Six reasons for the change of…

A final blog post for the end of the past year 2011 which unfortunately saw too many deaths of beloved people and only a few posts on this blog – also due to the Posterous / Facebook / Twitter competition and not many actually willing to read longer blog posts as a result of the information overflow.

It’s not that I am only into tech stuff, but I am passionate about these gadgets and that’s also reason enough to note down the following motivation.

iphone4-Defy
The Apple iPhone 4 vs. The Motorola Defy

There are three four five six reasons why I’m planing to skip the freedom that comes with Android and switch (back) to an iPhone 4 (not 4S) in 2012:

1. There may be great Android phones and my Motorola Defy (“Jordan, MB525”) is a lot of  phone for the money, but it’s a few millimeters too small for my fingers which means that typing on the screen is easier and quicker on the iPhone.

2. Both cameras on both phones have 5mpx sensors, but there’s some magic to the iPhone 4 camera that the Defy camera just does not have. And I’ve tried all cameras on the Android market, am using MIUI on the Defy which also includes the CyanogenMod7 camera app and…well, I just don’t like the results. It always takes several attempts to get a decent, not blurry picture and if the flash is activated, then it’s even worse. It could also be the software processing, less the hardware.

Defy camera test, outside
A somehow blurry snapshot, shot on a cloudy/rainy day in October. Not really what I expected to receive from the camera.

I take a lot of pictures with the phone, I knew that the camera on the Defy wouldn’t be that great and I’ve learned my lesson. If a decent camera on the phone is important to you, then go for an iPhone. Also compared to what Nokia used to produce – it’s imo better to use a 50-60% camera that “just works” than one that only delivers blurry images or blinds people with an aggressive flash (hello, Nokia N95!).

3. The dock connector. I am using a docking station on my desk and next to my bed. When I fall asleep, I just want to drop the phone into the docking station where it’s being recharged etc. – and not manually open a flap on the side of the phone and plug in a mini USB cable. I’m used to this procedure now, but I also know that these things are easier with the iPhone and a bit more complicated with the Defy (which is why I sold/gave away both docking stations I had for the Defy).

4. I got a very generous offer from a friend that I just have to accept and which enables me to make the swap to the other phone. The irony is that the iPhone is currently locked to ze Görmän Terrorkom (T-Mobile) network and will only be unlocked in the middle of 2012, but all of these limitations don’t matter to me for the above mentioned reasons. Another motivation probably also is that iOS 5 finally brought the changes that I requested iOS to have (and which I preferred on Android).

5. Not a real reason, but still: my sister, who always refused iPhones (“I don’t need them…”), suddenly surprised me in mid 2011 with the purchase of an iPhone 4 32GB. Which comes with FaceTime! All these years of introducing Skype within the family were rather unsuccessful, but this (stupid) FaceTime app now suddenly introduced video telephony within the family. Yeah, well…. whatever.

6. Payment options on the market. I really like Android but there’s this one thing where the iTunes store is just more advanced: payment options on the iTunes store include the use of vouchers. Now, this may not be an issue in the US, but in Germany, a) you only get a credit card when you’re 18 (so many consumers do not have one, or use someone else’s card, or use a prepaid one) and b) with many banks (who issue these cards), you have to pay an extra charge of 1,85% of the complete transaction fee for foreign apps. Which means that app purchases cost extra and more than expected. Sure, we’re talking about Euro cents here, but still it’s more – and the purchase / availability of prepaid vouchers, available at local supermarkets like they are for iTunes, would imo be the perfect solution for the Android market. So until this issue is solved, the iTunes store is a bit more sophisticated to me. This is imo also why the “for free”-culture is much more alive on the Android and Nokia ecosystems than it is with the Apple ecosystem (where hardware is already expensive enough). Payment options are key!

