Here are my views on the E61i. This is a 1000 word review. I thank WOM WORLD for giving me this device for trialing.

I typed this review using the E61i keypad.

Advantages

Excellent Build Quality

Brilliant Screen

Good Audio Quality

Long Battery Life

QWERTY Keypad

Call Quality

Disadvantages

Average Camera

No Screen Cover

Design, Build Quality and Materials Used

The design of the E61i is very unique for a Nokia. Usually I have only seen Blackberry’s with such a form factor. The phone is basically a candybar that has been widened to accommodate the QWERTY keypad and a bigger display. The phone like in most of the E-Series phones has materials like metal, plastic and rubber on it. The battery cover is made of metal and hence it catches fingerprints very easily. Even the top part of the front part of the phone catches fingerprints easily. The phone feels very solid and good in hands. There are no creaks or moving parts. The phone is a bit wide and may feel uncomfortable when people with small hands use it especially while talking. Using two hands, the situation becomes normal. I had no such problems since I have big hands. The metal on the battery cover may also make the device prone to scratches. However in my reviewing period, no scratches came on the battery cover. The device weighs 150g which is quite heavy for a modern mobile. But I feel the heaviness adds to its originality. If a phone is too light, you feel that it is a toy. There is no such feeling when carrying this phone.

Screen

The screen used in the E61i is 2.8” QVGA with a resolution of 320*240 pixels capable of displaying up to 16 million colors. It is placed horizontally and not vertically unlike in most phones. The screen is not protected by a plastic cover like in the N82, E65, and E51 etc. Thus you have to take good care of its screen to avoid scratches and fingerprints. The screen is brilliant in displaying pictures, videos and for surfing the web. The screen has decent legibility under sunlight. Brightness is very good for indoor use. Information etc are displayed in a very clear and crisp way.

Keys

There are many keys on the device. In total there are 56 keys. The QWERTY keypad has a total of 39 keys. There are three keys on the left side of the device. There are no keys on the right side of the device. The keys are made of rubber and have a coating of plastic. The keys feel good to press ad have good feedback. The QWERTY keys are very easy to use. Even people with big hands/ fingers can use it easily. The D-Pad is 5 way and has a chrome outer ring. But there is no backlight for the D-Pad. I think Nokia left this out due to the lack of space.

Messaging

Messaging is made easy due to the presence of the QWERTY keypad. Sending messages takes very less time.

Call Quality

The call quality as in all E-Series phones is brilliant. The earpiece is loud and clear while speaking with no disturbance. The loudspeaker however produces a slight disturbance at max volume. But still the other person can be heard very clearly.

Battery Life

The battery life is excellent due to its battery of 1500mAH capacity (BP-4L). Nokia claims it to have a stand-by time of up to 400hrs and talk-time of up to 9hrs. The battery lasted really long for me. I wish my N95 8GB had such a battery.

Memory and Performance

The built-in memory is 60 MB. This memory can be expanded using a micro-SD of up to 2GB. There is a hot-swap micro-SD card slot. I used a 2GB card and it worked perfectly. It has 64MB of RAM. It is very fast in performing tasks. However while multi-tasking or while running some software/ games that require high memory, the phone becomes slow.

UI

The E61i runs on the S60 3^rd edition. Thus its open to any new feature that may become available by 3^rd party applications.

Camera

The camera on the E61i is 2 megapixels. This is the main addition in the E61i from the E61.It lacks autofocus and flash. It takes pictures of quite good quality during the day. But fails to perform similarly at night and during close-ups. There is no lens cover. But the lens unlike the ones found in N95 8GB, N81 etc does not catch fingerprints easily. The options and camera UI are not as advanced as those found in the Nokia N-Series but it will help you to get the job done quickly. There is no optical zoom but Nokia has provided a digital zoom. The maximum video resolution is 352*288 pixels (CIF) and the videos are recorded at 15 fps in the MPEG-4 format.

Music

The music player on the E61i is very plain and simple. The supported file formats are MP3, AAC, m4a, eAAC+ and WMA. The sound quality is quite good for a business phone in fact the best sound quality from an E-Series phone that I have tried. But there is slight distortion like in the N95 at high volumes. Music through the headset is of above average quality. You might mistakenly cover the speaker at times due to its position.

Connectivity

If you look at the connectivity features of the E61i, you will notice that Nokia has put in every means of connectivity in the book. The features are Wi-Fi, GPRS, EDGE, Wi-Fi, 3G, USB, Bluetooth and Infrared. The internet access is very fast and interesting thanks to the QWERTY keypad. The horizontally placed display also gives you the feeling of browsing on a PC. We can zoom into sites to take a closer view.

Conclusion

The time that I spent with the E61i was really worthy. I never had a Nokia with QWERTY before. I am really impressed by the E61i. I love the build quality, QWERTY keypad, sound quality, battery life etc. Nokia has done a brilliant job.

I nickname the E61i “The Master of Letters”.