Field Commander Wieers
wounded in the line of duty
My rationale for the Nokia E71
Last week I bought a Nokia E71, a few days before the iPhone 3G was available in stores. You may think I must be crazy for not giving into Apple, but I have my reasons.
I had the following list of requirements:
- Full keyboard (and not an on-screen keyboard)
- OS that I could develop for (Symbian ?)
- Not based on Windows
- Needed Wifi, GPRS, UMTS
- Wanted an SSH client (preferably putty)
- USB connection and bluetooth
- Small enough to fit well in my pocket
Looking at the Nokia E61i and E90, the E61i was lacking some features and the E90 is simply too big. The Nokia E71 actually combines a lot of both phones and is smaller, thinner and lighter. So when I read about the E71, I was sold.
The fact that Nokia is Open Sourcing Symbian is a welcome surprise as well, even when currently I am a bit disappointed about the availability of Symbian Open Source software. I hope a surge of Symbian developers can address that a bit, although I am happy with the Symbian putty, OGG player and Google apps.
I am still looking or hoping for:
- OGG support included in Symbian
- iCal integration in Symbian calendar
-
Task manager for Symbian(Keep Home key pressed) - Good alarm clock application that can fade in and play OGG files (oggplay not sufficient)
- Open Source VOIP application or Skype for Symbian
- Pidgin for symbian
- Open Office document support
I was also pleasantly surprised about how well the Nokia E71 keyboard worked. The raised keys on the keyboard makes it very reliable for keyboard input even on this small format. That was one of the more important reasons for not going for an on-screen keyboard and ignoring the iPhone.
The Nokia E71 is also 100 Euro less expensive than the iPhone, but at these prices I bet that does not make the difference.
I have bluetooth working with CentOS to access the micro-SDHC card or use it to have Internet access over UMTS from my laptop. A future blog article will detail how to do this.
making symbian work with linux
http://ugov.be/wiki/index.php?title=Ubuntu_with_Nokia_E65
maybe this could be of any help (Ok some stuff is ubuntu specific and it was written with the E65 as primary target but I think the E71 is not that different)
Rationale for choosing the Nokia instead of Openmoko?
If you ever get over the fear of a touchscreen keyboard I guess the Openmoko will be your next phone? I handled a development kit version a couple of times and it looked really cool. Not as polished as an iPhone or a Nokia, but the concept of a fully open and modern touch-phone is rather cool. The development kit wasn't bad either.
But I understand why you prefer the good old full keyboard, for example: I can't even type an SMS message while walking with my iPhone in hand I comfort myself I'm much more safe standing still and looking down ;-)
And you're right: with all the hubbub on Belgian (i)Phone prices, any smartphone with all the features you listed is gonna cost you more than 350 Euro's if its unlockable. I remember I paid 400 Euro a while back for one of the first phones that had that crazy technology called 'Bluetooth'.
Developing on the iPhone is quite fun too, although I'm pretty sure you would not enjoy the vendor lock-in (need a Mac) and developer tax (99$) that comes with it. It's fun having a home-made app running on your phone though!
Are you planning to do some developing on Symbian in the near future?
Future Symbian development
If time permits :-)
The python development environment is already installed and the examples seem straightforward. I am mostly interested in having a Revelation viewer on my phone as well as a decent alarm clock that can play OGG and fade in.
In the meantime I discovered that there is a built-in task switcher if you keep the Home key pressed. So one less item on my list ;-)
software
Welcome to the club. Here are some sites to check :
- software
- themes
- Tweakers gathering
re: My rationale for the Nokia E71
Clearly a very discerning mobile user we've got here... Welcome to the club :-)
VoIP client
I too am looking at this phone in lieu of an iPhone and as I understand it the E71 has a SIP client built in does it not? Perhaps not open source though.
