PDA Reviews

The world has been governed by the windows for over two decades and no wonder we have become accustomed to the little icons, start button and applications like word and Excel, not to mention even the classics like solitaire. Now, you can get them all in form of pocket PC or PDA. With the release of the 400MHz XScale processor by Intel, the term itself earned a great deal of credibility. The following review is on one such pocket PC called the HP Compaq iPAQ H3970.

No change with the design:

Having HP Compaq iPAQ H3970 switched off, it can be easily mistook for the previous model as they look virtually the same. It has a plastic enclosure that imitates metal. It has got metallic buttons and a black crown. The Pocket PC is relatively wide having its dimensions as, 3.3” x 5.3” x 0.6” (W X H X D) inches. This wideness is an advantage as it helps in giving a good hold and there is also a small bump on the left side of the PDA, where the thumb lies, which further enhances your grip to the Pocket PC.

Excellent display:

Most of the front area of the PDA is occupied by the display of about 96mm diameter. Compaq iPAQ H3970 possesses a TFT transflective display that is not only huge, but also amazingly bright too. The screen had a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels and supports about 65K colours. The colour, brightness, contrast, everything that is up to the right level as it should be, as it is quoted in a classic, “White is really white and Black is really black“. The display will be bringing a great deal of joy for the passionate gamers. Its predecessor suffered with the too dark scenes but the H3970 is simply perfect.

The touch layer of the PDA seems to be perfect too. Even the corners can be controlled precisely and they are sensitive to the right proportion too, this is one of the areas in which most of the PDAs suffer to show a good performance. Setting the display is straight forward and easy. Apart from the backlight adjustment feature, iPAQ also offer you with smooth manual adjustment for battery and mains operation. Overall, the display features of Compaq iPAQ H3970 are excellent.

Buttons and controls:

Under the large display lies the navigational pad along with four soft buttons. The crown of the PDA sports a mike, main switch, speaker, two LED indicators and a light intensity sensor that automatically adjusts the backlight of the display according to the brightness of the surrounding. The backlight adjustment though is not that accurate, it still exhibit’s a great improvement when compared with its implementations in the previous models. When the lighting conditions change, the backlight intensity does not change immediately but has a gradual and pleasant smooth transition. The blue LED is used to indicate the activities of the Bluetooth and the other green and orange LED indicates the status of the PDA such as charging or calendar event notification etc.

Other controls:

There is not much to say about the sides of the HP Compaq iPAQ H3970 PDA. The right side is empty where as, the left side has a sound record button, that can also be assigned to do some other functionality. The design of the device has been done such a way that it should be held in left hand. The top has much interesting things to talk about. Apart from a microphone, it also has a stereo headphone jack, stylus shaft and a SD slot. The bottom of Compaq-HP iPAQ H3970 Pocket PC has a reset button and two connectors out of which the smaller connector is used to connect cables, external keyboard, cradle and other accessories and the bigger connector acts as a system bus connector that connects with various types of jackets. The bigger connector is a solution that offers a wide range of expansion possibilities.

Expandability options:

Since HP Compaq iPAQ H3970 Pocket PC has the same dimensions as that of its predecessor, all of its accessories such as the expansion packs, keyboards, cases etc are all compatible. Though there are wide range of expansion possibilities, they are too costly. For instance, Compaq has not included the support for CF slot and the additional jacket will solve this issue. One of the major drawbacks is that, even the thinnest available jackets make the H3970 quite thick.

Set of features:

HP Compaq iPAQ H3970 is of the H3900 series which inherited most of its features and characteristics from its predecessor, the  H3800.

Applications:

The ROM has several new and innovative applications. The task manager, iTask looks the same as the predecessor but has four points higher. The backup utility offered works slightly better than what was previously available. The user will be able to select backup options from a very extensive list such as databases, individual files, registry, place of backup etc. Options are also offered to choose if the file has to be compressed or encrypted, whether to exclude executable and DLLs and even whether to store backup info in a .LOG file. Most importantly you get to choose backups once, daily or weekly, a very appreciable feature.

