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One thing you didn't mention as a con is that the "snooze" function is not configurable - 5 minutes or nothing. I haven't seen any add-on programs to change this. On my Treo or Windows Mobile phones I can set the snooze intervals to be anything I want.
You are right about the build quality. When I pick up my Treo 680 it feels like a child's toy after handling the E61i. I don't think I will be going back to it- especially given its poor battery life.
As long as we're talking about batteries, the battery in my unit is marked as a BP-4L. I just noticed that the Nokia USA site is now selling the batteries for the unit and they are marked as a BP-5L.
My unlocked unit seems to have come from Asia and maybe they use a different designation over there. I probably will order one soon and hope that it is really the same.
I've used a lot of smartphones, both Palm and Windows Mobile, and there is no question that this one has got them all beat!
One piece of software you might want to look into is BestProfiles.
www.smartphoneware.com
This little app not only turns different profiles on and off given the time, but you can set it to change a profile based on a text string in a calendar or meeting event. I have it set so whenever I have a meeting of the Board of Adjustment it picks up the word "Board" from the calendar and changes the profile to "silent" for the duration of the meeting. Very neat.
Thanks for the comment Paul. My E61i came from the Asian region as well and I have the BP-4L battery. It's rated at 1500 mAh just like the BP-5L so no need to order one I think unless you're looking for an extra.
The snooze is a good point, but the OS 9.1 alarm is trash to begin with. I use Handy Clock but same situation there with the snooze, only it's set at 4 minutes instead of 5.
As for your last suggestion, Best Profiles is most definitely one of the most essential apps for S60 3rd devices and I'm so glad that it's finally available. I reviewed here when it was released and to summarize - I love it! :)
@STanevski
Very cool, thanks for the tip. I had no idea that you could enter just the first few letters of a contact and it would pop-up a list of options! I was typing in the full first or last name and then selecting the appropriate number from the pop-up.
I think I will surely get used to it but there are only 10 or 12 core people I commonly send SMS to and I have their numbers all memorized. For me, it's easier to pop in that number than to go through the two or three extra steps. Still, it's a pretty cool that I wasn't aware of so thanks!
The poop-flavored lollipop is from Dodgeball, my friend.
One thing I forgot to mention in my original post: Can someone tell me why the hell I have two App. Manager entries in my menus? What sense could that possibly make? lol
Everyone else finding the same?
I agree that having the ability to uninstall some preinstalled apps would be great. I never use half of them.
I'd like to share this little app with you because one of the first things I missed was a keyboard autolock option.
Visit: http://fuse.stc.cx/autolock
Try it. I bet you'll like it.
Cheers
So having looked around at phones 2day as I am looking to get a new one - the best deal I have found is probably with Orange (As I have been on O2 and 3 most recently I don't know if they are any good). I've looked at the Vario - as I really wanted the T-mobile Sidekick just not on T-Mobile as I was going to have to pay like £100 just for the handset.
This one took my fancy because it has the Nokia interface crossed with the look of a blackberry and the wi-fi so i can internet surf at home (how annoying i just bought a new PDA and now I'm looking at phones that would have done the job!!!!!) anyhoo! So would you reccomend this phone? I would be going from a Nokia 6280 to it.
Seriously though, I've owned many phones and the E61i is easily at the top of my list. It's amazingly solid and beautiful, it runs S60 3rd so it's amazingly versatile, and the price is quite reasonable consider the hoards of lesser phones selling for much more.
Definitely have a play with it - you will be impressed. :)
1. I have a office wlan called office. I also have a wlan at home called office. The WEP keys are the same so I can rove with my laptop. This works with the laptop, but did not work with the E61i until I had unhidden the WLAN at home.
2. When I synch my Exchange mail it works fine thru WLAN. But when I select the web browser icon it insists on using 3G. Why does it not use the active connection?
3. Pressing the EMAIL key takes me to the Nokia default page even though I have configured this key as Mail for Exchange.
