Dust under screen of E71?

One of the blog readers asked me about issue with dust under screen cover appearing after some time of using Nokia E71. Fortunately my phone (E71-1, PL) is free of this problem, but indeed you can find in the Internet some posts about it. If you are interested in this problem check Nokia Support Discussions forum. I’m wondering if this, or any other hardware issue, impacts your phone?

Stay informed with WidSets!

If you use Nokia E71, or one of more than 300 other supported phones, you can try to start playing with WidSets. WidSets application allows using small web applications (widgets) which can do almost everything! Do you want to look something up in Wikipedia, take a look at pictures published on Flickr, or stay up to date with your favorite page via RSS? No problem!

Start with registration on www.widsets.com, then create your profile, and collect widgets which are interesting for you. Finish the process with installing the application on your phone and enjoy your customized virtual desktop with widgets. It’s hard to find a web service which would not be available via WidSets. If you can’t find widget offering interesting content, you can create your own apps quickly and easily!

Of course you can access Nokia e71 Blog using WidSets too! All you need to do is add widget available at: http://www.widsets.com/widget/348952076/

[Updated] E71 – E-Series leader not for long? E72 revealed!

Currently Nokia E71 and its slider type sister (E66) are definitely top E-Series phones. Today I read information which could mean that E71 won’t stay a business flagship for long! Unofficial video showing two models: E72 and E75 has been released on the web. Nokia E72 looks very similar to E71 plus is shown in really sexy red. Potential Nokia E75 also presented on the video is more like E51 with side hiding QWERTY keyboard. The same way of hiding QWERTY keyboard is common for some models of HTC or announced lately LG’ Prada II. Unfortunately there are no further specifications or release dates available.

[Update]: Unfortunately a leaked video of E72 and E75 has been removed from the web, but we have a few more details about E71’ successor thanks to the video analysis and checking Nokia servers offering devices profiles. The main hardware change would be a better camera, probably with 5 Mpix matrix, Carl Zeiss lenses and real flash instead of LED. Regarding its name there is a possibility that finally the devices will be named as E63.

Take your music with you.. last.fm on Nokia E71

Last week one of blog readers – Serg dropped me an e-mail with the link to Mobbler – last.fm client working on S60 devices, including my Nokia E71.

I started testing it and I admit that I haven’t used last.fm earlier at all and now I really enjoy the wonder of last.fm! I thought it would be a good idea to describe Mobbler for E71’s users. I have found out that Mobbler is generally well-known for both last.fm’ and S60’ users. Symbian-Guru called it even The 2nd Greatest S60 Application. I agree this is a really cool application as it has almost all last.fm features like: scrobbling, tagging, describing songs as loved or banned.

Anyway, during my search I have also found other client of last.fm for Symbian S60 working on Nokia E71, too. I’m talking about Strands Social Player which also offers scrobbling, or streaming music to your device. It also has its own social networking tools like linking your friends, etc. The application is maybe a bit more complex but IMHO it has a nicer user interface.

Both applications are definitely worth trying, but please keep it mind that music streaming consumes large amount of data. If you are then using EDGE or UMTS (3G), it will definitely have impact on your phone bill, unless you have a flat data rate. Of course, it also supports WLAN so being at home, in the office, or within a range of public hot spots both Mobbler and Strands could be an entertainment for free.

If you are interested only in mobile Internet radio listening, there is one more alternative. Check Nokia’s Internet Radio which allows listening to your favorite radio stations broadcasting online. This application has a nice, smooth GUI and also works using both packet transmission (EDGE or UMTS) and WLAN.

That’s it, now start enjoying the music!

SplashID for E71 available!

Since today one of the most useful applications for mobile devices, SplashID,  is also available for our beloved E71!

Very useful password manager, available for almost all mobile platforms (Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, iPhone, and Symbian), is now supporting E71 and other new S60 devices. SplashID allows you to securely store all your passwords, like PINs, credit card numbers, web logins, etc. Thanks to the desktop version (for PC or Mac) you can manage lists of confidential information even more easily. I have been using this application since I had Palm Tungsten T (long time ago). This was definitely one of the most missing tools for E71.

Previous version was installable on E71, but it was not stable and frequently jumped out of application when user was unlocking his database. Quick test of SplashID on my phone shows no problems so far.

More cheap software for Nokia E71!

This week SymbianGear offers some of the best selling applications for S60, in particular for Nokia E71, for only 2,50 EURO per application! Here is the list and dates of availability of the software for E71 and other S60 devices:

• Aces Texas Holdem® on Tuesday, 16th of September
• SBSH Calendar on Wednesday, 17th of September
• Mobiola Web Camera on Thursday, 18th of September
• MSDict Advanced English Dictionary & Thesaurus on Saturday, 20th of September
• Ball Rush Aqua on Sunday, 21st of September

How to make a screenshot?

In one of comments one of our readers asked me how to make a screenshot on Nokia E71? I thought it would be a good hint for fresh S60 platfrom’ users. If you have E71, or other Symbian-based devices, you can use simple and easy to use freeware tool called.. Screenshot. Find it at Antony Pranata home page. Enjoy! 

E71 & Nokia Sports Tracker? Perfect companions!

I really love Nokia Sports Tracker application and personally this is one the main reasons for me to choose Nokia device and S60 platform. What I have tested in the last few days is impressive battery performance of E71 and GPS tracking.

This week I have tracked two of my bike rides taking 5-6 hours each. At the same time the phone was used for listening FM radio or playing mp3 files. Moreover, in rural area the phone had poor GSM signal strength, which also has impact on energy consumption. Result? Very good! Fully charged device lost only 3 or 4 battery’s indicator bars after such a trial. In comparison to known poor battery performance of devices like N95, or used previously N80 with external LD-4W – no more than 4 hrs this is it! I know that E71 is a rather business oriented product but I’m sure that every Sports Tracker fan will like this pair.

Here you can find one of GPS tracks published on Nokia Sports Tracker page.

P.S. Please remember that current NST’ version encounters problem with freezing on a main screen. Workaround hint was posted in here before.