Written: 25/05/2006
Clove sent me a brand new Nokia E61 today- they are the company that supplies 247 with hardware for reviews at no charge and without expecting anything in return. They do it because they want to support the 247 sites and we very much appreciate the time (and expense) they take to help us out. Make sure they are your first stop for your next PDA or Smart Phone upgrade- you simply cannot get better customer service anywhere else… The Nokia E61 is available unlocked for £300 + VAT from Clove now.
If you are wondering why this series of E61 articles are appearing on all of the 247 sits it’s because we believe it is good to see what the competition is producing.
When I first saw the Nokia E61 at www.nokia.com I was immediately impressed with the look of it. It looked like a Treo with a design that was about 20 years ahead. For me an easily accessable keyboard is a must have following my Treo experiences of the past year and reliability is up near the top of my requirements as well (following my Treo experiences
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Upon opening the box the first thing I noticed about the design was it’s size which is unusual for a Smart Phone. It looks like a PDA and a Phone, it feels like a PDA and a Phone- it’s hard to explain but it works brilliantly. It is heavier at the top than the bottom and this helps make the device feel ultra comfortable in the hand.
The second thing I noticed was the Nokia logo just above the screen- a silly thing to comment on but the thought of a Nokia device in my hand compared to a Palm device gave me a feeling of comfort. My history with standard mobile phones has been dominated by Nokia and their excellent build quality- I have never ventured into the area of Symbian Smart Phones properly so I have no clue on their reliability but I can’t shake that ‘Nokia’ feeling. Peter’s experiences with his new TX, my T5, TX and Treo experiences lead me to believe that Palm have some work to do with regards to build quality. I’m not convinced that Palm has a problem but they could do better in my opinion.
The next thing I noticed was just a daft error by Nokia. Take a look at the photo below and consider the size of the text in the user manual compared to the phone keys. I have very good eyesight but could not read the manual properly- the text is stupidly small and for the life of me I cannot work out why Nokia did this? Even the font is printed badly to make matters worse.
The user manual itself is strange quirk considering the quality of the box, packaging and the equipment itself and I guess it is not that important- it just made me laugh…
With the battery installed (a 1500 mAH job) it is still very light and considerably lighter than the Treo. Some may see the width as an issue but this does give room for a spacious keyboard and a wider screen. The finish looks a bit plasticy but it feels like metal and is as solid as a rock- there are no rattles or noise no matter how much you shake it (don’t tell Clove I did that!).
The screen is fantastic. Perfectly viewable in direct sunlight and very bright- despite the fact I have only been using it for a few hours I have grown attached to the device from a hardware point of view in a very short space of time- heck, I was attached to it in the first 2 minutes.
I won’t go into specifics regarding all of the functions and the interface because I want to take each part in turn after I have used the device for a couple more days- expect the next parts on Monday and Tuesday. What I want to do now though is quickly talk about the keyboard and touchscreen (or lack of).
I LOVE the Treo keyboard- it is a marvel of design and works beautifully despite sitting on a fairly thin device. I can get some excellent speeds out of it and it is perfect for texting, appointment and general navigation around the Palm operating environment.
The E61 keyboard is the next best thing to the Treos. The keys are spaced nicely and despite an initial feeling of no real feedback my typing speeds quickly came close to what I can do on a Treo. The Treo keyboard is helped greatly by a 3rd part hack called KeyCaps650 which takes away the need for shift keys etc. If we see something similar for the E61 they will be as good as each other in my opinion. Shifting and punctuation on the E61 is actually a lot easier in its raw form than on the Treo.
The E61 has no stylus! This was a huge shock for me when I first found out and almost made me disregard it as a proper Smart Phone. For someone who has used touch screen devices for the past 6 years and nothing else it was a big shock to find myself not missing it at all in only a few hours.
The native interface is a bit high on menu layers for my liking but I even forgave this quickly as what I needed to know was on the front screen such as time, battery, signal, calendar appointments and To Dos. There is also a row of most used applications for quick access which comes in handy- I haven’t worked out how to change them yet because I can’t find a spectrum telescope to read the manual
Most worryingly for me was the presence of a small joystick which is used for the majority of navigation. I used to have a T68 and the joystick was awful but Nokia have done a good job with this one and it works well, even with my fat fingers.
As I write the parts of this review I am going to keep an open mind about the Symbian OS- I am a true Palm user because I love the simplicity of the operating system. I am not a fan boy and don’t believe they can do no wrong- they have certainly never helped out 247 in any way (that was proved once by someone in their UK marketing department- “Oh, Palm247. I’m not sure that we can give you devices for review as we can’t be sure what you would say…” I took that as a compliment as it goes to show that we always strive to tell the truth.
My first impression of this latest Symbian release is that it is well thought out and much closer to the Zen of Palm than I expected. It is very different though and I need to make sure I don’t look for replacements to my current 3rd party Palm applications. To be fair there is little chance of me finding any and I will explain why on Monday.
So, to sum up my first impressions I am extremely impressed with the E61 from a hardware point of view- compared to my Treo 650 it has a better screen, nicer design, is much lighter, equivalent keyboard and nothing on the Treo that I can think of beats it, unless you really must have a touchscreen.
After one day (which is a very short time) this device has shown Nokia to have taken great care and attention with the hardware and they should be congratulated for that. Does the E61 have a more practical and better design than any other Smart Phone I have used? Easily…