Any assistance is greatly appreciated.
Jay
1. I can't really comment on this as I've never tried multiple WLANs with the same name, but under Settings -> Connection -> Access point groups you can configure groups that will be accessible by certain apps such as email. You can change the name of one of your WLANs, and then define a group with both your Work and Home WLANs. Apps that can use this new AP group will search for the first AP and if it isn't present it will connect via the second AP.
So for example, I have a group configured with WLAN1, WLAN2, then EDGE. So when my email tries to connect it looks for each of the two WLAN APs and if they're not found it connects via EDGE.
2. Different apps will connect using their own APs as defined in each app's settings. The browser works like this as well, unless you access it by first using the WLAN wizard to scan for wireless networks. Then once you find a network you can choose 'Start browsing' and the browser will open using the found WLAN as the connection.
I set my browser AP as my EDGE connection so that will be the default connection. I also have the WLAN Wizard standby plugin enabled (Settings -> Phone -> Standby mode -> Active standby plug-ins) so whenever I want to connect to a WLAN to browse I just search with the wizard plug-in (takes less than a second) and choose Start browsing.
3. This is a very odd one! Do you mean the Nokia web page? I don't use exchange so I've never tried to assign the email key to an exchange account but I have never had any problems with my assignments. I think the best idea is to contact Nokia customer care or maybe post on s60.howardforums.com.
In the meantime, if you don't already have your email standby plugin enabled then you should give that a try. It will display your last two email on your standby screen and by clicking on them you will open your inbox (just like the Email key should when it's working).
Also a nifty shortcut to note, once your email key is working a 'long press' of this key will open a new email that will be sent via the account assigned to the key.
I hope that some of this helps!
Anyway, keep up the great work...your blog has really been a source of inspiration for me!
I'm just keeping it for the Wifi so I can read my email in Europe
Chris
Do you have a carrier-branded unit?
About the java issues...there's a pretty decent resource online at www.jbenchmark.com for all cellphones. You might want to have a look at their result database for nokia phones under jbenchmark pro.
Without any surprises, the N93 and N95 lead the pack in terms of java performance, followed by a bunch of S40 devices. Interesting thing to note is that the E50 certainly seems faster than the E61i...although I'm not sure if I can vouch for the accuracy of these results.
But in any case, I don't think it matters much...since Java apps are a thing of the past, atleast in my books :)
This is also one of the main reasons that I don't even bat an eye at all this talk of S40 multitasking forthcoming. I would never step backwards like that...
Does the Symbian version of the SlingMedia player work on it yet? Is it smart enough to use the WiFi if present? I've heard that the player froze after a couple of seconds.
Do you like the address book, or does it frustrate you? How is searching for names in the address book? Can you start typing and have it filter by either first or last name?
How is the podcast support? mp3 and aac? Does it support enhanced podcasts (the ones with pictures embedded in the music, like CBC Radio 3?)
Have you had a chance to try the VPN? Does it work with all the Cisco VPN servers?
Thanks again, any feedback appreciated.
I'll try to answer your questions as best I can but there are some that I haven't tested myself so I'm not sure.
For streaming video, there are a few options out there but the most popular is certainly Orb. I haven't tried in on my E61i but I've heard that it works fine.
In terms of the address book, I love it with a full keyboard and wouldn't even think of installing a third-party contact manager. Yes, as you type it will search any word in the first or last name fields.
I don't do anything with podcasts on my E61i but I have used the Nokia Podcasting app and it has always worked well for me. I'm not sure about enhanced podcast support but if you post that question on series60.howardforums.com I'm sure someone will be able to help you.
Lastly regarding the VPN question, I'm afraid I can't help you there either as my company doesn't allow VPN connections from mobiles. That's another good question for HoFo.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help this round! :)
You'll certainly enjoy this device and wait until you see how solidly it's built. It has great weight and doesn't feel toy-like at all like most other mobiles. Let us know how you get on!