Nokia E71 smartphone review

Nokia’s E-range is aimed firmly at corporate users, with the E71 offering a full QWERTY keypad to make emailing easier, and loads of features that help to make it a great out of office tool.

Build quality is among the best that we’ve seen to date on a smartphone, with aluminium used on the front and rear to create an incredibly stylish yet robust finish. The most surprising aspect of this handset is just how thin it is, however, making it appear a lot smaller than it actually is.

It’s also narrower than rivals such as RIM’s Blackberry Bold, leading to a keyboard that may be too cramped for some users. Raised centres to the keys make it easy to get up a good typing rhythm, however, striking a good compromise between portability and usability.

Unlike many recent smartphones, there’s no sign of a touchscreen. All of the functions are carried out using a navigational pad under the wide display, along with hotkeys for home, a calendar, messaging and starting and ending calls.

The screen itself sits in a landscape orientation, making it easy to view web pages and create and read emails. Although the 320 x 240 pixel resolution is rather average, it still provides sharp image quality.

The Symbian operating system offers typical ease of use, although it’s starting to look a bit dated in the face of rival software from Apple and Google.

Impressively, Nokia has crammed in all you’ll ever need in a handset, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and A-GPS. You’ll also find an office suite with word processing and spreadsheet applications, helping to make it the ideal tool both in the office and on the move. Built-in memory, at 110MB, is limited – although there’s a MicroSD reader for adding more storage space.

If you’re in the market for a non-touchscreen smartphone, we’ve seen few better all-round packages than the Nokia E71. Well equipped, easy to use yet offering great quality and usability, it comes highly recommended.

For more information, visit Nokia.