Nokia E71 Review & Nokia E66 Unboxed
It’s amazing. When I started this blog about two years ago very little attention was given to Nokia’s Eseries devices. There was little anticipation and speculation before the device launches. Even the Eseries device announcement received relatively little coverage in the blogosphere as well as other media. What a difference two years make.
Leading up to the announcement of Nokia E66 and Nokia E71 was a number of speculations, including leaked imagines. Now, a few days after Monday’s launch event the never dissapointing crew at All-About-Symbian has scored the first full featured review of the Nokia E71. This is an excellent, in-depth review well worth the read.
I can also recommend the first unboxing ritual of the Nokia E66. There is a video and a number of photos over at Symbian World. Instead of going for a boring nuetral background Symbian World chose to celebrate the Summer and take the unboxing photos out on the lawn - Very cool.
June 18th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
thanks for those links
June 18th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
You’re welcome. I’m waiting for mine…
Stay tuned for my own review and more E71 pr0n.
June 18th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
after read the review of E71, quite disappointed of the screen size, too bad.
June 18th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Hi Ed,
I think the first E71 review was done by Boy Genius, it was a 20 minutes long video review in fact. The next E71 review was done by Mobile Review, so the one on All-About-Symbian was the third one maybe. I also found the one on Mobile Review more detailed (as they always do really great reviews).
Best Regards
June 19th, 2008 at 4:06 am
Looks like a great phone to me and a worthy successor to the E61. It was well worth the wait.
However, the E71 will no longer support Blackberry services as mentioned in this report:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7589939
This is a cause for concern as thats exactly what made the E61 so appealing in the first place, the availability of numerous options. Can anyone confirm this?
June 19th, 2008 at 4:07 am
Its sad they dint add the accelerometer and USB 2.0(from AAS) on de E71… anyways… its a cool fone…
June 19th, 2008 at 4:10 am
And gud if they release a camera-free version also….. Please Nokia…
June 19th, 2008 at 9:24 am
I’m in line. I’ve been waiting for this QWERTY 3G E-Series for a while.
Any word on USA availability? (Or availability in general). I see a couple of e-tailers are taking pre-orders.
June 19th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Hi Gergo,
You are absolutely correct! there has been several previews- walkthroughs of the device. I was referring to the first “official” review after the device.
Thanks
June 19th, 2008 at 10:42 am
I’m little dissappointed with E71 keyboard, buttons situated too close one to another. E61’s keyboard was the best, and E61i’s was a little worse. IMHO.
June 19th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
[...] ESeries.com - E66 & E71 link unboxing roundup [...]
June 19th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
hi all, do you know if e66 & e71 will have blackberry connect support ???
thank you!
June 19th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Hi Dzulo,
Per comments here: http://www.e-series.org/archives/473 it will not be supported.
Many organizations now support Exchange ActiveSync. It’s a great BlackBerry BES alternative.
June 20th, 2008 at 12:51 am
Looks like a great phone. Would like to know if AT&T is going to pick it up?
June 22nd, 2008 at 12:48 am
I wondered WHY NOT they name this e71i?? I like the support for microSD (TransFlash), up to 8GB.
June 22nd, 2008 at 11:37 am
Why E71i? Why not E61g (g for the GPS). I don’t understand why letter ‘i’ is given such an important role in prefixing or suffixing model numbers. Well maybe simply E61j.
June 24th, 2008 at 9:58 am
BlackBerry BIS question for E71: So BlackBerry Connect is not included in the software shipped with the phone.
Does that mean it is not compatible with the phone & OS? Has anyone tried to install the latest version of the BlackBerry Connect software onto this phone?
I am not connected to a BES, but I love the push email I get from T-Mobile’s BIS solution for my current E61i. It would be nice to know that I can get push email (for Google, Comcast, etc.) on the E71 using BlackBerry Connect.
What push email alternatives to BlackBerry Connect are available for this platform?
June 25th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Okay, something I really am not grasping. How you have a video of you unwrapping and holding a Nokia E66, and when I go to the Nokia website and check their phone list but it doesn’t appear there, so I run a search for both “e66″ and “nokia e66″ both return no or no relevant results.
How is this so? Like where did you even order it from. Even Google searches only return information about leaked images and adverts and such.
June 27th, 2008 at 9:29 am
@ fred.. there are variety of nokia sites that one might end up at, which does not have the phone released in that country or the site updated. The e71 and e66 has been out for a week now. try http://www.gsmarena.com/
June 27th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Crusty Leonard: Okay, cool. Well where do you live (what country?) and where did you buy the phone from?
