I have been using Nokia E71 for more than a year and am very happy to be going around with that phone even now. It is the phones like Nokia E71 and Nokia E72 which have been big landmarks for Nokia and helped in cementing the company’s stand in the business phone segment and gave rivals like BlackBerry a tough competition.

Nokia E6 promises to further continue Nokia’s strong hold in that segment. The E6 is Nokia’s foray into the touch screen market, consisting of a touch screen and a full QWERTY Keyboard and has Symbian’s latest operating system codenamed Anna. While a number of phones are being launched keeping in mind ‘Android’, Nokia continues to leave its marks with Symbian.

Nokia deserves full marks on its design and build quality. The E6 looks, sophisticated looks, combination of high quality plastic, stainless steel blends well. The 640 X 480 resolution display at 2.46 inches features a Gorilla glass screen capable of replicating 16 million colors.

The keyboard is similar to the previous models with some slight alterations like larger space bar. The feedback of the keys is good and easily distinguishable. All connectors are concealed behind plastic flaps. There’s an additional light beside USB port for easy identification that phone is connected to PC.

The E6 comes loaded with Symbian Anna, which is an improvement to Nokia’s existing Symbian 3 platform. The first difference is the snappier response and a new set of icons.

The E6 packs in good multimedia features as well. The music player offers a CoverFlow like view for albums. The default video player handles all major video codes like DivX, VC-1 and H.264 except for MOV and FLV. The player easily handles 720p files.

The E6 complies with the current standards and supports 3G in addition to Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-Fi 402.11n. The USB 2.0 port supports USB on-the-go just like the N8.

The camera is of the 8MP.

Battery: The E6 will last for ‘2’ full days under heavy usage. This includes phone calls, music playback, social networking and email app running.

Few Drawbacks:

• No notification light for missed calls, unread messages or if charging through the adapter(even though there’s USB notification led is there)
• No way to control the player without unlocking the device.
• Audio quality through the headset is average and there are no music controls on it.
• Dual LED Flash with the Camera ruins the picture if the object is too close.

Verdict:

For a price of around Rs 17 – 18,000 – Nokia E6 offers a value that is an excellent buy for a trendy touch screen phone. But, they should not have interfered with their Camera. The screen could have been a little larger if the keypad was adjusted properly.

One of the best mobile phones I have used till date, Even though I got this ’2′ years after its launch but am still happy to be using this. Every feature you can think of now was available in Nokia E71 at the time this was launched (2008). Nokia E71 is among the best-equipped Nokia Smartphone to date. Its quick responsive and carries a remarkable feature load for its compact size. Connectivity is at its highest with the Nokia E71 boasting every single connectivity option (Infrared, USB, Wireless LAN, Bluetooth, Modem), which is currently available. Add to the list GPS receiver and the slim metallic design and you’ve got yourself a Smartphone that walks and talks high-end. Using Keyboard and net access on the go is just too easy on this mobile. It allowed me to install applications as per my usage – I have an application which can keep sync with my Gmail account (raise alert on every new mail, compose mail with attachments, configure more than one account); ‘Snaptu’ allows me to use Cricinfo, Facebook, Twitter, Picasa, Flickr, News from a single interface.

Even though it comes with Nokia maps (but I didn’t like that much); So, I installed Google maps and now my Nokia E71 works as Navigator for me anywhere I go.

Its camera (Flash light available) allows me to click and share photo instantly – directly post to web from the interface.

Key features:

• Quad-band GSM support
• 3G with HSDPA 3.6Mbps support
• Landscape 2.36″ 16M color display of QVGA resolution
• Comfortable full QWERTY keypad
• Convenient business-minded shortcut keys
• Symbian 9.2 OS, S60 UI with FP1 (topped with some FP2 goodies)
• 369 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 128 MB of SDRAM
• Wi-Fi
• Built-in GPS receiver, A-GPS
• 3.15 megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash
• 110 MB of internal memory, microSD expansion, ships with a 2GB card
• Slimmest Smartphone to-date, slimmest Wi-Fi and/or GPS handset to-date
• Stainless steel casing
• Standard 2.5mm audio jack
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP support
• microUSB v2.0
• FM radio
• Remote Wipe
• Provider-independent VoIP support
• Infrared port
• Great battery life
• Office document editor
• User-friendly Mode Switch for swapping two homescreen setups
• Rich retail package

Main disadvantages:

• Video recording maxes out at QVGA@15fps
• No dedicated camera key
• Smaller display than its predecessor
• Cheap-looking power key
• No RDS for the FM radio

Even though its sound quality is good but earphone has same old problem. I have never been a fan of Nokia earphones (they just don’t seem to stuck into my ears), always have to keep adjusting also you cannot use them for long duration – not smooth on your ears. For that matter I like the ones with Sony, Motorola even with Samsung.