Picture viewer and Infrared control:

There are two more unique features included in HP Compaq iPAQ H3970 Handheld PDA . A simple picture viewer with slide show feature is available. Though this is not a miraculous feature, it is most welcome by those who have the habit of viewing photo from time to time. The other one is a neat infrared control that is compatible with home appliances, TVs, DVD players etc. This functionality offers immense capabilities and allows you to configure a set of control for each room, each person. The database of the application has a preset for a wide range of appliances. In case any of the appliance that user wants is not listed, its specification can be downloaded from a specialised website.

On the side of technology:

The HP Compaq iPAQ H3970 had the best possible technology that a Pocket PC can possess at the time of its release. It runs using the Intel PXA250 processor which is also known as the Xscale that runs at a speed of 400 MHz. But one of the major dents involved is that, since the system and applications in the PDA are not optimised in a such a way to be operated by the processor, the overall speed of the PDA is much lower than you would actually expect. Unlike some of the other Pocket PCs in the market, you will not be able to control the speed of the processor by yourself as the system takes care of everything by itself. An upgrade in the OS can be expected, having a flash ROM of 48MB. The model without Bluetooth feature has only 32MB of Flash ROM.

Storage facilities:

HP has included an excellent feature in the Compaq IPAQ H3970 that would make it possible for you store any of your most sensitive data in the available 48MB of ROM, which remains even when the PDA completely runs out of battery. You will be having around 22MB of storage space that appear in the PDA as iPAQ file store. Contact information and calendar data can also be stored in here as it will remain even after a hard reset. The operating memory has a sufficient capacity of about 64MB out of which you will have 63MB for your use.

Communication features:

The wide range of communication features of the Compaq iPAQ H3970 gives it the high end tag. Having the support for USB and serial communication, it allows for synchronisation of data with a PC. If you want to eliminate the fuss of the cables, you can also make use of infrared to connect to desktop, mobile phones or any other PDAs. It has a speed of 115.2Kbps which is more than sufficient for most of the basic functionalities. In addition to these, Bluetooth is also available which has a data transfer speed of 20KB/sec. Actually, the Bluetooth functionality works much faster but here, the speed is limited due to the way the technology has been implemented.

Audio quality:

The audio quality from the speaker is nothing less than excellent and it proves to be of a quality that is above the range of what is expected out of a PDA category. The MP3 playback is great and the sound recorded in the built-in mike sounds great too. The output from the headphones do not lag behind at all. The user can experience clear and undistorted audio without even a hiss, even at the high levels of volume. The advantages does not stop here as HP has equipped the Compaq iPAQ H3970 with an option for bass and treble adjustment for the headphone output, which is again new and a unique feature for a Pocket PC. The microphone is one of the most sensitive ones that we had ever encountered in any PDA. When recording, the iPAQ H3970 produced excellent results which is not only because of the high quality of the microphone but also because of an utility known as the AGC, Automatic Gain Control which automatically adjusts the level of recording.

Applications that come in the CD:

As in the case of the other Compaq PDAs, the iPAQ H3970 also has got a set of applications on an accompanying CD. Apart from the demo version applications that can even be downloaded from the web, some of the other applications included are, iPresentation Mobile Converter LE, WordLogic, Quick View Plus, Bust’em game, Conduits Pocket Watch and F-Secure FileCrypto.

The package contents:

The package mostly remains to be the same as H3800. The package contents include the HP Compaq iPAQ H3970, a cradle with a USB and serial connector, a pseudo-jacket ,  charger, reduction, a spare stylus which has become a standard, CD-ROM, user guide, a warranty card and a leaflet with a code. The pseudo jacket offered is to protect the display, it is a jacket with a transparent flap which we feel is quite inconvenient. The inconvenience is that, the device cannot be held comfortably and is difficult to write over the display, we feel that a leather case would have done a better job. A reduction is included for charging iPAQ outside the cradle. The cradle has got traditionally two connectors, USB and serial respectively.

