Nokia E71 (Unlocked)

While Nokia makes a habit of practically defining "featurephone" for the industry, traditionally it's handsets like the N95 that hog all the spotlight, leaving Nokia's few QWERTY phones in the shadows. Not that they've been trying too hard -- while the E62 and E61i have both shipped over here, neither has featured 3G data in US bands, and the E62 even had the distinct pleasure of having WiFi stripped out. Enter E71, the successor to those phones, and Nokia's very first QWERTY device to feature US-friendly 3G.

Nokia is also (finally) taking form factor much more seriously: at 10mm thick, the E71 is one of the slimmest Nokia phones to date, and Nokia claims it's the thinnest QWERTY smartphone on the market. The E71 also attacks the drab, plastic looks of its predecessors with chrome accents and a glossy screen. The phone is incredibly pocketable, and comfortable to hold and use. Of course, with the smaller size Nokia had to cut down on screen real estate and keyboard spacing, but at a QVGA resolution there's little suffering on that front. The keyboard had a much more rigid, clicky feel to it compared to the spongy keys of the E62, and we were virtually typo-free on it within minutes.
With all this concentration on the exterior, Nokia hasn't forgotten the feature overload of old. The E71 includes A-GPS, WiFi, a 3.2 megapixel camera, A2DP Bluetooth, 110MB of built-in memory and a microSD slot. There's also plenty of software to take advantage of all that tech, thanks to the quite-mature S60 platform. It's running 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1, which lacks the screen transition fanciness of FP2, but seems much more stable and usable to us than its fresh-faced successor. Being a business centric device, the E71 comes with a full complement of office, email and PIM software, including a feature to switch on the fully between business and personal accounts, complete with separate mailboxes and home screens.



We'll confess to being spoiled by the iPhone's touch interface -- while there is more customizability and more power at your fingertips with the standard, d-pad controlled S60, there certainly seem to be an abundance of button presses to accomplish even simple tasks, though we never feel lost or confused by the OS. Some of the truly powerful features include Nokia's impressive Maps 2.0 application, the WebKit-powered S60 browser (which even includes an easy-to-use feed reader), and a strong integration with online photo services such as Ovi and Flickr, the former of which even includes geotagging for your photos. Nokia's own music store doesn't yet support the United States, but while the media-playback interface pales in comparison to today's more music-centric phones, playback support is certainly there, including true YouTube and Flash support.
The screen isn't particularly stunning, only 2.36-inches diagonal, QVGA and none-too-bright, but it certainly gets the job done and leaves room for all that QWERTY. Battery life is basically a non-issue, with 20 days of standby, and 10.5 hours of GSM talk, though the 4.5 hours of 3G talk might pose an issue. We didn't really put the processor to the test, but load times for just about everything were quite zippy, especially compared to the E62's consistent sluggishness in loading up simple things like recent calls and the address book.

Overall it's all about your OS of choice and what exactly you want to do with your phone.

Forget about the iPhone (1G, 3G, whatever...) forget about HTC phones, forget about touchscreen, if you need a phone with WIFI who can surf the WHOLE web (yes, including flash sites...), if you need a real GPS phone, if you want to message your friends easily (I've tried typing on the iPhone's virtual keyboard, it sucks ass...), if you want all that then you need a Nokia E71.
The only thing that isn't so good is the camera but it still better the that of the iPhone, so go buy a real camera if you want to take pictures.
And that's all I have to say about that... (:

I have purchased E71 from the buyer. After 48 hrs of payment I have not received the shipping detail from him. He is not responding to emails. I am now asking for the refund.

It is a waste of time and money here.

This Nokia is the most versatile phone I ever have used. Easy to use and you approach it more of curiosity to enjoy its function. You will discover several functions that is out of the ordinary... I love this phone!

The Nokia E-series and N-series smartphones are an excellent alternative to Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Palm OS devices, and several of them far surpass the iPhone's capabilities. The Symbian/Series 60 platform has a user base of over 3 million people worldwide, with thousands of third-party applications available (many for free) and well-established community forums. The E71 in particular is a stellar communicator and mobile computer, for personal and business use.

I have only found a few drawbacks or shortcomings of the E71. First, email: The most glaring omission is the lack of HTML support in the built-in mail client. (There are other mail clients available for S60 that do support HTML email, but I haven't tried any of them yet.) The mail system is also not as full-featured as Blackberry email—e.g., setting an out-of-office autoreply from the handset—but then again, nothing is! Second, SMS and MMS messages cannot be viewed in a "threaded" or "conversation" format—but again, there are third-party solutions to remedy this. And last, there is not a built-in way to switch automatically between the mobile network (GPRS, EDGE, or UMTS/HSDPA) and WiFi (IEEE 802.11b/g) for Internet access; but once more, third-party software solves this problem (SmartConnect seems to work quite well).

