As I promised yesterday, I’m taking the E71 to the gym. It doesn’t go alone, though, I’m also bringing my Motorola ROKR S9 headphones to pair it with the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) smartphone. The duo should be more than good enough to help me go through my training.

Before leaving the house, I have to test the equipment. The pairing went expectantly smoothly. I’ve loaded podcasts via iTunes — sorry Nokia I rely on iTunes for all my podcast listening — and with iTunes Agent I managed to copy all the episodes I wanted. Actually, a single TWiT episode is all I need per training and that’s exactly what I transfer to the E71.

…

Back from the training. The Moto S9 isn’t exactly the connection keeper but I love its design and honestly can’t wait to get my hands on the S9-HD. That [bad connection], however, haven’t stopped me from listening. In my last post I mentioned I don’t like the 2.5mm headphone jack. To be perfectly honest, I rely on Bluetooth headphones all the time. However, the good ol’ wired headphones are also always with me, just in case a battery start dying. And while I’m talking about the battery, it’s one of the areas where E71 rocks, big time! Thanks to the 1500 mAh battery, I still wait to charge the E71. Actually, I may do that now. Don’t want to think about it when it’s dead.

Going to shower now. Tomorrow I’ll be testing some apps. Stay tuned…

OK, I admit I’m lazy today. The air pressure is super-low and I’m not feeling well. I won’t go to the gym today as I previously said I will. Instead I’m going to ramble about some things I don’t like about the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) E71. These are all minor things, but they do stand in my way to call it the perfect smartphone. Don’t get me wrong – the Nokia E71 is the best Symbian S60 smartphone ever made, or at least that’s my take. The E90 Communicator may have a bigger screen, but can you imagine carrying it around in in your pocket? I don’t think so.

Anyway, here are three things I don’t like about the E71:

• Headset jack – there are actually two things I don’t like about it. First of all, it’s a 2.5mm instead of 3.5mm — the 3.5mm headphones are much cheaper. Let’s say that’s not a problem – you can buy an adapter for few bucks and use any standard 3.5mm headphones. However, why on Earth is the headphone jack located on the side of the device is beyond me. You can argue there were no room on the top of the phone, but I don’t buy that. It’s a must to have a headphone jack on the top of the phone. It’s way more convenient that way.
• Where’s TV Out? – I do understand the E71 is not an NSeries device, but I do want the TV out nonetheless. While I’m on the subject, I must add I hate the whole notion of product differentiation. It may drive companies profits up, but it’s bad for the high-end users who (like me) want a single all-in-one device.
• Ctrl/Chr share the same key – we saw this will be fixed in the upcoming E63 model. Both keys are very important and each of them deserves a separate key. Sure, that would require smaller space key, but I can live with that.

In addition, I could also add I would love to see an Infra-Red port located at the top. It’s not a big deal, but with an application like irRemote for S60, I could turn the E71 into a universal remote control. Having an IrDA port at the top certainly helps in that sense.

And that’s about it. I like everything else. As I said, this is the best Symbian S60 smartphone!

After sending just a couple of text messages, I consider myself to be a master of the E71’s keyboard. It’s that easy, or that’s just me with my tiny thumbs.

Right from the bat, I’ve installed two apps which I use on a daily basis. Those are:

• Fring – best Symbian S60 IM client that also works with Skype
• Opera Mini – Java-based super-fast web browser that saves bandwidth

I also wanted to install a Bluetooth keyboard driver, but that was already on place with the unit Nokia (NYSE: NOK) sent me. In addition, I also downloaded region maps via Nokia Map Loader.

The device responds super fast. I can’t believe it’s running a 369 MHz processor under the hood, as it seems like the CPU can handle all the tasks with a breeze.

The 2.4-inch QVGA screen may not impress many if the age of hi-res all-touchscreen devices, but it shows just enough information. If Nokia does opt to use a higher resolution display in future models, it will certainly have to put a larger screen on place and consequently make the device larger. Otherwise, I don’t see a point of a 2.4-inch VGA screen — it doesn’t make much sense…

Anyway, today I’m playing with Fring and Opera Mini, and I’m glad to report that both respond quickly. And did I mentioned I love chatting on E71’s QWERTY keyboard? Well, I do. Tomorrow, I’m bringing this baby to the gym. I’m going to pair it with Motorola (NYSE: MOT)’s active S9 headsets. Stay tuned…

Ladies and gents, I’m glad to report that Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s WOM World has lent me the Nokia E71 smartphone for two weeks. As you’ve already seen/read other reviews on the Web, my goal won’t be to compete with other folks who did their job properly. Rather I’ll try to write about my day-to-day experience with the award-winning smartphone.

The first impression is overly positive. The device is super slick, thin and fits in a hand perfectly. Keyboard is just the right size, although I’m not the right guy to talk about this as I’ve used a number of QWERTY phones in the past and my thumbs know how to deal with even the weirdest of the keyboards. On a first glance, the E71’s predecessors, E61 and E61i, have a more comfortable keys, but after typing just a few sentences, you get used to the smaller keys of the E71…

Anyway, as I said I don’t want to review the device in great depth. I’ll try to post something about it every day. If you have any questions – I’m listening. The comments form is all yours…

BTW: It’s not just the Nokia E71 that was brought to me by DHL. Nokia also bundled its elegant BH-605 Bluetooth headset and a single Mapster, which now proudly sits on my desk.