Android: What I will certainly miss is the removable battery (haha, just kidding – the only reason to remove it is to reset the phone – seriously) and the microSD card which – and I differ here with experts like Eldar Murtazin – I think is very great because it enables you to keep your user data in one place. Water damage with the iPhone? You’re doomed! But not so with phones where microSD-cards keep most of your data. I think that’s pretty convenient and a valid argument pro microSD-cards. Also because not everyone trusts iCloud, though it’s a step in the right direction. In 2011/12, hard- and software should be independent from each other. If a device (phone/laptop/car, etc.) fails, I’d like to exchange the hardware, type in my credentials and continue on a new device where I left the old one. Another great convenience of course is that you just type in your gmail address and it will automatically setup your phone. Totally awesome. Or alternative app stores like AppBrain – so many more options (except payment) than the iTunes store. The best part about Android certainly is how apps are connected within the OS and how they offer a level of connectivity I am yet to find on iOS (e.g. saving a page to ReadItLater).

As I said, Android is good, attractive and my preferred OS of choice. The Defy is a very nice phone but I’ve realized that for my own daily needs, the iPhone just does a slightly better job.

Half of my geek friends are from the “there’s-no-other-smartphone-than-the-iPhone” group, and the other group is more like “Android-is-better-because-iOS-is-worse”.

So the bottom line probably is that it takes a longer test of all available systems and a small set of important apps that just need to work in order to see which phone suits the user.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the redesign on this blog here: I’ve updated WordPress to 3.3 and that somehow destroyed my blog template – which I had been meaning to change since 2006! Again, it probably takes some interaction from the outside to make the switch. Thx, @alipasha!

Everyone, please have a peaceful and happy New Year 2012!

Hello Moto DEFY! How dey body?

So I did it.

Motorola Defy JKE

I bought this Motorola DEFY mobile phone today. It’s my first Android device and I am still to find out if I can get along with its operating system, the available apps and the user interface. I’ve picked this model (and not the HTC Desire / HTC Desire HD / Samsung S / Nexus S, etc.) for the following reasons:

  1. It is dustproof and water & scratch resistant. There are various videos on YouTube that document how this phone still works after (and while) being submerged in water and other fluids. Try this with an iPhone :-)
  2. It was recommended to me by my mate Adrian who has 10 (!) of these and uses them for a scientific (geologic) project. Of course, if I could afford it, I would probably also long for a Nexus S (like Adrian) because of the availability of a pure and fresh Android 2.3+. The Motorola DEFY currently runs on Android 2.1 with its own (lame) skin MOTOBLUR. Android 2.2 still needs to be rolled out in this region for this phone, and it is uncertain whether it will ever make it to 2.3. Of course there are unofficial releases, but Motorola only allows signed bootloaders. F*** Y**, Motorola. Not good. Android is open. You’re not. Why?
  3. It was also recommended to me by fellow blogger @bobbes who’s a Linux guy and showed me his DEFY earlier last week.
  4. It is affordable and has a very good price-performance ratio. This is an average device with an average camera. My old Nokia N95 (ex 2007) has a better camera. I’ve paid 265 EUR (this is a refurbished/like-new piece of hardware!).
  5. Android! Because I needed a change. As a Win/Linux user, iTunes is a pain in the ass. Else, I still love my iPhone on iOS 3.1.2. The iPhone is very slow on the browser, though, and urgently required an upgrade. I am not really sure if Android will make me as happy as iOS did, but I’ll never know unless I try.
  6. 480×854 pixel screen size. For an operating system, where app compatibility also depends on the pixel resolution of the target device, this is a welcome screen resolution.
  7. I’ve always kept & treated my phones & gadgets in a good way, never had a broken screen so far, but it just feels good to know that any sweat on the display (holding the phone next to your ear) will not result in a water damage. Given how fragile these phones are on the inside, this DEFY hopefully defies all water attacks :-)
  8. It’s smaller than my iPhone, faster and will presumably also run a bit longer. This argument about exchangable batteries….in all honesty, I think no one really needs that in reality. And for those moments you really need it, you won’t have a fully charged spare battery in your pocket. I usually carry a bag with chargers and spare batteries for all my phones in my laptop bag. During all these years, I’ve only used them twice. Once in Kenya, and once in Germany on the train (only to realize that the cheap MadeInChina spare batteries drained too fast).
  9. It has a good GPS chipset. My iPhone Classic doesn’t have GPS. My Nokia N95 has GPS, albeit a very weak one that needs to be hardware hacked one day (extending the antenna, that is).
  10. It has a microSD card. This alone is reason enough to drop the iPhone (where I used Dropbox for non-multimedia files).
  11. It has two microphones that “intelligently amplify your voice and filter out background noise”. This is supposed to be a modern standard (worked fine on my E72), but my iPhone Classic didn’t have this and I sometimes missed it. I don’t like to use my iPhone as a telephone, prefer Nokias when it comes to pure telephone functionality because of the improved acoustics. Estonimoja (with his beloved 6210) and Mentalacrobatic(s) (with his love for the 6230) will certrainly agree on this.
  12. As a hardware guy, I checked Youtube for “disassembly defy” and found this video. Going by the main PCB and the plastic cover, this phone is very similar to good Nokia phones. You’ll notice the difference while opening up iPhones or HTCs – which are much more fragile and consist of many small cables and parts directly printed on these copper cables. This obviously is a business decision and sometimes the cause for failures (that you won’t have with such single-board phones, imo). In other words: good built quality needs to be based on something.
  13. This being an iP67 phone, my assumption is that it will continue to live despite any stupid Motorola bootloader policies. In other words: while this phone has something that makes it unique (the water/dust proof thing), other current Android devices may only be short lived and soon dropped by many users for the prospect of using better hardware. I think this Motorola Defy will stay with us for a long time, similar to the Siemens ME45 or the recent Nokia 3720.

