3Man
21-08-2006, 02:13 PM
Nokia N71 3G Phone Review
Note : This review is written by an editorial member of 3G staff for the readers of www.3G.co.uk and for the members of the 3G Forum. A full list of 3G Phone Reviews by phone manufacturer and date order can be found here http://www.3g.co.uk/3GPhoneReviews.htm.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/August2006/N711.jpg
Best features
Big screen
Time lapse photography
Good music playback
Specification Details
Size 98.6 x 51.2 x 25.8 mm
Weight 139g
Display 262k inner, 65k colours outer
Display resolution 320 x 240 inner, 96 x 68 outer
Camera 2 megapixel
Video recording / playback Yes/Yes
Audio playback MP3, WMA, AAC
Connectivity Bluetooth, Infra red, USB
Internal memory 10MB
Memory card slot Yes (miniSD)
Messaging email, SMS, MMS, IM
Email client POP3, IMAP4, SMTP
Ringtones Polyphonic
Internet browser WAP, XHTML
GPRS Yes
Frequency Tri-band + 3G
Java Yes
Games Downloadable
Talktime Up to 4 hours GSM
Standby Up to 9 days GSM
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Dec2005/BuyBlack.gif (http://shop.3g.co.uk/)
Time lapse territory
Now then, now then. Nokia has flipped. Well, we think so, anyway.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/August2006/N712.jpg
The N71, yet another handset in the N range of multimedia rich phones, is a flip (or clamshell) phone. Nokia doesn’t do these very often – the 3G N90 with the Carl Zeiss camera lens and the non 3G 6131 are the two most recent examples, but they are mere droplets in the vast ocean of Nokia handsets. So we had somewhat baited breath waiting for the N71 to land on our desk.
When we took the N71 out of its box, our first reaction was raised eyebrows. ‘Are you sure this is a clamshell?’ we asked ourselves, and exclaimed, ‘it’s huge!’
As we see it, the plus points for clamshell phones are: they are small and so ideal for tiny pockets; they look cool as they have a smooth opening mechanism and are easy to open one-handed; just as with sliders, you can control a lot of features without opening the handset; and inside there is room for a large screen and a big keyboard.
Nokia does not agree. The N71 is vast – 98.6 mm tall, 51.2 mm wide, and 25.8 thick. At almost 10cm high, it is a rival for Nokia’s solid candybar performer the N70, for example. The size matters because it means you are likely to need two hands to open the flip, and this is particularly annoying because Nokia hasn’t built any spring-loading into the mechanism.
It is also irritating because when you do open the N71 what you find inside is a reasonably small screen. At 2.4 diagonal inches it is actually a pretty good size for a mobile phone screen, but it looks a bit lost in its large surround, and nowhere near fills the available space. And the chunky-fingered, who often like clamshell handsets because they afford space for a larger than usual keyboard will find rather smaller number keys than they might like inside, and a wodge of ‘dead’ space occupied by no keys at all.
While we are carping, let’s talk about build quality. Many phone manufacturers are going for new looks and new ideas. Shiny back and touch sensitivity in the LG K800 Chocolate, un-phonelike looks and controls in the LG U400, smooth lines in Sony Ericsson’s W900i. Nokia has chosen, by comparison, a rather plasticy and low quality feel for the N71. Go figure.
Back to the front for a moment (to coin a phrase). The front screen is pretty small, surrounded by a large frame of shiny silver. It isn’t all that capable. It shows the handset status and the time, and a single button beneath the screen will pause and resume music. But you can’t choose tracks using this button.
Nor can you start the main, 2 megapixel, camera, whose lens sits on the front of the clamshell case, running with the handset closed, which means you are a bit hampered when it comes to shooting quick snaps. We are quite used to seeing front screens on clamshell phones doubling as viewfinders, so not having that option here makes the N71 feel a bit dated.
So, user ergonomics aside, what’s the N71 got going for it?
Well, the music playback quality is great. You’ll need to store tracks on a miniSD card as there is only 10MB of storage built in, but you get a 128MB card with the phone to get you started. And another plus is that while the headset connector to the N71 is Nokia’s Pop-Port, you get a converter to a 3.5mm jack so you can use your own headset if you prefer it to the one Nokia provides.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/August2006/N713.jpg
We like the multimedia key which sits at the very top of the number pad area. Press it and you can quickly get to the music player, FM radio, your photos and the Web.