I’m not sure what Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s waiting, but this isn’t the first time we’re seeing their upcoming E63 model “in the wild.” We would love to see the Finnish giant going all official with this baby before this year ends, and then concentrate their efforts on the S60 5th edition devices next year. Sounds like a plan.

Anyway, if you take a closer look to the photo above, you can see small differences between the E63 and E71. The E71 (pictured on the right) has 7 keys and a big space key in the bottom keyboard row. On the other hand, space is smaller on the E63, yet there are two new keys added in the row. We see that “Chr” and “Ctrl” have each got its dedicated keys, which is a good thing. I’m not sure what’s added on the other side of the row (left), though. And ideas?

[Via: Boy Genius Report]

And you thought the Nokia E71 and Nokia E66 were the end of the road for the business-class smartphones from Espoo. Of course Nokia is working on additional Eseries smartphones to add to their business-oriented portfolio.

Following on the Nokia E71’s QWERTY candybar form-factor and the Nokia E66’s vertical sliding design, Nokia is apparently working on a new Eseries hybrid-slider that combines the E66’s slider form-factor with the E71’s full QWERTY keyboard.

We previously saw the Nokia E75 gallivanting around the various interwebs in a leaked Nokia Eseries commercial, and it seems that some good, old-fashioned camera-time was in order. The Nokia E75 pictured here shows a glossy, stylized handset with a full numeric keypad adorning the front-face of the device. Unfortunately, we don’t get a clear shot at the QWERTY keyboard that’s rumored to lie beneath the slide-out display.

Details on the Nokia E75 are otherwise slim at the moment, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be hearing more about the Nokia E75 in coming weeks. We’re expecting the Nokia E75 to take design cues from both the Nokia E71 and Nokia E66 – which goes to say that the Nokia E75 should be one slick looking device. And, if Espoo can manage to keep their Nokia E75 nice and svelte, HTC should have some S60-based competition for their Windows Mobile 6.1-powered HTC S740 hybrid slider.

Nokia E75

Nokia E75

Nokia E75

[Via: DailyMobile.se]

Still waiting patiently for Nokia (NYSE: NOK) to go live with the famed successor to the uber-popular top-of-the-line N-series handset? Sure you are – we’re all waiting for Nokia to drop the Nokia N96-bomb. With that incredibly sexy black-gloss finish and backlit keypad, the dual-sliding N96 multimedia monster is set to take the N-series to a higher level with the pace-setting 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss shooter in tow.

So, it’s good to finally hear a solid launch window coming out of Nokia. And, it seems that Nokia isn’t just going to launch the DVB-H enabled Nokia N96 to play with its 16GB of onboard storage all by its lonesome. No, Nokia is going to be launching the much-anticipated Nokia E66 and Nokia E71 business-oriented cellphones around the same time as the flagship-replacement N96. Apparently, Q3 2008 is the target launch-window for the Nokia N96, E71, and E66.

“We will in the third quarter bring to the market the N96 we have launched and a group of E-series multimedia computers that will be sure to have a strong stamp on where this market is going,” Anssi Vanjoki, senior executive vice president of Nokia Markets, told Reuters.

Now, industry sources have also indicated that Nokia will be getting official with the Nokia E71 and Nokia E66 business handsets next week.

We’re looking for the Nokia N96 to hit a 550 euros ($870) price-point – which may leave some of you that placed a pre-order for a Nokia N96 feeling a bit remorseful of your hasty purchase decision.

[Via: CellAddictBlog]

With the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) E71 rumored to be getting glammed up for its launch on AT&T, it’s not all that unexpected to see Nokia pushing their E-Series complement through the FCC’s labs. As a slider-phone, the Nokia E66 is the successor to Nokia’s first E-Series slider – the Nokia E65 – and it’s sure to give E-Series fans a good alternative to the E71.

With the FCC’s blessing, the Nokia E66 promises to bring the E-Series’ business-class savvy to sleek and stylish corporate customers. FCC docs show that the Nokia E66 should bring slider-loving E-Series fans the benefits of US-friendly 3G/HSDPA on the 850Mhz and 1900Mhz bands.

We’ll have to wait and see it AT&T (NYSE: T) picks up the Nokia E66 in the near future. If not, at least its good to know that importing an unlocked E66 isn’t going to be any harder than shipping in some Norwegian smoked salmon.

In any case, we should see Nokia going live with the Nokia E66 sometime in mid- to late-June.

FCC

And we have the first Nokia (NYSE: NOK) E51 unboxing video. As you can see the stylish retail box contains all the necessities — including battery, charger, syncing cable, headsets (I think), and of course the CD with the Nokia PC Suite software. Anyway, here’s the video. Enjoy!

[Via: Cell Addict Blog]

Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s newcomer device to the ESeries line, E51, has been spotted passing the FCC hurdle. Apart from that information, we’ve no idea when or even whether it will ever hit the U.S. soil. If you’re really interested, you can already import it from Europe, grab it at Buy.com, or wait until it hits one of Nokia’s U.S. Flagship stores. It certainly provides a solid bang for the buck…

[Via: JAMPBLOG]