Yes, it’s a Nokia, although the QWERTY keypad does make it look similar to a Blackberry. That small visual confusion aside, it’s a superb offering among Nokia mobile phones, and seems to have almost everything. About all that’s missing is a 3.5mm headphone jack for good private listening.
What’s truly outstanding about this phone is the QWERTY keypad, praised in mobile phone reviews as one of the best on the market. The keys are surprisingly large, meaning that it’s easy, and definitely not tiring, to send lengthy messages – which is the point, of course.
The screen is a very good size, crisp and clear, and the case is very slim, but also metallic and sturdy – this is a phone that can handle a few knocks and keep on working.
There’s plenty under the bonnet, too, since the phone comes with Wi-Fi and HSDPA for fast, smooth browsing, as well as uploads and downloads, while the GPS is also good. Interestingly, and also annoyingly, the phone’s email client supports Microsoft Exchange, yet doesn’t have Exchange folder support, which seems an odd oversight.
Apart from that, the only real negative comes with the E71’s camera. It might be 3.2 megapixels, but it’s far from the best around, with horrible lag that often results in bad pictures.
If you can ignore that, and Exchange folders aren’t important to you – which probably means most people – then the Nokia E71 is a great phone, with one of the very best QWERTY keypads available today – even Blackberry could take a lesson from this.
