptop. But now, after a year and half, the phone is not even functional as a phone…it reboots on me after a 15 minute conversation and I have nothing running on it. The joystick is a joke, and there has not been an update to it since for ever.
I bought my E70, because it had all the features possible under the sun at the time, looked like a phone (not a blackberry), had a full keyboard and high res screen. I don’t care about the size as much as I care about form and function and even more important SUPPORT. Not sure if i will go for another Nokia phone. The 9500 had the same fate and I had to download firmware from germany to get blackberrry connect on it (which was advertised as a feature).
I think between the E70 and E90, Nokia has two of the best designs out there (Touch screen just does not do it, and neither does hand writing recognition). But they do need to take one big advice from Blackbery and Apple….Add a freaking spell checker and auto correct to your email. and DO NOT create an E-Series BUSINESS phone without a good input method. and finally and most importantly, Support us poor folks in North America……We like all the latest functionality too.
February 7th, 2008 at 3:36 am
I can’t believe you called Maddox’s site a blog..
March 7th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
1) This phone has no middle ground - either you LOVE IT your you HATE IT. There is no mass market for it. There fore Nokia decided to drop it. However - you would see of an Asian manufacturer picks up the design and upgrades the phone with modern standards it could become a hit.
2) Nokia was designed back in 2005. Still one of the top phones around.
3) Best designed work horse phone for typing addicts with bigger-than-average fingers (who don’t want to get blackberriosis disease to your fingers, pain like hell)
4) Overall Nokia’s bad decission to drop this model.
April 21st, 2008 at 7:34 am
Since 2006, I am looking for a E70 to buy. Could someone tell me where can I get it?
Thank you