Nokia E61i Review: Part 3 Delve into the Smartphone

The E61i is horse of a different color when compared with Nseries handsets in terms of included applications and the way they operate.

 

Boot-up time

The E61i takes about 32 seconds to start, and this is the longest boot-up time I’ve ever seen on a Nokia S60 handset. I can’t tell what is behind this slow start-up, but if it has to do with its software peculiarities, Nokia should do something to expedite it a little. It is worth mentioning that the E61i isn’t as sluggish as handsets like, say, Nokia N73 and N80 in spite of the fact that its boot-up time is way longer than the ones mentioned. Also, with the V2.0633.65 firmware release the Powerboot effect is missing, but I’m not sure about the V3.XXX firmware update as currently Nokia Software Updater doesn’t work with Windows Vista.

Call functions

There’s not much of a difference between the E61i and Nseries handsets as far as call functions are concerned; however, on Nokia E61i “Key 2″ mutes and unmutes the microphone while on a call whereas “Key 2″ activates and deactivates the loudspeaker on Nseries handsets in the same situation. What “Key 2″ does on the E61i better suits my needs as I don’t make use of the loudspeaker much.

Configuring the MyOwn key

As mentioned in the first part of the E61i review, the MyOwn key is located to the left of “Key 2″ and allows users to tie an application to that key press. If it is pressed for the first time, users can opt to select its associated application – I’ve attached the “Music player” to it. Once configured, a single press of the MyOwn key activates the predefined application. What if you decide to change that application? Simply press and hold down the MyOwn key and the “Add application” dialog opens. The same can be done through the “Own key” item in the Tools folder.

The menu structure

Unlike many Nseries handsets like the N82 and the N95, Nokia E61i doesn’t have an “Applications” folder. Instead, installed application icons are placed in the “Installations” folder. The “Office” folder can also be found on the main menu whereas you should find this folder in the “Applications” folder when working with Nseries handsets. By the same token, with the E61i the “Connectivity” folder is on the main menu not in the “Tools” folder. If you start working with the E61i you’ll notice that the “App. Manager” icon can be found in both “Tools” and “Installations” folders whereas it is located in the “Applications” folder with Nseries handsets.

Memory and RAM

As mentioned in a previous post, the E61i package doesn’t offer a memory card. This smartphone provides 61.2MB of phone memory and 45.0MB of RAM, according to Handy Taskman. When the phone starts, I get about 22MB of free RAM. Granted, I’ve not yet seen a single instance of the “memory full” problem on the E61i and the handset is snappier than many Nseries S60 3^rd Edition smartphones.

Music player

The E61i’s Music player can be found in the “Media” folder along with other applications including Camera, Real player, Gallery, Flash player, services, and Voice recorder. When opened, it shows the last played track. When it is closed, it doesn’t remain in the memory, but it is capable of remembering the last played track. The following is a list of playback functions along with their associated keys.

• Play/Pause: 5.
• Stop: 8.
• Volume down/up: Joystick left/right.
• Previous track: 4 (pressed twice quickly).
• Next track: 6.
• Beginning of track: 4.
• Rewind: 4 (pressed).
• Fast forward: 6 (pressed).

The main Music player window displays the following options:

• Music library,
• Open now playing,
• Track downloads,
• Random play, submenu:
  • Off (selected),
  • On.
• Loop, submenu:
  • Off (selected),
  • All,
  • 1.
• Equaliser,
• Add to track list, submenu:
  • New track list.
• Set as ringing tone,
• Help,
• Exit.

To help the Music player application recognize your recently added tracks, you should go to the “Music library” and select “Update music library” from the list of available options. The Music library allows you to see tracks in different categories such as All tracks, Genres, Albums, Artists, and so forth. The Music player does a great job of organizing your tracks and the speaker generates loud and crisp audio, but the fact that it comes with one speaker and lacks A2DP Bluetooth profile support forces us to not use the phrase “an audio-centric device” for it. When the E61i is paired with a stereo Bluetooth headset, you’ll hear a highly distorted mono sound and you won’t be able to control the music via the headset’s dedicated audio keys. BTW, the E61i doesn’t have FM/Visual radio.

Handset-specific features

If you compare the E61i with an Nseries best-seller like the N82, you’ll notice that it offers a number of extra applications and settings which are missing in its Nseries sibling. For instance, Nokia E61i comes with an application called “Voice aid”, found in the Tools folder. It helps users hear their contact names, recent calls and time/date without looking at the screen. Also, it can be used to dial numbers. If you go to the main menu and select Tools, followed by Settings and then Phone, one of the options titled “Notification light” allows you to determine how long and for which notifications the screen should blink. This is a nifty feature.

MP3 recording and microphone sensitivity

I used ALON MP3 Dictaphone to check if Nokia E61i is capable of recording good-quality MP3 files. With the N82 I can record 96KBPS/32kHz MP3 files, and with the E61i the highest sample rate is 96kbps/16kHz – quite acceptable for an Eseries handset. Also, my tests indicate that the E61i’s microphone is slightly less sensitive than that of the N82, but the difference is hardly noticeable.

