My newest toy - Noka E61
Being on the business trip through Asia far too long without any gadget, I could not resist any longer and got my first smartphone, a Nokia E61. It was available for a good price in Lucky Plaza, Singapore. Good price means in comparison to the prices most internet shops list in Germany.
So what does it offer? As a smartphone of the newest generation, it offers access to GSM networks 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 (quadband). On top of that 3G (WCDMA 2100, in Germany usually referred to as UMTS) is included in the package. WLAN enables the user to either browse the internet, send emails or even talk over VoIP whenever WLAN is available. It comes with a superb 320 x 240 pixel wide format screen and a complete QWERTY keyboard that makes messaging easy - even for a guy like me with big fingers.
My first impression? The smartphone combination makes a lot of sense for me. Before I carried a phone with me and mostly left my separate PDA at home. Now everything comes in one set. Even though the size (mostly the width) is about twice that much compared to a recent cell phone, my pockets are big enough to carry the phone.
What is missing? The WLAN performance is actually not as I expected - or better hoped for. The signal is mostly shown as weak, sometimes even when standing directly below the WLAN antenna. A standard mini-USB connector would have been great, but you need to use the Nokia pop-port to connect the device via cable.
Software? The Nokia E61 runs on Symbian OS S60 which offers a wide range of additional software besides the one that was preloaded. I added e. g. SplashID to my phone, a software that keeps you passwords nicely organized in categories.
More information? There are lots of websites dedicated to the Nokia E61. I also found a pretty interesting blog about the Nokia E-series. After all the author mostly writes about the E61 - check it out here: http://www.e-series.org/ But you of course also drop me a line if you have any questions about this toy.