June 28th, 2008 at 6:07 am
@ fred. I live in Malaysia. Have not bought the phone yet. My phone dealer has ordered 3 units for next week. Will hold off buying one until I can figure a way to isync it with my MAC. currently using an E61i and i rely heavily on it for work. So i have all my contacts and appointments synched with the MAC. At the moment there’s no plugin available. I imagine it won’t be long.
June 29th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Yipppiieee!!
I’m planning to grab one tomorrow afternoon after work.
I’m now using E61i, and so far it’s been the best phone I’ve ever used.
So, starting tomorrow night, I’ll be experiencing the E71 phone.
July 4th, 2008 at 5:21 am
Just got my E71 to upgrade from the E61i so far LOVE IT!!! still getting used to it software wise
July 4th, 2008 at 6:49 am
Hi,
Got my E71 yesterday, and love it…..except….
Can’t find Blackberry connect software for it anywhere yet. For something that’s supposed to be a ‘Blackberry killer’, that’s a bit of a problem for me, as i can’t switch over to it until it does!
anyone got any links?
July 4th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Ok so this has nothing to do with the e71 or the e66 but i need help , and this is one of the only sites that covers the eseries. Ok so i got an nokia e-70 and was recently in a car accident. the phone fell (not to hard) and got a little bit of coke on it. Ever since than the voice recorder keeps coming on at random times when the phones just sitting there and recorded 300 sound clips on its own!! it also called 4 ppl on its own just today I am restoring the phones software ( doubt itll make a difference) but do u guys have any possible solutions? can i send it to nokia to get it repaired? does it come with a warranty (i bought it from indian but live in canada)? can i open it up to see if maybe the sound recorder button is faulty? thanks for everybody’s help in advance..
July 5th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Everyone - I live in Minnesota, USA and purchased an e71 from a company in Miami. I received the phone just fine and was excited to say the least - but - I soon discovered that it was a European Version and the 3G would not work in the US. I talked with a Nokia rep and he says that no matter what a website says, the US version is not released yet. Try as I might I could not get even a clue as to when it might be released. All he would say is “no date has been announced yet, just keep checking the Nokia USA site. (it made it sound like it would be any day now but that might be wishful thinking) I returned the e71 but can’t wait for the US version - it was so good I almost kept it anyway.
July 9th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Excellent review. I went to the Nokia store in Chicago and had a chance to play with the E71. They could not sell me the phone though because it was not “officially launched”. My question is deciding between the E71 (I am a long time E61 user) or switch over to the N96. Any thoughts on this?
July 10th, 2008 at 3:40 am
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3043/2655565110_c90e835521_m.jpg
Anyone experience this problem?
to emulate this problem, change the camera settings to 1mb then try zoom to about 50% - 80% then try taking shots within this range.
In 0.3mb range it comes out if you use maximum zoom with extended zoom activated.
I want to know if anybody else is experiencing this same problem.
July 10th, 2008 at 5:44 am
I tried to take the image at 1mb and got the same as the link.
July 10th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I got mine couple days ago upgrading from an E61i love it so far best smartphone on the market. Period. But I have one issue mine doesnt pull up name or number from my contacts when i type from the standby screen. I have an E71-1 do I have to turn it on?
July 10th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
The E71 is wayyy tooo gud…. Much Much Much better than E61/E61i…. Its available in India and I got a chance to review the fone. Check out some pics at my new blog http://thegadgetfreak.blogspot.com.
July 11th, 2008 at 4:16 am
OOOhh thanks for E71
Look forward to more E71 pr0n to tempt me from being an iphone fag
July 11th, 2008 at 5:42 am
All,
For thos with an E71 looking for a (currently) free alternative to Blackberry, you could try Nokia’s own email service, which is currently in Beta, and supports the E71!
https://email.nokia.com/
Oh, and I’ve got speed camera warnings working on my e71 Maps! Have emailed the ed of this site with all the details…
July 11th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Nokia really needs to work out whatever they need to with RIM and get the BlackBerry Connect client running for the E71. If this thing gets BB Connect, I will be buying several. Many of us work for companies that only allow access to corporate email through BlackBerry, and would never give out direct access to the MS Exchange Server for something like Mail For Exchange. Come on Nokia, this is a business phone, give us business class email.
July 13th, 2008 at 6:45 am
Nice summary and pics. I think you’ve sold me on the phone. I loved the e65 too. I’m not really an eseries fan but these 2 handsets are awesome. I think because of the size.
