Nokia E71 vs. Blackberry Curve 8900
Nazia's white Nokia E71 next to my shiny new Blackberry Curve 8900. View large
The E71 is called Tululu and the BB Curve is called Halle, being a hot black berry ;-)
Why's the BlackBerry 8900 Curve Hot?
If your gadget lust has got you going after the BlackBerry Curve 8900 and you're looking for reasons to shell out the extra money over the considerably cheaper Nokia E71 or the slightly less cheap Nokia E75, here's what that extra money will get you:
1. Keypad The best tactile QWERTY keypad among the three and probably the best in the market. Check out these blog posts totalling ~1500 words and counting, that I could type without hurting my fingers while taking a rather bumpy cab ride in twilight. Among the Nokias, I rate the E71 keypad higher than that of E75 because the former has contoured keys with good tactile feedback while the latter has flat, spongy keys. When you're thumbing through a long mail, you'd soon realise that a wider keypad is more of a nuisance since you can't reach the middle columns easily unless you have large hands. Still, the last word on the matter would come from you. Do try the keypads out yourself because you know best what works for you in this regard.
2. Trackball To quote one of my friends comparing the iPhone to a BlackBerry, it's too much of a hassle moving your fingers all over the screen to get something done. The revolutionary (he's fond of hyperboles, yeah) thing that BlackBerry has done is to converge all of that onto one single point -- the trackball. I won't comment on whether the trackball has what it takes to convert all the iPhone freaks, but it does add a dimension to the way you use the phone, over the Nokia E71 and E75.
3. Interface Though the BlackBerry interface has a bit of an identity crisis in that some of it is as slick as in the most stylish smart-phones while under the hood you still have the BlackBerry staple long menus, it's still way ahead of the crummy Nokia interfaces. It would take me a lot of time to write about each of the things I like with the Blackberry interface (and if you're reading this months after it was written, you might find a blog post at the link up there) but in terms of the interface, BlackBerry is miles and miles ahead of the Nokias. A bit of advice: take some time to learn the shortcuts available. Given that the BlackBerry is likely to stay with you for long, it would be a worthwhile investment of your time.
4. Camera The camera on the BlackBerry Curve 8900 has exceeded my expectations. It has shortcomings in that it's slow and it's hard to tinker with its (rather limited) settings but I usually run it in full auto (except deciding on whether or not to turn on flash) and the results from the camera are quite good. They do seem to be better than that of E71 (whose screen, BTW, has a nasty blue colour cast). See un-edited photos I've taken with BlackBerry Curve 8900.
5. Music Player One of the most surprising and unexpected things about the BlackBerry Curve 8900 for me has been the music player. Adding tracks to the player is as simple as uploading files to the music folder in the SD card and the media player automatically organises the files by album, artist and genre. That's something many other media players do, but the interface looks so slick, it blows you away. You can also create automatic playlists by selecting tracks based on combinations or genre, album or artist, without having to manually select tracks.
6. Size and Weight The BlackBerry Curve 8900 is lighter than Nokia E71, which in turn is lighter than the E75. It is also shorter than the E71, which is as tall as the E75. The BlackBerry turns out to be the widest of the three, though. All in all, I find it very convenient to carry in my pocket -- more so than the E71, though less so than the E75.
Why would you still want to buy the E71/E75?
1. Maps (Update: Though BlackBerry Maps continue to be unavailable in India, Nokia has freed up its maps since this review was written. The new Nokia maps are not as fast anymore so a big chunk of favour now goes to Google Maps and BlackBerry) This has to be the biggest reason to go for the Nokia E71/E75, at least in India. BlackBerry Maps aren't available in India so the only option is to use the free Google Maps application. Google Maps, though, is slower to update position and requires downloading map images all the time. Nokia maps are pre-loaded on the phone. Besides, Google maps are less accurate/correct than Nokia maps, at least for Bangalore. One caveat though, Nokia maps require payment beyond the first 3 months of usage. Once that expires, you could either pay up or go to the free Google Maps application, thereby levelling the field.
2. Email out-of-the-box This is a bummer. Nokia email works out-of-the-box with standard POP/IMAP accounts and has additional support for GMail whereas the BlackBerry requires activation of something called "BlackBerry Services" before you can add email accounts. At least with my Airtel connection, this wasn't enabled by default. There is a GMail app available for BlackBerry that handles multiple accounts and new mail notification but it doesn't use any of the BlackBerry emaily goodness.
3. Speaker The E71 has a better sounding loudspeaker than the BlackBerry Curve 8900 because the latter's battery cover rattles!
