Review: Nokia E71 smartphone

With all the hype surrounding the launch of Apple’s new 3G iPhone, it would be easy to forget that mobile phones with two of its new features – 3G internet access and support for Exchange email – have been around for ages.

Nokia’s E61, for example, appeared in 2006 and was a fantastic phone for business users, but with no camera and a rather boxy design it wasn’t going to win over many consumers. With the new E71, Nokia has clearly tried to widen the appeal of its business smartphones.

For starters, the E71 is more pocket-friendly. It measures just 57mm wide and 114mm tall, making it slightly smaller than the iPhone 3G.

Despite this reduction in size, the front still holds a full Qwerty keyboard with keys that are each 5mm wide. Although packed closely together, they are cleverly shaped and anyone who learned to thumb-type on a Treo, Blackberry or Nokia handset will have no problem using this one.

There’s also an unusual mode option that changes between two completely different home screens: one for work, and one for personal use. We’re not entirely sure that this is necessary, but it works well enough.

The E71’s 3.2-megapixel camera has a higher resolution than the iPhone’s two-megapixel sensor and, unlike Apple, Nokia has included a flash and autofocus. It’s better suited to picture messages, which aren’t supported on the iPhone, than to large prints, but with very little shutter lag it’s good enough for snapshots.

Of course, for many smartphone users access to the web is far more important then taking photos. The E61 can connect via Edge, 3G, HSDPA or 802.11b/g Wifi, so fast internet access is usually available.

Connecting to Wifi networks on older Nokia handsets was a pain, but on the E71 it’s a cinch: choose a network, enter the passkey and you’re browsing. The web browser itself has to make do with a far smaller screen than that of the iPhone, but websites are rendered neatly.

Nokia has produced several previous phones with GPS built in, but it hasn’t always been easy to use. With the E71 we downloaded the Google Maps application, and within a few seconds its assisted-GPS pinpointed our location and plotted out a street plan around us. Nokia’s own Maps application is pre-installed, too, and can be upgraded to a full driving GPS with voice prompts if you wish.

Although the GPS, camera and web browser work well enough, the E71 is clearly designed for email and it does this very well. Pop3, Imap4 and Exchange accounts can be set up, and the keyboard is designed for email: there’s a button to access your inbox, for example, and another to add an ‘@’ symbol with one click.

The Quickoffice software makes it easy to open a Word or Excel document attached to an email, and there’s also an option to read emails aloud that works surprisingly well. There’s only one caveat: Nokia does not provide a Blackberry Connect tool for this handset.

Nokia claims that the E71’s battery will last for up to 17 days in standby. In our rather more demanding tests, checking email regularly and surfing the web, it ran for seven days before needing a charge.

All in all, it’s hard not to be impressed with the E71. It’s a great tool for email, provides all the bells and whistles anyone could expect from a modern smartphone, comes with a great battery, and from around £300 contract-free it’s good value. Music-loving design fans should stick to Apple’s touchscreen marvel, but everyone else should put this handset at the top of their smartphone shopping list.

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