Thanks
July 18th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Ed, did you notice that the guy in the video mentions the phone as E76?? pretty wierd…
July 22nd, 2008 at 3:40 pm
E71-2, that is the US version has been released today. $479.99 unlocked! Yes, it is for sure the US version!
July 22nd, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Sweetness!
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:28 am
Hi Ed,
I recently upgraded from an E61 to E71. The browser’s speed is noticeably faster, given the stronger processor. However, what I noticed was that the E71 only has the “Web” browser, and no more “Services” browser– which was present in the E61. Is there a way to access this with the E71?
The only time i saw the revolving globe of the Services browser was when I used the Music Store function. Overall, the E71 is a good buy.
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:11 am
I’ve upgraded from the e61 to e61i and now to the e71. Stereo Bluetooth and internal GPS were missing on the e61i… On the e71, I am missing a few features which were available on the e61i:
- Access point group! Here you could specify Wifi and Cell connections for automatic selection on availablility….
- copy/move email to folder…. ability to select messages and copy them to a folder on your cell…
Nice small phone!
July 27th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Okay e71 is set up, sort of. There is a LOT that this phone does. Two things I can’t figure out. First, when I make a call before it connects I get a message that says “call forwarding activated” like it did on my e61 when I was traveling. Anyone know how to get rid ot that? Second, the e71 comes with a 7 day trial of voice guided Nokia maps. It works great if I want directions to every Burger King or gas station in town but when I try to enter an address to get directions it tells me it can’t find the address. Anyone know how this works? So far (3 days) this phone has been fantastic - just more to figure out than I thought there would be after using an e61 for 2 years.
July 29th, 2008 at 7:48 am
I’m a heavy mobile internet user. Whenever i use my e71 to surf, i would clear all the privacy data after. I noticed however that my remaining phone memory diminishes each time i go on-line. Even when i soft reset, it seems like the temporary cache files don’t reset. Is this normal or does my e71 have a memory leak? How do i clean it up?
July 30th, 2008 at 2:17 am
@keatisk - instead of typing in the address, with the search area blank, hit options then click search. From there, you can select Addresses and do an old school address search.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:23 am
To all, anyone else got any neat tricks they’ve been able to make their E71 or E66 do?
As documented on my blog http://www.raj.jp, I’ve been able to install the beta location tagger as well as the NGage preview.
Roadsync and MFE both installed as well as several IMAP accounts (implementation still broken).
Feel free to leave any experiences you’ve had thus far.
July 31st, 2008 at 5:26 am
Thanks Raj - I will give that a try. I have a question for all e71 users - how is the battery life? I hear great things about battery life but I’m not sure I’m getting what others are. I’m still in the e71 “toy” stage, and just can’t put the thing down so I’m using it a ton but I think I would have trouble getting two days of use out of it without a charge. I’m don’t know if I’m a “heavy” user or not, a normal day would have MFE always on from 7:00am to 6:00pm and checking every 15 minutes in off-peak time. Also checking two other pop3 accounts every 30 minutes. I get weather updates every 4 hours for 3 cities, surf the web for maybe 90 minutes a day and make around 90-120 minutes of calls a day. As I write that I would say that is pretty heavy use so maybe a day and a half of battery is pretty good? Any thoughts out there?
July 31st, 2008 at 7:23 am
keatish-
I would say the battery life seems about equal to my E61. @ home, I primarily use WiFi (and have my calls forwarded to my land line). I haven’t been able to do much out-and-about testing yet. I’m getting about 1.5 days (maybe more, this is a guest-i-mate).
RoadSync (with Push email 24/7)
AgileMessenger (8 hours overnight, not during the day)
And some moderate surfing and goofing around
This is really a great device. I have no idea how they crammed so much functionality into such a small package, but I’m glad they did.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:11 am
I’d say a day is fine. I’ve only run out once now, having forgotten to charge the phone on the night before.
I’m running RoadSync and MFE, connected all the time. Nokia share is supposed to update every 15 minutes. Gmail and 2 other IMAP mailboxes, every 15 minutes, plus podcasting.
I spend a fair time listening to Podcasts and surfing widsets. I charge the phone every night otherwise by noon the next day, the phone is showing low battery.
.. speaking of which, I better charge it now.
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:12 am
I too have had a preview of the device my self a month back… My views of the device can be found at my new blog
http://www.thegadgetfreak.net/2008/07/nokia-e71-in-india.html
August 3rd, 2008 at 4:37 am
It looks like I’m getting about a day and a hlaf out of my battery so I guess I’m doing okay. Two other questions about the e71. On the e61 I was able to move an email into a folder within the messaging app. I can still do that with Mail for Exchange but not with a pop3 account. Anyone figured out how to do that? Also, by holding the *key down I can turn bluetooth on and off but I think by holding the #key down it is supposed to switch between silent and normal, at least it did on the e61. Not so with the e71?