HP Compaq iPAQ H3970 comes with one year warranty.

You get to choose the applications:

As mentioned in the package, you get a leaflet with an automatically generated code. When you visit the website mentioned in the leaflet, after registration, you will be prompted to enter the code and once the code is entered, you would get to choose up to five commercial applications for free. This gives the users more of flexibility and is certainly better than someone choosing a set of five applications, burning it in a CD and including it in the package. Not everybody will like all the applications that are included, by this way, the users get to choose what exactly they want.

Battery:

Having mentioned that the display is very bright and the battery is the same 1400mAh that was available in the previous models, you might be thinking that the battery life will be a nightmare. But that is not true, the battery performance is great too. Compaq iPAQ H3970 is capable of playing a full MPEG movie on a loop for about three hours. Some of the devices offer a backup battery that protects your data for weeks even if your mobile is kept completely switched off for weeks. But, iPAQ lacks one. It rather uses something else to protect and retain the data. That is, if the battery drops beyond a level, the Pocket PC does not switch on and makes use of the remaining power to secure the data until a recharge is done. Though this is a common feature that can be found in all the devices that do not use a backup battery, the difference Ipaq has made is that, it allows the user to set that critical level. If the critical level is decreased, you will be able to use the very last drop of battery.

Verdict:

The HP Compaq iPAQ H3970 Pocket PC is one of the best pocket PCs in the market. This mobile has no notable weaknesses. The display is excellent, not to say the audio. The iPAQ is just on the correct path. Some minor tweaks made in the PDA has made the PDA a high end device. It has something to offer everybody. We certainly recommend it.

Read reviews of HP iPAQ 214 Pocket PC, HP iPAQ 114 Pocket PC in this website.



Technical Specification Details of HP Compaq iPAQ H3970 Pocket PC

Palm T|X Handheld PDA with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

Palm had finally made up its mind to integrate WiFi in one of its handhelds, named Palm LifeDrive in May 2005 but the happiness of seeing wireless features was not long lived once we found that the cost of Palm LifeDrive cannot be digested. And then latter, the same year, it released the Palm T|X PDA with both WiFi and Bluetooth and this device had proved that, if a device has premium features, it is not necessary that it has to have a premium price tag. Along with the wireless features, it has a long list of other features that makes it a good competition to its rivals like Dell Axim X51 and HP iPaq rx1950.

After Palm reacquired the rights to the ‘Palm’ brand name, The TX and Palm Z22 Handheld PDA are the first new models they introduced. In that way, Palm then dropped the ‘Tungsten’ sub brand name, highlighting the strong Palm name brand.

PDA design:

The design of the Palm T|X Handheld PDA is very similar to that of its predecessor Palm Tungsten E5 except for the colour theme used. On a fast look at the device, you will tend to think that the device is black, but it is not so, the PDA is having a midnight colour scheme. This Palm handheld feels very sleek and compact, having its dimensions as, 4.7″ x 3.0″ x 0.6″ (H x W x D) and weighs just 5.2 ounces. It is just slightly larger and taller than the Tungsten E2. It is both shorter and thinner than the LifeDrive.  Though it is not as solid as Palms some of the previous models, it is having a reasonable built quality.

Display:

Palm T|X PDA is having an amazing display which is a 4-inch Transflective TFT display of resolution 320 x 240 pixels and supports more than 65,000 colours. The text and pictures displayed are very sharp and clear. You can also have fun with the display by customising the PDA with a lot of colour themes. You can do a lot of operations such as switching between portrait and landscape modes, switch on the FM radio, and bring up the virtual keyboard in just a tap of a button with the help of the toolbar that lies in the bottom area of the display. The 4″ rectangular display takes the majority of the front area of Palm TX. The sides of the PDA are smooth and the edges are well rounded.

