Nokia E61 For Media Entertainment

Nokia E61 first came to the market, but the people's reception to that Nokia baby was not so warm. E61 was Nokia's first attempt to match other smart phones like RIM's Blackberry 8700/8800 and Palm Treo's 680/750/755p models. It is the first Nokia QWERTY communicator device. The problem that came with E61 was with the usability and there was an unclear product focus. Nokia tried to simplify E61 by taking away E61's WI-FI capability and few other programs, thus coming up with the E62.

In an effort to correct the original issues with E61, and to give the market another option for smart phone besides Treo and Blackberry, Nokia Released the E61i model.

Nokia's difference with RIM and Palm is that it puts in its devices "being a phone" first. RIM focuses on email devices while Palm on organizer devices. E61i has a great voice quality. It operates well in both speaker phone and handset modes and there will only be a little distortion if the voice will be maxed out. Although it has a very sensitive microphone that easily catches background noise.

E61i has an excellent battery life and perhaps, it is its most striking aspect. It uses a 1500mAh battery that could last for 2 to 3 days. That is, even if it's user will be online all the time. Having to go somewhere minus the phone charger can definitely give one a lighter luggage.

E61i uses the Nokia Active Standby screen that is similar to Windows Mobile Today that makes it screen looking brilliant in all light settings.

As a communicator device, it has a desktop quality web browser that includes office applications. It also has emailing and text messaging features plus its multimedia capability that includes a 2.0 mega pixel camera. It also uses Nokia's Webkit-based browser that supports nearly every web standard, and even handling some flash that is suited for a QVGA screen. It has the Gallery application that is also present in the N95 model. It is the scrolling application that shows the thumbnails of the still photos and videos taken on the phone. It is one application that really looks good on E61i.

Other applications that are in E61i are Quick Office, Adobe Acrobat LE, Adobe Flash Player, ZIP Manager, Nokia Search [for entire device searching] and the usual Symbian/S60 PIM suite [contacts, calendar, to-do, and notes]. The email and text messaging are handled by the messaging application. The messaging application has folders for any personal mail account, text messages and an exchange mail account that is similar to Versa Mail on Palm Treo.

We can say that Nokia's attempt to improvise E61 was really successful. E61i is one gadget that can be enjoyed by people who do both playing and working on their mobile phones. It is one comprehensive device that gives you the Settings Wizard once you insert your Sim card. The Settings Wizard gives the guide on how to set-up the data feature of the phone. Such feature is so user-friendly.

Other interesting feature of the E61i is that it can download the Microsoft Exchange integration through Nokia's Mail. Microsoft Exchange is a free download that synchronizes calendar, contacts and email with the exchange server. E61i can also be connected to a computer through PC Suite. PC suite is a complete device manager that can sync, install and connect to Nokia Life Blog and update the phone if there is anything that needs to be updated. E61i is also compatible with a Bluetooth headset that is supported by A2DP that makes gives you the feel that you are wearing a regular two-ear headpiece. Like many mobile devices, the E61i uses a proprietor interface connector for syncing the Nokia pop-port. Like Palm's multi- connector, it is a sure connector.

Nokia E61i have its own share of shortcomings as a device, but just considering the battery life and its features in the communicator field, E61i will really qualify as a smart phone, user-friendly and just less PDA-ish. Find one in the market and furthermore, check this phone's capability.