The image of a business phone has been associated, from the beginning, with Nokia Communicator series, some mini laptops if you want. These models had a huge success among those who need access to e-mail, Internet and mobile office functions during trips.
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Many years ago, RIM Blackberry has become the preferred business phone, due to its small sizes, the QWERTY keyboard and the push-email function, which allowed the delivery of emails to your phone within seconds, after receiving the messages on the email server.
From the appearance of the first Blackberry, many phones, that had several attempts to imitate the success of RIM, appeared, but only few of them manage to win significant market share. Now I look at the Nokia competitor, eager to regain the lost crown. The model is called Nokia E61i, and is the successor of the E61 model, towards which brings some improvements, some minor, others major, which justify launching a new model.
The comparison of the two models (E61 and E61i), reveals the narrow profile of E61i comparable to a wallet without any money in it. E61i has a smaller amount of internal memory compared to the E61: 60 MB compared to 75 MB. It lacks the FM radio, but it has a 2 megapixel camera without autofocus and flash.
At a first look, you will be impressed by the thickness of Nokia E61i, which, with its 11.5 mm, enters on the territory of Samsung. Once taken in hand, things change; it weights 150 grams, falling in the PDA Phone category it.
The metal caps, that cover the back and the front of the phone, contribute to the mainly increased weight. However, they give you a feeling of strength and resistance to prolonged use. The camera is placed on the back of the phone and is framed by a metal ring. The lens is not protected, so beware of how you keep the phone in your pocket. On the phone's side, on the left, we find the volume control buttons and a button used for initialization of a new audio record.
Placing the screen of the phone horizontal, allows to view the information easily, especially Web pages. Unfortunately, the large screen size could have had a high resolution, at least 416 x 351 pixels, like on Nokia E60 and E70 models. The screen behave decently in direct light, but there is room for improvement.
A real Communicator must have a very good keyboard and Nokia E61i no exception to the rule. The good, hard keys prove excellent at writing email and SMS messages, where E61i excels. The keyboard automatically illuminates when the sensor records that there is not enough light. The illumination is done uniform, being among the best phones that I have had in my hands. The battery, which has an impressive capacity of 1500 mAh, is one of the strengths of the phone.
Nokia E61i is powered by the Symbian 9.1 Series 60 UI operating system, so we have installed a derivative of the Mozilla web browser, QuickOffice suite, Flash player, audio, video and PDF files viewer. A notable absence is Mail for Exchange program, but it can be downloaded for free.
E61i's processor, a Texas Instruments OMAP, behave decently most of the time, but not well enough for those who were used to PDAs powered by Intel PXA270 processors, which allow viewing of uncompressed DivX movies.
Phone - PC synchronization is made with Nokia PCSuite that is a program very easy to use, improved with each new version. For the connection, you may use a USB cable or Bluetooth.
Initiating conversations, sending SMS messages, call record, all phone functions are identical to those on Nokia models powered by Symbian 9.1 S60. As a personal observation, a Symbian smartphone is closer to a mobile phone, while a PDA phone powered by Windows Mobile is closer to a PC than to a phone.
Any Communicator should excel here, at the connectivity chapter. Nokia E61i is no exception: we have Bluetooth 1.2, Wi-Fi 802.11b / g, HSCSD, EDGE, 3G and IrDA. All work as you expect, that means without problems. A great plus to the wireless connection wizard: you can scan available networks, select desired network, enter password if necessary and that is it, you are online.
Although it is a business smartphone, E61i is equipped with a decent media player, but it does not have advanced functions. The camera takes pictures ok, but do not expect the picture quality of Nokia N95.
The supplied headset is mono and it cannot offer a good audition, compared with N series or Walkman series phones from Sony Ericsson.
It is distinguished by:
• Large screen
• QWERTY keyboard
• battery life
• connection possibilities
• solid construction
• very thin
Disappoints by:
• large width compared to a typical phone
• weight
• slow processor (sometimes)
• mono headset