Buttons and ports:

The main control panel lies just below the display which provides you with shortcut keys for Home, Favourites, Calendar, Contacts and Internet. The square like, main navigational pad is available in the center. The power button and the stylus holder sits on the top. Overall, the layout is spacious and logical. On the side of connectivity, a memory card expansion slot and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack are available on top of the device. SD expansion slot, which unfortunately lacks a dust cover. A port for the AC adaptor and USB ports can be found in the sides, but since they are placed very close to each other, you fill find it difficult to make use of both the ports at the same time. In case you want to reset you Palm T/X, you will find a button at the rear of the device that you will have to press with the help of any sharp device.

Processor and memory:

Palm T|X Pocket PDA is having a good deal of features. It is very easy to configure and setup the device. The device runs in the 312MHz Bulverde Intel processor. The processor is fast and you will not be able to see much of lagging in any of the areas. The operating system used is Palm OS 5.4. This PDA is having a non-volatile flash memory of 128MB out of which you will be able to use 100MB. This amount of memory will be more than enough for jotting down the details of ample number of contacts, but if you are planning to have any multimedia files like MP3 music and images, you will certainly need more memory, which you can expand with the help of the memory expansion slot. The memory expansion slot of Palm T|X can accept a memory card of 2GB capacity. And since the memory is non volatile, you will not be having any fear of loosing any information at any cost.

Wi-Fi:

Though Palm had introduced the WiFi late, it has done its job efficiently. It make connections with the web swiftly and the process is not complicated at all. All that it needs is a couple of clicks and your job will be done. It automatically starts up the connection and shuts it down automatically too, thus saving on battery life, while the Blazer browser does a fine job of reformatting websites to fit the screen. Web pages with simple text and images will get loaded in a matter of seconds but the ones with heavy graphics might take a while though. It is annoying to have to view cached pages by default and can get confusing when browsing and surfing the Internet. Although you can change the configuration, somehow it seems to revert to the default, maybe that happens after synchronising again and again. The second wireless option, that is, the Bluetooth connections are as efficient as that of the Wi-Fi connection. All the manipulations such as connecting, pairing, sending and receiving files, all can be done without any trouble.

Features related to Wi-Fi:

The advantages of having the WiFi does not stop with this, a free service called the Avvenu gives you remote access to your computer at work or home and allows you to share content with others and upload data. Though the service is free, you will have to download the Avvenu agent into your computer and then set password for the sake of security. You can also enter encryption settings in order to have enhanced security. For having more fun, you can also subscribe to MobiTV, which is not free though and watch live television on your handheld. This service allows you to have up to 10 channels that runs at 24fps.

Features:

The other features that are included in the Palm T|X PDA Handheld are, DataViz’s Documents To Go 7 and VersaMail 3.1 for professionals who can work on the go. The Documents To Go application allows you to view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Desktop Synchronising that includes updating software and files using your PC to load and update files are residing in the PDA and has no problems. Graffiti 2 writing software is included to input data into the handheld and writing down using the stylus is fast and accurate for hand writing recognition.

The VersaMail 3.1 has support for eight email accounts such as, POP, IMAP, APOP, or ESMTP and hence delivers emails to you. Since VersaMail works with Exchange ActiveSync, you will be able to connect directly to your company’s exchange server.

Some of the other essential miscellaneous applications included are, Quick Tour, Calc with Advanced mode, Calendar, Card Info, Contacts, Dailer, Expense, Favorites, HotSync, Media, Memos, Note Pad, pTunes, SMS, Solitare, Tasks, Blazer web browser and World Clock.

Multimedia:

For the sake of multimedia entertainment, Plam T|X Wireless PDA has Pocket Tunes, with wich you will be able to listen to your favourite tunes and podcasts. The formats supported by Pocket Tunes include MP3, WMA which requires the deluxe edition, PCM WAV and Ogg Vorbis. Ogg Vorbis is an open-source codec, that means, no one has to pay licensing fees when it is used, unlike codecs such as MP3, WMA, or AAC. Many focus groups claim that music files compressed by the Ogg Vorbis codec sound better than those created with commercial codecs. This kind of format has the extension OCG. You will also be allowed you create and edit play lists, shuffle your play list and even customise the theme, skin and look of your player. You can create slide shows of your photos and give a musical background to it. The video and music playback are clean and smooth. The sound quality and the volume levels were very impressive too.

