Nokia E61
10th February 2007
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With an increasing range of “Blackberry-like” devices appearing on the market and the recent introduction of the iPhone, I was in the mood for testing a Smartphone device, I decided to touch base with Nokia and they sent me the E61.
Design
Made of gorgeous aluminium metal, the Nokia E61 has a solid construction that screams quality. At first appearance, it looks like a calculator, but those that are familiar with the Blackberry that is so popular over in the States will know where the inspiration came from. Designed to be a business phone as opposed to a trendy fashion item, it means that the usual emphasis on digital media and entertainment is pushed to the back and the connectivity, usability, messaging and security aspects are brought forward.
Technical Specification
On the face of it, you get buttons and a screen. On the inside, it’s got a bunch of chips with an antenna, battery and a holder for your SIM card, just like any other handset, right?
Wrong.
The E61 is packed with a plethora of wireless technology standards, consisting of a million and one acronyms that most people couldn’t care less what they stood for.
GSM 850/900/1800/1900, WCDMA 2100 (3GPP Release 99), AMR, FR, EFR, NB-AMR, POP, IMAP, SMTP, OMA, WLAN, EGPRS, GPRS, GSM, OMA DM are just some of the ones I came across on the technical spec. My mind is incapable of decoding what most of these mean!
You’ll be glad to know that this Smartphone is perfectly capable of deciding which acronym to use when you make a phone call, browse the net or to send an email. Most of it is automated and for the most part, you won’t have to understand what these mean.
Size
Whilst the front print size of the entire unit is larger than most phones, we have to remember that this is no ordinary phone and in comparison to its competitors, the E61 is not far off the mark. At 117mm x 69.7mm x 14mm with a total weight of 144g you can immediately see that this is no ordinary dimension for a mobile phone. What is elegant about these figures is the actual thickness of the entire handset. At only 1.4cm, you get a deceptive perception that you’re not holding a large device but a slim and sleek one.
Display
With advancements in the LCD industry focusing on ever-larger displays, it’s nice to see that development of small screens hasn’t stopped. Resolution is also important too, especially so with a small display, so Nokia have put in a generous 3-inch screen capable of displaying 16 million colours and a resolution of 320 x 240. Notice something different there? Many displays on these types of handsets, including those that come with uber-high resolution cameras are usually stuck with the 262,000 colour screens, but Nokia have gone the extra mile. The result? A beautiful, crisp, clear display that does wonders for photo viewing with accurate colour reproduction.
Clever technology built in to the handset will automatically adjust the display and keypad brightness. This helps to optimize the viewing experience as well as being a power saving function too. This feature reminds me of the sensors that are built in to my MacBook Pro for the backlit keyboard and display brightness. Whilst the MacBook Pro naturally responds to day and light very quickly, the E61 wasn’t as well polished. When changing from dark to light or light to dark environments there is a lag before the sensors kick in and realise that the lights need to go on or off. That’s no reason to write the entire handset off though.
The shape of the display was unusual for a mobile phone. It’s wide-ish and tall-ish. Kind of a mix between 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios. How does this work for applications?
Reading long messages is made easy by the amount of screen space and the resolution of the display. It somehow combines both readability and the ability to show more without compromising quality, and when it comes to replying to those messages there’s enough room on one screen page to fit 2 and a bit messages (as a multi-text) without having to scroll up or down. That’s great news for anyone who likes to write long messages and not so important for those who do one worded replies.
We must not forget about e-mail though. One of the things that Nokia have worked hard with the software for the E61 is the e-mail functionality. The display allows room for displaying 10 emails. Open one up and you get a nice full view and fast scrolling for reading your messages.
Keypad
I suppose, the major thing about this device that differentiates it from your typical handset is the design of the buttons. You don’t often find the full QWERTY keyboard like you don the E61. Software auto senses what type of application your in and will adjust the keyboard according to the environment your in. For example, if you’re on the Home screen, then the number keys that are usually secondary keys become numbers again, so you can just dial as usual. It would be very easy for the designers to have just let this slip and require you to use the shift key to type in the numbers. Thankfully they haven’t.
For typing messages, the keypad is a little bit difficult at first, but after a few days of working with it, you start to get the hang of it. When tapping away at a message on this keyboard, it felt a bit slow and I was often making mistakes whenever I tried to speed up. So if you’re going to be in an odd place and you’re trying to perhaps tap a quick message, then you will find it a bit of a struggle. Whilst it is feasible to type a message with one hand, when reaching for the keys with your thumb, the device will become unbalanced with the potential to drop it. It would be easier just to make the phone call. Unless you’ve got two hands with this device, then it’s pretty much a no go zone.
However, if you compare like for like typing speed when compared to a phone like the Sony Ericsson K800i, with a normal 1-9 keypad and T9 predictive text, I was surprised to discover that typing was actually quicker on the Nokia whilst making mistakes than it was with the T9 on the Sony Ericsson. The test I conducted wasn’t completely scientific, I used a couple of lines from this review as the sample text and used a stop watch to time myself how long it took to tap out the same words on each handset. The Nokia was about 10 seconds quicker, which for a short message is quite a significant gain. Perhaps Nokia were telling the truth when they said that this Smartphone would improve productivity?