The next E61i review article will focus on the camera and other important handset features.

Nokia E61i Review: Part 2 the Hardware Saga Continues with the Keyboard

In the first part of the E61i review I talked about how the handset looks and what it has to offer. Here I’m going to bring some of its hardware components into light.

 

Hardware quirks and what Nokia should learn

Nokia currently ships the light “Travel Charger AC-5″ with many handsets, particularly with many Nseries smartphones. However, the E61i comes with the big “Travel Charger AC-4″, and I can’t tell why. The AC-4 is twice bigger than the AC-5, and for a 150-g handset this is a clear downside. The same is true regarding the E61i’s USB cable and included headset. They’re not bigger than their Nseries counterparts; however, they follow Nokia’s old proprietary connection interface, meaning both of them use the same socket and that Nokia hasn’t designed a macro/micro USB port for the E61i. By the same token, take into account the fact that the E61i has just one rather mediocre speaker, depriving its owners of stereo audio playback.

Remember one of the questions I asked in the first part of this review? “Are Eseries handsets capable of replacing Nseries smartphones for conventional/non-business-oriented users?” As far as the E61i and its hardware specs are concerned, the answer to this question is a resounding “no”. Nokia tries to target business-oriented handset users with its Eseries smartphones, but in so doing it misses two important points:

• Businesspeople and executives aren’t robots – they need to be entertained with their beloved handsets, too. Apart from the expensive E90, no other Eseries handsets are so-called media-centric devices. A proprietary/cheap headset and a single speaker make a nice handset like the E61i rather uninteresting. Worst of all, the E61i doesn’t support the A2DP profile, and this is enough to force you to keep your stereo Bluetooth headset home.
• Unlike what Nokia strategists might think, many non-business-oriented people are truly interested in Eseries devices. I for one would have purchased a device like Nokia E61i if it only had two speakers and a2DP support. The 2MP camera is good for the E61i, though.

My point is that such a nice handset with a fabulous QWERTY keyboard shouldn’t have been designed with such average hardware specs, and that Nokia should lend more Nseries media-related features to upcoming Eseries devices. At any rate, let’s focus on the keyboard a bit.

When typing becomes a breeze

The E61i has four rows of keys: IMG: Nokia E61i keyboard. The first row from the top contains the following keys:

• Q, W, E, R, T, Y

They also serve the second purpose of typing punctuation marks and some numbers when combined with a key called “Function”. The Function key is located on the leftmost side of the fourth row from the top. For instance, if you press Function once followed by “W”, you’ll type an “at sign” (@). If you press Function twice, all subsequent keys which have associated numbers and punctuation marks type a mark or a number unless you press the Function key twice more. This combo gives you the following punctuation marks and numbers for the first row of keys:

• !, @, €, 1, 2, 3, *, +, =, ?

Similarly, the second row from the top contains the following keys:

• a/”, &/s, d//, f/4, g/5, h/6, j/#, k/(, l/), CLEAR

Here I’ve made use of “Slash” (/) to indicate that the Function key can be used to type a punctuation mark or a number when pressed in combination with one of these keys. Also, “g/5″ has a raised dot to help with easier tactile identification, and the last key in this row is the familiar “clear” key — known as the “C” key. The third row contains the following keys:

• Z, x, c, v/7, b/8, n/9, m/0, ó/-, Ä/’, ENTER

How can we type capital letters, you might ask. The fourth and final row contains two keys called “Edit” which act as the SHIFT key. When pressed once before a letter, it gets typed in uppercase, and when pressed twice, all subsequent characters are typed in uppercase till SHIFT is pressed twice to return the typing status to lowercase. This last row also has a key called “Chr”. When pressed, it brings up the familiar list of symbols. The keys found in this row are:

• Function, SHIFT, ,/;, ./:, SPACE BAR, ARING, Control, SHIFT, CHR

To type “semicolon” ( rather than “comma” (,) you should press SHIFT (not Function) before “comma” (,), and this is also true about “dot” and “colon”. Note that the SPACE bar is a bit bigger than its adjacent keys. One final note: to lock or unlock the keyboard press the left selection key (Key 1) followed by the Function key.

Useful hot keys

The advantage of a QWERTY keyboard is that you can perform important actions without resorting to menus. These are:

• Activate/deactivate Bluetooth: Function+Control,
• Activate Infrared: Function+Chr,
• Select text, SHIFT+Up, Down, Left or Right,
• Copy text, Control+C,
• Cut text: Control+X,
• Undo the last editing action: Control+Z,
• Paste text: Control+V.

Admittedly, switching from a keypad to a QWERTY keyboard isn’t as easy as one might think in the beginning because the keys are considerably smaller than their counterparts on a PC keyboard, and this requires some getting-used-to; nevertheless, the more you use it the faster you become accustomed to it.

Few notes for screen reader users

If you use TALKS on the E61i, note that the TALKS key is the “Chr” key, so you should press “Chr” twice to bring up the list of symbols upon composing a message. Also, if you press the dedicated hot key to enable or disable Bluetooth or infrared, you’ll hear nothing; whereas if you press the copy/cut/undo hot keys, TALKS will announce a proper message. If you press Control+V to paste text, TALKS will speak the last pasted phrase.

