Make way iPhone 3G, here’s the Nokia E71

While the rest of the planet was salivating with excitement at today’s launch of the 3G version of Cupertino’s finest, the Guide quietly went off on its own and bought itself a Nokia E71.

“Why?”, you ask. After all, we’ve already declared the iPhone the best phone on the planet, how can a 3G version not be simply better than the best? Well, truth be told, to most people, it probably is. The problem is that we’re not most people…

We’re not putting the iPhone down – on the contrary – it remains at the top of the heap in terms of innovation, ease of use, and sheer good looks. But there are three little things that, in our view, push the E71 ahead in the desirability stakes.

1) The E71 is the hands-down winner on features

Firstly, rational or not, the lack of some fairly basic features on the iPhone bugs us. When it comes to the likes of video calling, MMS and a decent stills camera (let alone video) – all still lacking from the iPhone – we’re willing to concede that we don’t actually use these features much anyway. But, even so, when you’re dropping this kind of cash on a smartphone, you want to know you’re getting the most feature-rich device. Then there are the more serious omissions. For us, these are the lack of Cut and Paste and the inability to tether the iPhone to a laptop or other device via Bluetooth. We often use our phone as a wireless modem. Being an S60-powered, Nokia business device, the E71 can, of course, do all of these things. And much, much, more.

2) The E71 is not an iPhone

Look, there’s no rationalizing this second point – but here’s the problem: when the iPhone was difficult to get hold of and few people outside the US had seen one, there was a coolness about it that few other gadgets on the planet could compete against. Today, you can pick one up free on contract from any Carphone Warehouse. Result? The iPhone is fast becoming as ubiquitous as the iPod. Great news for Apple shareholders and – as we said earlier – fully deserved because the iPhone is a stunning device, but it does take some of the appeal away for us.  When everyone – from teenagers to Chelsea housewives seems to be carrying the same phone, the Prodigal gadget fan starts looking elsewhere.

3) The E71 syncs our diary and contacts

OK, this last one is completely unfair to the iPhone and utterly personal to us. You see some of us here at Prodigal Towers have day jobs and – crazy as it sounds – our employer prevents us installing iTunes on our work PC. Which means no possibility of syncing our work diaries and contacts. A major problem. This, of course, is not the iPhone’s fault. As we reported in our review, the iPhone syncs perfectly once you have iTunes installed.

So, take these three things into account and that’s why, on iDay, the Guide turned its back on the crowd and its attention on the Nokia E71.

As ever, if you’re after an in-depth review, there are better places to look. All About Symbian and My-Symbian have both done their usual, very thorough analysis. What’s interesting is that the reviews for the E71 are almost overwhelmingly positive. People are just raving about this little thing.

So, let us give you our views on what makes the E71 such an impressive device.

It really is like having a sexy E90

We love our E90 Communicator because it packs the power of laptop into a phone-like package. But, there’s no getting around the fact that it’s a big device.  The E71, packs 90% of the functionality of the E90 into a form factor that is thinner than an iPhone (Nokia claims that the E71 is the slimmest QWERTY phone available) and damn near just as sexy.

True, something had to give and the E71 loses out to the E90 when it comes to its camera and video capabilities. And, yes, when web browsing, you will miss the E90’s huge internal screen. But, here’s the thing, with the exception of web browsing (few things can match the iPhone’s browser), the E71 is still better than the larger iPhone in all of these other areas.

Smart not flash

While the Apple engineers we refining their flashy transitions and user interface, the guys and girls at Nokia were building in smart little features that capitalise on their many years of experience of designing phones and that reflect how people use these devices in real life.  We can’t pretend that Nokia’s S60 operating system is as elegant as Apple’s but it is crammed full of very smart features and shortcuts that make it simple to use.

For example, from the home screen, typing the first couple of letters of a name automatically brings up a list of corresponding contacts.  Scroll to a contact and press the button brings up a contextual menu with shortcuts enabling you to send a text, phone, video call and so on.

You can customise almost all the buttons, shortcuts and menu systems to have exactly the phone you want with the features and applications you use on a daily basis quickly accessible.

Finally, the E71 has stolen the iPhone’s predictive text feature so it ‘guesses’ what you’re trying to type even if you get the odd letter wrong as you’re typing. Very useful indeed. (And by the way, Nokia, why not introduce this to your flagship E90 – it would be a very welcome addition)

These features are not flash but they are very smart. Touches like this make the E71 a breeze to use in daily life.

It’s beautifully designed and built

When we raved about the build-quality and feeling of solidity of the E90, we couldn’t see how Nokia could better it. With the E71, they have. This thing is almost exclusively made out of metal and the result is a device that feels wonderfully strong in daily use. Slim but solid with a lovely feel and a reassuring weight to it.

The design is really excellent too. It looks wonderful and – more important – is a delight to use. The keyboard, though very small, is actually just as easy to type on as our E90, thanks to its clever raised keys.

It does the lot

Video calls? Check. Web browser with built-in Flash support? Check. MMS? Check. Decent quality stills and video camera? Check. Cut and paste? Check. We could go on… You won’t use all of these features, that’s for sure, but you will use one or two of them. And you’ll be happy in the knowledge that the rest are there just in case. Buy an iPhone and you’ll have to be without them all.

So, while for most people the iPhone still represents the best choice, we think that true gadget fans should opt for the Prodigal Nokia E71.