Symbian in Motion - Latest Comments in Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

Zach — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:54:18 -0000

Thanks for the comments W. The site is certainly due for a revamp - we'll try to be kind on the eyes. By all means though, please do subscribe for a standard black on white read. ;)

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

W. Webster — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:47:19 -0000

Great content, but it was almost impossible to read. I applaud your desire for an artistic appearance, but this was just plain painful to my 27 year old eyes... Minimum point size for good readability of a paragraph of text is 9 pt. Also, gray on black creates eyestrain as well.

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

zach — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 08:57:55 -0000

Congrats jonny0!! :)

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!

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

johnny0 — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 03:33:54 -0000

Thanks again, Zach. I just ordered mine today, we'll see how it goes!

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

zach — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:05:54 -0000

No prob of course. :)

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! :)

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

johnny0 — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 04:56:18 -0000

Thanks zach, I appreciate the feedback. Are there any other streaming video solutions? I don't think that VLC has ported to Symbian.

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.

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

zach — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:47:08 -0000

Unfortunately I wouldn't expect Sling Player to work on the E61i any time soon, if ever. They have told me that they're working on additional device compatibility but I would think that they're focusing on Nseries devices. :(

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

johnny0 — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:42:46 -0000

Cool. Last thing I want is to dive down four menu levels to turn off a ringer.

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.

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

zach — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:51:55 -0000

It sure does jonny0. You can hold down the # key to toggle between Normal and Silent (or whatever your first two profiles are) or you can quickly tap the power key for a menu that allows you to switch to any profile, remove the memory card or turn the device off. :)

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

johnny0 — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 07:03:08 -0000

Does the E61i have a silent ringer-off switch like Treos?

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

zach — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:22:45 -0000

I couldn't agree more - java is pretty much dead to me. Granting and re-granting access is a huge PIA and the battery consumption is ridiculous. 99 times out of 100 if an app is written in java I don't even read about it.

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...

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

T M — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:07:03 -0000

Appreciate that, zach!

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 :)

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

zach — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:36:58 -0000

Odd - I have no issues at all with java games. I can't really comment on java apps as I steer clear of them.

Do you have a carrier-branded unit?

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

Chris — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 09:45:35 -0000

I too have an E61i. It has a completely hacked JVM on it - the JVM itself may be ok on other Nokias (not sure what is on the E50 but that runs passably). It is slow to the point of unusability when saving anything more than a few bytes to the recordstore (takes 30 secs when the E50 will take 3 secs for the same operation). The camera takes VERY grainy photos.

I'm just keeping it for the Wifi so I can read my email in Europe

Chris

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

zach — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:40:28 -0000

Thanks for the comment T M! You're doing a great job on the blog and I've definitely added it to my reader. :)

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

T M — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:51:47 -0000

An amazing review Zach! I'm *almost* cursing myself for not stumbling upon this earlier! (Not that I'm unhappy with the N73ME or anything)

Anyway, keep up the great work...your blog has really been a source of inspiration for me!

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

zach — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 09:11:23 -0000

Thanks 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!

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

Jay Savoor — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:15:21 -0000

Just bought the E61i - brilliant. But I have a couple of odd things happening which I cannot understand...

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

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

zach — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:16:39 -0000

Well I've never tried out the Vario but I really can't say enough good things about the E61i. Moving from a standard-OS Nokia to a Symbian device, the only negative I can think of is that with many apps installed you might find the UI sluggish at times. That is to be expected though and you'll quickly learn that it's well worth it for all of the amazing functionality you'll be gaining. I mean, just look through all of the app reviews here - and that's not the half of it! lol

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. :)

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

Han — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 17:35:16 -0000

Heya

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.

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

Angela — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 08:48:02 -0000

I have the Nokia e61i but no battery (that I am desperately looking for) I saw the BP-5L was compatible IT IS NOT! I ordered it from Nokia, the BP-5L batter does not fit in the e61i phone- the electrical brackets are off- on the batter the metal is in the center but on the phone, when you open the battery case you see the prongs on the left side- does not match up! Sending back, I found an Australian store I might be able to order the BP-4L unless anyone hears of something else!

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

zach — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 08:45:04 -0000

Thanks for the comment and the suggestion Jose. :) I do believe I have tried that app before but it doesn't have the option to enable a hotkey to lock and unlock (if I remember correctly. This is the feature I use most so in that respect Handy Keylock is the way to go... Thanks!

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

José Dias — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 08:09:48 -0000

I really liked your review and I do agree with most of it.
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

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

Ron — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 21:11:37 -0000

I have 2 App. Manager entries as well. No idea why they did that.

I agree that having the ability to uninstall some preinstalled apps would be great. I never use half of them.

Re: Nokia E61i: The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy…

zach — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 19:33:43 -0000

2 points for you my friend - great flick... ;)

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?