One more thing, when charging the e71 my message notification light comes on very slowly every so often, it doesn’t blink like when I have a message, it just comes on slowly every now and then. Is that to tell me it’s charging or fully charged?
August 5th, 2008 at 10:15 am
1-1/2 days of battery life just didn’t seem right so I did a little checking around and found most people with an e71 are getting several days of use out of a charge. It seems that if you installed mail for exchange as I did the default heartbeat setting is 1. That burns battery so fast you can almost see the bars going down. In the US, if you’re on AT&T you can set the heartbeat interval all the way to 30 and not experience disconnect issues. I changed my setting to 20 just to be sure I didn’t disconnect and I am on my second day with this battery charge AND I’m still at full bars. I have not changed my usage at all, still using the heck out of it and the battery life is beyond excellent.
August 6th, 2008 at 3:24 am
Theres a lot of debate on reception issues on BGR for E71, whats ur say guys?
August 6th, 2008 at 6:10 am
Well, first of all let me say that BGR is a great site, lots of solid info. However, in this case I must completely disagree with the comment posted there that the e71 is known as the worst phone in the RF area. The posts at BGR say that by holding your phone in different ways you get better or worse reception. I think that has been true since the first handheld phones came out. I have had no issues at all in the two weeks I’ve had the e71, if anything I’d say reception is much better than the e61 or e61i. I have tried covering up the bottom of the phone and holding it by the top, no difference in signal at all, full 3G all the way. I have used the phone in Minneapolis, Detroit and Orlando and I get a full signal everywhere I go. I just put an iphone 3G, Moto Q and my e71 side by side, not touching any of them and mine was the only one with full bars. If people really are having trouble with reception I think it must be an individual phone issue not a problem with all e71s.
August 6th, 2008 at 10:56 am
The recpetion for me has been equal to my E61. Battery life is about the same as well, maybe even a bit better.
August 6th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Yes, and even the E61/E61i have an antenna at the bottom, I never had any issues with any of these phones…
August 7th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
If you hold the E71-2 at the bottom, you can definitely see the bars going down. Hold it by it’s sides, and the bars go back up.
However I’m not certain that’s a good measure of its performance. This maybe just how the radio firmware behaves. IOW, it just might be too sensitive and/or need to be tweaked.
As I said above, the reception is identical to my E61, but I never bothered to pay attention to my signal while holding it. It just works.
August 8th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Weighing in. I’m a nokia fan. So much so I took my iphone 3g back and I love how rich the content and feel of the phone but it by no means is a better buy than my E71! I’m a power user, I need to blutooth with more than just a headset… I need to tether. I need video cameras installed. Audio recorders installed. I need accurate gps. I need multi email account retrieval and just a bunch of other stuff that the Mighty E 71 can do with out crashing. My iphone crashed every day. This one, maybe once every few days as it adjusts to all the apps I download and then remove if they aren’t useful. It’s just a matter of time when the iphone device takes over completely. Until then, I’m smokin all Iphones in my area… plus the form factor of the 71 is just PIMPISH!
E Seventy One IS the NOKIA Phone that I have been waiting for.
August 8th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
I totally agree. The E71 is the phone I was waiting for. My E61 was just my practice phone…my training wheels phone.
It’s really a brilliant device.
September 1st, 2008 at 3:40 am
having had the e71 a few day, hooking it up to voip and exchange its as functional as my e61. However having problems with the gps - seems to only use network based gps? I use google maps. In noka map - no gps but when i see the positioning it has contact with 7 satelites!
Also, any tips on receiving my mailbox in standby mode? I only get new mails like i did on the e61. am i doing something wrong?
Else, love the phone! Sitting on the train now… Working great with turbo 3G in sweden. Played with the blackberry bold…. It was super clumsy.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Finally got my E71… no regrets! Great phone.
One thing (i’m sure there will be more) but does anyone happen to know if Nokia has left out the ‘access point groups’ setting (which was available on the e61i) or is it somewhere I don’t know about? Thanks
September 29th, 2008 at 6:06 am
Recently got my E71 on 3. Have a couple of slight issues:-
1). Have corrupted the memory card that was supplied by 3 - could anyone give me a copy of the files which were originally on there?
2). When charging the battery, it never reaches fully charged status even if left to charge overnight - longer sometimes.
Any help appreciated