Connectivity
The range of wireless and wired solutions is mind boggling in a device this small. Everything under the sun is available on the E61, from USB to WiFi. The key features are the onboard 802.11 and Bluetooth chips which allow for file transfer and networking. I found that the Bluetooth worked flawlessly, it couldn’t be any simpler to transfer and receive files. It even worked with my Mac! The transfer rate over Bluetooth was quite impressive as well with speeds peaking at 70 KB/s.
WiFi connection was disappointingly slow and difficult to get working. From the word go, I wasn’t able to get my WiFi to work at all. At first, it was a security issue, for some reason it could not authenticate my key for accessing my wireless Netgear router. So for testing purposes, I disabled the security and left it open for easy access, but even then the connection speed was dreadful. Accessing pages like Google took what seemed like forever and a day, it quite simply wasn’t useable.
Battery
One of the key ingredients for any successful Smartphone is the battery life for it. Without a decent battery life the device is useless to the market, it’s intended for. The absolute minimum base line standard is 24 hours of real world usage. That includes making various calls, sending messages via SMS or email, receiving emails and attachments, accessing the net and transfer of data via wireless. I am glad to report that the E61 managed all that plus more and lasted for several days after that as well.
Quick Quirk
One thing that I found annoying from day to day usage is the placing of the Record button on the left side of the handset. It’s near to the volume control and the slightest of touches activates the voice recording function. This happens when you pick it up in the palm of your hand. A minor ‘quirk’ as I call it but one that I think somebody should take a look at in the next model.
Software and compatibility
The expected file formats are present on this handset, meaning Office compatibility with Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Not only are these bundled applications able to open these documents, but they are also able to create them as well. With limited capabilities, the basic functionality that you would want from these apps is available. For example, you can create Word documents, create your own PowerPoint presentations and even output them via a wireless connection to your computer or compatible display technology. Documents can be printed with Bluetooth printers, which can be handy if you’ve got that sort of implementation in your office environment.
You’ll also be glad to hear that there’s Adobe Acrobat support. Although the application doesn’t ship with it, the download is free from the Nokia web site. Just download and transfer via USB or Bluetooth connection. I found this handy during my trip down to Portsmouth, which involved a stop via London. Having not traveled through the Tube stations for a few years, I thought it might come handy if I download the Tube maps and take them with me. I was able to do this since the maps were in PDF format. However, the Tube was so easy to navigate that I didn’t have to bother with the PDF maps, but it’s re-assuring to know that I had the maps if I needed them. Since so many files and documents come in PDF format these days, it’s always handy to have this application with you.
Despite the problems I had with my WiFi connectivity issues, the web browser really does come in to its own for a portable device like this. I’ve used browsers for Windows Mobile, Smartphone and the Opera browser for the K800i but none come close to the browser that comes with the E61. If you’re familiar with the Apple iPhone web browser or you’ve seen the keynote demonstration, you’ll immediately see where they’ve got their inspiration. It seems the features that you find on the iPhone web browser is already available mostly on the Nokia E61 already!
Closing statement
The Nokia E61 is an excellent business tool that excels in its ability to communicate with many wireless standards as well as including stable and intuitive software. The included ability to open and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files is a bonus and the free upgrade for Adobe Acrobat support is icing on the cake.
Battery life is more than adequate for several days of normal usage, which for many Smartphones can become an issue, especially when you start to use any of the wireless capabilities.
Bluetooth file transfer is phenomenally quick, and will even allow you to transfer files to and from the Mac. WiFi was a different story however with slow response times despite being in the same room with the router. You may have better luck than I did in connecting to different WiFi spots as well, because I found it difficult and inconvenient to get to grips with connecting to different WiFi spots. The wireless doesn’t stop there; naturally you get the normal voice and text frequency compatibility thanks to its quad band chip. Another wireless feature you might like to hear is 3G. The E61 is 3G compatible so no more slow web browsing or email downloading. If you’re not in a WiFi hot spot, just tap in to your service providers 3G connection and get full access.
If you’re able to get a decent, stable Internet connection with the E61, the web browser works really well. The display and high resolution allows for a more comfortable browsing experience especially with some of the larger web pages out there. You have the ability to zoom out to view the entire page, thumbnail view in the corner or just normal full screen browsing.
Without a camera, some may be put of without the ability to make video calls or take a quadrillion mega pixel photograph, so Nokia have bundled just 64MB of storage space, which at first glance doesn’t appear to be a lot. However, if you’re just going to be storing Word documents and Excel spreadsheets, you’re not likely to need more. Should you need more, there is the miniSD card slot which will allow you to store more. Users who want to listen to mp3s and store video files will of course need this.
My final words on the E61 (which I’ve had to send back today) have to be positive ones. Nokia have created a device that caters for the business market and is not confused as to what it’s meant to do, like some other handsets on the market. Designed for the professional market and packed with useful utilities and applications as well as a vast range of wireless technologies, if you’re looking for a true Smartphone, the Nokia E61 is definitely one you should consider.
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