Nokia E71

Interface
The new tweaked Symbian OS 9.2 (Series 60 v3.1 UI) looks great, with clear and large icons. It doesn’t look exactly like the old interface, but it retains most characteristics, so you’ll still recognize everything. When you enable ‘Active Desktop’, the screen now clearly indicates Missed Call and Unread Message notifications at the bottom. What would have been perfect is an ‘Open Applications’ check feature that can let you close any app running in the background with one simple click.

The interface has a Switch Mode option that allows users to easily switch between a personalized theme with non-business features, and a business-oriented profile. A minor annoyance with this particular S60 OS is the phonebook, which doesn’t let you use SIM contacts as default. You’ll have to copy all your contacts on to the phone if you want to keep accessing your phonebook for information. Luckily, this may not be a problem with newer handsets – the N78, for instance, already has the ‘SIM as Default’ feature.

Media
The E71 is fully equipped with media options to suit all users, business or otherwise. The music player isn’t very different from other Nokia S60 players; it offers EQ presets and the option to create your own with a 5-band EQ. Other options include stereo widening and loudness. The sound quality is superb. It’s not exceptionally loud, but it's enough to drown out any ambient noise. The video player is great too, with no issues. The E71 reads MP3, MPEG4, 3GP and AAC file formats.

Visual radio comes preloaded on the E71, and it automatically finds all the radio stations available in your city – a few clicks are all it takes to save them as presets. While it may seem a roundabout way to go about it, it also saves the name of each station along with the frequency. Reception was better than average even while commuting. I wish it allowed FM recording though, but then the E71 does have a separate voice recorder for voice memos.

Other media features include access to the Nokia Store for music downloads, a Podcasting application for listening in and downloading Podcasts, a Flash player, and 3D tones. A dedicated application allows you to connect to VOX and Nokia M-Blog and upload images taken from your phone's camera.

GPS
Nokia Maps 2.0 makes the E71 that bit more enticing. Its GPS receiver works like a charm; there isn't much delay in picking up satellite reception. The display is clear, which makes it possible to navigate your way through streets with ease. The handset has full support for A-GPS, but unfortunately there's no Geotagging. But that’s easily fixed by installing applications like Nokia’s Location Tagger and LOCR (from the catalog). These apps are freeware.