Nokia E61: Good buy unlocked?

[Mammoth]

I'm lightly considering buying a Nokia E61 unlocked to use on Rogers Pay as You Go or something along the lines of prepaid. Does the E61 have a good reputation? And because it's unlocked, I am assuming I can just register the phone with a carrier as if I had bought it from them. Am I right?

 

[mwidjaya]

Unlocked means you can use it on any network/carrier.

Do consider what you are using the E61 for. If you are primarily looking at email then I suggest you go towards blackberry. Otherwise you get a big form factor that doesn't handle email as well as it should.

I find Blackberry Connect a poor substitute for the real thing.

 

[Mammoth]

I'm not sure if Blackberries can run 3rd party apps as I've never looked into that. Can anyone enlighten me on that?

Either way, the E61 is more appealing to me because of one feature: WiFi.

 

[mfacey]

I've had my Nokia E61 for about 2 months now. There's a number of reasons I chose it over a Blackberry. First of all, it has better functionality than blackberries. I get Wifi, Bluetooth, 3G, infra-red and usb connectivity out of the box. The expansion possibilities are endless. You can even get things like GPS on for it. It's all supported out of the box.

Besides these things the screen is much better quality than you get on a Blackberry. Its high-res with 16 million colors. Looks great. The browser on the Nokia is also better than the one on the Blackberry.

If you are considering this Nokia E61, I HIGHLY recommend an unlimited internet access plan of some sort to allow you to check your email and browse the net on the go. If you're anything like me you're going to get addicted and'll end up with very high bills if you use pay as you go.

I recommend checking for some reviews of the E61 before you buy.

 

[Mammoth]

If you are considering this Nokia E61, I HIGHLY recommend an unlimited internet access plan of some sort to allow you to check your email and browse the net on the go. If you're anything like me you're going to get addicted and'll end up with very high bills if you use pay as you go.

Hence why I use the WiFi function to access my router and go mad.

 

[mfacey]

Hence why I use the WiFi function to access my router and go mad.

Seems kind of like a waste of time/money. If you're at home just use your mac. There's really no substitute for using a real computer for everything, but the E61 is great if you want to do some work on the road and you don't have your powerbook/macbook in the neighbourhood.

Up to you though

 

[Dubba]

I agree with mfacey - the e61 is an EXCELLENT phone.

I did A LOT of research and have now owned this phone since mid-June and absolutely love it. In addition to the points that were already made comparing it to the Blackberry, it is also visually much more appealing, thinner, and lighter. I have a few links to reviews that I am looking for and will post them here as soon as I dig them out.

But you won't be dissapointed - I have bought one for my father-in-law, and he loves it as well.

EDIT: Here are links to a few reviews:

http://clieuk.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=6456
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=148410
http://the.taoofmac.com/space/Nokia/E61
http://www.mobileburn.com/gallery.jsp?Id=1721&source=SIDEBAR

 

[Vazkor]

Imho E61 it's a useless mobile ... it's a business oriented device yet it lacks a touchscreen input. Go for a SE M600i instead, a lot better.

 

[mfacey]

Imho E61 it's a useless mobile ... it's a business oriented device yet it lacks a touchscreen input. Go for a SE M600i instead, a lot better.

I beg to differ. A touch screen only adds to the complexity of the phone. I can use my E61 with one hand. I'd like to see you do that with a stylus based phone. Besides that, the SE M600i isn't compatible with iSync as far as I know.

 

[Dubba]

Imho E61 it's a useless mobile ... it's a business oriented device yet it lacks a touchscreen input. Go for a SE M600i instead, a lot better.

What??? Have you seen the depth and weight of the 600i? And a stylus? Ugh... I have had EVERY version of the Treos and one SE - and they all suck. Oh, and we haven't even talked about user interface that is fidgety at best.

I appreciate that everyone has their own preferences when it comes to mobile user interfaces, but there is a reason that Nokia is the world's leading phone manufacturer.

 

[Lincoln]

I beg to differ. A touch screen only adds to the complexity of the phone. I can use my E61 with one hand. I'd like to see you do that with a stylus based phone. Besides that, the SE M600i isn't compatible with iSync as far as I know.

I take it that it does support isync - it isn't on the apple page of supported devices. Or do you use some third party software to acheive this?

Also, can you read .mac email on the device?

My contract will be up soon and t-mobile (UK) have some excellent (almost) unlimited data plans and a good deal on the phone too.

TIA

 

[Mammoth]

Seems kind of like a waste of time/money. If you're at home just use your mac.

Well I'd love to do that, but for reasons I care not to explain, I can't always be on my Mac. And I can't take my iMac to bed either.

 

[Mammoth]

Okay, right now I'm just trying to look for a website that will legitimately sell me one for less than $400, and it's becoming a real chore. Any help?

 

[mfacey]

I take it that it does support isync - it isn't on the apple page of supported devices. Or do you use some third party software to acheive this?

Also, can you read .mac email on the device?

My contract will be up soon and t-mobile (UK) have some excellent (almost) unlimited data plans and a good deal on the phone too.

TIA

So far to use the E61 with your mac you've had to use one of the various available 3rd party plugins that are available. I was hoping for native support when 10.4.8 came out, but it looks like I'm going to have to wait a little longer.