Its been five months since I slipped a Nokia E61 into my pocket, replacing my trusty 6680. Have I missed a camera? In short "No," which was what I expected given the number of photos that were taken on the 6680 over a couple of years. I prefer to stick with my Kodak DX7630, which no mobile phone camera comes close to for quality. O.K, so I may have missed the occasional impulse shot, but I can live with that. I still have the option of using the 6680 for days when a camera may come in handy.
Apart from voice calls, my main uses of the E61 are messaging, (email, text and IM) and internet. The built in email client works well for me. Its simple, connection is quick, checking mail can be automated, the built in software apps read "Office" attachments and pdf files. In the early day, I set up push email allow mail arriving at my normal email address to push to my phone. It did not work! (Not a bad thing in my case. I moved home and ISP 4 months ago, just as my old email address became the target for some arsehole spammers who fired over 1000 emails to me in 2 weeks). I now have a new email address, push email works fine and within seconds, mail is pushed to my phone. Keeping in touch via email is now so much easier.
What can you say about SMS other that a qwerty keyboard works better for me than a number keypad. Multi media messages, you may think a waste of time with no camera. No! I have created about 40 MMM templates for birthdays, Xmas, Easter, party invites etc from resources on the web, its not rocket science after all. Sending pics from my camera (DX7630) is a bit haemorrhoid, but I rarely need to.
Recently Microsoft Messenger became available for the E61. I have used it a few times. It works very well, especially with a qwerty keyboard.
I have Truphone VOP installed (as I use a Mac and Skype cant be arsed with Mac users). Truphone works very well indeed and is a worthy rival to Skype. It has come to the rescue several times when I have been in a network dead-spot but with a wireless LAN in range.
Overall the E61 is an excellent messaging and voice phone.
Internet is were I have found the E61 strides ahead of my old 6680. The browser is stunning matching a desktop for quality even though the full page is far larger than the screen.
Now that I have a decent size memory card installed (64meg is very limiting), I have been able to put the music player through its paces. It is more than adequate, the sound quality is good and playlists are supported. Its not as good as my iPod but a very credible alternative for the journey to work and back.
Now the un-sung hero of the built in software suite, the Office apps. Unlike the 6680 versions those on the E61 not only read Word , Excel and Powerpoint files, they can edit and create them from scratch. The most popular feature of the three desktop based apps are available on the phone, enabling a surprising amount of compatibility with the desktop heavy weights. One minor quibble I have is the lack support for non-HP printers. This also goes for the ability to print emails. Sometimes a hard copy is essential, but this is a minor quibble. The ability to edit and create office documents, on a qwerty keyboard on the train or bus without a laptop in a wheelbarrow, is magic.
If you are looking for a very capable smartphone the E61 should be on your list. The new E61i with 2megapixel camera and modified design looks like another winner where function triumphs over bling.
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