'Power to the businessmen'

Jul 26, 2007 17:26 GMT  ·  By

Maintaining the continuity of its business phone E series with lots and powerful devices, Nokia launched the "promised" updated version of the successful E61. This time the new E61i model got the long expected camera module that lacked in the older E61 model. The fact that it didn't feature a camera disappointed many possible buyers at the time of the E61 launching, but Nokia did it with a good reason: there are simply too many companies that will not accept their employees to carry camera phones at work. For those that are still not allowed to bring these handsets at work the new Nokia E61i is not for you. Still, businessmen will be happy to find that besides the integrated camera, there are no major differences between the two models in terms of technical specifications.

It seems that Nokia needed almost 2 years to decide to refurbish the older E61 model. Nevertheless, the changes that were made onto the new handset are also reflected in its name which only received one letter ('i') so users could differentiate it from the older model. Anyway Nokia E61i has been announced and made available in the Q1 2007 at a price that ranged from $650 to $750. Just as it happens in all cases, after only a few months of selling, the price dropped and now you can easily buy the handset for no more than $580.

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Design

This is one of the biggest phones manufactured by Nokia and destined to conquer a specific target on the handset market ? businessmen. Apart from the fact that Nokia's E61i looks like big (slim) PIE waiting to be digested, the phone can be easily taken as a miniaturization of a personal computer or a much bigger calculator. It's pretty solid with the back cover looking like a metallic plate and with another metallic part that surrounds the big display.

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The only drawback of the metallic material is that it scratches very easily in contact with other hard or metallic parts. If you already own an E61 handset then this is almost no difference in terms of size (117 x 70 x 13.9 mm) or weight (150 grams with battery included). The metallic parts of E61i make it 6 grams heavier than its older E61 predecessor, but this is almost unimportant. The handset is big and heavy there's no doubt about it, but is very pleasant to the touch and fits perfectly in a suit pocket.

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The phone can be easily controlled with only one hand and has few external buttons. In fact there are only the volume keys and the voice recorder key which were included on the left side of the handset. The usual power button that Nokia always placed on top of the phone has been positioned right above the big display, near the in-call speaker. The bottom of Nokia's E61i features a small charger connector, a universal pop-port USB and an Infrared port. The pop-port can also be used to attach different kinds of accessories (hands-free, headsets). Right under the device's screen there's a QWERTY keyboard which is very helpful especially when writing text messages with only one hand. It will take some time to get used with all the numbers and characters imprinted on the keys and making calls will probably seem a torture until you learn the position of all the numbers.

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Above the QWERTY keyboard I noticed that the well-known E61 joystick has been replaced with a 5-way scroll key which will probably disappoint the gamers. There seems to be different opinions about it with some E61 owners that are keeping their phones in great shape and thinking that this is a mistake because the joystick is more functional and very solid. But there are others who think that the 5-way scrolling button is more appropriate for this kind of device. It makes no real difference as both are easy to use and seem to be very solid and it's all about taste. The 5-way scroll key splits in two about 8 key keys which were present in the older model too with the exception of 2 of them: the Own key (the one with a little star) and the Contacts key. The rest remained the same as in the older model: 2 contextual keys, the two accept/end calls keys, the key that will give you access to the main menu of the phone and the E-mail button. All these main control keys have been imprinted with easy-to-recognize signs, largely used onto all Nokia's handsets.

The sales package doesn't comprise anything out of the ordinary and offers little to nothing to the buyer. Maybe the introduction of a Bluetooth headset in the package would've been much appreciated by the fans of the device.

Display and Camera

Nokia E61i features a huge TFT display that supports 16M colors and 320 x 240 pixels resolution. Why is it huge? Because only the screen measures 58 x 45 mm and that's almost half of the whole device. The big display enables a smooth experience when surfing the Internet and a more enjoyable one when playing games. While the screen does not attain the test results of Nokia 6300 or other handsets that feature screens more attuned to gaming, it really doesn't need to as this is only a business tool.

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The display is visible in the sunlight and it's low power consumption even when often used. To help with the power optimization Nokia integrated a LED/light sensor on the left front of the phone right above the display. In fact that's an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts the backlighting and the display's brightness. The LED can also be set to flash whenever you're missing a call, text message, multimedia message or E-mail.

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One of the new things put onto the handset, the module camera will definitely attract more buyers. But at the same time it may stop an important number of possible customers, Nokia E61 owners that may wish to upgrade to the new E61i, but are prohibited to use it at work because of the strict policies that many companies have regarding camera phones. The 2 megapixel camera is on the average level but we should not worry too much as this is not a camera phone. Still, the pictures look pretty sharp and the control interface of the camera has been kept simple and at a minimum.

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Only two resolutions are available for the camera 640 x 480 pixels and 1600 x 1200 pixels, while the video mode features three recording resolutions: 128 x 96 pixels, 176 x 144 pixels and 352 x 288 pixels. There are also the White Balance and the Color Tone settings. You will even be able to capture clips in darker areas with the help of the LED and the Night mode, but the results will probably disappoint you. I have also experienced big lags when taking pictures or zooming while recording a clip. At least you will be able to take pictures now whenever you need/want and these are not even bad pictures.

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Menu and Software

The device runs on a Symbian 9.1 operating system and features a Series 60 v3.0 user interface. Pity that the operating system doesn't include the Feature Pack 1, but there are lots of other goodies that you can enjoy.

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Unlike E61, the new E61i integrates the WLAN Wizard tool which helps setting up a WLAN connection whenever you're standing near a hot-spot. There's another useful application called Search that will help users find a specific file on the phone.

