The Nokia E61i Doesn't Deliver On Its Promises

In my spare time when I wasn't involved in the recent Apple (AAPL) iPhone frenzy, I recently had the opportunity to use a Nokia (NOK) E61i as my primary phone. Now the E61i feature list is what many people say is what the iPhone should have had: quad-band compatibility, full QWERTY keyboard with physical buttons, WiFi, Bluetooth, HSCSD/CSD (3G) data transfer, WCDMA, and EGPRS/GPRS support, and a replaceable battery.

It further boasts an add-on memory, an infrared port, a widely-supported OS (Symbian 60), Push Blackberry email (via add-on software), Microsoft Exchange support (also via a Nokia add-on software), and an infrared port. And given its relatively open development environment and hundreds of applications available from places like Handango.com, it should be an iPhone killer, or at least iPhone competitor, right?

Actually, not so much. Sadly, the E61i is much less than the sum of its specs.

Now make no mistake, the phone is much better than my ancient Nokia 3650 that it replaced. The phone itself is wide, but thin enough to fit comfortably in a shirt pocket. The screen is lovely to look at (if a far cry from the wide-screen delight of the iPhone) and bright. And the radio and call audio quality are up to typical Nokia standards. So what's there not to love?

Well, here are a few items that spoil the experience:

Strange connectivity choices. With an open WiFi network available, why does selecting a bookmark to browse send you off to the cell network by default? Try as I might, even using access point groups and other machinations, I could never get the Web browser to use WiFi without it asking if that was the right access point. Even when I said yes, many times it would go off and use the cell network anyway. Yes, it may have been a configuration error, but I spent days with the phone and its manual and never changed its behavior other than to have it explicitly ask what network to use. UPDATE: I finally determined that the problem here is that bookmarks store their network access points with them. That means that if you bookmarked the Yahoo! Mobile site on the cell network, it will use the cell network even if you now are in a WiFi hotspot that has more than 10 times the bandwidth. Just who came up with that crazy idea?

Outright networking bugs. In trying to work around the above problem, I told the phone to always ask me what network to use. After choosing a WiFi network from the Web browser, about half the time, it would stop browsing with an error message, "General, Memory Full, Close some applications and try again." And that was with only the Web browser open. Similarly, if I had two different WiFi networks I could join, when I selected one to use from the WiFi scanner on the front page, it would invariably try the other one and complain when it didn't work.

Limited Internet [IP] implementation. 25 years after the Internet was born, there is no excuse for a company deploying an incomplete IP protocol stack. Yet the "access point" system the Symbian OS uses can't accommodate such IP configuration needs such as assigned IP addresses or configurable name resolving that are required inside many companies.

Painfully slow browsing. Even on a 56 Mbps WiFi network which should be blazingly fast, even a simple home page like Google's takes many seconds to load. Complicated pages take much longer. And while the pages render largely as expected (a nice change from most cell phone browsers), the browser then falls short again by ignoring simple browsing conventions like forward, back, and home buttons.

The network connectivity chaos between WiFi configurations working and not and the cell network was so bad that I would have switched over to the GSM/EDGE network full-time for a guaranteed connection -- if I'd had an unlimited data contract, which I don't. The result: I felt constantly cheated by the phone because it promised so much and didn't deliver.

Looking past the WiFi and Internet connectivity issues, other issues included:

Primitive media capabilities. On paper, this phone does it all -- it both records and plays audio and video, takes pictures, allows image browsing, the whole nine yards. But the user experiences for all these functions are just so DOS-like as to be ridiculous. You browse images, videos, and music by name, not by thumbnails or posters. And while the music player covers basic music playing functions, it's far from an iPod in terms of ease of organizing tracks and music -- especially when it's all text-based. And then you run into the second media challenge, namely....