Audio:

A mono speaker is available in the rear of the device which is just adequate for the purpose of gaming and alarms. MP3s can also be played via this speaker, but we feel that, if you could invest on a headphone, that will do a good job providing you a better experience. As in the case of the T5, the TX also does not have vibration support or even LEDs for indications and the worst part is that, it still uses the old fashioned pilot 1000 alarm sounds for calendar. The absence of microphone is disappointing too.

Battery:

The battery used in the device is not user replaceable which is disappointing, but it is the long life lithium ion. On heavy usage the battery might last you for five hours else, it might give you up to ten hours. The device has a lot of battery and power saving features incorporated in it. For instance, if not used for 3 minutes, the TX goes into hibernation, hence power saving.

Package:

The package of the device includes a flip cover that attaches itself to the left side of the device and protects its screen and facia from any accidental scratches. But we would suggest you to get a complete protection, may be a full size case. Apart from the flip cover, the other contents of the package include an USB cable, an AC adaptor, a user guide and an installation CD. The CD is a very useful one as it is bundled with a number of software and some interactive tutorials. You also have a number of optional accessories on offer that includes Bluetooth GPS navigational system and Palm’s universal wireless keyboard.

Verdict:

The integrated WiFi, Bluetooth, the large and bright display and good battery life: all these features makes it hard for us to not recommend the Palm T|X PDA. And the most important of all, it offers wireless solutions at an affordable price. But, if you are a casual user and if you are not in any real need of WiFi, then you can choose Palm’s Tungsten E2.

Check other PALM PDAs, reviews, specification details in our website.



Palm T|X Handheld PDA - Technical Specifications, Features

HTC TyTn II Pocket PC/ HTC Kaiser

Since the announcement of the iPhone, there was a lot of hype and talking about it all over the world. It seemed as though it was the only phone that was available and peoples dignity lied in getting hold of it. Some people are still wise enough to even see what the other manufacturers have got in their bags. Apple’s front running rival HTC is considered in this review. We are taking a tour through the iPhone like PDA of HTC which is the HTC TyTn II, otherwise called as, the HTC Kaiser or HTC P4550. This is the successor to the TyTN, which was otherwise called as the varioII or Vodafone v1650 or Orange SPV M3100. The Kaiser was released after a lot of speculation and rumours, now, let us have a look if it is strong enough to pose a threat to the iPhone.

Some tweaks with the design:

The design of the Kaiser is very much similar to its predecessor, but when you have a closer look at the phone you will be able to find significant changes and upgradations made. The HTC P4550 Kaiser Smartphone is having a slimmer dimensions than its predecessor, that being (H x W x D) 110 x 58 x 18mm and weights 160 grams that is, 16 grams lighter. Though it is nowhere near the slimness of the Blackberry 8800, the Kaiser is not a pocket bulgier too. A difference with the HTC P4550 that can go un-noticed is that, it opens form the other side which means, opening the phone with your right hand will be easier but if would want to hold the smartphone in your left, you might feel uncomfortable.

Tilting display:

HTC TyTn II Pocket PC is having a 2.8″ display with a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels resolution. The  display is clear and bright and also does not suffer from the yellow colour cast that has been common on earlier devices. The screen once extended, to reveal the keyboard can also be tilted upwards. The tilting screen is just more than a gimmick as it can be of great help when you are browsing and typing emails. Since the screen can be tilted to any angle between zero to 45 degrees, it is less prone to reflections and you can view it in a way that is comfortable for you.