Nokia E71 vs. Blackberry Curve 8900
Nazia's white Nokia E71 next to my shiny new Blackberry Curve 8900. View large
The E71 is called Tululu and the BB Curve is called Halle, being a hot black berry ;-)
Why's the BlackBerry 8900 Curve Hot?
If your gadget lust has got you going after the BlackBerry Curve 8900 and you're looking for reasons to shell out the extra money over the considerably cheaper Nokia E71 or the slightly less cheap Nokia E75, here's what that extra money will get you:
1. Keypad The best tactile QWERTY keypad among the three and probably the best in the market. Check out these blog posts totalling ~1500 words and counting, that I could type without hurting my fingers while taking a rather bumpy cab ride in twilight. Among the Nokias, I rate the E71 keypad higher than that of E75 because the former has contoured keys with good tactile feedback while the latter has flat, spongy keys. When you're thumbing through a long mail, you'd soon realise that a wider keypad is more of a nuisance since you can't reach the middle columns easily unless you have large hands. Still, the last word on the matter would come from you. Do try the keypads out yourself because you know best what works for you in this regard.
2. Trackball To quote one of my friends comparing the iPhone to a BlackBerry, it's too much of a hassle moving your fingers all over the screen to get something done. The revolutionary (he's fond of hyperboles, yeah) thing that BlackBerry has done is to converge all of that onto one single point -- the trackball. I won't comment on whether the trackball has what it takes to convert all the iPhone freaks, but it does add a dimension to the way you use the phone, over the Nokia E71 and E75.
3. Interface Though the BlackBerry interface has a bit of an identity crisis in that some of it is as slick as in the most stylish smart-phones while under the hood you still have the BlackBerry staple long menus, it's still way ahead of the crummy Nokia interfaces. It would take me a lot of time to write about each of the things I like with the Blackberry interface (and if you're reading this months after it was written, you might find a blog post at the link up there) but in terms of the interface, BlackBerry is miles and miles ahead of the Nokias. A bit of advice: take some time to learn the shortcuts available. Given that the BlackBerry is likely to stay with you for long, it would be a worthwhile investment of your time.
4. Camera The camera on the BlackBerry Curve 8900 has exceeded my expectations. It has shortcomings in that it's slow and it's hard to tinker with its (rather limited) settings but I usually run it in full auto (except deciding on whether or not to turn on flash) and the results from the camera are quite good. They do seem to be better than that of E71 (whose screen, BTW, has a nasty blue colour cast). See un-edited photos I've taken with BlackBerry Curve 8900.
5. Music Player One of the most surprising and unexpected things about the BlackBerry Curve 8900 for me has been the music player. Adding tracks to the player is as simple as uploading files to the music folder in the SD card and the media player automatically organises the files by album, artist and genre. That's something many other media players do, but the interface looks so slick, it blows you away. You can also create automatic playlists by selecting tracks based on combinations or genre, album or artist, without having to manually select tracks.
6. Size and Weight The BlackBerry Curve 8900 is lighter than Nokia E71, which in turn is lighter than the E75. It is also shorter than the E71, which is as tall as the E75. The BlackBerry turns out to be the widest of the three, though. All in all, I find it very convenient to carry in my pocket -- more so than the E71, though less so than the E75.
Why would you still want to buy the E71/E75?
1. Maps (Update: Though BlackBerry Maps continue to be unavailable in India, Nokia has freed up its maps since this review was written. The new Nokia maps are not as fast anymore so a big chunk of favour now goes to Google Maps and BlackBerry) This has to be the biggest reason to go for the Nokia E71/E75, at least in India. BlackBerry Maps aren't available in India so the only option is to use the free Google Maps application. Google Maps, though, is slower to update position and requires downloading map images all the time. Nokia maps are pre-loaded on the phone. Besides, Google maps are less accurate/correct than Nokia maps, at least for Bangalore. One caveat though, Nokia maps require payment beyond the first 3 months of usage. Once that expires, you could either pay up or go to the free Google Maps application, thereby levelling the field.
2. Email out-of-the-box This is a bummer. Nokia email works out-of-the-box with standard POP/IMAP accounts and has additional support for GMail whereas the BlackBerry requires activation of something called "BlackBerry Services" before you can add email accounts. At least with my Airtel connection, this wasn't enabled by default. There is a GMail app available for BlackBerry that handles multiple accounts and new mail notification but it doesn't use any of the BlackBerry emaily goodness.
3. Speaker The E71 has a better sounding loudspeaker than the BlackBerry Curve 8900 because the latter's battery cover rattles!