May 6th, 2009
The AT&T Nokia E71x is actually a great buy at $99.99
I admit that my post yesterday on the AT&T E71x may have sounded a bit harsh, but the overabundance of non-removable trial games and apps on the default menu screen and some other missing functions ticked me off. After calming down a bit (I did pay AT&T $340 for the phone) and diving into the E71x I now have it doing about 90% of what the SIM unlocked E71 NAM can do and it looks like I will be keeping the device. In looking at the available messaging-focused devices at the AT&T store the E71x is one of the best devices available for less than $100 (the refurb BlackJack II and BB Curve are also nice devices) and if you stay tuned to my Nokia Experts site you will find lots of ways to make your E71x even better.
I posted my first E71x tips article earlier today to try to help out new owners of this sleek device. I also made a post clarifying that the Nokia Email client DOES work on the E71x, you just have to follow a certain install method.
Here in the US consumers are used to and expect heavy subsidization of their phones. With this subsidy comes along some baggage and as a person who rarely buys subsidized phones I had to remind myself of this fact. Using some of the tips I posted you can hide much of what AT&T installs on the device to greatly improve your experience with the E71x. There is no doubt that the hardware is fantastic and now that the camera no longer has the purple tint issue it is actually quite usable. There are very few subsidized Nokia S60 smartphones here in the US and I think the E71x can be a great device to raise the awareness of S60 here and have people looking for more eventually.
Matthew Miller is an avid mobile device enthusiast who works during the day as a professional naval architect in Seattle. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 05/06/09
