Quick Review: Nokia E61i
Nokia E61i which comes under Nokia E series is a smartphone that is primarily aimed at business users. The phone is powered by Symbian OS 9.1 Series 60 3rd edition which is one of the largest mobile operating system that powers many phones. Nokia E61i is an upgraded version which sports a 2.0 megapixel camera and some minor enhancements over the earlier E61 which was popular phone.
What is in the box?
- Nokia E61 handset.
- Lithium Polymer battery BP-4L.
- Handsfree headset HS-5.
- Connectivity data cable CA-53.
- 2GB microSD card.
- Nokia AC power charger.
- CDs and manual.
Specifications of Nokia E61i:
| Feature Description | Specification |
| Network | UMTS / GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 |
| Dimensions | 117 x 70 x 13.9 mm |
| Screen Size | 2.8” QVGA landscape active-matrix colour display supporting up to 16 million colours (320 x 240 pixels) with an active area of 56.9 x 42.7 mm |
| Keypad | Full QWERTY with backlight |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth Ver 1.2, GPRS, HSCSD, EDGE, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, USB 2.0, infrared, 3G support |
| Operating System (OS) | Symbian OS 9.1 with S60 platform 3rd edition 9.1a |
| Camera | 2.0 Megapixel without flash |
| Memory Card Support | 60 MB shared memory, 64 MB SDRAM memory and support for microSD memory |
| Web Browser | Nokia web browser with Mini Map (xHTML and HTML) |
| Messaging | Email, SMS, MMS, instant messaging |
| Battery Life | Talk time: Up to 4-9 hours GSM, up to 2-5 hours WCDMA, and up to 4 hours VoIP |
| Weight | 150 grams |
For Nokia E61i
The Nokia E61i is a truly business class phone as it offers full QWERTY keyboard with backlight and offers all the possible connectivity options like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Infrared, GPRS, EDGE , 3G and USB ver 2.0 support. The Wi-Fi part is one of the best it supports 802.11b and 802.11g protocols which establish a maximum of 54Mbps speeds. With this phone you can easily browse through the internet as you sip your coffee in a coffee shop or use it in airports for checking your e-mails. The full QWERTY keypad eases typing those long e-mails which you would have to send, we found it very easy use with solid feel of the keys. Nokia E61i sports a large 2.8″ QVGA with 320×240 pixels resolution which is pretty good and displays images colours crisply, so next time you need to work on or read a document then your eyes would thank you for choosing this phone.
This phone also doubles a multimedia device that can keep you entertained as well with Music player, Video player and the built in 2.0 Megapixel camera that can take average photos this not that bad for a business class phone. The total combined memory (shared + SDRAM) comes to 124 MB which is good enough for your day today usage and moreover it also supports microsSD. The built in Nokia web browser does a wonderful job by rendering websites pretty quickly. We used the EDGE and Wi-Fi for browsing which we found were pretty satisfactory but we felt that the EDGE was pretty slow, which we think is due to Vodafone’s poor network in India. But the Wi-Fi browsing was really amazing as we good see the page load time to be pretty quick. Since this phone is powered by Symbian OS there are loads of free and paid applications that you can use to enhance the functionality of this phone.
Against Nokia E61i
There some drawbacks of Nokia E61i:
- There is no flash for present so taking pictures in Dim light is going to be little tough. The bundled 2.0 megapixel camera looses its charm owing to no flash. We strongly feel the need for a flash or alteast a photo assist light that would help take pictures in dark.
- Nokia E61i uses Bluetooth Ver 1.2 and does not support A2DP profile hence you cannot use the stereo Bluetooth headsets with is phone.
- The phone does not have a front camera for Video calls even though it supports 3G networks, so you may have to buy a separate video stand for making video calls.
- The phone uses pop-port for the connecting wired headsets but we would like to see 3.5mm jacks which would allow one to use the headphones of their choice.
Conclusion
This phone is a solid messenger phone which is one of the best value for money deal for business class users. This phone can give lower end Blackberry phones a run for their money as it offers all those features that too in price range of Rs 16,500 (USD $420) in Chennai. If you can live with these minor setbacks it offers then this is the phone for you.
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It looks promising. Will keep a lookout for this one.
It does look lot promising as it has got all you need except for Bluetooth Ver 2.0 and a flash.
I have the Nokia E61 and that little voice message button on the left hand side of the phone is what completely ruins it for me. It is so sensitive it activates whenever you brush it with your finger (which is fairly often). there is no way to disable it and when it activates during a call or while you are using the internet it just cuts off whatever you are doing. Once a month you have to go in and delete a hundred pointless cut off voice messages. I would not buy this phone again.
This is a good smartphone, but I would prefer the Sony Ericsson P1i which has more features, but little higher price.
Looks okay … but dont you actually feel the E60 as being a bit bulky ? Not to mention, the lacking of a touch screen ?
Nirmal-
It is one of the best that I have seen.
I got a P1i for me recently and its review will follow soon.
Atof-
For this screen size the touch screen would be wonderful may they have planned this for in some other variant. Though its slightly bulky but the excellent keyboard makes that acceptable.
Isit possible to unlock a Nokia e61i on Vodafone?
Good review specially while reporting “Against Nokia E61i” version numbers and JSR names don’t make sense to a normal user and they end up purchasing a thing only to regret later.
Good review! thanks for it! I really like this phone.
I will buy a new phone. I am in front of dilema e61 or n80 ?
I buy N70 and I like it. I havent got money for e61
Very nice reading and it works me well. Thanks for it.