Stay tuned for more E61i review articles …

Nokia E61i Review: Part 1 Welcome to the Eseries World

(Note: Click on URLs starting with the “IMG:” prefix to view their relevant images. The N82 has been used to take all pictures.)

 

Switching from an Nseries handset to an Eseries smartphone is like migrating to a foreign country. These two product lines are so dissimilar that you might think two different companies are behind their production if you’re not familiar with Nokia. I’ve been a huge fan of Nseries handsets for a long time, and am positive nothing can change this deep-seated interest. However, when I received an E61i from WOM World few days ago, I came to the conclusion that an ideal handset might not necessarily belong to the Nseries family. In this article and the ones which follow I’m going to bring the E61i into the limelight and answer the below questions.

1. Are Eseries handsets capable of replacing Nseries smartphones for conventional/non-business-oriented users?
2. What should Nseries handsets learn from Eseries smartphones?
3. What should Eseries smartphones learn from Nseries handsets?
4. What should be done to bring Eseries smartphones on a par with Nseries handsets in terms of worldwide recognition and acceptance?

 

What is Nokia E61i?

At first sight/touch, Nokia E61i reminded me of a solidly-built calculator. In fact, when my friends saw it one of them who isn’t familiar with the smartphone world said: “Does Nokia also manufacture calculators?” The E61i is a handset with a solid and metallic body, a full QWERTY keyboard with backlighting, and a 2 megapixel camera: IMG: Nokia E61i. The handset has a “messenger” or, to use a familiar analogy, a so-called “candy bar” form factor and the very first thing you notice upon picking it up is its spacious but quasi-PDA keyboard. It weighs 150 grams.

To produce a better picture, the E61i is slightly taller, quite thinner and noticeably wider than the N82. The extra width is due to the fact that the E61i accommodates a full QWERTY keyboard. In passing, I should add that I like the non-sliding design of the E61i because, personally speaking, I’ve not yet been able to come to terms with slider phones. Anyway, I should admire Nokia for producing a handset which doesn’t generate any creaks. Its body construction also surpasses all Nseries handsets very easily. I’m now wondering why the N82 doesn’t have a metallic body. Is it due to the fact that it belongs to the Nseries family? If so, I don’t call it a sound justification. The N95 more or less resembles the E61i in terms of body construction; however, all members of the N95 family are rather wobbly, even without taking into account their sliding form factor.

Important specs

The following spec list best describes Nokia E61i.

Operating frequency:

• Quad-band GSM/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900) with WCDMA 3GPP Release 99.

Size:

• Volume: 97 cc.
• Weight: 150 g.
• Dimensions: 117 x 70 x 13.9 (/11.5) mm.

Display:

• 2.8 QVGA landscape active-matrix color display supporting up to 16 million colors (320 x 240 pixels) with an active area of 56.9 x 42.7 mm.
• Display contrast and brightness control

User interface:

• S60 3rd Edition.
• QWERTY keyboard with backlight.
• Email key and LED indicator for new email.
• One Touch keys, Navi™ key, Power key, MyOwn key, and phonebook key.
• Volume keys and Voice key.

Imaging:

• 2 megapixel camera.
• Video recording.

Memory:

• 60 MB of internal user memory.
• Hot swappable microSD Memory Card support up to 2 GB.

Connectivity:

• WCDMA PS (packet switched data) with maximum upload and download rate of 384 kbps.
• GPRS/EGPRS (Class B, MSC 32).
• GSM CSD (circuit-switched data) up to 14.4 kbps.
• HSCSD (high-speed circuit-switched data) up to 43.2 kbps.
• Dual transfer mode MSC11, SAIC.
• Integrated WLAN.
• Integrated infrared module (up to 115 kbps).
• USB 2.0 full speed supported through Pop-PortTM interface.
• Bluetooth 1.2 specification.

Battery:

• BP-4L, 1500 mAh.

Locating the components

The small led in the upper left corner of the front side of the E61i is an ambient light detector used to control the backlighting and the display brightness. Therefore it serves as a useful power optimization tool. It also acts as a light-notifier for certain events, and the way it functions is customizable. The call speaker is located to the right of the light sensor, and the easily-detectable Power button is in the upper right side of the front panel. The huge 2.8 QVGA active-matrix color display is right above the D-pad: IMG: Nokia E61i display. The display does a great job of operating under the sunshine. Unlike what you can find on the N82, the E61i display doesn’t come with a robust surface protector; however, the display isn’t flush with the surface of the handset, and this offers a degree of protection. As the E61i has a generous 2.8-inch display, it can comfortably show 7 icons on the active standby screen along with other indicators.