Nonstandard audio output. This is a Nokia trademark -- no matter what wired headset you own, it won't work on your new Nokia phone. This one is no exception: any wired headset has to connect in through the proprietary docking port on the bottom of the phone. That may be no big deal in today's world of Bluetooth headsets for phone use, but this phone is supposed to be usable for playing music and watching videos. Anyone who expects to pull out their favorite headphones, be they be audio earbuds or Bose QuietComfort 3s, is going to be sorely disappointed that they can't use them on this phone.

Poor responsiveness to the user. Even exclusive of the browsing features noted above, the phone isn't exactly what I would call responsive. Features that are particularly slow are those that involve customizing profiles and managing applications. It also has a bit of what I call "The Windows Alert Disease"; it provides you with dialogs such as "Refreshing..." or "Connecting using Networkname...." that you can't do anything about, but must simply observe until it's done doing them.

Disorganized application settings. This is as much a Series 60 critique as the E61i, but why are settings scattered about the phone in a zillion different areas? Want to set up a means for the phone to get to the Internet? Sure, that's setting up an Access Point in Menu > Tools > Settings > Connection > Access Points. But if you want to set up Bluetooth, that's in a completely different place: Menu > Tools > Connect > Bluetooth. Want to manage your Web Bookmarks? Strangely, that's not under Web or Services, but under Media.

Now on positive notes, I love the fact that this phone actually has a decent, standards-compliant Web browser. I also love its solid, metallic case. And the keyboard, while heavy and slow to use, does feel solid in the hand. The Google Maps application looks gorgeous on the phone. The phone also comes with applications that integrate it with Microsoft Exchange and Blackberry email systems, which would be important to those trying to integrate the phone into large enterprise email installations. Sadly, though, ordinary POP and IMAP mail, which are the bread and butter of the Internet, felt like afterthoughts and ran afoul of the Internet connectivity challenges listed at the beginning.

But at the end of the day, the E61i software feels only incrementally better than what Nokia was putting out five years ago. It's a worthy competitor to phones that run Windows Mobile and it runs rings around today's Motorola (MOT) phones. But like it or not, any buyer forking out $450 for an Nokia E61i will shop it against Apple's entry level iPhone that is only $50 more. And with Apple completely rethinking today's mobile consumer experience, incremental improvement just isn't going to be enough to win that comparison.

Disclosure: The author is long Apple.

Comments

[Kenny Green:]

I also have a Nokia E61 which I'm disapointed with. All previous Nokia phones I had were bugless- this one is full of them. I can't download more than 370 e-mails without having to delete all of them- and I have 2 GB memory chip!

2007 Aug 07 11:19 AM

[xuefan_zheng:]

One plausible argumentation with a bunch of logic flaws.

1. Red herring.
Quote: full QWERTY keyboard with physical buttons, WCDMA, and a replaceable battery
>>&g... So how about above features' advantage or not? No mention in this passage.

2. Many assumptions, but all unwarranted.
Quote: E61 can push Blackberry email (via add-on software), Microsoft Exchange support.
>>&g... You never attack iPhone on "unable to do this". Seems you unconsciously use one hidden assumption that these email feature is not critical to you and all the folks around the world! Who told you that? Any facts, statistics?

3. Appeal to emotion
Quote: the phone is much better than my ancient Nokia 3650 that it replaced.
>>&g... So what? You use one very bad example to contrast with E61i, just want to degrade E61's fame? I also can say that iPhone is better than 3650. Then did I really debase the iPhone?

4. Unwarranted assumption
Quote: you now are in a WiFi hotspot that has more than 10 times the bandwidth.
>>&g... 10 times than who? WLAN g version is 54M, 3G is 2M or 3.5G is 14M. Are you sure the download speed is 10 times difference?

5. Confusion of the sufficient/necessary condition.
Quote: Painfully slow browsing
>>&g... Yes, if bad browser --> Painful slow browsing. But if Painful slow browsing, can we rigorously infer that bad browser? Who told this kind of reasoning? Do you consider 3rd kind of explanation such as you have a bad WLAN coverage, signal?

2007 Aug 08 08:41 AM

[xuefan_zheng:]

Continue to rebut your article.

