Nokia E51/E71 - Help Me Decide!

[Digger]

As hinted I cannot decide between these two phones. At least I think its between these two. The addition of the GPS, qwerty keyboard, and larger battery of the E71 are certainly attractions. Having said that I am not sure I would be typing many emails and having tried the handset earlier in the Nokia Store on Regent Street the keyboard might take some getting used to. E51 can be had for around £180 and the E71 for £285.

I would pair it with a sim-only (month by month) probably with Orange as I have been with them for months. Is it possible to add on data bolt-ons to sim-only deals (with any of the carriers), as i might want to use the phone as a modem which would otherwise be very expensive?

Has anyone else decided betweeen these two devices? I tried a Touch Pro but found Win Mobile to be sluggish in comparison so it was returned. Any other devices I should consider? One with a 3.5mm h/phone socket would be a bonus. Both the above have 2.5mm. . .why?!

Edit Hmmm. . .the N79 looks interesting too!?

[chrism_scotland]

I almost bought an E71 it seems an excellent device for email although I too was concerned by the keys being a bit too small which put me off but it does seem very good.

[Member 280751]

I've got the E71 and think it's a fantastic phone ... i do use the key board and find it very good ... certainly much better than using a regular phone keypad (great for text messages as well as for emails).

Although the E71 has the full qwerty keyboard, it still feels like quite a small phone (I had the E61i last, but the E50 before that).

Personally, I think the E71 is a great all-round phone and I do use it for web-browsing (usually wi-fi, but sometimes 3G) as well as text messaging and emails too.

A few colleagues have the E51, but most like my E71 now they've seen it.

[wezzywebb]

hi ,thumbs up for the e71 here too,i can honestly say its the best phone i,ve ever owned,the keyboard is really good to use ,the battery life is great ,full of features ,really pleased i bought this phone

[Member 280751]

Just one thing to add to my post above ....

The E71 is a fantastic phone, and I wouldn't want to be without it ... however, the one thing that's not so great on it is the camera (although this applies to the E51 too). If camera is important to you, then you might want to look elsewhere (perhaps the Nokia N-series phones). Camera quality is not important to me, so E71 is perfect for my needs. It is quite capable of taking simple snaps, but the pics it takes probably aren't suitable for printing out.

N-series phones offer a better camera (apparently), but no full keyboard, and the N-series phones are significantly more bulky. The N95 was very chunky, and N96 is a little better but still not as slim as E51 and E71. I've never used the N-series phones, as they're not as business oriented as the E-series.


... my vote still goes for the E71 though :-)

[Digger]

Thank you chaps

The N79 is grabbing my attention more and more. The addition of a 3.5mm socket on the top would mean I wouldn't have to carry (and purchase) an mp3 player. hopefully it will come out in black or grey (the whole phone not just the gadgety colour-changing express snappy-on back covers) at release time too. Better camera and video also help. Cant help thinking I'd be quicker typing on a predictive number pad rather than the E71 qwerty?