What I miss is a docking station, and/or the USB socket at the bottom of the device. I’ll have to open the flap that covers the USB port (on the left side of the device, see pics), which is a bit annoying. The iPhone (or the HTC Desire) clearly wins here. Obviously, there’s no perfect phone out there.

Oh, and you can buy this mobile phone holder (yeah, simu holdaaaaa!! :-):

DEFY-holder-Bikertech.de

 

…. which will probably attract Enduro-fanatics like Bwana Whiteafrican or Bwana Mzeecedric who need tough gear for their motorbikes.

This mobile phone holder for bicyles and motorbikes is available via bikertech.de – the above image is (C) by them. The guy who runs bikertech.de builds these holders one by one, they are all hand made and can be adjusted to any specific requirements. Love it! In fact, seeing this pic finally nailed it for me. I can’t imagine using an iPhone in an Otterbox case (which are awesome, see their review from my Nokia E72) on such a holder. But the DEFY? Of course!

Anyways. I know the DEFY won’t be the ultimate phone, and probably also not be my last one. If it proves to be as reliable & versatile as the iPhone Classic, I’ll be more than glad.

UPDATE: After receiving this phone, checking out Android, installing a lot of apps and slowly understanding what makes Android so special, I realized that the simplified car menu (see bikertech image above for an example) that gives you access to basic functionality is VERY nice and convenient.

Should I stay or should I go…

The following blog post may be filed under “things I do when I am supposed to do other, much more important stuff instead”, but I just need to write it down and share it here.

I am in the process of buying a new mobile phone, and my switch to the iPhone Classic some month ago made me realize that – in the end – I am no real software hacker (hardware, yes) and prefer a system that’s reliable and just does the job.

P1030474
main screen on my iPhone Classic
(note the Full Body Film coming off on the top right corner)

Meaning, the limited options on an iPhone Classic with a jailbroken iOS 3.1.2 aren’t necessarily negative, because you end up using only a few apps of the 140+ apps I’ve meanwhile installed on the system and also adjust to the user interface. I think we are human enough to accept user interface design flaws as long as we’re getting things done.