The D-pad can be located right below the display: IMG: Nokia E61i D-pad and keyboard. The E61i’s D-pad is the best of its kind – never compare it with those of the N82 or the N95! The D-pad and the Select key respond well to pressure without shaking. Since we’re dealing with an advanced Eseries handset, we should expect to find more buttons around the D-pad. The Menu key, the Phonebook key, and Key 1 are located to the left of the D-pad, and the Call key is placed under Key 1. As such, Key 1 and the Call key are smaller than their adjacent keys. By the same token, the Email key, the configurable MyOwn key and Key 2 are to the right of the D-pad, with the Exit key located below Key 2.

The huge QWERTY keyboard occupies the rest of the handset with 39 keys. I’ll talk about the layout of the keys and the way we should switch back and forth between characters and numbers in the next post; however, here suffice it to say that mastering the ins and outs of this keyboard is easy as pie, and that the key which is used to type both the letter “G” and the number “5″ has a raised dot for tactile identification. If you spend a day or so with the keyboard, you can type on it using just one hand, and I use my left hand to achieve this. The keyboard also provides excellent tactile feedback, and the non-square surface of the keys prevents our fingers from accidentally pressing neighboring keys.

The left side of the handset houses the Volume up and Volume down keys and the slightly recessed Voice key. The loudspeaker is above the Volume up key, toward the upper left side of the handset: IMG: Nokia E61i left side. It is worth mentioning that the speaker is located on the lower edge of the back of the handset so as to avoid the production of muffled audio when the phone is put down on its back.

The bottom part of the handset houses the charger port, the Pop port for connecting the USB cable and the headset, and the Infrared port: IMG: Nokia E61i bottom part. Alas, no 3.5 mm audio jack can be seen here. Both the USB cable and the headset should be with you because the E61i isn’t compatible with newer Nseries accessories. I wish it could use a macro-USB or a micro-USB port.

The back of the handset houses nothing but the 2MP camera whose lens doesn’t have a physical shutter/protector: IMG: Nokia E61i back. In keeping with the E61i’s body, the battery cover is fully metallic, and the cover slide into and out of its place when it is inserted or removed. The memory card can be inserted and removed without removing the battery, although the battery cover should be removed to do either of these. Oddly enough, the E61i package doesn’t come with a memory card. Finally, the top and right side of the handset don’t accommodate any components.

 

What we know so far

Before moving on to the next E61i post, we can conclude by saying that it:

• uses one of the best batteries Nokia has ever included with a handset,
• enjoys a wide range of connectivity options,
• offers a nice 2.8-inch display,
• comes with a well-designed QWERTY keyboard with backlighting and D-pad,
• isn’t creaky or wobbly,
• has a well-positioned speaker,
• doesn’t have a 3.5 mm audio jack,
• is on the thin but rather hefty size,
• makes use of a non-proprietary USB cable and headset,
• forces you to buy a memory card.

My Concluding Thoughts on the N81 8GB

It’s now more than 20 days that I’ve been extensively using the N81 8GB courtesy of the terrific people at WOM World, and it’s about time that I wrapped up my previous reviews and thoughts.

Why go with the N81 8GB?

In this day and age and with handsets like the N95, N95 8GB, N82 and iPhone dominating the market, you would think there’s little room for the N81 8GB to maneuver. That’s definitely true. However, not all of us are keen on purchasing the very latest feature-rich gadget. Nor oftentimes do we have the financial means to secure the purchase of such a device. As such, the following potential handset seekers might be interested in taking a serious look at the N81 8GB:

Audiophiles

For those who want to ignore non-audio features of a device and get a high-end music-oriented handset, the N81 8GB is the best and the cheapest choice out there. Controlling the music from all open windows, offering the best and the loudest Nseries speakers, accepting both standard wired headphones and Bluetooth headsets, providing 8GB of internal memory and decorating all these features with wireless internet access and a pretty standard camera make the N81 8GB appeal to music lovers. If they are lucky enough to get the Bose noise-canceling Qc 3 headphones, they won’t let go of their handset very easily.

Above-average handset users

It’s not fair to call the N81 8GB an average or a mid-range handset. The current price tag of $424 at Provantage clearly indicates it. So, other than music-obsessed folks, who’s going to get the N81 8GB? Mediocre cell phone users who are willing to take their handset experience to a more advanced level, but aren’t yet ready to take a stab at something like the N95 8GB or the N82. For many people migrating to more feature-packed handsets involves a progressive process, so the N81 8GB most likely appeals to this group.

Slider phone seekers

If you’re not in a position to accept slider phones as your day-to-day handset, you’ll never gravitate toward the N81 8GB. Let’s clear up this point: the N81 8GB offers the best sliding mechanism I’ve ever seen; however, for someone who can’t live with such phone the quality of the sliding tool doesn’t really matter. This also applies to the N95 which belongs to the high-end range of Nokia handsets, and many people have decided not to buy it only because it doesn’t follow the monoblock style of cell phones.

What could have made the N81 8GB a more desired handset?

