Nokia E71 + N82 = Lethal Combination
Truth be told, when both the N82 (silver and black) and the E71 were leaked then announced, I wasn’t highly impressed by them. The N82 to me, was just a rehash of the N95 that lacked dedicated multimedia keys, a big screen and an Infrared port (I love Psiloc IRremote). The E71 looked very ugly on images with that lower part that seemed like it’s been added to it just because the designers needed more volume to accommodate all the internal hardware. But fate had a different opinion and it so happened that I won both the N82 Black and the E71 in two different circumstances.
Fast forward a few months spent with both handsets, and I’m sitting here now, drinking beer, looking at them in front of me and thinking that there is not one single handset announced, released or available, that I would wish to own right now more than these two. Not the N85, not the N96, not the 5800 XpressMusic, not the Android G1, not the iPhone 3G, not the HTC HD, nothing. It’s not pure subjectivity, because there are a few decent reasons for that.
Software
I am regarded as a cutting-edge technology addict in my entourage, but that doesn’t mean that I’m ready to be a beta tester for any company, no matter how much I love it. There’s nothing worse than having a device that doesn’t work, with buggy firmware that crashes or hangs every 5 seconds, or takes 15 seconds to open a frigging message. Steve Litchfield addressed this issue in an article lately (must-read piece) and I definitely agree with all his points. I also agree wholeheartedly with commenter brendan who replied to Steve by saying, and i quote:
I agree these devices are complicated and therefore hard to test but we pay a lot for them and deserve a decent product for our money. I am sick to death of buying something that doesn’t really work. For me firmware updates should be for adding new features or fixing the odd feature not for actually making the device usable. The fact that people actually defend part finished products is hilarious - talk about fanboys brainwashed by marketing! Have some standards people!!!
Right on the money brendan! This is exactly why I love the N82 and E71. Even though I have updated neither of them to the latest firmware, they work like blazing bullets, rarely crash (and when that happens, it’s probably because I have beta software on them), and never give up on me for everyday tasks. They SIMPLY work.
They are also both a great step ahead from their predecessors in terms of software. The E71, for example, fixes all the glitches that I found in the E61i, whereas the N82 is simply impressive in terms of RAM and GPS fixes compared to the N95.
Battery life
There’s nothing more annoying than having a handset that dies on you in the middle of the day. The N82 and the E71 are both blessed with an amazing battery life which makes me love them even more. They both last me one day of high usage, and the other day, I tried to squeeze the hell out of the E71. I kept 3G running and spent the whole time, browsing and chatting. It lasted 8 hours. No actual laptop would’ve lasted more than 4 hours with that pattern.
Form factor & Build quality
Do I need to repeat it for the gazillionth time? Well, I suppose I don’t, but I will: the E71 is the sexiest handset I’ve ever held in my hands. It’s not only a dazzling piece of art and technology, but it also is extremely comfortable to hold, perfectly sized, unbelievably thin, amazingly solid, and its keypad is a blessing to have and use. I am not a big fan of QWERTY, as a matter of fact I had an anti-QWERTY policy a while ago, but the E71 definitely changed my mind. The landscape screen coupled with the most comfortable qwerty keypad I have ever used and an awesome predictive and autocorrection software makes typing long text paragraphs as easy as speaking them.
The N82, on the other hand, is in my opinion, the best built Nseries to date. It looks awesome in black, it’s solid, very well sized, extremely comfortable to hold, and has a great keypad. I reckon I thought it would be aweful to use when I first saw it on images, but in real testing, it’s a joy to have. The keys being very spaced out, you can NEVER hit the wrong key. 10 minutes with it and I bet you’ll have the same opinion as me.
Real world convenience
Since I own both devices, which one do you think I use, or more importantly, what purposes do each device serve?
Well, being a student and a blogger on the move, I need to make use of every second, so I write a lot of articles during my long commutes. This means that 3G and QWERTY have to be available on the same handset, hence the E71 being my main “phone” right now. It is also my GPS device with maps of Paris installed and pretty instantaneous locks, my web browser, my chatting handset of choice, my medical companion with several medical ebooks installed, my social network link with Jaiku and Nokia Friend View, and my blogger tool.
The N82, on the other hand, is my only digital camera, especially with its wow Xenon flash and the Close Up and Sports modes that I digg. With an 8GB microSDHC card and some small tweaks here and there, it’s my main music and podcast player. It is also my exercise buddy, thanks to Nokia Step Counter and its built-in accelerometer, and my portable gaming device thanks to N-Gage and tons of other Java and Symbian games.
So what?
What does all this mean for YOU? I once told you that you have to look for YOUR perfect handset. Although I was retiscent towards them at first, and was close to not give them a chance, the N82 and E71 happened to be the best handsets I have EVER owned, trialled or even held. They have not only enabled me to improve my work yield, but have also sneaked in my everyday life and simplified tons of tasks that used to require much more gadgets, tweaks, and time to work. I found MY perfect and lethal handsets and I am months away from even wanting, let alone buying, something else.
The first lesson is that you should never cross a handset because of some silly prejudice. Go to your nearest phone shop and try to see the handset with your own eyes, hold it, test it if you can. There surely is something out there for your needs.
The second lesson is that we should never moan about Nokia releasing “similar” handsets. I can’t count how many times I read that the N95, N95 8GB, N82, N79, N85 and N96 are a redundancy. I’ve held all of them at one point or another, and even though they are similarly specc’ed, ONLY the N82 fits ME. So thank you Nokia and S60 for understanding that each one of us has different tastes and for giving us the freedom of choice.
You will just fall in love with Eitri or IP08........like me!!!!!
Give it a shot.
www.defimobile.com
So I know exactly what you are talking off!
Well the unregistered guest seems to have had quite an experience. It would have been better to elaborate the problem than to just say all that...
The N82 makes for a great PMP and a camera on the go, while the E71 is a great device to check your mails, surf the net and chat!
Both phones lock eventually and specially for E71 you can tell when it's about to lock hard, you see littering on contact's screen, the main menu stops being responsive to anything and so on..... I wonder if is that all high-end phones are beta products and we are testing it for the manufacturer for free?
Besides that, E71 lacks a 640x480 screen, which it would certainly deserve. Not to mention the 15fps camera that is limited by manufacturer, come on, the camera on the N82 is waaaay better, why handicap the E71?
Eitherway, using msn and browsing on E71 is pretty good, but I guess that's what you would expect when it comes to browsing on any qwerty cell phone. And the only Opera available for E71 is Opera Mini, how lame is that????