Nokia E71 : Initial Observations !

The great people at Womworld sent me a Nokia E71 to trial. This device is everything you have read about it and much much more..!! I was seriously skeptical about how much praise was being heaped on this "E-Series-Posterboy" phone, but once you get your hands on this stunner ..trust me ....you wont feel like looking at any other e series phones ... ever ! I'm sure a lot of people are going to dump their blackberrys for this baby !

This is only the review of the physical features of the E71. I will be posting a detailed software review later.



As you can see in the picture ... the E71 looks absolutely stunning , The amazing metallic finish feels good to look at and to hold too. Also as with the other newer E-series phones .The phone runs on symbian OS 9.2 and has the new "home" and "delete" keys .. and also features a "CTRL"(which i'm assuming is used to in VPN and Remote Admin functions) function on the dedicated "special characters" button.Also visible in the picture are the Dedicated calendar , phone book and messages button.Also hiding beneath somewhere is the GPS chip. this is the second E-series phone to get inbuilt GPS functionality after the E90. The GPS lock on is fast and takes under 10 seconds as compared to nearly a minute on my N95.The full qwerty keypad is amazing ! it might look minuscule here ... but the buttons are so well contoured that even a guy like me with big fingers can easily use the keypad without pressing two keys at once. Also the combination of predictive text + auto correction + qwerty keypad makes typing out even the lengthiest emails on this device a real breeze.



The side view of the E71 , in all its stunning glory.The only disappointment here was 2.5 mm headphone jack in lieu of the standard 3.5mm one , but i guess it had to be done due to space constraints. So this means you cant use your normal mp3 player headphones like you can in the N95 and certain other N series phones. There button with the dot in the center is used to mute calls.





The back casing of the E71 has a nice feel to it. All the squares you can see are actually carved into the metallic cover , which ensures that this sleek phone does not slip out of your hand under any conditions.Also provided is a 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus & geo tagging , and a LED flash.The E71 also does away with the front camera found in most N series phones. The camera quality is fairly acceptable for an E-series phone , and cannot be compared to the likes of the N73 or the N95 for that matter. Still , I wish the camera was a little better .



These are some of the accessories that come with the E71 box. A nice red and black lanyard and Case. The case is of really good quality and has a nice red interior and looks very very classy (a nice addition to those Armani suits :P ) . Also included are a 2.5mm headset and the usb data cable (unlike Motorola and Samsung ...you cannot charge the phone with this) and a travel charger.

Comparisons with the Nokia N95 : (physical features)

The E71 is THIN !! Just comparing it with my N95 was like comparing the size of a mac book air to a Panasonic toughbook !!
And I dunno how nokia engineers managed to squeeze a full qwerty keypad in there ...but I must say ..its real impressive to see the amount of stuff they've crammed into this device !



The E71 as you can see is only slightly longer than the N95 in the closed state.




In terms of thickness ... There is no comparison at all !! The E71 is wafer thin as compared to the N95 .. which is really good for all those business suits out there ...so you don't have an awkward bulge sticking out of your trouser/suit pockets !

This concludes my review of the physical features of the E71. I will be posting a detailed software review of the device and its features later. Do let me know if you have any questions about the device and i will try to answer them in my next post. :)

Nokia Chat out at Nokia beta labs.

Finally Nokia releases their twitter-esque location based chat and messaging app. I've been waiting for such an app for so long ... and i'm really glad that Nokia has finally released it !!

From the beta labs website :

Nokia Chat is more than just messaging. You can share your status and your location, giving you physical presence! Start a Nokia Chat with your friends with instant and voice messaging and finish it face-to-face. Get together with Nokia Chat – it’s where we are now.

• Meet one-to-one
• Update your status
• Share your location
• Message friends

Features

Chat helps you hook up with no hassles by sending your real-time location in an instant message. This unique feature lets your friend pinpoint your position and share her own on Nokia Maps.

Chance meetings with friends are made easy. Pick out your places on Nokia Maps and choose where you want to publish your presence. Chat automatically updates your location status when you arrive at your hangouts.

As well as sharing your location, you can edit your status with what’s going on and stay up-to-the-minute with your friends. Status symbols on Chat show when you’re available, on the phone, or away.

Chat puts quick and easy instant messaging at your fingertips. You can also record and send voice messages to friends.

Tested with:
Nokia N95 8GB, N95, N82, N81 8GB, N81, N76, E71, E66, E51, 6290, 6120 Classic, 6110 Navigator

Should work with:
Nokia E90 Communicator, 6124 classic, 6121 Classic, 5700 XpressMusic

To download this app , head over to : http://www.nokia.com/betalabs/chat

Remember , you have to install both the files in order for the app to work !!

Hands on with Zonetag v3.0 for Symbian

Yahoo Research Berkeley has finally released the S60 v3 version of Zonetag. Zonetag was one of those apps which worked beautifully on s60 v2 phones ,letting you upload your photos to flickr or your blog , at the same time allowing you to tag them with location specific tags. The new version for s60v3 devices does all this and more .. !!!

To download the app for your symbian phone you will first need a yahoo ID . The next step would be to go to http://zonetag.research.yahoo.com/managezt.php and login using your yahoo account. After logging in you should be greeted with a screen like this.



Just click on the install button on the top of the screen and you can choose between having the link sent to your mobile (cingular and t-mobile only ) , download via web browser ..or download the app to your p.c. After choosing the correct s60 edition.. You are all set to go.




I downloaded the App using the web link method. The installation was pretty straightforward. If the app asks you for a code while installing , you have to get it from the yahoo zonetag page you logged into on your p.c .



The best part about the new s60 v3 version is that it supports the internal GPS of the nokia N95. It can automatically get your current coordinates and embed these into the EXIF data when you click a snap. But mind you .. Zonetag has to be up and running in the background , and you should have a GPS fix on the satellites if you want the photo to be tagged.



You can tag the photos based on where you want them to be uploaded and even create custom tags through the yahoo zonetag page. For example ... I create a tag named "!blog: flickr" and all the photos tagged with this tag will automatically be uploaded to my flickr account too. Zonetag even has the ability to get RSS feeds ..although you have to set this up from the "customize my tag suggestions" on the zonetag webpage. You can change the post title , set permissions and privacy levels ( if you are uploading to flickr) , and manually enter the location (in case gps coordinates are not available).


Another improvement is the addition of SCANR to the zonetag app. Scanr is a service that lets you snap any documents / visiting cards and when you upload them , it automatically scans the photos and sends it to your email in a digital format.



To conclude ..I would say this app totally Rocks !! Uses very less memory , very stable ..and very very useful !! Other options to geo tag photos would be LocR and Shozu ..both of which i have reviewed earlier... but i can safely say that this nifty little app beats them all !! Although it might not offer as much media integration as shozu does (i.e webcasts , channels etc) ..but if you want a basic app which will allow you to geo tag your photos , and upload them on the fly ..then this is probably the best application out there. N95 owners ... this is one app you must have on your handset !!