I wish AT&T or T-Mobile would carry Nokia smartphones at subsidized prices. There is one MAJOR advantage to buying a non-subsidized GSM/UMTS phone, though: You can use AT&T's MEdia Net data plans, which cost $15 less per month (for unlimited data) than their PDA/Smartphone data service. Saving $180 per year in service cost, and not being locked into a 2-year contract, makes it a lot easier to justify the extra initial cost of a non-subsidized, unlocked handset.

the seller cheated me since the unit is already out of order , I found it out when I received , can ebay help me to refund this product ??????

ive had this phone for about almost 3 weeks now and i love it. it has many features and many more. i love how the phone doesnt lag even though i have tons of things on my memory card. the sound is good and so is the camera. i absolutely recommend it for everyone whos looking for a sleek pda phone.

I buy my Nokia 3weeks ago and was immediately impressed with the number of features available on this phone. I installed a 16gb micro memory card. Now I can use my cell as still or motion camera. Nice Cell . Good camera nice picts.
I love my Nokia E71

I LOVE THIS PHONE!!!...IT IS THE BEST PHONE I HAVE HAD EVER....IT IS VERY SLEEK, COMPACT, STYLISH AND CLASSY. VERY UNIQUE AND I LOVE THE FEATURES LIKE INTERNET AND SO ON AND SO FORTH...TOO MANY TO LIST.

I bought the E71 about 3 weeks ago after looking at the iPhone and a couple of Nokia's N series devices. It's my first smartphone and I'm struggling a bit with the size over my previous small LG flip phone. It still fits easily in my pocket. There is no comparison in functionality with my old phone. I'm still configuring Mail for Exchange but everything else I've tried works quickly and easily. Transferring my sim from my old phone was a breeze. The phone was working within minutes of its delivery to my house. I lost some information when I transferred contacts from my old phone memory to the sim but that could have been user error and doesn't impact my impression of the E71.

Battery life is excellent. My old phone needed to be charged every night and sometimes during the day. The E71 lasted over an entire weekend of use without a charge. I can probably make it through overnight business trips without the charger.

I had no trouble adjusting to the keyboard and can (finally) send text messages without impacting my blood pressure. I was never able to master text entry from a phone keypad.

I've connected it to my home wifi and to one at my office. I've used wifi and 3G to get to gmail and several websites. The view is a bit different from my 24" monitor but it works pretty well.

You might want to spend some time with a symbian manual or guide before purchase. Getting full use from the phone does require some investigation and knowledge of the OS. I suspect I'll be learning how to use it's features for some time. My son owns an iPhone and I have to say that interface seems easier and more intuitive. However, I'm very happy with the E71 for my use.

This US version of the Nokia e71 is a sweet phone. It just feels solid in your hands. It's very sturdy feeling. It has everything you would need in a phone. The only thing it doesn't have is a touchscreen. Which is actually why I like it. Many of theh touchscreen phones lag, sort of like a computer when it's acting slow. It really was irritating. I had a touchscreen phone and decided to sell it and purchase this phone. The battery is excellent, especially for a pda phone. I could use the phone for two days, easy. I could push it to three with normal use. It's rated for 10 hours talk time. It lasts me 2 days solid. That's with me messing with it a lot , trying to figure out all the buttons and features. MP3, FM radio, GPS, it seriously has it all. Email. Instant messaging. It even has DICTIONARY. That has come in handy, too. It's voice activated if desired. It has two modes. One you can set for business and one to set up for personal use. You simply pick which mode you want to be in and you are personalized according to whether you want to be in business or personal mode. You can also personalize your quick access keys. You can put any feature you want on a quick access key. I even have the dictionary on my quick access keys. This phone is very easy to personalize. I've owned Nokia phones before and have always found them durable and dependable. This one just proves me right. I recommend this phone in a big way.

Just a few words: This is the best phone I ever had, so far - works perfectly, synchronizes with Windows and Mac and has it all - a little computer in the palm of your hand. 5 stars.

in his announcement said that prices fell by resecion but the phone was bad and the camera does not work, also takes Demaci to send the package to put a warning and when the package arrived here you could not ask for a refund is a liar and I do not recommend it now because I lost 250 dollars and lied on this phone is really bad, then contacted and told that the phone was bad and no longer responded

I am enjoying my phone I purchased, Amazing phone must I add. They had great communication and super fast shipping, thanks.

