Take a look at the E71’s feature list and you’ll see that Nokia has crammed in pretty much everything available at the moment – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, assisted GPS, infrared and even an FM Tuner. It’s a pity that Nokia has opted for 2.5mm headset and Micro-USB ports, but we’ll forgive the latter thanks to the E71’s clever connectivity features. Plug it into a PC and not only does the smartphone appear as a mass storage device, but it also offers the option to work as a 3G modem and automatically installs the necessary software. Which is pretty nifty, if you ask us.

So, is the E71 the BlackBerry killer that Nokia intends? It certainly has the design panache to lure discerning business users away from RIM’s shiny handsets, but the BlackBerry OS still has the edge in terms of user-friendliness and easy access to its many features (though that’s also due in part to its intuitive scroll wheel/trackball navigation device).

Of course the E71’s spec list is overflowing too, but there’s on important omission that prevents it from taking on RIM in the enterprise space – support for push email via BlackBerry Connect. Now the E71’s Microsoft Exchange support is just as good, but this it little comfort for an organisation that uses BlackBerry Enterprise Server and is unwilling – or unable – to turn on ActiveSync for Exchange Server.

Nokia’s official (and somewhat bizarre, considering it supports BlackBerry connect on other devices) line on this is:

Blackberry Connect software is not supported in the Nokia E66 and E71. Nokia has not ceased offering Blackberry Connect on its devices. Except for the Nokia E51 (with and without camera), all other Nokia E-Series devices that are already in the hands of consumers or that are still being sold will have the Blackberry Connect client pre-installed, pre-loaded or available via Download!, and also via www.businesssoftware.nokia.com. For the Nokia E51, the Blackberry Connect client is available for certain operator variants.

So, while the Nokia E71 is an excellent smartphone and a commendable effort to compete with RIM and the BlackBerry, its one software shortcoming puts it out of reach of many enterprise users.

Comments

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AJ  - poor   |26/07/08 11:16 PM You guys are biased. You write that Nokia is muscling it's way into the qwerty phone market, even though it's been making magnificent communicators for many years now, long before any other qwerty phone arrived. Furth ermore, it seems to me Nokia is just now longer pre-installing the blackberry client, which does not necessarily mean there is no BB client that can be installed. You are fools to so prematurely dismiss such a cutting edge piece of technology. Reply | Quote

Julian Prokaza   |27/07/08 9:04 AM Hi AJ If you can point me at a Qwerty keyboard candybar smartphone (ie like the Blackberry) that Nokia made before the E61, I'll amend the piece. Similarly, if you can explain how you can install the BB Connect software on the E71, I'll make the appropriate changes, too. -Julian Reply | Quote

Christina Ramsand     |10/10/08 10:45 AM the e71 is available to preorder in the UK on http://shop.... Reply | Quote

A-P  - about the keyboard   |06/08/08 10:37 AM "So, this means that five key-presses are required to type the ?@? symbol, and seven to type an underscore" Actually, there is a @-key so it's only one key-press.. and at least for me, the underscore ended up being the first of the frequently used characters, so that's two key presses.. Reply | Quote

Mystonique   |22/08/08 7:42 AM I have had an E71 for about a week now (before that 6110). I have never owned a crackberry but have navigated a colleagues a few times. Crackberry' s a much more complicated gadget to navigate, IMO and it has fewer features. I spent a lot of hours researching devices before taking the plunge in an effort to get one that will do as much as possible, as efficiently as possible and E71 hasn't disappointed - it's a great device. Reply | Quote

Bennie  - Email folders in Exchange   |29/08/08 7:36 AM You mention that only your folders appeared when you installed MS Exchange - is this a limitation on the E71 or is there a way to get folders synced too? Thanks Reply | Quote

Bennie  - I mean...   |29/08/08 7:37 AM That should have been '...only your inbox and NO folders...' Reply | Quote

Greg  - Can I get my Express Mails?     |02/09/08 10:48 PM hi guys, Im looking at getting this mobile but I wondered, i get an e-mail that is sent to my e-mail address for my website on my laptop, is there a way that it can go to my E71 aswell? How does that all work? This will be the main reason I will be getting this mobile so your help is appreciated. Cheers Reply | Quote

Greg     |02/09/08 10:50 PM PS - mails go to my Outlook Express at the moment. Reply | Quote

dan   |24/10/08 12:54 AM Get one email address ie gmail and forward everything to that. Then us the E71 email client to recieve your gmail acc. ps its a great phone. Reply | Quote

oli  - underscore KEY???   |08/09/08 2:54 PM hi can anyone tell me where the underscore (_) is on the E71? thanks Reply | Quote

Peter  - International character sets   |29/10/08 1:30 AM I just got myself an E71 and for the most part I love it. What annoys me is the lack of multilingual support. What is the use of a Japanese dictionary, when the E71 can't even display the Japanese characters? I browse websites of several different languages, and it would be nice if the browser could display those characters. My own web searching has indicated that I just need to change the default font to a unicode supporting one, but as yet I've found no way to do that. Any ideas? Reply | Quote

Jacqueline  - underscore KEY???   |03/11/08 7:39 AM Hi Am asloUsing the Nokia E71 & am not able to find the (_)Key.Can Anyone out there tell me. Reply | Quote

Mathew  - Underscore ket   |04/11/08 4:37 PM Press Ctrl/Chr. Its the first selection on the list. Reply | Quote

Dee  - Qwerty   |09/11/08 8:49 PM I love the look of this but I'm just a regular phone user but want a QWERTY keyboard - WHY are these always designed towards business users therefore making the phones and price plans really expensive? Wou ld I be nuts to get this phone if not using for business purposes and if so PLEASE can anyone tell me if there IS a mobile phone with a QWERTY keyboard for us non-business users out there? Thanks Reply | Quote

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