Smartphones: E71, N95 or another I haven't thought of?

Spazatao

Spazatao

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So, the title pretty much says it all. It's time to change the cellphone and I'm going for a smartphone now. Since I'm moving to France in July, this little thing needs to be versatile. Mp3, FM, video capabilities and a decent camera for phone's standarts are the 'fun' bits I need it to have. On the connectivity side, Wifi navigation and support for MSN and Skype solutions are also must have items.

I happen to like Nokia's interface, therefore I went to check their products and liked the N95, which tends a lot more to the entertainment side of things. But I felt it too fragile and big... The E71 on the other side, has a tiny QWERTY keyboard and is more business-oriented and a lot thinner with a better metallic finish. And it also has, with less space and quality (camera) than the N95 , all the entertainment features I want. Both have GPS, which will be good not to get lost in the country of champagne.

I have options from Blackberry too, but they are more expensive and I don't know much about them for comparison, only the plain specs sheet. HTC is another brand people here are buying for this kind of device, but I never heard of them before...

So, can anyone give me a light on this? thanks!
 
N95 8gb.

All problem solved.
 
I am an N95 owner and a fan, although I'd go for the 8gb over the standard if possible (and if it's an option you could go for the N96?).

Couple things - one is that, depending on the network, Skype can be blocked due to custom firmware. You could probably flash the firmware easily enough, mind.

The other is that I've no idea what mobile stuffs you use in Brazil - but make sure your phone would also work over in France (need to be tri-band?).

Finally, where're you headed to in France? :)
 
I have a htc touch pro and it's excellent (ATT fuze)
 
teeb said:
I am an N95 owner and a fan, although I'd go for the 8gb over the standard if possible (and if it's an option you could go for the N96?).

Couple things - one is that, depending on the network, Skype can be blocked due to custom firmware. You could probably flash the firmware easily enough, mind.

The other is that I've no idea what mobile stuffs you use in Brazil - but make sure your phone would also work over in France (need to be tri-band?).

Finally, where're you headed to in France? :)
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Nice to hear about the Skype thing. Will check it out! The N95 will work on France, yes! I've checked and Orange uses the same frequency as we have here.

I'm heading to Lyon! Will study there for 2 years!
 
Also consider the Samsung Omnia. A friend has one and it's fucking GREAT!
 
Spazatao said:
Nice to hear about the Skype thing. Will check it out! The N95 will work on France, yes! I've checked and Orange uses the same frequency as we have here.

I'm heading to Lyon! Will study there for 2 years!
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Skype works great on N95 8Gb.

Obviously you will need to hack the phone, but yeah.... there are countless of programs you can download for S60 Symbian OS.
 
It depends wether you want a QWERTY keyboard or not.

I've had the E61 and the N95 and the lack of keyboard on the N95 made me sell it a few month after getting it.

The standard N95 doesn't seem very solid either, it's all plastic compared to the E71 which is mostly made of metal I believe.


And welcome to France :p
 
My basic issue with the N95 is that the battery life is horrifically bad. I do not use the phone heavily, but configured to check email every 15 minutes, bluetooth and 3g on, if I talk for more than a few minutes, the phone doesn't make it through a 14 hour day without running out of juice.

We have three people that use/have used them in the office, all with similar experiences. Two have gone to the E71 and one to the iPhone. Much better.

I was the one who went to the iPhone, I have he same settings and use pattern as with the N95, only battery life isn't an issue (I can easily get through a day even if I talk on the phone for 60 minutes).

Steve
 
Steve Levin said:
My basic issue with the N95 is that the battery life is horrifically bad. I do not use the phone heavily, but configured to check email every 15 minutes, bluetooth and 3g on, if I talk for more than a few minutes, the phone doesn't make it through a 14 hour day without running out of juice.

We have three people that use/have used them in the office, all with similar experiences. Two have gone to the E71 and one to the iPhone. Much better.

I was the one who went to the iPhone, I have he same settings and use pattern as with the N95, only battery life isn't an issue (I can easily get through a day even if I talk on the phone for 60 minutes).

Steve
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You must be have the gen1 N95 then, cos they fixed the battery issue for the 8gb model.
 
Fuck yeah Touch HD!

htc-touch-hd-orange.jpg
 
MadCow809 said:
You must be have the gen1 N95 then, cos they fixed the battery issue for the 8gb model.
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That is correct. I didn't know they fixed it for the later models. To be honest, I was so disappointed in the battery life of the N95 even when I did all the tricks (turning off 3G, turning off Bluetooth) that I just stopped paying attention. :) I was just about to get an E71 when I decided to get the iPhone instead. But the E71 would be my second pick.

That said, I free admit that I really don't use the iPhone for media; I like it because the screen is great for reading emails (and I read more emails than I write long responses to).

Steve
 
There are lots of much nicer to use smartphones than n95 (pretty much all of them are, I guess). But camera wise, are there any competitors? I don't really follow what's going on on the market, but it seems that all the major ones have shitty cameras.
 
^I'd like to know that too. I've been to the store again and the E71 attracts me more than the N95. 3.2Mp vs 5.0Mp is not going to make me too disappointed. But I do need Skype and Msn on the thing, and Telefonica doesn't offer either...
 
avanti said:
I bought the E71 a few weeks ago and I'm very happy with it. Haven't been able to install skype though, are you guys saying I need to hack it? How do I do that?
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Installing a CAB file on windows mobile is much easier :D
 
avanti said:
I would also like to know how I turn of the shutter sound on the E71 camera!
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you can't for a lot of phones now due to laws in some countries, some people have hacks that let you turn it off either by uploading a silent sound or by custom firmware.
 
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