Let me delve into my dreams and see what Nokia developers could have designed to make the N81 8GB a more successful multimedia computer. First and foremost, the N81 8GB could have offered more distinct and tangible front navigation buttons. Even after gaining a good deal of experience with the handset, 70 percent of my “Menu” key presses incorrectly activate the “Call” key, and vice versa. The same is true about the “Clear” key and the “Exit” key. Also, the music-dedicated keys are located near the joystick, and some might find this arrangement annoying. Worst of all, the keypad keys are virtually indistinguishable tactilely, thereby making typing characters and phone numbers a headache specially when you’re in a hurry and need to get your message across as fast as possible. The Power on/off button isn’t without its share of criticism with its nail-prone design either. Finally, I could never make the Navi wheel perform a single operation on the N81 8GB in spite of the fact that I enabled it in the Settings window the day I received the N81. I hope Nokia does a good deal of fine-tuning on this innovative feature in handsets like the N78 and the N96.

It’s a bit dejecting to say goodbye to a handset which I’ve come to respect and use for a couple of weeks. I’m sure I won’t ever forget the ultra-crisp and loud music which the N81 8GB played to my ears.

Nokia N81 8GB Review: Part 3 Bose QC3 Headphones

I was going to dedicate this post to my final thoughts and words on the N81 8GB I’ve received from WOM World, but the Bose QuietComfort 3 headphones very well managed to postpone that article. After all, who can ignore a $349 gadget and not praise Nokia for providing a special edition of the N81 8GB to customers?

What’s so special about Bose Quiet Comfort 3 Acoustic Noise Canceling Headphones?

Bose is a recognized company in the field of high-quality headphones, and it was the first company to produce acoustic noise canceling headphones. The QC 3 headphones were introduced in June 2006 with a price tag of $349. Now you may be lucky enough to find a pair at $299, so the original price hasn’t changed a lot after more than 20 months. The older QC 2 headphones were a runaway success, and their younger sibling, the QC 3 headphones, have managed to raise the bar.

What’s in the QC 3 headphones?

The QC 3 headphones are on-ear ones, meaning the headband should be adjusted to find the optimal position for the speaker pads, also called earcups: IMG: Bose QC3 headphones 1,
IMG: Bose QC3 headphones 2. The right earcup houses the power on/off button, and this is the only button found on the QC 3. The top of this earcup also hosts a proprietary rechargeable battery which provides up to 20 hours of juice. When recharging is needed, the battery should be removed and placed in the AC adapter/charger. The left earcup has a 2.5 mm jack for connecting the 2.5 mm to 3.5 mm cable to the headphones. This cable allows the QC 3 to be connected to virtually all sorts of audio-producing devices.

Each earcup also houses a small microphone which is activated as soon as the headphones are switched on. The microphones listen to surrounding sounds and nullify them by a specialized high-frequency sound. As soon as you wear the headphones and switch them on, you will notice the highly reduced surrounding sounds even without connecting the QC 3 to an audio-producing source. If the battery runs out of juice, the headphones become unusable unless you recharge the battery.

The N81 and Bose QC3 headphones: befitting bedfellows

If The N81 8GB has the eminent title of “the audio-centric handset”, it deserves an above-average pair of headphones, and the Bose QC 3 is the best gadget which can accompany the N81 8GB. Nokia even makes this duo more attractive by tossing in a spare rechargeable battery which costs $49, several connectors for different audio jacks, and a rigid but pretty bag. Although the headphones cannot be directly used for call management, you can connect them to the standard Nokia headset adaptor to achieve this goal.

To conclude, the Bose QC 3 is, in my opinion, the best wired headphone pair I’ve ever seen, and its noise canceling feature is superb. It’s also highly portable, meaning it easily finds its place in your bag. I hope Nokia continues this trend by shipping its stereo Bluetooth headsets with future Nseries handsets. For more information about the QC 3, visit the Bose web site.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Highly portable at 158 g,
• Excellent battery life,
• Above-average noise cancellation,
• Enhanced on-ear style.

Cons

• Absence of music-dedicated buttons on the headphones,
• Inability to switch on and off noise cancelation without turning on and off audio,
• No volume control on the headphones,
• Being tied to the restrictions of a wired gadget.

Nokia N81 8GB Review: Part 2 Performance & Software Issues

In my first article regarding the N81 8GB, I talked about its hardware aspects and physical appearance. This post is dedicated to the N81 8GB’s performance and software attributes.

 

Getting started

Whenever you are supposed to deal with an Nseries handset, you know that it has been designed to be different from non-Nseries cell phones. In other words, a handset which belongs to the Nseries family should provide users with a set of features in order to convince potential buyers that it’s indeed worth purchasing. The same is true about the N81, even if it doesn’t offer some of the goodies of the N82 and the N95. Let’s see if it actually deserves the Nseries branding.

 

Vibra Boot

If you have an N95, N82 or an N73 with an updated firmware, you have noticed the short vibration effect as you hold the Power button down to switch on your handset. This is called Vibra Boot notification, and helps users feel confident about the health of their handset even before seeing the backlighting. The N81 8GB also offers Vibra Boot notification, but with a much more noticeable flavor. With the N81 8GB I have, Vibra Boot is both a bit louder and longer. I’m bold enough to claim that the best Nseries device which offers Vibra Boot notification is the N81.

