![The folks over at WOMWorld were gracious to loan me a Nokia E71 for testing. Whilst I have used a Nokia E61 before, this new model is a welcome gadget primarily because of the presence of two cameras - the front-facing camera and the 3.2 megapixel camera - which the Nokia E61 lacks. (Not to be confused with the E61i)
Before, I used to keep track of the latest and greatest model from Nokia and Sony Ericsson just so I’d know when to upgrade. However, I must admit that I failed to check out the E71 so I did not know what to expect.
First impression was WOW! The screen is gorgeous. However, I immediately noticed that it is smaller than the E61. With a smaller form factor, the keyboard definitely took a huge hit by having smaller keys and practically no space in between - very much unlike the E61. Did I say that the screen is gorgeous? :)
Putting it through its paces, the first thing I did was load Qik. This nifty tool allows you to stream live video on the internet. I tried it on WiFi and it worked great — for the first few seconds. I thought there was something wrong with Qik until I remember that Symbian does not like having multiple applications running at the same time. So to make Qik work, I deleted a whole lot of applications just to free up memory space and it worked! Now video-streaming rocks!
The video is not stunning but it definitely will work for video-streaming and occasional video and photo capture. It would have been great if Nokia can cram the N95 5megapixel camera on this form factor. :)
Unfortunately, the local networks, at least Globe Telecoms and Smart Communications do not want to cooperate with Qik. Streaming video almost always ends up with delays that increases the longer you shoot. Qik on 3G is spotty, at least in Manila. I just hope that the major carriers deploy HSDPA to cover the major cities.
Coming from an iPhone, the internet experience is rather crappy maybe because of the size of the screen. I guess I am just pretty much immersed in the whole iPhone KoolAid but hey, right now I believe that it is the gold standard for mobile web surfing.
So, the entire Nokia E71 experience has been generally pleasant. Although it is not perfect, the functionality can simply blow you away. Unfortunately, I use the internet more often than the normal user so the mobile web browsing experience needs more work. The camera needs a little improvement and maybe Nokia can give the phone a little more memory to work with — giving applications more room to breathe and not crash. And lastly, the keyboard needs to be a tad bigger, specially for those with bigger/fatter fingers. Overall, if you are not an Apple fanboy, this one definitely is a good buy.
[photo courtesy of ricardo / zone41.net]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/YaSXWbPAhcr34bzjqfn8MpH2_500.jpg)
The folks over at WOMWorld were gracious to loan me a Nokia E71 for testing. Whilst I have used a Nokia E61 before, this new model is a welcome gadget primarily because of the presence of two cameras - the front-facing camera and the 3.2 megapixel camera - which the Nokia E61 lacks. (Not to be confused with the E61i)
Before, I used to keep track of the latest and greatest model from Nokia and Sony Ericsson just so I’d know when to upgrade. However, I must admit that I failed to check out the E71 so I did not know what to expect.
First impression was WOW! The screen is gorgeous. However, I immediately noticed that it is smaller than the E61. With a smaller form factor, the keyboard definitely took a huge hit by having smaller keys and practically no space in between - very much unlike the E61. Did I say that the screen is gorgeous? :)
Putting it through its paces, the first thing I did was load Qik. This nifty tool allows you to stream live video on the internet. I tried it on WiFi and it worked great — for the first few seconds. I thought there was something wrong with Qik until I remember that Symbian does not like having multiple applications running at the same time. So to make Qik work, I deleted a whole lot of applications just to free up memory space and it worked! Now video-streaming rocks!
The video is not stunning but it definitely will work for video-streaming and occasional video and photo capture. It would have been great if Nokia can cram the N95 5megapixel camera on this form factor. :)
Unfortunately, the local networks, at least Globe Telecoms and Smart Communications do not want to cooperate with Qik. Streaming video almost always ends up with delays that increases the longer you shoot. Qik on 3G is spotty, at least in Manila. I just hope that the major carriers deploy HSDPA to cover the major cities.
Coming from an iPhone, the internet experience is rather crappy maybe because of the size of the screen. I guess I am just pretty much immersed in the whole iPhone KoolAid but hey, right now I believe that it is the gold standard for mobile web surfing.
So, the entire Nokia E71 experience has been generally pleasant. Although it is not perfect, the functionality can simply blow you away. Unfortunately, I use the internet more often than the normal user so the mobile web browsing experience needs more work. The camera needs a little improvement and maybe Nokia can give the phone a little more memory to work with — giving applications more room to breathe and not crash. And lastly, the keyboard needs to be a tad bigger, specially for those with bigger/fatter fingers. Overall, if you are not an Apple fanboy, this one definitely is a good buy.
[photo courtesy of ricardo / zone41.net]