This is the best cellphone EVER!!! No Blackberry or Iphone!!!Nokia E71 is here to satay...complete mobile office management, Great Inernet navigation, excellent features, comfy size and weight...Slick!! :)
Three very enthusiastic thumbs up!!! hahaha

I love the phone. Feels very good in my hand. Love the body style. The only thing that is very strange is, to charge it, you have to remove the back cover. I have never seen the phone like that.

It took them ages to ship the item, so that when I finally received it, I was out of the country and had to have it shipped to Europe by my friends - I ended up paying an extra $85 for international shipment and the customs! It turned out to be the most expensive phone I ever bought in my life... I would be more understanding if they answered my e-mail and didn't promise they would ship the next day after receiving the payment.

I love this phone. It was everything that i wanted and expected. Fast wifi and 3g network. Great applications that come with the phone.

Nice phone, I am really like it, one problem --small buttons!
Phone works excellent like I wanted!!!

the phone was exactly how described! great seller and fast shipping!It has everything like it had never been used. So far, its working like new.

I used to have the latest phone out, but while the e71 has been out for awhlie I could not be more pleased. Tons of apps, make sure you spend $25 for Joikuspot which basiclly turns your phone into a router (make sure your phone is unlocked). great when traveling and need to get online. super fast set up. had two email accounts setup within 5 minutes. great camera. only draw back is that the phone does not charge when plugged into the data port. easily fixed with a nokia usb charger from amazon for a few bucks

I love this phone it's better than a blackberry in my opinion. Unfortunately I am having trouble to use it for skype

Well I can break it down by the categories to keep it simple.

Like:
Slim design: I'm tired of carrying bulky phones and this phone feels sturdy when I hold it. The build quality is what I have come accustomed to with the e series.

Qwerty: I need this as I seem to have a hard time texting on a touch screen. Plus the buttons are raised an are responsive unlike some which are flat.

OS: I like the symbian system its clean an to the point. People will complain about its not intuitive enough or its hard to set certain things up. Every phone has a learning curve an this one is no different from any other. I like how I can switch modes from work to home and have a different set up for my needs.

Battery: What more can I say this battery for me lives up to the specs. Give or take depending on the day but I can go about a 2.5 days with heavy internet use texting an about maybe 5 hours of calls.

Apps: It seems now a days if your phone doesnt or cant download or use third party apps then its not worth it. Well this phone can download apps and they have a ton of them out there for all kinds of needs. So before I bought this phone I wanted to see whats available an how much or if its free.

Dislike:
Camera: I would have like to see a better camera on here like they have on the N series phones as well as a dedicated camera button. But I can deal with it. The flash is pretty bright but again I have seen an had better. Its doable for me.

2.5 MM jack: I wish they would have put the 3mm one on but it seems they have remedied that with the e72 I believe.

Signature manager: It seems that nokia decided to do this to stem people from downloading illegal or questionable programing on to their phone. But you can work around this by either getting it signed or just telling your phone to except all, if you trust whom you are downloading from an the program.

Back cover Plate: This thing is a finger print magnet. I just installed a zagg protector an it keeps it looking clean. Or what ever you want like a skin or cover.

Screen: The screen is excellent except for the upper center it seems that the letters seem faded or is fading. It was the same on my last e71 an that was used(one reviewing is new). Im not sure if it is a factory problem or what but I can live with it.

GPS: It is slow an the price to run it all year is ridiculous. There are other GPS apps for it but I dont think its safe to try an look at a small screen an drive. Others may be more talented than me at that but why risk it. Plan ahead or get a real GPS system. You can never have to many gadgets anyway.

Decision to buy:

I bought this phone for a number of reasons an everyone is different. For me it fit the bill an most of everyone's dislikes about it are just personal preference and nothing that I couldn't live with or work around. Its slim, has a qwerty, it was unlocked an works great with my network. Doesn't feel flimsy in hand an the battery life is a must as I don't like charging my phone on the constant. Plus I got a great deal on the phone but it took awhile to get it at the price I wanted to pay for.
One more thing an it might seem odd but I also bought it for the fact that there are forums for this phone so if you run into a problem then there is help. Plus its great to have people do all the homework for you such as best places for themes or apps or even a work around to a simple issue.

Overall: Buy it an you wont look back