More on the E61: Call features

If you have been a user of Nokia phones, the phone features of the E61 will be familiar to you as they follow the normal Nokia form and functions. Calling, SMS, MMS and email are all implimented almost exactly as on my 6680.
I have one very small niggle, the volume control on the left side of the phone body is just above the recorder button which makes it too easy to switch the recorder on until you get used to the feel of the buttons. After a couple of days using the phone this is no longer an issue.
One feature I do like is the improvements to the Active status which now shows the contents of the Inbox.
Phone volume and clarity is excellent. The speakerphone is clearer than the 6680.
The voice recorder has undergone some major changes. A single click sets the recorder off, but the click and hold has been improved. It now enables voice dialing and feature activation by voice recognition without pre-recording a match. This works well for most of the features and contact that I use regularly.
Nokia have to be applauded on their development of this and other features of the phone which allow better access to those with poor or no eyesight. So far I have not seen a single mention of the "Voice Aid" feature in any review of this phone. This is a stunning feature allowing some of the common features to read back details to the user.The call log, contacts, clock and voice mail box are all accessible to read back information. The contacts feature is very good indeed. It read back almost every contact in my contacts list faultlessly and also aids the selection of the correct home, business etc number.
There is also a dialer feature that allows selection of digits with up and down flicks of the joystick, reading out each digit selected and the full phone number from the options menu.

These features are a very good attempt by Nokia to make communication for the blind and partially sighted much easier with technology I have not seen in a phone to this extent. Though I found a few very minor niggles the whole system works very well indeed. Now I understand the placement of the voice recorder button.