From my experience with Symbian and iOS so far, I can tell that iOS is kick ass and only has a few things that I would probably like to change (on 3.1.2, but also 4.x). There’s a plethora of apps available for iOS, there are many good apps also ONLY available for iOS (like the app provided by my bank) and everything is just very straight forward. There’s no doubt that Apple’s / Steve Job’s ZEN approach and the things they DON’T do or offer on their devices isn’t wrong, but instead one of the main reasons for their success – even in Japan, where analysts feared that the somewhat limited iPhones wouldn’t succeed (as stated in this brilliant article).

This week I went to a local Twitter meetup and realized that almost everyone was using an iPhone. Except for two coders who were on Android devices.

JKEs-iPhone-Classic

the back side of my iPhone Classic – with the partly worn out & yellowish Full Body Film (that covers the gaps on the aluminium back).
QR Code = my address for business contacts

Android and iOS. Let me be clear on this: I judge phones on their reliability and what I can do with them. I said it before, Nokia does not interest me anymore despite their awesome (really awesome and unbeaten) hardware. The camera on my Nokia N95 from 2007 is still very good when compared to current devices. And this although it only has an LED flash!

It’s the apps. No apps, no fun.

Hence it’s only iOS or Android to me these days. Likewise, any change of mobile phone operating systems has to be well planned. Seach the now (eventually also via web accessible!) Android app store online and see which app relates to the one you like best on your iPhone. Also, sometimes there’s no extra app necessary on Android as the functionality is also included on the default operating system. I am a bit afraid of software hacking any future phone, but going through the various forums/fora online I realize that a lot of ppl manage to hack their Android devices, so I should also manage to hack it to some extend.

JKE-iphone-Classic-docking
iPhone Classic docking station

Hardware

What you see in the snapshot above is the very nice, small & slim docking station for my iPhone Classic. I have two of them – one on my desk and one on my bed table. This is VERY convenient and also necessary, because they battery on this phone isn’t original and only lasts 8-10 hours maximum. I am using Kirikae multitasking switches and SBStoggles on the iPhone to kill unnecessary apps and free available RAM, there are no constant data connections and I mainly use it for Twitter/FB/Reader & as a phone. The battery and the display are both not original and thus a bit peculiar on energy consumption. Missing 3G speed, a lousy camera, battery life and limitations of iOS 3.1.2 now made me consider an upgrade to:

a) an iPhone 4, paid for in installments @ 25 EUR / month, iOS 4.x (= 649 EUR)
or
b) a Motorola DEFY, Android 2.1 (+ unofficial UK upgrade to 2.2), currently selling for ~ 290 EUR

Now, given that I can get the same things done with a cheaper Android device like the Motorola DEFY, why should I upgrade to an Apple iPhone 4? From a “let’s-be-real” perspective, the DEFY will just do as well. Most of the apps I am using will also be available via Android Market, and since I’ve also already jailbroken my iOS device, I will probably be able to hack an Android device, right?

Right?

Interestingly, one of the main reasons why I still haven’t bought the DEFY is the lack of a docking station. The DEFY also has its connector on the left side, so you’ll either have to modify a Motorola Milestone docking station (with a magnet, so that the display flips 90° to the side) or build your own, but in any case I will always have to remove the plastic/rubber flap that covers the USB port on the DEFY. Do I really want that? And will they be dureable enough?

Another alternative would probably also be an HTC DESIRE on Android 2.2 because it has its docking port at the bottom. This, the availability of many custom firmwares and the camera on the HTC DESIRE are reasons why I would go for an HTC DESIRE. But for the moment, also because of it’s rugged character – the Motorola DEFY is rated as IP67 – the DEFY looks like a current Android device with a very good value for money. The still missing & rather complicated docking station issue and the only average camera (I take a lot of photos for use on my Posterous blog) – sijui… will still have to make up my mind on this.

The recent launch of the Huawei IDEOS U8150 in Kenya triggered my interest in low-cost Android devices. A friend, who is currently programming a scientific app for Android devices, also recently recommended the DEFY (given my budget) as he’s currently using one himself. I had the chance of playing with the DEFY for a few minutes and liked what I saw. Of course, it’s not an iPhone 4, but it costs only half as much and makes me getting things done.