We also like that infra red is built into the N71. Bluetooth is here too, of course, but we find infra red is ideal for quickly swapping files between two different handsets – much less hassle than using Bluetooth. There is no Wi-Fi, though, something we are starting to see in more and more handsets.
When making video calls using the VGA camera that sits above the screen, you can either hold the N71 in your hand with the clamshell fully open, or open it point where it clicks into a gentle lock at a suitable angle to sit the handset on a desk. It is no problem to switch from the front camera to the back one, so that the person you are calling can easily see what you are looking at rather than your own, er, ugly mug.
And the camera controls, once you’ve got the thing running, are very straightforward. You use the softkeys and the navigation key to access the camera settings, and working your way through them is fast and easy.
A novelty we really like is the range of options for auto shooting a sequence of images. Shooting a sequence – or ‘burst mode’ – is not exactly rare on phones, but in this case you can set the time lapse at intervals between 2 frames a second to one frame every 15 minutes. It’ll carry on shooting for as long as storage memory holds out.
Battery life was a bit of a let down. We listened to music non stop for as long as possible, which turned out to be eight and a half hours. We maxed out the screen brightest and power save settings during this test, and if you minimise them instead you’ll get longer life, but still we’d have liked a bit more from the battery.
We didn’t find the N71 an especially great handset. Hampered by its size it really needs to offer some extraordinary features by way of compensation, and while we like the sequence shooting mode, that isn’t on its own enough.
Pros
It isn’t often you get time lapse photography on a mobile phone, but it is here. Nor is it often Nokia delves into clamshell country. If you are keen on either, this handset is worth checking out.
Cons
Clamshell phones are meant to be small and neat, but it seems nobody told Nokia that, and consequently the N71 is something of a beast.
Verdict
The N71 has some strong points, but in the end its overall size is a big negative. It’s just too large for its own good.
3G Total Score 75%
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Dec2005/BuyBlack.gif (http://shop.3g.co.uk/)
This review covers the above mobile phone only and does not address the performance of any 3G Network. The score is based on a 3G mobile phone checklist.
Copyright : You are advised that this material is the copyright of www.3G.co.uk and is our own personal view only. (C) All rights reserved 2005. Whist every care has been taken in the preparation of this review, the author nor 3G.co.uk cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or authenticity of the information it contains, or consequence arising from it.
Note : This review is written by an editorial member of 3G staff for the readers of www.3G.co.uk and for the members of the 3G Forum. A full list of 3G Phone Reviews by phone manufacturer and date order can be found here http://www.3g.co.uk/3GPhoneReviews.htm.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/August2006/N711.jpg
Best features
Big screen
Time lapse photography
Good music playback
Specification Details
Size 98.6 x 51.2 x 25.8 mm
Weight 139g
Display 262k inner, 65k colours outer
Display resolution 320 x 240 inner, 96 x 68 outer
Camera 2 megapixel
Video recording / playback Yes/Yes
Audio playback MP3, WMA, AAC
Connectivity Bluetooth, Infra red, USB
Internal memory 10MB
Memory card slot Yes (miniSD)
Messaging email, SMS, MMS, IM
Email client POP3, IMAP4, SMTP
Ringtones Polyphonic
Internet browser WAP, XHTML
GPRS Yes
Frequency Tri-band + 3G
Java Yes
Games Downloadable
Talktime Up to 4 hours GSM
Standby Up to 9 days GSM
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Dec2005/BuyBlack.gif (http://shop.3g.co.uk/)
Time lapse territory
Now then, now then. Nokia has flipped. Well, we think so, anyway.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/August2006/N712.jpg
The N71, yet another handset in the N range of multimedia rich phones, is a flip (or clamshell) phone. Nokia doesn’t do these very often – the 3G N90 with the Carl Zeiss camera lens and the non 3G 6131 are the two most recent examples, but they are mere droplets in the vast ocean of Nokia handsets. So we had somewhat baited breath waiting for the N71 to land on our desk.
When we took the N71 out of its box, our first reaction was raised eyebrows. ‘Are you sure this is a clamshell?’ we asked ourselves, and exclaimed, ‘it’s huge!’
As we see it, the plus points for clamshell phones are: they are small and so ideal for tiny pockets; they look cool as they have a smooth opening mechanism and are easy to open one-handed; just as with sliders, you can control a lot of features without opening the handset; and inside there is room for a large screen and a big keyboard.