Technical Specifications

Dimensions

The Google phone has dimensions of 119×59.8×11.5 mm, compared to 115.5×62.1×12.3 for the iPhone

Weight

130 grams to the iPhone’s 135. Memory is 512 Mb internal, up to 32Gb external. iPhone has 16 and 32Gb versions.

Processor

Processor is 1 Gigahertz, faster than the 833Mhz iPhone

Camera

Camera is 5 megapixel. iPhone has 3 megapixel camera

Talk time

Talk time is up to 7 hours on 3G and 10 hours on 2G. For iPhone, it’s 5 hours on 3G and 12 hours on 2G.

Screen Resolution

Screen resolution is 800 x 400 pixels, higher than the iPhone’s400x320 pixels.

Other Features

Nexus has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM radio and active noise cancellation.

Cost & Availability

It costs $529 (Rs24,330), less than the iPhone’s Rs 30,000. The Nexus One is not yet available in India. It is selling in the US, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Before writing this, I must mention that before using this phone I was not very keen on buying Motorola Mobile phones, but this one changed my outlook towards Motorola mobiles. This one is my first Motorola mobile.

If ever I had to recommend anyone a Music Phone this would be right at the top. This is a perfect music phone, especially music lovers would agree at the very first sight of this mobile. I have used various music phones, but each had its drawbacks, but for music I just can’t get away from this one.

If music features are to be considered this would be rated highly on every scale – music quality and sound is excellent both on earphones and on loud speakers. Music organization is good.

Other Features:

• Looks – Stylish, metallic border with rubber type finish at the back.
• The innovative ModeShift technology instantly transforms the keypad on the phone to a robust music player. This feature is excellent
• Bluetooth – management is very good (creates a list of Bluetooth users, if the user is in your list no need to search again), speed is very good
• Screen Size – 2 inch
• Music Player – supported formats (MIDI, MP3, AAC, AAC, Enhanced AAC, WMA, WAV, AMR)
• Video player – is good supports various format videos, but on 2” screen does not look elegant
• Camera – 2MP camera with 8X digital zoom
• Text to Speech Recognition
• Crystal Talk Technology
• Airplane mode for uninterrupted music
• FM Radio with RDS – Channel management is good, you can mute the radio instead of disconnecting,
• Sound Port – universal 3.5mm stereo headset jack
• Memory – Supports up to 8GB microSD card, comes default with 1GB card
• External key – to lock your phone, slider key at the right side
• Browser – is good
• USB – microUSB port, USB 2.0 (data transfer speed is very good)
• Talk Time and Standby – up to 5-6 hours talk time, up to 4-5 days stand by(this can be more)

 Drawbacks:

• Camera quality is not that good and there is no flash (this is one thing which always seems to lag in Motorola mobiles)
• UI interface is a little bit slow, but overall UI is excellent
• Bluetooth initialization time is high, if you need to search new users

 If you are looking for a true music phone go for this one.
I bought this for a price of Rs. 8,800 (December 2008).

I have been using this mobile for the last 2 months, looks of this mobile lead me to buy this mobile. I have faced no issues till date (software or Hardware).

Recommended this mobile to 3 of my friends and all 3 bought this mobile, and happily using without any complaints till date.  

• Sound quality is good especially on the louder range; most attractive feature is its camera resolution, additional feature of panorama with camera, does not have flash.
• Screen size is big(2.2″) compared to other mobiles in this range, 
• Video player is great, supports all movie formats,
• Support for theme creation as per one’s choice and that too in number of ways – themes can also be shared with users.
• Stylish look, with metallic finish on body, but better to buy cover and scratch card the moment you buy this mobile, as any scratch on its body is visible and hampers its good look.
• Battery back up is fine; up to 6-8 hours talk time and can listen music nonstop for 10 hours.
• Radio support is good, additional feature of recording radio is there and believe me, the record quality is fantastic.
• Conversation recording,
• Advanced mobile tracker, expandable memory up to 8 GB, support 4 GB very-very well at good speed.
• Web Browsing support is good, can access youtube also without any additional download.
• Keypad is dust proof, touch keys are there.
• Earplug, data cable and charger jack is single, that’s one of the drawbacks with Samsung mobiles, they should start providing 3.5 mm jack support for earplugs.

 Drawbacks:

• Comes with internal 40MB no extra microSD Card, so need to buy memory card to use all its features. 

All in all for a price of Rs. 6165 this mobile is worth its price. I bought this mobile from PlanetM with a gift DVD.