Nokia E71

Access to product upgrades are one of the perks of being in the tech industry. If you've come across a great product, you can't wait to see what the company’s going to come up with next. For instance, Nokia's E61 and then the E62 made Symbian a force to reckon with in the business world, and the upgraded and slimmer E61i with a 2MP camera took it a step further. And now the E71 is here. This time Nokia's gone beyond a step – it's a big leap, in fact.

Form Factor
The design is superb.The E71 seems to be a culmination of elegance, style, and class, with functionality kept utmost in mind. I think its steel shell gives it a macho look and feel. The display may be a little smaller than the E61i at 2.36 inches, but on the whole the E71’s specs are way better. The QWERTY keypad looks rather compressed, however, and will take a bit of getting used to. But the five-way nav-pad and relevant shortcut keys are located for easy accessibility. The prominent bottom portion of the handset kind of reminded me of Jay Leno’s chin.

The E71 is just 10mm thin and weighs 127g. This might seem a bit heavy, but it actually works in the handset's favor. The weight makes it feel solid and secure in your palm, and also imparts a sense of balance. The microSD card slot and USB port are located on one side, just beneath the infrared lens. On the other side you’ll find the volume/zoom keys and a dedicated key for the voice recorder. The 2.5mm earphone socket is located above these.

What surprised me the most is the lack of a dedicated camera key. Considering that the E71 has a 3.2MP autofocus camera (with LED flash) it's odd there’s no soft-touch key that allows you to focus, or so I thought. I realized – quite by chance, I must add – that you can autofocus using the the 'T' key located just under nav-pad, and then use the center key of the nav-pad to release the shutter and capture the image. It’s ridiculous... you won't know any of this till you actually read the manual – and how many of us bother to do that?