 

Boot-up time

Personally speaking, I’ve never been concerned about how much time my handset requires to boot, but know that many of you are. As such, I compared the N81 8GB’s boot-up time with that of the N82. The comparison wasn’t quite fair because, on the one hand, the N82 has a good number of installed applications which are missing on the N81 and, on the other, the N81 must spend some time managing its internal 8GB memory which is just 2GB in the case of the N82. At any rate, my N81 8GB takes about 20 seconds to boot up, and my N82 takes about 14 seconds to do the same. So the N82 has the upper hand here.

 

The menu layout

Since the N81 8GB is an S60 FP1 device, you can’t find much of a difference between this handset and other FP1 devices when it comes to screen layout and software functionality. However, each device has its own peculiarities. For instance, while the N81 and the N82 offer the same applications on the Active Standby window, their menu layout can be modified differently. If you go to the main menu and press “key 1″, you’ll see that the N82 offers something called “Icon animation” which is missing in the N81. This is perhaps related to the extra graphic chip which is absent in the N81 8GB. On the other hand, the N81 8GB is more feature-rich when it comes to selecting a menu view. The N81 offers the following menu views, Grid, List, Horseshoe, and V-shaped, while the N82 offers Grid and List. A plus for the N81 here.

 

Camera performance

Alas, the N81 8GB offers a 2MP camera, and what do you expect from it? It works well with what it offers, but don’t expect its camera to compete with that of the N82 or the N95. As a gadgeteer, I think if Nokia had designed the N81 with a 3.2MP camera and had made it capable of recording video clips at 30 frames per second, it could have shocked the world of cell phones. At any rate, apart from the lack of the physical camera shutter, its camera makes use of an interface which is similar to that of high-end handsets such as the N82. For those who are into comparison, the following two pictures show the N81 8GB’s camera and you can compare it with the same picture taken via the N82’s camera: IMG: N81 picture quality vs. IMG: N82 picture quality.

 

Audio-centricity

I’ve always claimed that the N81 and its 8GB variant are audio-centric handsets, and I’m in a good position to prove my claim now. As the name suggests, the N81 8GB offers 8GB of internal storage capacity, meaning you can transfer your music to the device via the USB cable, and it’s not an easy task to beat this superfluous space. What’s more, the N81 8GB has dedicated music keys which can be used universally, no matter where you are and what you’re doing. Unlike the N95 8GB, the N81 8GB’s dedicated music keys are always accessible and don’t depend on the status of the sliding mechanism. They are also located near the front navigation buttons, thereby making multi-tasking far more easier as you need not move your hands away from those important buttons. On the N81 8GB, the music application starts as the handset boots up, and it doesn’t provide an Exit button. This is necessary for the maximum performance of the music keys, but if you want to close the music application, Handy Taskman does the job.

Above all, the N81 8GB comes with high-end speakers. In fact, its speakers can be found in none of the Nseries handsets. To prove this point, I took my old N73 out and played some tracks via the N73, the N81, the N82 and my friend’s N95 for five people who were not familiar with Nokia handsets, and all of them said that the N81 8GB offers the best speakers. Its speakers are louder than those of other Nseries handsets, without sacrificing a bit of the nice base effect. If, for instance, my N82 could offer the same speakers, I could call it the super-handset in the history of cell phones.

If you use the 3.5 mm audio jack and connect your headphones to the N81, the system sound gets immediately transferred to the headphones. This is not the case with the N82, because there you have to select a proper mode: headphones, music stand, or TV out. The instant availability of the headphone/music stand mode in the N81 is a huge plus, specially if you’re in a position which requires a quick switch to headphones. BTW, both handsets are equally feature-rich when you connect them to a wired or wireless headphone, as I did with my Nokia BH-604 and Bose noise-cancelling headphones. The N81 8GB places a relatively longer pause between two tracks with or without headphones, and this pause is about 1 second shorter with the N82.

Last but not least, the N81 8GB has a number of pre-loaded MP3 tracks to demonstrate the fact that it’s indeed a music-centric device. They can be found on the 8GB internal memory.

 

Power consumption

As mentioned in my first post, the N81 8GB has a 1050 BL6 battery. The same battery is used in the N82, but I’ve noticed that the N81 does a better job of retaining the battery power for a longer period of time, even with extensive use of Wi-Fi. This might be attributed to the absence of the GPS chip and the graphic chip in the N81. Whatever the cause, our music-focused handset makes its users happy with its power consumption. Usually I recharge my N82 every 36 to 48 hours, but I do the same with the N81 every 48 to 72 hours.

 

Memory and RAM

According to Handy Taskman, the N81 8GB offers 77.4MB of RAM and after a reboot I get about 38MB of free RAM. The situation here is better than the N95 Classic. Also, the N81 8GB provides a relatively minuscule amount of phone memory: 24.6MB, and I get about 16MB of free phone memory after a reboot; however, this isn’t worrisome at all given the availability of the 8GB internal memory. Just for the sake of comparison, the N82 comes with 120MB of RAM and 132MB of phone memory, respectively, but keep in mind that it doesn’t have 8GB of internal memory. Finally, it’s worth mentioning that when the N81 8GB is connected to my notebook via the USB cable and Nokia PC Suite, the computer displays two types of memory: phone memory and memory card. As the N81 8GB doesn’t have a memory card, the naming convention is a bit odd and the memory card option should have been named “mass storage”, in line with the N95 8GB.