6. False of contrast/comparison
Quote: I would have switched over to the GSM/EDGE network full-time for a guaranteed connection -- if I'd had an unlimited data contract, which I don't.
>>&g... You mentioned one weakness of E61's EDGE speed. Good. Then how about iPhone? Is iPhone not a EDGE/WLAN? I do not see the difference you have concluded.

7. Straw man.
Quote: Nonstandard audio output.
>>&g... E61i hit the market nearly 0.5 year ahead of iPhone. Who agree with you to put such a rival to attack? Who do not you choose the E90? Do not you know many many Nokia phones use 3.5mm standard audio output, such as hot cakes N73, N76, N95, E90?

8. Begging the question.
Quote: ant to set up a means for the phone to get to the Internet? Sure, that's setting up an Access Point in Menu > Tools > Settings > Connection > Access Points. But if you want to set up Bluetooth, that's in a completely.
>>&g... Your logic, briefly here is: because AP setting is here, Bluetooth is here,(so this is disorganized), then you conclude that E61 is disorganized. What a reasoning model? Because it is disorganized, and so it is disorganized.

9. Red herring again.
Quote: the E61i software feels only incrementally better than what Nokia was putting out five years ago. It's a worthy competitor to phones that run Windows Mobile
>>&g... Does these assertions serve relevant to the comparison between E61 and iPhone?

10. Hasty generalization
Quote: any buyer forking out $450 for an Nokia E61i will shop it against Apple's entry level iPhone that is only $50 more.
>>&g... You just give a list of pros/cons of the Nokia E61i, but is this list complete for a complex phone contest?

2007 Aug 08 08:59 AM

[jkahlon:]

The article is spot on, I have a Nokia E61i and all the things mentioned in this article are correct. It is rally a very frustrating experience. It is a good phone but a very bad PDA.

Would not want anyone else to go through what I have gone through after spending good money on this. Not recommended please do not buy.

also there is a reason why Nokia is moving away from their own s/w and will start using MS s/w for their phones some time in the future.

Really bad the way Nokia is able to pass this on to consumers with deceptive marketing.

2007 Aug 12 04:22 PM

[Dominic:]

I have an e61i and can understand some of the points made in this article. Most notably, it's not always the most coherent operating system to navigate and some advanced functions can be tricky to find and configure.

I've read a few reviews of the phone elsewhere and the unhappy crowd (a minority I think) seems to trend towards working in office environments and having difficulties configuring the phone to seamlessly integrate with their IT infrastructure. I'm not entirely sure the phone is targeted at such users, especially now given the new models inclusion of a camera (which are banned in many buildings).

I can speak as someone who doesn't need to go through such hoops. I'm out in Perth, Australia and I use mine out and about in the city and at home. We have 3G out here for fast data transmission (and cheap data plans because I can choose the provider! ;) so between that, and the seamless integration with my home office network's wifi, I have access to everything I need all the time. And it's an absolute joy.

Yes, I needed to tweak and play with the settings considerably to get everything working just how I liked. Because of that, I'd whole heartedly recommend this phone to the techies. And perhaps less so to the average consumer. Those that know how and actually enjoy playing with all the settings and setting things up will love this phone. Those that don't know or care are probably better going with an iPhone. But I think to some degree they'll be missing out.

I'd just like to point out two more points. There's some very neat 3rd party software for the e61i that takes it even further. For instance, out of box I'd have to agree the media (well video anyway) player is lacking. Well the answer to that is to grab a copy of DivX Mobile Player. Then you can play all those rips/recordings wherever you are. And without going through iTunes and DRM-hell (that's another argument altogether though). Again, this illustrates that THOSE THAT KNOW HOW will benefit from this phone and overall get a better experience (and I'd say better-than-iPhone).

