The moment you hold the E61i in your hand, you know that this device was built with respect to the customer in mind. The materials are noble and there’s no way someone could mistake the E61i for a cheapo. From the silver metal that covers the battery and surrounds the screen, to the non slipping brown coated plastic that lays on the borders, to the nice rubbery feeling of the keys, and even the white sturdy plastic that is used on the top and bottom, everything on this device begs to be caressed. Everything also snaps into place, with no gaps, no wobbles and no squeaks, making the E61i a whole unit, that will take some beating and still come out victorious.
The battery cover, which I said is made of a silver metallic material, collects some fingerprints, but it’s nothing like the N81 for example, so it’s barely annoying. Also the E61i is rather a chubby device, but it it is refreshingly thin and fits so nicely in the hand, especially in mine which seems awkwardly adapted to its dimensions. It is also a heavy handset, but that doesn’t come as a negative aspect since the weight is due to all that metal and thick plastic that it uses.
The keypad is very well lit in white and blue, and you can laugh at me, but this is the first time I notice the light sensor in action. When in poor light conditions, the keypad will light up, but when there’s enough light around, it will turn off, saving some battery. I know many devices have it, but no one mentions it, so I think it should be said every once in a while to remind the customers.
All in all, I am still totally in love with the way the E61i looks and feels. Now if I HAD TO find some defaults, there would be 3 things I would’ve liked to be improved :
- the center d-pad button: it’s somehow less intuitive than the other buttons to press, partly due to the raised d-pad rectangle surrounding it. I am getting the hang of it, but still it’s not very intuitive.
- the difficulty of removing and placing the battery cover in, since there are rails to guide it, but they are on different level on each side. But this somehow contributes to the overall no-gap advantage of the device, so I won’t complain a lot about it.
- the lack of any sort of light around the d-pad, not that it’s hard to find in darkness, but it would’ve been aesthetically better to have one.
I honestly wish all Nokia devices were built like the E61i, especially Nseries, something I moaned about just the other day. To me, a device is as sexy as it is elegant. And the E61i is more than just elegant, it is elegantly robust.