The big deal for me and the main reason why the iPhone is not cutting it at the moment is the ability to use the device as a modem. SSH on either platform might be ok for tapping out a quick command or two, but if I am on the road and need to do some more in depth diagnosis I need the laptop.
Yes, it has a SIP client as
Yes, it has a SIP client as well as the Gizmo VOIP client. Sadly for calling for free you require people to have Gizmo VOIP as well and I don't know anyone who does. Gizmo also allows you to dial out to normal phones if you subscribe with them, not sure whether I really want to do that.
I wish for a Skype version for Symbian. I haven't really looked at SIP myself. I am mostly clueless as to what it can do for me and ho much time I have to spend it make it working.
You are right about using it as a modem. I am using it via bluetooth and UMTS to have a working Internet connection everywhere. My old phone's GPRS just didn't do it :-/ Today I went to work by train and it was a joy to have an Internet connection the whole ride...
kewl! i have the same reason,
kewl! i have the same reason, connectivity and practical usefulness, that's why no iPhone for me. too flashy if i might say so myself.
well done *commander* wieers. i hope lord vader will get us a symbian putty client too.
thanks dag! this post was the
thanks dag! this post was the reason why i bought a second hand e61i (my budget didn't fit the e71). the fact that symbian is an open platform (developer-wise) and is becoming more open is one of the most important reasons for me to choose the nokia.
free on my $49 plan
I just upgraded to this sight unseen. I was planning on getting the Nokia 6220, but the salesperson advised me I could get the Nokia E71 for free on my new plan, so I ordered one.
Everything I've read so far about it has been positive, except for its camera being worse than the 6220 and it only supporting slow USB.
Skype on the Nokie E71
I bought a Nokia E71 three days ago.
So far I'm quite pleased with it.
However, I would like to install and run Skype just like it runs on my PC.
I bought "IM+ for Skype" from a German company (SHAPE Services GmbH) based in Stuttgart, however this version does not allow me to mantain Skype-to-Skpye voice chat, only text chat.
Can anybody suggest a better option?
Thanks
Andres
How about fring? I've been
How about fring? I've been using it for Skype for
a short while, and so far it works ok.
Not great, but ok.
SIP Client
I'm still using a the predessor of the E71 (a 2 year old E61). I got the phone with the soul purpose to use it with a SIP capable PBX (asterisk)
Using the SIP client in the phone allows me free communication to my home office, my own conference bridge, my own voice mail, my own unified communication and I can use any free minutes or promotions that I have on a fixed PSTN line at my home office.
The phone is defined as an extension in my home/office setup and I can pick up the phone when somebody rings the office from around the world, as long as I have wifi.
This setup works perfectly in a certain French banking/insurance company you know well.
If you want to use the SIP client in the E71 without to much setup I can give you 2 test accounts accounts to play with.
I wish for a Nokia Suite for Linux version however.
SIP client accounts
im interested in the test accounts u have.
Skype compatible plugin for the Symbian platform
Hey Dag ..
While Skype doesn't seem interested in releasing a skype client for Symbian, i found Fring that works perfectly on my Nokia e51 .. and Fring acts as a gateway for your Skype accounts (and others)
http://www.fring.com/ hope that you'll find this (and others reading your blog) interesting ;-)
alarm function
I also wondered where the programmable alarm was.
Struck me that one can put in a calender event, repeated daily or weekly, and set it to use chosen alarm tone (it'll play any mp3, aac file)
Different alarm tones for every day of the week, different times - what more could one want?
E71 Reading PDFs
Do you have a solution of the problem of reading lines of text in E71 that has line breaks beyond the screen.
It is becoming too difficult for me to read because of needing to scroll left/right for EVERY sentence.
Thanks.
skype
frings is pretty good , but there is no possibility to add new skype contact , can't change skype status...
Probably frings and skype beta {only chat} is a current choice .
thinking about getting one
So how do you like your E71 after three months? I am thinking about getting one. Seems like a perfect solution for SSH on the go.
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