E71...more thoughts

Over the weekend I was all set to send the E71 back for a refund but things are slightly, not hugely though, different. I got a couple of things sorted out that were annoying/irritating me.

Firstly, I discovered that you can add folders so I set up a folder called "applications" and moved all the apps that I would use on a regular basis into it. I positioned this folder so that when I move from the active standby screen to the menu screen it is the first one that is highlighted. This makes accessing apps much easier. It is good that Symbian has this feature. You can also move the folders within the menu too.

Next up was wifi. This now seems to be working just fine. I still have to scan to find the network though whereas the second I walk through the front door with my iPhone the wifi on there finds my home network and turns it on without me having to do anything. I prefer the Apple way.

I gotta say though, the E71 has the best (bar none) word completion system. Miles better than that on the iPhone and better than that on win mob too. It seems to guess quite early and big words like "yesterday" get auto-guessed after about 3 letters...pretty darn cool and it makes typing emails/docs/whatever rather speedy.

The themes inbuilt are pretty naff. Why do so many manufacturers insist on putting themes that are all wavy designs on? What's wrong with a good ol' fashioned plain dark gray or black with no silly swirly bits. I found a nice simple blackish theme here and installed it. Not only does it look good but it makes the active standby screen easier to read as well.

Now I'm not so sure about sending it back, on Sunday I was 90% sure I would but now that has slipped to 50/50. There's a lot to like about the E71 but also a few frustrating things, overall I would say that I still much prefer both the look and feel of 3rd party apps available for the iPhone...they look nicer and seem easier to use and that could well be the deciding factor in the end. It's awful, using and owning these great gadgets should be fun but now I feels all odd, I really love the iPhone and the thought of not using it full time, especially now all the 3rd party apps are rolling out, makes me feel a bit uneasy...isn't that daft as after all we are only talking about phones here yet the dilemna is on my mind just about all the time...drat.

Comments

[Paul Schofield]

Hi Murray. I know exactly how you feel as I too own an iPhone 3g & Nokia E71, and love them both. I've always preferred qwerty 'boards over touchscreen/number pads & that was what sold the E71 to me. I too like the look of the iPhone software over S60, which appears a bit too 'functional' and menu driven compared to the iphone.
My favourite theme for the E71 is called Carbon default by Taieb. Have a look: http://www.symbianthemes.us/free,nokia/10208,carbon/

Regards, Paul

[Nag]

Hello,
This is Nag,am very much surprised to see that the themes downloaded are not gettin activated.....
How to use this installed themes...
Pls as am a Sophomore,,i do not completely know abt this technology,do help me out yaar.....