Nokia does not agree. The N71 is vast – 98.6 mm tall, 51.2 mm wide, and 25.8 thick. At almost 10cm high, it is a rival for Nokia’s solid candybar performer the N70, for example. The size matters because it means you are likely to need two hands to open the flip, and this is particularly annoying because Nokia hasn’t built any spring-loading into the mechanism.
It is also irritating because when you do open the N71 what you find inside is a reasonably small screen. At 2.4 diagonal inches it is actually a pretty good size for a mobile phone screen, but it looks a bit lost in its large surround, and nowhere near fills the available space. And the chunky-fingered, who often like clamshell handsets because they afford space for a larger than usual keyboard will find rather smaller number keys than they might like inside, and a wodge of ‘dead’ space occupied by no keys at all.
While we are carping, let’s talk about build quality. Many phone manufacturers are going for new looks and new ideas. Shiny back and touch sensitivity in the LG K800 Chocolate, un-phonelike looks and controls in the LG U400, smooth lines in Sony Ericsson’s W900i. Nokia has chosen, by comparison, a rather plasticy and low quality feel for the N71. Go figure.
Back to the front for a moment (to coin a phrase). The front screen is pretty small, surrounded by a large frame of shiny silver. It isn’t all that capable. It shows the handset status and the time, and a single button beneath the screen will pause and resume music. But you can’t choose tracks using this button.
Nor can you start the main, 2 megapixel, camera, whose lens sits on the front of the clamshell case, running with the handset closed, which means you are a bit hampered when it comes to shooting quick snaps. We are quite used to seeing front screens on clamshell phones doubling as viewfinders, so not having that option here makes the N71 feel a bit dated.
So, user ergonomics aside, what’s the N71 got going for it?
Well, the music playback quality is great. You’ll need to store tracks on a miniSD card as there is only 10MB of storage built in, but you get a 128MB card with the phone to get you started. And another plus is that while the headset connector to the N71 is Nokia’s Pop-Port, you get a converter to a 3.5mm jack so you can use your own headset if you prefer it to the one Nokia provides.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/August2006/N713.jpg
We like the multimedia key which sits at the very top of the number pad area. Press it and you can quickly get to the music player, FM radio, your photos and the Web.
We also like that infra red is built into the N71. Bluetooth is here too, of course, but we find infra red is ideal for quickly swapping files between two different handsets – much less hassle than using Bluetooth. There is no Wi-Fi, though, something we are starting to see in more and more handsets.
When making video calls using the VGA camera that sits above the screen, you can either hold the N71 in your hand with the clamshell fully open, or open it point where it clicks into a gentle lock at a suitable angle to sit the handset on a desk. It is no problem to switch from the front camera to the back one, so that the person you are calling can easily see what you are looking at rather than your own, er, ugly mug.
And the camera controls, once you’ve got the thing running, are very straightforward. You use the softkeys and the navigation key to access the camera settings, and working your way through them is fast and easy.
A novelty we really like is the range of options for auto shooting a sequence of images. Shooting a sequence – or ‘burst mode’ – is not exactly rare on phones, but in this case you can set the time lapse at intervals between 2 frames a second to one frame every 15 minutes. It’ll carry on shooting for as long as storage memory holds out.
Battery life was a bit of a let down. We listened to music non stop for as long as possible, which turned out to be eight and a half hours. We maxed out the screen brightest and power save settings during this test, and if you minimise them instead you’ll get longer life, but still we’d have liked a bit more from the battery.
We didn’t find the N71 an especially great handset. Hampered by its size it really needs to offer some extraordinary features by way of compensation, and while we like the sequence shooting mode, that isn’t on its own enough.
Pros
It isn’t often you get time lapse photography on a mobile phone, but it is here. Nor is it often Nokia delves into clamshell country. If you are keen on either, this handset is worth checking out.
Cons
Clamshell phones are meant to be small and neat, but it seems nobody told Nokia that, and consequently the N71 is something of a beast.
Verdict
The N71 has some strong points, but in the end its overall size is a big negative. It’s just too large for its own good.
3G Total Score 75%
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Dec2005/BuyBlack.gif (http://shop.3g.co.uk/)
This review covers the above mobile phone only and does not address the performance of any 3G Network. The score is based on a 3G mobile phone checklist.
Copyright : You are advised that this material is the copyright of www.3G.co.uk and is our own personal view only. (C) All rights reserved 2005. Whist every care has been taken in the preparation of this review, the author nor 3G.co.uk cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or authenticity of the information it contains, or consequence arising from it.