No doubt that Nokia E71 has created a big impact in the cell phone market. First of all what I see, there are many things which is very different from a normal phone. I am not challenging the fact that, it is branded as smart phone. It comes with a good keyboard.
So, typing short documents and messages are much more easy. It comes with a very good web browser. Compared to its previous predecessor E50 (again a very good one) the browser is of a very good quality. In terms of setting emails accounts it is a breeze if you have a gmail account.
It has Microsoft Exchange support, which makes it unique among S60 devices. So, to start with everything seems to be quite appealing. Yet, one of the most important thing is its battery life. Coming from the Nokia family it is not a surprise.
But a phone which has so many features can still carry the battery for 3 or 4 days under normal usage is quite incredible.There is no doubt a person, who just bought the phone can be overwhelmed by the features it provides. One gets a satisfaction that, he has bought a portable computing device. He is carrying a computer anywhere he is going.
But I think there are downsides too. The coverwhich come by default is not very user friendly. You have to use bothyour hands to strip it down and start attending the call. This is not a welcoming thing, esp when you are driving or having your meals.
he form factor is not congenial to easy handling. You never get a feeling that the device is held firmly in your hand. The reason being its very smooth mettalic finish, which offers a great aesthetic appeal. I have my phone connected to the corporate email exchange server. Many a times, I have seen the phone failing to respond when it is communicating to the exchange server.
For security reasons, the phone gets locked when youare connected to the exchange server. This is big problem, as with one hand one has to type in the four letter password to get it open. Yet another thing I observed sometimes, it resets its time itself. The same problem was there with my E50 as well. Seems there is some bug in the software.
So to conclude, it is a phone for the executives, who can do more things with this small computing device. But for a casual user, who isnot really looking for so much of sophistication, it is an overkill.Also, if you are planning to buy the phone plan to shell out the GPRSrentals, as the phone is complete only with an internet connection.