After having looked at the size of the E71, it’s now time to check out what they crammed into the box – keep in mind that we are looking at one of the smallest QWERTY smartphones currently on the market!
The front of the device is dominated by the QWERTY keyboard and the screen. A front camera is included for posterity:
Unfortunately, the keys have an extremely smooth surface and are way too cramped – people used to devices like a Treo will not consider this comfortable:
Like on the E61, the back of the E71 also is made up of a removable steel “lid”. Removing it reveals the SIM slot and the battery (BP-4L, 1500mAH):
Nokia equipped the device with a rear-facing 3.2MP camera with a stock focus lens and a small LED flash:
A red power button can be found at the top of the device:
Charging is accomplished via a standard Nokia jack at the bottom. Japanese readers will be happy to hear that the lanyard “dock” was not omitted either:
The Micro-USB port and MicroSD slot are covered by rubber lids – they feel significantly worse than the rigid ones used on the E63:
Looking at the left side of the device, we see an IR port, the data and memory card slots and one of the two buttons used for “ejecting” the backplane:
Volume buttons and a 2.5” headphone jack can be found on the right:
In the end, the Nokia E71 can not convert me from my Treo 680. Even though build quality is superb, the keyboard is way too annoying to be of practical use. Nokia saw the error of its ways and fixed it on the E63. Like many QWERTY devices, the hyped device is far away from excellence due to a botched design…if you can live with the specs of the E63, picking it over the E71 is a good idea
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