Body architecture:

The bottom of the HTC TyTn II Smartphone has a microSD card slot that has a complete plastic dust cover. You can also find a External USB connector for syncing or charge and audio. Next to that a reset button and the space for the stylus. The right side of the PDA has the power and camera buttons. And on the left a scroll wheel along with OK and voice notes button. The rear side of the device has the loud speaker and the camera too and the built in GPS is indicated by a large rubber cover over the external GPS antenna socket. In order to insert a SIM card you have to slide the keyboard open and then look on the rear of the screen. Under a flap you will find the SIM card slot.

Fun with keyboard:

The keyboard is a sliding QWERTY keyboard which is quite good. The keyboard itself is great fun to use as you can here a jingle, each time it is opened and closed. The keys are well laid out and very easy to type on for its font size. The numbers and some important symbols can be typed in quickly with just a flick of the function key. A dedicated period key is the most welcome part. There are a pair of soft keys just above the keyboard that allow you to access the main menu any time you with without having to reach the touch screen. You also get a couple of indicator LED’s that show you the Caps and Function status. The keys are back-lit but the back light turns on only when the conditions are fairly dark which saves you more power. The clickable scroll wheel is of great use both in the portrait and as well as in the landscape mode that allows you to navigate through the menus with a great deal of ease. On the front of the TyTN II you will find the five way navigational pad, a couple of soft keys, send and end phone buttons, an IE button, Email button, Windows Button and an OK button. The overall set-up looked like a baby laptop.

The interface:

The windows mobile home screen has an attractive control pad with a big digital clock display along with the weather forecast for your chosen location. The shortcuts for your favourite contacts and applications is also available. Thumb driven scrolling and panning to other applications is possible with the help of the TouchFLO. This allows you to scroll down without using your stylus or using your nails to reach the corner of the phone to get hold of the skinny scroll bars. You will not find the 3D cube on the TyTN II and no gesture based swipes across the screen as these both require a more sensitive touchscreen technology.

Camera:

The camera has been upgraded to a three mega pixel one but still it lacks flash or self portrait mirror. Though the 3 mega pixel sounds to be not a lot, we must keep in mind that this is just a PDA. The pictures are quite good when in outdoors but without the flash, you cannot expect much indoors or in low-light areas. The auto focus is available that allows you to take even the smallest shots with much detail.  There is a front facing camera available for 3G video conferencing. You will not need the self portrait mirror as you are having the front-facing VGA camera.

Robust features and performance:

On top of GPRS, the HTC Kaiser also features HSDPA and 3G for lighting speed browsing if the GPRS does not work that fast for you. Being a quad band phone, you can use is virtually in any part of the world. The inclusion of the GPS is another significant improvement over the original TyTN. The GPS included allows you to choose from a range of navigation software packages including the Wayfinder or the Telmap or even the CoPilot. Its function is good enough that you can also use it as your in-car satellite navigation system. When you enter Comm Manager or look through the settings menu and programs list there is little to give away the fact that the device has built in GPS. There is no definitive GPS on/off switch, you simply enter a GPS enabled application and things should start to work.

As with the Touch, the HTC P4550 Pocket PC applies HTC’s proprietary TouchFLO, thumb-driven interface to the standard Windows Mobile 6 installation. You cannot expect the TouchFLO experience to be the same as the HTC Touch, as this is a somewhat cut down implementation of the technology. Though this does not worry us much, up- gradation is what we are all looking forward to and not any cut downs. The best of the TouchFLO’s features are included though. The HTC P4550 remains powered a 400MHz processor, but this time, by Qualcom and not Samsung as is the case in the original TyTN. The phone cold-boots quickly, wakes up from standby instantly and applications generally launch without undue delay the difference in the speed is much noticeable. There is a pause for a couple of second when you flip the mobile from portraite to landscape mode but that pause is not long enough to make to loose your temper.

The standard internal memory provided for the Kaiser is 256MB, after you load it with the email and contact information, you will be getting around 120MB for the files and 66 plus MB for your applications.

The USB headset provided is nothing more than awful. And the PDA also lacks a standard 3.5mm headphone socket.

