As an owner of HTC TyTN II (Windows Mobile 6.1) with one year's heavy use and more recently my first Nokia - the e71, I would offer prospective buyers this feedback:
I was eventually very frustrated with WM6.1 (being initially a Psion-EPOC and then for years Palm OS5 user with 'instant action'). The Windows platform is certainly "rich" in functionality - if you *really* wish to use all the bells and whistles which I, having used PDAs/phones for 15 years, found beyond my demanding professional needs. WM6.1 based PocketPC productivity software such as the very popular Pocket Informant 8 (my preferred Contact manager) offers wonderful features but is needlessly complicated and cross linked to other suites, and importantly is less than intuitive (compared to Nokia). This is not a complaint on PI - their support was great! full marks! - but symptomatic of many other WM6.1 software I use. As a result, the mighty TyTN II is too slow for simple things like quick access to calls, looking up contacts etc. and ultimately, I gave up. The TyTN - despite good memory size - also used to hang up and this despite regular memory management using Memaid, clearing caches etc. I used SpB Shell and related software to get better GUI but still it hung up...Overall, the "stickyness" of this platform caused me to wait for the simplest of functions such as for a contact to be found on my database and for him/her to be dialled out : tedious and impractical in a fast moving media business. Some aspects of being unable to Cut and Paste within WM6.1 applications gave me alittle heartache too. I did not care for WM6.1 onscreen touch-based virtual keyboard dialling software, prone to a few errors...pretty unslick.
WM6.1 did render Internet Explorer/browsing and Windows Media Player/videos in much better performance and true HTML colour content than the Nokia e71 can manage (-Nokia is abit simplistic despite its marketing lines). I reccomend TyTN and WM6.1 here. Wifi connectivity with HTC TyTN II too is lightning-fast compared to slow and difficult to connect aspects of the e71 - very poor (I still can't get my Nokia to browse smoothly with my home wireless Netgear router).
However, Nokia e71 in terms of intuitive handling is streets ahead of my TyTN II. Contact location and dialling (of the same database of 2000+ contacts as on TyTN) is achieved far more smoothly, faster by a long way, and in a more pleasing manner (to handle messaging options etc.) than, sadly, the HTC/WM6.1 combination ever could. Ultimately as a business user, this matters more to me. I do not miss the touch screen of WM6.1 at all. I can work faster with Nokia's Symbian OS drop down menus (+ D pad switch) which are far less intimidating than some reviews I read before purchase. And the form factor (slimness) of the e71 is all the more remarkable compared to the small but decidedly chunky and swivelly HTC. The e71 keyboard - vital for me - is a little more dainty but it is manageable even for big hands (I need to edit docs). I do not miss the admired TyTn II keyboard that much and am not that much slower on the Nokia either. The e71 battery life is also very good, two full days of heavy use+ and faster (2-3 hour) charging than the HTC. Call clarity is better on the e71. I do not use Bluetooth handsfree.
All in all, if you want a mobile with more phone-type use, easy scheduling, faster lookups, adequate but not picture saavy photos, great form factor and battery, good enough keyboard, and intuitive use (I never consulted a manual)... then the e71 is a great phone (remarkably at half the cost!). If you are more into heavy Internet Explorer browsing and want all the richness of HTML-type displays, albeit in tiny form, or want very detailed scheduling options/contact parameters/heavy real GPS options, touchscreen... then maybe WM6.1 plus TyTN II is a way (the hardware I feel is ok, but it is the platform that lets it down). As a result of my experience, I will stay off WM6.1 phones myself for a while until significant "portability" by Microsoft is evidenced. I miss my Palm Treo 650's OS which, though dated, gave instant satisfaction (touchscreen).
Get more detail about Nokia E71 Unlocked Phone with 3.2 MP Camera, 3G, Media Player, GPS, Wi-Fi, and MicroSD Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty (Gray).
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