Nokia E61i

Nokia E61i Review: Physical aspects

The Nokia E61i is described as a "Messenger". A device intended to be used more for typing emails and sending SMS than making phone calls. In the week since I have had this phone I spend more time on it browsing the web and sending email and SMS than I do, using it as a traditional phone.

The Nokia E61i has a large 2.8" 320x240 screen. And that was my main consideration in selecting the type of handset: to make handheld browsing a more pleasant experience. While the Nokia N80 we were using prior to this had a higher resolution screen capable of displaying more of the web, its smaller screen displayed fonts and page elements so small as to make the experience uncomfortable. Since I got the Nokia E61i I have spent much more time browsing the web on a handheld.

The QWERTY keyboard is in my opinion a better choice for typing emails and SMS messages, although those proficient multitap may disagree and may want to take a look at the Nokia N95.

The phones sides are bereft of any control devices, except for the left side which has three keys, two used for volume control and one to access the voice recorder and voice dialing. Voice dialing on this phone is a step up, but more on that later.

Unfortunately, the MicroSD slot is located inside the battery cover. But the battery cover can be removed without having to power down the phone and the MircoSD card is hot swapable. The battery is a 1500mAh unit, with about 50% more capacity than the typical cellular phone battery.

This mobile phone feels rather hefty, and that is partly because of use steel parts. This also makes the phone feel rather sturdy without the creaking you get with most mobile phones.

I think the angular looking Nokia E61i is the best Nokia 3G handset in the market, and over the next few days I will tell you why.

The E61i, is a follow-up model to Nokia's popular E61 mobile phone. The Nokia E61i is a 3G business oriented mobile phone with a QWERTY keyboard. Being intended mainly for business users it falls under their ESeries line-up.

Functionality and ergonomics

While the Nokia E61's QWERTY keyboard gives it the look of a PDA phone, it is actually just a typical Nokia Smartphone. Once you get used to the two handed QWERTY keyboard operation, it has the same menus and commands as every other Nokia Smartphone. If you are looking for a P990i type PDA phone, this may not be the one for you. Think of it as a Nokia N80 with a QWERTY keyboard.

While some may desire more complexity, I never really have needed more than the Nokia Smartphones offer. I think it is the ideal balance between functionality and ease of use. My only complaint about the Nokia Smartphones are the absence of an option to autolock the keypad and absene of a setting for a recurring alarm.

The QWERTY keyboard has small but well spaced keys which makes the keyboard easy to use even by those with larger hands. How easy to use? This entire article is being typed on the Nokia E61i's QWERTY keypad.

The dedicated keys for the address book, menu and email key are large enough to be easy to use. The two selection keys and the "Own key" are user assignable. In addition you can assign the seven shortcuts that can be displayed on the standby screen. You can assign your ten favorite applications to be easily accesible from the standy screen. The notifications found on the standby screen also act as shortcuts.

All these, plus the dedicated keys, pretty much guaranty that you will have little need to go into the menu and search for the application you want to use from the sea of shortcuts and folders.

The S60 interface is navigate using D-Pad. This is basically a four way key with a key embedded in the middle. This is a better solution than a joystick. The E61i's D-Pad has a very positive feel and is the best we have used on any mobile phone. Looks like Nokia has perfected the D-Pad.

All in all you have a perfect synergy of the keyboard and the S60 interface.

Connectivity and browser

The Nokia E61i has IR, USB, Bluetooth, GPRS, EDGE, HSCD, 3G and WiFi connectivity options. The only thing missing is HSDPA or HSPA support. I think that eventually that feature will find its way in future E61 series phone. One nice feature I found on this mobile phone is the WLAN scanner.


You can easily access this from the standby screen, and when it detects a WiFi network it will allow you to connect to the WiFi network and launch the web browser.

This aspect is nice, since now if I want to connect via 3G or GPRS I simply launch the browser, and if I want to use WiFi, I launch the browser from the WLAN scanner. With the older Nokia sysyem, if you want to use the browser for both 3G and WiFi, your best bet was to set the browser to ask the user each time what connection to use. The WLan scanner saves a few key presses.

The Nokia E61i was acquired to be used as a hand-held browser as much as for its other functions. No discussion of the phone would be complete without looking at its web browser and connectivity features. The E61i, like most N and all ESeries Nokia phones comes with the Safari based minimap browser.


In Nokia's own words this browser is designed to allows you to "Experience true Web" by bringing "desktop-like Web browsing experience to mobile devices." The Nokia Mini Map Browser render pages exactly the same way they would be rendered on a desktop or laptop computer. Rather than trying to get the whole page to fit within the narrow horizontal confines of the screen, Nokia gives you a more convenient way to navigate a web page which cannot fit on the screen. Since the Nokia Mini Map Browser displays that page in a the same way your desktop would, you will only see a small section of the page on the cellular phones screen. This means you have to do a quite a bit of vertical and horizontal scrolling to see navigate the page.


The Nokia Mini Map browser allows you to do this in an easier fashion. Press the Function Key + "8" key and a mini map of the entire page is displayed on your screen. A red box shows you where you are on that screen and from this mode you can scroll vertically and horizontally to the part of the page you want to see in greater detail. You can also zoom in or out of a page by pressing Function Key + "*" and Function Key + "#".

When Nokia first came out with this browser, it was heads and shoulders above everyone else. Now Apple, Microsoft and Opera have similar web browsers.

Specifications

Network: UMTS / GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Data connectivity: GPRS / HSCD / EDGE /3G / WiFi / Bluetooth / Infrared / USB
Operating System: Symbian OS 9.1 with S60 v. 3.0 UI
Display: 2.8" 320x240 TFT screen with support for 16M colors
Input: QWERTY keyboard, D-Pad and dedicated keys
Memory: 60MB internal with a Micro SD slot
Camera: 2MP main camera, no secondary camera
Dimensions: 170 x 70 x 14mm
Weight: 150g
Browser: Nokia HTML Browser / WAP Browser

What's in the box

This is a business phone, and it is outfitted like one. Nothing more than what you would expect to get on a mid level mobile phone these days.


1500mAh Battery
256MB Micro SD Card
Travel Charger
USB Cable
Hands Free Unit
PCSuite and Blackberry Connect Software
Manual and other documents


from: Mobility Philippines..