Other 3rd party software of note is "fring". Possibly one of the most killer-apps out there right now. It lets me call out across wifi using Skype and bypass the cell provider altogether. This is cheaper locally and ridiculously cheaper internationally. I can comfortably call the UK from the middle of Perth city for an hour without worrying for a minute about the cost of the call. I can't see AT&T being too fond of that idea :)

So overall, I think it just comes down to what kind of user you are. I can entirely understand why the e61i owners are crazy for this phone. To us, it's an incredible bit of kit... by far the best phone, perhaps best gadget I've ever owned. And the whole iPhone phenomenon is a bit irritating sometimes because we've been enjoying many of its features, some better, some worse for quite some time.

I really feel like I'm carrying a full computer around in my pants all day and that's something I've never been able to say about any other phone or PDA.

My 2cents anyway Carl :)

2007 Sep 17 02:08 AM

[Johnny:]

I have to agree here: ipsec vpn natively supported (only took me about 5 hours to configure with a limited openswan IPcop server, and that was including the sybiansigned certificate signing), and as a result, full ssh access to all my servers. Not to mention VNC viewer app, and fring (oh how I love thee) irc, all my administration tools available.

Now if I can only figure out how to increase the size of the browser cache.... the source of most application crashes on the phone. But hey, they don't crash the phone entirely, and that's one thing I can truly appreciate: this phone is a phone first and a phone best. Phone functionality is not sacrificed for any of the goodies (and they are really good).

2007 Sep 29 02:09 PM

[Johnny:]

The only thing I disagree with in this article is the title: All features nokia claims are true, but this article focuses on a one-user's viewpoint rather than a detailed examination of the power of the device and features it possesses.

Some better titles may be:

E61i Has the Goods, But Not the Goodies
E61i is NOT an iPhone
E61i: More Device Than Appliance
Steep Learning Curve Makes E61i an Anti-iPhone
Imperfections Apparent With Nokia's E61i

Any of these would be better suited to describe the article's contents.

Here's a big point nearly 2 months later: Nokia isn't killing the E61i's functionality, as user-complicated as it may be to some, unlike apple with their 1.1.1 iPhone firmware release. This speaks worlds to the S60 platform and Nokia's openness, and bugs aside at least I feel like my investment in my E61i will eventually provide a return over time.... and I would never have that confidence with an iPhone.

2007 Sep 29 02:02 PM

[appu:]

I don't know why ppl get confused with a multimedia phone and a business phone...iphone and e61i are totally for different purpose.

* iPhone is a Perfect media player with some Phone/PDA functions.
* E61i is a perfect Phone/PDA with some multimedia functions.

I am an iPhone user...but here are some cons after Using IPhone for 4 months,

1. No Push e-mail capability.
2. Outdated EDGE Class which supports only 144-177kbps...even basic Nokia's GPRS phone support upto 177KBps
3. No 3G support and Bluetooth is limited only for headset, not even a A2DP (Stereo Bluetooth) which is shame for a music phone.
4. Useless Speaker phone...
5. No expandable memory and no third party apps(Unless jailbreaked).
6. Cannot copy phone book entries to SIM card nor read it from SIM card...what the crap???
7. Voice dial, even a $30 nokia phone has that feature.
8. No profiles and no handsfree profile support.
9. SMS Message organization is total waste.
10. No MMS support...are we in 90's?
11. No Video recording...may be for security reason :P
12. Standard 3.5 mm, but you can't use any other headphones other than apple...cuz the port is 6 feet under...ready to shave your Bose QuietComfort's phone jack.
13. Afcourse you will lose the tower very often and we need to reboot the phone to get acquire the signal.
14. Phone crashed many times due to incoming calls while listening to music. You need to do a hard reset, like iPod.
15. Safari doesn't support flash player...so no embedded online videos or audio.

I have lot of other annoying features...which i am used to...

The review is in my honest opinion, please take it in lighter vein.

2008 Mar 04 10:32 AM

[juank1958:]

is a pain to program, actually I stuck trying to deleted and program new access points, always I get memory full please close applications. I checked every way that nokia and others suggest to me but result is same.

Mar 01 10:02 AM