 

What’s in a slide?

With the N81 8GB, you can perform useful tasks via the slide. If you go to Tools/Settings/General/Slide handling, you can define the behavior of the slide. You can open the slide to answer an incoming call or reject it. You may close the slide to end an active call or continue it. Also, you can have the D-pad locked or not locked upon closing the slide, and you can even set the N81 8GB to ask you if you want to activate keyguard upon closing the slide. These are nice innovations which should be part of all Nseries slider phones but currently aren’t.

 

Accessibility

If you’re visually impaired and are considering purchasing an N81 8GB, you’d be happy to know that both Nuance TALKS and MobileSpeak work well with this handset. MobileSpeak has a number of issues with the N81, and these quirks are also visible with the N82. TALKS is a bit sluggish with the N81 8GB, as it also is with E51, but this will be fixed in the upcoming TALKS release.

 

Stay tuned for more N81 8GB stuff in my future posts — I’ve preserved my judgment and concluding remarks for prospective articles.

Nokia N81 8GB Review: Part 1 Early Expectations & Physical Aspects

Note: the links which start with “IMG” let you view relevant images. All images were taken via my friend’s N82, and my own N82 was also used for comparison purposes. Also, the only difference between the N81 and the N81 8GB is the presence of the memory card slot in the former and the use of an 8GB internal hard drive in the latter; as a consequence, whenever I don’t use “8GB” in describing the N81, it doesn’t mean that I want to attribute a certain feature to either of these handsets.

 

Early expectations

When about two weeks ago I was told by WOM World that I was going to get a Nokia N81 8GB for trialing, I wasn’t over-excited about it. After all, go ask those who have an N82 about a so-called relatively mid-tier device like the N81 8GB and you won’t see that authentic flash of passion in their eyes. The same happened to me, although I was looking forward to getting my first Nseries handset from WOM World, and that itself was more than enough to make me feel over the moon. However, when on Feb. 21st I got the N81 8GB Special Edition package, I was ready to reevaluate my prejudice. In particular, I was pleased to find the Bose Noise-Cancelling headphones included. IMG: WOM World N81 8GB package,
IMG: N81 8GB and accompanying accessories,
IMG: Bose headphones,
IMG: N81 8GB closed.

At first I was expecting to handle a super-bulky handset in my hand. After all, a 140 g cell phone isn’t small or light by many users’ standards. Fortunately I didn’t find the N81 8GB very big, or grossly bigger than my N82. The N81 8GB is slightly thicker than the N82: 17.9 mm as opposed to 17.3 mm: IMG: N81 closed and N82 side by side. Neither is it oddly bigger than Nokia 5700: IMG: N81 and Nokia 5700 side by side. On the other hand, the N81 8GB gets distinguished from the N82 when the slide opens: IMG: N81 opened and N82 side by side. As such, the N81 extra weight is mostly attributed to its internal components, and nothing disturbing gets noticed on the outside.

The N81 8GB is a phone which houses a one-way sliding mechanism unlike the N95 or the N95 8GB. It has an excellent build quality and looks like a sturdy device. It seems to me that Nokia has taken a good deal of care to produce a good sliding mechanism because the phone doesn’t wobble when the slider gets opened or closed. This is an improvement compared with the N95 Classic. Typically I hold the N81 in my right hand and work with the slider and the keys with my left hand. I was also expecting to have a hard time migrating to a slider phone, but that was accomplished quite effortlessly. As a candybar fan, I think there’s a nice feeling attached to using a candybar phone since there both the keypad and the front buttons are at the same level, whereas with sliders you should raise your fingers a little to press or hold front buttons like “select” and “key 2″. In passing, the N81 is Wi-fi-enabled but doesn’t offer an internal GPS module. It also has a 1050 BL6 battery.

 

Getting to know the N81 8GB

Now let’s take a closer look at the handset. The top of the device houses the 3.5 mm audio jack and the Power button. From left to right, you can see a new addition to the Nseries handsets, followed by the 3.5 mm audio jack and the Power button: IMG: N81 8GB top. Know what that new key is? It’s called the “keylock switch”. When moved to the right, it locks the keypad and returns to its original position. When moved to the right yet again, it unlocks the keypad. On the N81 this is the best way of locking the keys and the “Key 1+Star” option has been removed. I’m a huge fan of this mechanical approach and find it far more intuitive specially for novices. The audio jack is also in a great position to avoid wire tangles – something which tends to debase the N95. As for the Power button, I’m facing some difficulty presssing and holding it as it is a bit recessed into the phone, and a nail press is required to do the job rather than a finger press. I don’t face this problem on the N82.

The charging socket and the micro USB socket can be found at the bottom of the device: IMG: N81 8GB bottom. In line with the N82, Nokia has decided to use a micro USB port rather than a macro USB port found on the N95. Personally speaking, I find this switch a smart decision on Nokia’s part because the micro USB port is both being standardized everywhere and prevents bigger particles from penetrating the handset quite easily. But why is the N95 different in this regard? At any rate, the N81 8GB has USB 2.0 implementations like other high-end Nseries and Eseries handsets.