So here’s the question: wait for the iPhone5, buy an Android device like the DEFY or DESIRE, invest into an iPhone 4 or stick with the old one because there’s never “the right time” for buying Android devices?

(pls note that I didn’t even mention the convenient microSD card memory on these Android devices & the lack of iTunes, which is a nightmare on Windows & also reason for the change to Android)

Nokia 2700 Classic

It’s about time for another blog post, and since I do seem to have a slight affection for mobile phones, I thought about blogging on my latest acquisition: a Nokia 2700 Classic mobile phone I managed to buy in mint condition as a used device from eBay for a very small amount.

P1020041

I’ve used quite a few phones lately and have gotten used to enhanced services like Dropbox, Evernote, ReadItLater, E-Mail, Browsing on the iPhone, and also thought that I wouldn’t want to buy another Nokia phone since my disappointment with the restrictions set by a Nokia N95 and E72 (= great hardware but not that much software support), but for this price and for my use (as a 2nd line just for calling & music), this Nokia 2700 Classic is a fantastic phone.

Sure, the plastic cover isn’t great, the keypad is a bit narrow, there’s no UMTS/3G, no WLAN, a very grainy 2Mpx cmos cam on board, no flashlight and flash for the cam (which is a real pity) and the internal RAM is also only limited to about 10 MB.

P1020043

This phone, however, is the first Nokia since maybe the 6230 or even the 6310i where everything important works out-of-the-box . It just works and does what it’s supposed to do. Also, anything that isn’t on board can’t break. I think I like (Nokia’s operating system) S40 much more than S60. For instance, one of the things I hated with my N95 and the E72 is when you terminate a call the display/operating system would still take about 1-2 seconds to respond. That’s pretty annoying, actually. There’s no such thing on my S40 devices (6230, 6230i and this 2700 Classic). I like!

Another interesting software detail is that users are directly forwarded to the Opera Mini browser which is just so much better than Nokia’s own crippled browser solutions.

P1020047

The best part about this phone is the 3.5mm headphone socket that works well with my Sony MDR-818 headphones (headset, actually). This, along with the removable 1GB microSD card, promises a really good music pleasure. I don’t know about you, but syncing my iPhone via iTunes just sucks big times (could this also be done via SSH, btw?), and here I just connect the phone via a data cable or directly load multimedia files onto the microSD card. Yes, I also already had this on the N95 and the E72, but to be honest: this is more fun to me with a relatively simple phone like the 2700. I prefer this phone to both the N95 and the E72, albeit their other capabilities.

Also, it has the right size (long enough, slim) and a good weight (~ 85gr), SAR-value is also ok with about 0.84 W/kg (iPhone 1.3; E72 1.4; N95 0,59 W/kg). I think the product engineers who created the pcb and the external phone design did a very good job on this phone. As mentioned, the keypad isn’t top notch, but it is ok and does what it’s supposed to do. I somehow also like that it is a closed keypad with no gaps in between the keys (even though I still like the keypad on the 6230/i best). You know, when you open up phones and look inside at how they are designed and what kind of materials are used and where water/moisture could enter (water damage!), there are worlds between Nokia + SonyEriccson phones and the likes of an iPhone or the HTC Desire. The latter are indeed much more fragile, with complicated thin & flexible pcbs, not designed for rough use and African Asian road side repairs.

P1020042

You’ll notice the old-fashioned BL-5C battery we’re already familiar with since the 6230 (from 2003?), the antenna positioned in the bottom, the thin but sufficient plastic back cover (I’ve added some layers of transparent adhesive tape to limit play) and the overall simple “a few components only” design by Nokia. This, ladies and gentleman, is what I consider a good design!

