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Here’s my official review (More like comparison!) of the Nokia E71 that came in for me today. Summary for the lazy: I am absolutely in love, and it’s an amazing phone!

You can read about tech specs and whatever features it has elsewhere, so I’m going to compare it to the Samsung Jack as well as the transition process I had gone through.

As you can see, the Nokia E71 already looks quite a bit smaller and has a more “smooth” look to it compared to the pointed edges (Those corners really hurt) of the Samsung Jack. The screens are very close in size, but the Nokia definitely has a crisper display.

With aesthetics out of the way, here is a direct comparison of features I used on the Jack.

Text Messaging – The biggest difference between Windows Mobile 6.1 and Symbian S60 is the lack of threaded messages, which kind of sucks, but Conversation does alleviate that problem. The text input on the WinMo also generally lagged, whereas the Symbian inputs are speedy and lag-free, and it manages to keep up with my extra fast typing! Definite plus!

GPS – I used to use Google Maps on my Samsung Jack and it worked perfectly well except for one thing – it took about 5 minutes for the GPS satellites to be found. The E71 was preloaded with several mapping and GPS programs, that were quick to catch GPS satellites. I will install Google Maps on it later, or perhaps just install a standalone navigational based GPS to replace Telenav. UPDATE: Just installed Google Maps and it found 3 satellites in less than 30 seconds, in the basement. MUCH improved over the Jack’s GPS!

Picture / Video – The camera on the Jack is 2MP and the E71 has a 3.2MP so I was expecting quite a difference in image quality. Here’s how it looks:

Not a huge difference but keep in mind: I completely forgot to take off the protective film on the camera for the E71. Not that it’s going to change a lot of things, but just keep that in mind. Also, the E71 has a built in flash, which might make low light situations much easier for taking pictures!

Calls – Simple enough, the Nokia E71 has crystal clear reception and I can’t even compare to the Jack properly, because they both sounded great!

All these features clearly put the E71 above the Jack for just those features, but here are several more features that I have began to use BECAUSE of the E71!

Fring – Not exactly a built in feature, but Fring works flawlessly on the Symbian OS, where I loaded my Skype account and called my friend with crystal clear reception. I have to attempt this on the 3G network, and I assume it’s not going to be as clear as my Wifi, but hey, it works great and I can use MSN on it!

Wifi – The Jack had no option for Wifi (Despite Rogers telling me there was.) The E71′s wifi option was quick and easy to set up, without any difficulty connecting to my wireless at home! Quick and easy, gotta love it.

Radio – The E71 has built in FM radio that has great reception from my room (The basement!) and you can save preset frequencies with easy. I now have Flow 935, Virgin Radio 99.9, CHUM FM 104.5, and CHFI 98.1 all saved on my phone!

Qik – Qik is a fantastic program that lets me create a streaming video from my phone that would be viewable on my Qik site (http://qik.com/JonLim) and anyone can view any past streams! You can see the stream I was testing out with @verneho earlier, and it worked fantastically!

I couldn’t have asked for a better phone. What was even better was the transition! I had feared that there was no syncing with Microsoft Outlook, but the Nokia PC suite did it quick and easy, without any hassles. Not only that, but it syncs the SMS/MMS messages that you receive on the phone as well, which is another added benefit over the WinMo phones!

So to you, my new best friend, thank you for making my life much easier.

Posted on December 15th, 2008 by Jon Lim
Filed under: Mobile, Technology