Battery:

The battery life of P4550 is quiet good. You will be able to get around three days on occasional usage with a single charge, but if you play your MP3 then, this rate degrades significantly.

Box contents:

The TyTN II comes in the standard black HTC package. The box contents include the PDA itself, Suede effect case, Mains Charger, USB Sync/Charge cable, Application CD with ActiveSync, Sprite Backup, GPRS Monitor and TomTom 6, ExtUSB hands free headset, Battery, Clear screen protector, Spare Stylus, Manual and a getting started guide.

Verdict:

The upgrades that HTC has made form the original TyTN is pleasing and has really worked hard over it. The Kaiser offers you almost everything that you would expect out of a smartphone. Its design, GPRS, 3G, HDSA and GPS features are very appealing. The tilting screen adds the style factor and is a great device for messaging. If you are very fussy with the camera, then you might be disappointed.

HTC TyTn II Pocket PC, having such good features, if you are trying to get hold of one without on contract with any of the mobile phones, then you will have to pay a very dearly cost. Just try to get hold of it on any contract that suites you. We are happy with the features and performance of the PDA.

Check other latest PDA Phones,  Best selling Pocket PC Reviews in this website.



HTC P4550 Kaiser Smartphone/Pocket PC - Specification Details

For the past few months, when you say a good PDA, you will automatically think of Blackberry 8820. It had the best style a keyboard can have and its quality seemed to be totally unbeatable. But as time flies by, you get better rivals increasing the competition and hence the quality of their products. This is a cyclic process and its only because of this cyclic process that we get to see major improvements in the industry of gadgets. Having said that, you might be asking who has come out with flying colours, beating Blackberry 8820, it is Nokia’s E71.

Nokia E71 is the successor of Nokia E61 and was released after a long wait. The long wait shows the efforts of the engineers of Nokia’s total dedication in making the phone simply a gorgeous device.

Design:

It looks fantastic, slim and everything else that represents the word “stylish”.  Nokia E71 PDA Smartphone has a chrome trimmed front which is flat and the screen seems to almost have a mirror finish and has a metal finishing to its rear. Unlike its predecessor, it is extremely slim, slimmer than the Apple iphone. It slips easily into your pocket and can go un-noticed. Being thin and compact, we cannot find a single thing that Nokia has sacrificed to make it attain that form factor. A slip case also comes along with the phone, it does not have much impact over the “slim factor” of the phone. But, having a metallic finish means, it is a finger print magnet.

Great keyboard:

Ergonomics is very important in design of any gadget and Nokia E71 has not failed to give its best in ergonomics too with its remarkable engineering. Stuffing all the keys in a narrow chassis but the point is in making it usable. Nokia E71 PDA Phone has done just that. The key-pad has a rubbery feel which adds grip to the typing and the keys are slightly domed in order to increase the ease of typing. The layout of the keys are very sensible. It does have the QWERTY style and the most commonly used symbol keys such as period, @ and comma are placed in such a way that they can be accessed instantly without holding on to the shift key. The nice white backlighting on the key-pad is very helpful while reading.

Predictive text is included, which you might be thinking is not necessary for a QWERTY keyboard. But, this works in a different way and still being helpful as is with the case of the iphone. If you were typing fast and mis-spelt a word, then it would suggest the word and do the auto correct for you. It also helps you save a lot of time. It suggests words for you halfway through your typing and all that you would need to do is, simply hit on the spacebar which would select the suggested word and you can keep moving.

Navigation:

There is no scrolling trackball like the one available in blackberry but the directional pad provided is very easy to use. The control cluster has the directional pad, the four shortcut keys (two each in the either sides of the directional pad), a pair of soft keys and the call and hang-up keys. Though the call and hang-up keys look smaller, it will not be posing any problem while using it. The four shortcut keys are well sized. The middle key also serves as a notification light which glows until you have cleared an event or until the expiration time you had set for the light finishes, in case you had missed any event. It is a good innovation to get rid of the age old annoying status light.