Verdict: the Nokia 2700 Classic may be an average phone with some flaws like the grainy camera or the limitations set by the operating system and its resources, but it does quite well what it was designed for and is the perfect device for anyone who just wants to use it for telephoning, sms and music. The internal speaker is very loud and the music player responds quicker than any player on S60. Going by the installed ringtones on this phone, the target market seems to be the youth / 13-30yr olds.

Despite all the mistakes Nokia did lately (too many phones on the market, no emphasis on software, sticking to the wrong OS, horrible app store etc.), this phone is a good buy – which is also evident by the good sales stats this 2700 Classic already had (this phone was recently offered at ALDI Germany, btw) and the adaption of the design for other popular phones like the Nokia 6700 range. Contrary to the otherwise much more interesting 6700 with it’s metal cover, 5mpx cam and UMTS/3G support, the 2700 has this 3.5mm headphone socket. The 6700 is like the 6500 in this regard – everything is done via a micro (or mini?) USB port, which may be ok for political reasons but isn’t my first choice.

I think the overall truth is that a) Nokia’s S40 phones are less frustrating than their S60 phones (with the given competition in form of high-end touch phones based on iOS and Android) and b) these modular phones with their sandwich design (front cover – keypad – pcb – middleframe – battery – back cover) are the way to go for the future when it comes to sustainable product design.


Oh, and one more thing:

I am tired of repeating myself, really tired, but! – Nokia – seriously, I mean, SERIOUSLY!!!! we’re in 2010 now and you still haven’t managed to provide a reliable service that updates all phone address books via one click. The many, many users of S40 devices in the dev world and elsewhere – the ones with webmail accounts provided by Yahoo!, MSN, Gmail – how are they supposed to sync their address books via their online accounts? Not everyone has an instance of Outlook installed on his computer, and – this may be news to you – but: Ovi.com xux so much in so many different ways, like deleting all contacts in one go, or that it doesn’t sync itself with an external service like Gmail, Yahoo! or MSN or the app itself installed on the phones (for downloading apps and Ovi contacts).

There’s only a few things you’ll have to do: build good phones (done), sell them (done), give ppl a way to sync their data with online accounts other than this Ovi failure (not yet done).

And there you go wondering, dear Nokia, why we felt free enough to give you a lecture on what it takes to succeed in Africa?

Hej Nokia engineers, just imagine the following scenario: you’re somewhere in Kenya, have an account with Yahoo! with about 100 e-mail addresses, two SIM cards from two different operators, a simple Nokia phone (ok, let’s say an S40 device to make things a bit better, so we’re not talking about the 1xxx range here) and would like to have all these contacts from your Yahoo! e-mail account inside your phone. How will you go about that? With a limited inet connection? Yes?

That’s the issue here. Make it simple. Make it work. Not just for geeks like me who can easily google for the solution via their broadband connection.

request for WiFi-based VoIP phone

E 10768479I am currently looking/searching for a simple cordless VoIP phone that may be used at home and ONLY connects to the local Wi-Fi/WLAN (802.11). Are there any such models on the market? A few, it seems, but still too expensive or with too many extra options.

What I want is to set up different Sipgate.de telephone numbers / VoIP profiles to such a device because the Fritz!Box 7141 DSL modem/router down in the basement only provides output to two analoge phones. And while you can set this advanced and very popular Fritz!Box system to accept more than just one internet VoIP number, one can only connect two physical phones via cable to the box (at least something, right?). These two lines are already blocked by the landlord’s phone + his AIO printer/fax machine. And his internal phone system is also analog and dates back to 1993. I could of course also try to hack the Fritz!Box (which is in fact a full computer and based on a “Linux”-system) and add an AsteriX PBX that takes care of the routing process, but I actually don’t want to change the existing system. And adding another Fritz!Box would provide at least two more “lines” to which I could connect normal wireless phones and define these VoIP profiles right on the Fritz!Box (both boxes connected via WDS). This doesn’t make much sense though, as I’d already bought a simple WLAN AP the other day which acts as a repeater to cover the area under the roof of the house (where I live).