The left of the device accommodates the left speaker and the right side of the device houses the right speaker, the volume up/down keys and the “take photo” key: IMG: N81 8GB left,
IMG: N81 8GB right. No Gallery key can be found on the N81. As with the N95, this handset uses left and right speakers. While I’ll comment on performance-related features of the N81 8GB including the fabulous speaker performance in a later post, it’s worth mentioning here that the N81 speakers are nothing but superb.

Like the N82, the N81 uses a 2.4 QVGA display: IMG: N81 8GB display. It supports up to 16.7 million colors, and offers sharp images. The display gets separated from the outside world by means of an excellent cover which keeps dust away. The downside of this cell phone, on the whole, is that your fingerprint gets readily displayed on it and it requires constant cleaning. Near the top of the display there can be found two dedicated gaming keys which tend to make gaming a more pleasant experience on the device: IMG: N81 8GB gaming keys. So far I’ve not yet found a way to assign other functions to these keys, but such a feature might exist somewhere under the hood.

The battery door covers the back of the handset and also surrounds the 2.0MP camera lens: IMG: N81 8GB back. I’m finding the removal of the battery door a tad difficult because unlike the N82, the battery door on the N81 is longer and the device itself doesn’t offer an easily touchable battery hinge. Neither does the mediocre 2MP camera have a mechanical shutter like that of the N82 or the N95 Classic. I wish Nokia could have tossed in at least a 3.2MP camera, but that’s the subject of another post.

The N81 8GB has a keypad which is exposed to the user when the slide is open: IMG: N81 8GB keypad. As you touch the keypad for the first time, you feel as if the whole keypad were made up of four very keys representing numbers 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, and *0#. A raised dot makes identifying number “5″ easier, but that’s all about it. The keys aren’t tactilely detectable upon touching them for the first time, and you should spend some time getting familiar with the keypad. As someone who has handled handsets like Nokia 6600, Nokia 6630, N73, N82, N95, and Nokia 5700, this is the first time I see such a keypad style. What’s more, compared with the aforementioned handsets the keys on the N81 8GB need more force to be pressed down. The bottom line is that I can’t understand Nokia’s logic here, although I guess they must have listened to other users. After a few days I can use the N81 keypad without any hassles, but as I go to my N82 and return to the N81 I readjust my fingers for a few seconds.

The saga of the N81 8GB gets more complicated with its front buttons: IMG: N81 8GB front buttons. The bottom part of the front of the N81 8GB is crammed with a whole host of buttons. Here we can find 11 buttons, excluding the navigation key. On the left side and near the left edge of the phone three buttons are visible: key 1, call and menu. On the opposite side and near the right edge of the phone three keys have been positioned: key 2, exit and clear. My major gripe with the N81 is related to the way Nokia has handled this area. First, there’s no tangible distance between these two sets of three buttons, and, as such, you should learn how to press the big left-side key in order to use the menu key rather than the call key. Even now I bend over backwards to not press the call key and the menu key simultaneously. Second, you should apply a great deal of energy to press both the menu key and the clear key; as a consequence, their adjacent keys, call and exit, get pressed in at least 80% of the instances. It would have been better if Nokia had used 6 separate keys rather than 2 big ones.

The N81 is first and foremost a music-centric handset, hence it comes with dedicated music keys. These small keys surround each edge of the d-pad. The first two buttons at the top act as the previous/next song keys, and if they’re held down, they act as rewind/fast forward. The last two buttons at the bottom act as the stop and play/pause keys. I’ll talk about the music playback on the N81 in a later post. Here suffice it to say that one should spend a few days with the N81 before gaining enough competence to press these keys without getting adjacent buttons involved. Keep a few fingernails ready for them! The joystick is, on the other hand, well positioned with a solid build along with the Select key. The “multimedia” button is to the right of the joystick, also known as the navigation key, and can be tactilely identified.

Last but not least, there comes the Navi wheel near the d-pad which is supposed to help you move around in a couple of currently supported applications by just touching that area; however, so far I’ve not been able to use the Navi wheel successfully even after enabling it in Tools/Settings. It might be me or it might be the crudeness of this tool, but I’ll keep trying.

 

Physical pros and cons

Pros

• Excellent build quality,
  
• Superb speakers,
  
• Firm sliding mechanism,
  
• Mechanical keylock switch,
  
• Dedicated music keys,
  
• Nice 3.5 MM audio jack positioning,
  
• Dedicated gaming keys.
  

 

Cons:

• Undistinguishable keypad keys,
  
• Crammed front buttons,
  
• Rather stiff menu and clear keys,
  
• Lack of a mechanical camera shutter,
  
• Average camera,
  
• Non-ergonomic Navi wheel.
  

 

Over the next few days I’ll be switching to the performance and functionality side of using the N81 8GB. If you have any questions or comments about the physical appearance, I’d be glad to take them here.