Crystal clear display:

There is nothing marvellous to describe about the display of Nokia E71 Smartphone. It is just a 2.36″ display having a resolution of 320X240 pixels. The display is not a touch screen, yet, the quality is outstanding by being bright and clear with just the required amount of contrast. Since the screen is transflective, it can be viewed without ant troubles even in bright afternoon sunlight. Pictures and video look very clear in the screen. The screen will be particularly appreciated while some heavy browsing.

Memory:

It has an internal memory of 110MB and the expansion slot is provided too. There is a micro SD card slot just above the micro USB port on the handset and hence you will be able to expand the memory of your Nokia E71 to the highest capacity of memory card currently available in the market. The data transfer speed to the memory card over the USB is on par with its previous models.

Connectivity:

Nokia E71 not only supports GPRS, EDGE and standard 3G, but also has full HSDPA support with 850MHz and1900MHz UMTS. For it to be used when you move to any part of the earth, it has the quad-band technology.

The other means to connectivity to external world includes WiFi 802.11 a,b,g, Bluetooth 2.0 and a FM radio tuner.

Having so much of connectivity involved, would you expect Nokia to leave out the GPS? Yes, E71 has an A-GPS (assisted GPS). This uses the location information gleaned from the cell you are connected to which provides a quicker satellite fix. The speed of the GPS is so good that even dedicated satellite navigators do not have. Since E71 has nokia’s own mapping software preinstalled, you will not have to worry about downloading Google maps. It acts like a proper satellite navigator giving you proper turn by turn instructions. But, this is available only for free three day trial after which it requires seven pounds subscription for each month.

Multimedia:

Nokia E71 sports a 3.2 mega pixel camera with LED flash on the rear along with a VGA video call camera in the front.

Similar to its predecessors, Nokia E71 Business Phone has a single speaker in the upper left of the phone but has a better quality than them. It sounds louder and good for ringtones and alerts. Music sounds just fine and not the best as the bass is completely missing giving a tinny sound.

Talking about the call quality, it is an absolute pleasure to make a call in Nokia E71. Being a PDA, it does not compromise as a phone. Nokia, excels as a phone as it should.

Operating System:

Coming to the OS, E71 uses the Symbian’s S60 3.1 platform, which provides you with lightning speed responsiveness. Being speedy, E71 has not compromised on its battery life. It manages to remain speedy with the HSDPA data support having a very decent battery life.

Quick office offers support for viewing and editing office documents, PDA files and ZIP utility. But there is no support for Office 2007.

The visual makeover done for the messaging application looks good. All the texts are presented in a very readable manner and mails look great on the phone.

e-mail support:

Coming to the part of software, it is an E-series device and can it be without email. Nokia E71 is equipped with POP3 and IMAP accounts which are a breeze to connect to. The E71 also includes Nokia’s Mail for Exchange email client by default. This allows you to connect to Microsoft corporate email accounts and receive your push email. You can also sync contacts, tasks and calendar info too. There is no support for Blackberry connect which was offered by Nokia E61.

Browsing:

Surfing the Net is better than with most built-in browsers available today. Pages are displayed in full and, interestingly, the E71’s browser supports Flash and lets you watch YouTube videos, although it seems to be fairly sluggish and the audio streams faster than video.

Battery:

Nokia E71 uses 1530mAh lithium polymer battery. You will get up to four days with a single charge on average usage. It that not completely impressive? But one disappointment is that, you still cannot charge your Nokia handset via USB.

Nokia E71 comes with 24 months warranty.

Verdict:

Nokia E71 has very minor faults, which can be totally ignored. Its beautiful engineering and ample connectivity options are simply mind-blowing. With its good battery life and display, it satisfies the basic needs too.

Being loaded with so much of features, you must have thought that it must be heavy on your wallet too, if that is the case, then you are wrong, it is reasonably priced. And as you must have guessed, yes, it is certainly recommended by us.

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