The alternative would be to use a mobile phone like my Nokia N95 which already comes with WLAN/Wi-Fi connectivity and allows for different VoIP profiles to be set up. However, I think that most of these Wi-Fi enabled mobile (GSM) phones only have a very weak antenna and rx/tx ratio, resulting in frequent signal losses unless of course you’re standing next to the access point. Plus, the N95 is a mobile and is with me all the time – while a much simpler Wi-Fi-only cordless phone like the above pictured Siemens SL75 WLAN could remain at home and provide telephony to the home office.

What I really like about VoIP is that you can take your number with you – and as long as customers in Germany often still pay much more to call a mobile line than a fixed line, it’s way smarter to also offer a fixed line number (like the one I was provided by sipgate.de for free some years ago) to your customers.

Again, any advice/comment on this issue is highly appreciated. Thx!

Auf Deutsch: ich suche ein reines Schnurlostelefon, das sich über WLAN mit einem Access Point verbindet und verschiedene VoIP Profile akzeptiert. Irgendwie hat es seit 2006 keine wirkliche Entwicklung auf dem Markt gegeben, aber vielleicht irre ich mich da auch. Eine reine USB-Lösung setzt leider immer einen aktiven Rechner voraus – und da kann man dann genausogut via Headset telefonieren und sich zB den (ebenfalls vorhandenen!) USB Hörer von Sipgate sparen.
Über WLAN deswegen, weil die beiden FON 1&2 Leitungen an der Fritz!Box schon belegt sind und eine Erweiterung der Anlage damit nur noch über Funk & VoIP möglich erscheint.

Die Kombination aus WLAN Telefon und 2. access point (der das Signal der Fritz!Box ausm Keller bis unters Dach verstärkt) funktioniert schon mal – nur eben nicht so super, da die Antenne / Funkverbindung im Nokia N95 bauartbedingt schwächer ist als es ein reines WLAN Telefon wie das oben abgebildete Siemens bieten könnte.

JKE’s Nokia E71 review: (4) the fine print

The E71 is a business phone.

Having said that, it is also suited for those users who actually have to cough up some savings and are looking for a decent mobile workhorse. As opposed to an iPhone (no tactile feedback) or another QWERTY-equipped Windows Mobile phone, the E71 comes with the perfect mixture of (a) usability, (b) design, (c) built quality and (d) connectivity.

However, it still has some flaws that need to be mentioned here and may partly be changed by upcoming firmware upgrades.

SANY1087

Coming from a Nokia N95, I am of course already spoiled in terms of multimedia functionality. And this although I am one of those users who prefer the business functions over to the multimedia capability. I primarily use my N95 for reading e-mails on the train, listening to some music and taking a few snapshots from time to time (even in macro mode, which is quite decent on the N95). Reasons enough to allow a direct comparison of the E71 with my N95. But mind you – the following observations aren’t meant to be a comparison alone!

Continue reading “JKE’s Nokia E71 review: (4) the fine print”

JKE’s Nokia E71 review: (2) Hello world!

If you thought that Stephen Hawking is the only one around with a cool voice, check this out:

(my 2nd video on YouTube btw – am a bit shy when it comes to video blogging…)

If you ever thought about getting an E71 and are still looking for that *special* reason why it’s better than a BB or even an iPhone, this may be a surprising gimmick for your non-geek friends at Pizza Garden on those Furahiday evenings. ;-)

Stay tuned for part (3) of my E71 review!

JKE’s Nokia E71 review: (1) mobile blogging

“I just hope it doesn’t arrive when I’m around”, she said. “…coz you’d spend more time with it than with me”.

Well…

Donna of WomWorld/Nokia contacted me the other day, asking if I’d be interested in testing the Nokia E71 business phone as a blogger. What a rhetorical question…

SANY0990b

[disclaimer: this post is REALLY long! You’ve been warned! :-)]

Continue reading “JKE’s Nokia E71 review: (1) mobile blogging”