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While the handset features a File manager, the Search tool looks for the file searched on all the phone's memory (Messages, Todo's, e-mails, calendar events, notes, contacts) and returns with results very fast. There are few other preinstalled applications in the phone's memory: currency converter, screen exporter (to show screen content with data projector), Zip archivator, PDF reader and QuickOffice (capable of reading and editing Word and Excel documents).

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The menu is fully customizable and the interface has a very low learning curve. The phonebook has almost an unlimited number of entries as all the contacts can be saved into the phone's memory. Symbian OS and Java compatible third-party applications can be installed with ease on the phone through the USB connection, just check the requirements. Navigation on the Web can be a real joy because of the big display and the WLAN connectivity which offers the speed needed for a smooth experience.

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The phone is fully compatible with POP3, IMAP and SMTP accounts, but lacks any T9 capabilities. While there are people that consider the lack of T9 a real pain when using the phone for writing messages or emails, Nokia said that there's no way that they will install this feature on a full QWERTY mobile phone.

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Communication

If Nokia E61i had not been the ultimate business tool there would've been a big chance to be considered as the ultimate communication tool (together with Nokia's N95 handset). The phone simply owns in terms of connectivity a full range of tech specs at the users' disposal, but unfortunately lacks HSDPA.

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There's GPRS and EDGE class 10, High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data (HSCSD), 3G connectivity, Bluetooth 1.2, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, USB 2.0 Pop-Port and Infrared connectivity. All tests revealed results above average as you can see from the screenshots and that includes the WLAN connectivity. The 3G connection reached about 310 Kbps data transfer speeds for download and 290 Kbps for upload and the EDGE speed attained only about 96 Kbps for download and 84 Kbps for upload. Together with the 57 KB/s data transfer speeds registered when using the Bluetooth connection, E61i is one of the fastest Nokia handsets on the market.

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You can use the phone to surf the Internet, you can pair the Bluetooth with headsets of a hands-free kit or you can synchronize it with your PC using the USB Pop-port. I haven't tested the GPS application yet, but if you're interested in it, you can buy a GPS receiver and pair it with your Bluetooth.

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Furthermore, the quad-band phone has worldwide coverage and is GSM900 / GSM1800 / GSM1900 / GSM850 / UMTS network compatible. This will simply enlarge the market of the phone and will attract consumers all over the world. After Nokia E65 and Nokia N95 this phone has the best conversation sound and signal reception.

Processor and Memory

The CPU estimator I have run on the handset revealed that Nokia E61i is powered by an ARM9 family processor running at up to 220 MHz speeds.

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This is a very good and stable CPU which assures a good functionality of the phone no matter if it is used for business purposes or gaming. I was surprised to find out that Nokia E61i has a smaller internal memory than its E61 predecessor. While the latter had about 75 MB internal memory, the new E61i features only 60 MB. Moreover, the miniSD slot card included in the older model has been replaced with a smaller microSD slot card in the new one.

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So, basically if you have the E61 and also own a miniSD card you won't be able to use it if you plan to upgrade to E61i. This is rather strange but still the new handset will most certainly make you pay 40 bucks for a 2 GB microSD card in case you need more storage space.

Multimedia

While this is not a music-dedicated phone, E61i includes nice and easy-to-use music player that can play MP3, AAC, m4a, eAAC+ and WMA files. The simple music player also integrates an equalizer and can be run in the background while doing other stuff. The same bug (?!) discovered onto the E61 handset is also present in this model. If you want louder sound then try to initiate a call and then turn on the music. You will experience a much louder sound with the same clarity of course.

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Perhaps this is not a bug at all but a mere "trick" to make music lovers happy when they want it louder. There is also a Real Player and a Flash Player that can be used for watching movies and clips. There's no FM radio and there's no high quality sound whatsoever as this is a simple E series phone. If you want better sound go buy a N series handset.

Battery

This is the best battery I have tested in years. The BP-4L model (Li-Polymer, 1500 mAh) battery is an updated version of the BP-5L model included in the older E61. Both have the same power but the new model is really much better. The official numbers are 400 hours in standby mode and 9 hours talk time mode. These numbers are 100% REAL and that's why it makes the phone so powerful, because of its very high autonomy. Exactly what a businessmen wants, fewer and fewer recharges. This slim battery simply ROCKS.

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Impressions

I had a very good impression about the phone regarding its "business look" and also its functionality. The question is: Do I make an upgrade of E61 to E61i? Perhaps reading this review and seeing the pictures of the phone will make up your mind. I wouldn't necessary do it only for the camera that it gets, but I would do it just to have the handset in my E series collection:) Nokia E61i looks much better than its predecessor, it's a little bit slimmer and more compact. Keys are more easy to use and spacey for everyone's finger. Battery is so much better than almost anything on the market that has the same features. If you're attuned to the business I strongly recommend you to acquire this handset as it is one of the best on the market nowadays.

The Good

The best thing about this phone is the simply fact that it exists:) The whole range of connectivity tools and the big battery recommends it as the number one business tool at the moment. Even the design is eye-catching, big, bulky and slim as it is. Nokia E61i is a phone that can be used for almost everything (emailing, messaging, surfing, picturing, printing) at high standards.

The Bad

Lack of a secondary camera for video calling may be a major drawback for those that like this feature. Also the metallic part of the phone is too easy to scratch and will make your phone look very bad after only a few days of use (even if you take great care). I'm also wondering: when will Nokia "relinquish" the Pop-Port USB in favor of the more useful miniUSB port? Maybe HSDPA connectivity would've been so much better than UMTS, but this is just because I couldn't mention something else about the bad parts of the phone:)

Sales package

Nokia E61i Handset Nokia 1500 mAh Li-Polymer battery (BP-4L) Charger (AC-4) Mono-headset (HS-5) USB Pop-Port data cable Software CD User's guide

Photo: Tudor Raiciu for Softpedia.com