E71 Round II

Two months to the day I first wrote about the E71, I'm back with a few more thoughts. I've had some time to really get used to this phone, and thanks to 2 firmware updates in the interim it's really come along.

The latest firmware upgrade among other things adds 4 new themes, and they're a marked improvement. They use the same stock icons as the original themes, but as it happens I don't notice them as much with the new themes for some reason.

Nokia's Download! app (think iPhone's App Store) has really filled out. If you bought the unlocked E71 (and not the E71x coming soon to an AT&T near you), a lot of the apps are free for the downloading. Among other things that means that instead of buying Psiloc Connect to seamlessly switch between cell and WiFi networks, you can download a free copy of Birdstep's SmartConnect. It could be that Psiloc packs in more functionality with the paid application, but I've been using SmartConnect for a couple of months now and it's been flawless. Other free apps worth checking out include Slifter (price checking in local stores), Locr (tag your photos' locations automatically with the GPS), and a handy Gizmodo reader for the techies. There's even a Facebook client available-I'd offer my $.02 on it but since I never use Facebook I've never bothered to check it out. :)

I used Nokia Email (now Nokia Messaging) for a month or two and found it to be quite good. Definitely a step up over the email clients built into the phone. As you might expect with the always-on "push" email though, it did eat the battery-on average I had to recharge about once every two days. I've since stopped using it mainly because I don't really have a need for instant email and because they'll eventually be moving to a paid service. Without it I find I have to recharge about once every 3 days or so. You can also fake push email with some services like Gmail, if you're looking for the free alternative to the service.

All in all I still recommend the E71-iPhone and Blackberry fiends will still find lots to loathe, but if you don't fall in either camp there's lots to love here as well.