Customer Reviews

Nokia E51 Unlocked Phone with 2 MP Camera, 3G, Wi-Fi, MP3/Video Player, and MicroSD Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty (Silver)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I dón't write product reviews normally, however this phone is so acomplished, so I felt inclined to share my experience for those who are looking for a well balance smartphone with very good size without communications compromises. I have been using this phone since January this year. The best fetures are: Size and weight are just perfect when you are travelling while really working at the same time, it is wifi enabled so you can avoid expensive packed data fees while still check your email on the go at airports and cafes with wifi free spots, if you are in a hurry to check internet data you still can use 3g / 3.5g data connections, it is a blazing fast smartphone with true multitasking, coming from many years using palm os I became acustomed to not have multitasking at all, but let me tell you that symbian is a great mobile OS far better than the venerable palm OS, almost any application you might need is available at affordable prices or even for free, the interface is also very intuitive and very easy to understand. While it is a very good communicator, it is not a phone for all, because its multimedia capabilities are in the medium to low level, the camera is just for occasional pictures that do not require neither a flash nor a good focus and the included speaker is not stereo so you need a good headset with stereo output to listen to your tunes, radio has not RDS, these are the characteristics I like to improve, however probably that requires a larger and heavier body I would not like. If you need to synchronize your mobile with your desktop just named your preferred pim application: Outlook, Lotus Notes, Lotus Organizer all could be set up to be in sync with the E51, you could even sync with your corporate services under Microsoft Internet Server. Also if you like the blackberry the E51 could run the Nokia Blackberry Connect application, even when the Nokia site has not included this model as certified for the application, it could run it without issues. What else you could desire in a phone the same size of a regular not smart one at this price level. Bottom line the slimmest S60 smartphone available with wifi and full gsm and data connections set.

I have owned this phone for about a month now and I am very happy with the phone overall with some minor draw backs. I use this in Manhattan area with AT&T.

Pros:
1. very good reception. Full bar inside some subway stations (including Times Square on the 1,9 line, 2 stories below ground)
2. good battery life. batteries go up to 4 days without charging with ~30 min talk/day +some texting and web browsing.
3. W Lan connection a breeze.
4. works well with ATT internet by media net, relatively fast and reliable connection. (can't comment on 3G, haven't used it)
5. Screen seems scratch resistant. probably has a glass cover. put the phone in my pocket with keys several times. not a scratch so far.

cons:
1. media player less than adequate
2. no asian language support (apparently you have to go to nokia service center to get the hardware flashed in order to add extra language support)
3. SD card gets stuck in the slot frequently, had to remove it using an pocket knife (ouch my new phone). may be an isolated case.

I was looking for a good cell phone, PDA(calendar, notes, voice memo), music player, communication(wi-fi, bluetooth, web, modem, sync), and the priority is in that exact order. For that and this price point, this phone is great, 5-star.

I got this phone in May, and I put in a Sandisk 4Gb microSDHC card that's good for now. I saw report that it'd take a 16Gb if I need that later.

Pros:
-Good size, quality built, very well designed, good battery life.
-Very good phone. Call quality very good with the factory headset. Slightly worse with a Plantronic 815 bluetooth headset (still good).
-Good function in calendar, meeting, reminder, alarm etc. I also recorded hour long voice memo in meeting no problem.
-Music player is good both function and sound. Radio is a bonus plus. On full charge, I played music 10 hours straight with headset. Speaker good for both phone and music (won't compare it to full size boom box).
-Bluetooth, wifi, sync, web all function properly.
-Control keys are very good. A lot of customization can be done. When set up properly, very convient.
-Predictive texting is very good. I don't write full length email with it so it's just right for me. Good for any basic use.
-Lots of additional features are just welcome bonus for me. (camera, video, gps, voice command, games, application download, music ringtone, VOIP etc etc)

Cons:
-Small screen. 2.2 or 2.4 inch and larger letters would be better. (I think the length of it is just right and can be a little bit wider)
-If it comes with the new WH-700 stereo headset instead that'd be cool.
-camera is so so.

This phone is really good for what it is. If I want more texting or web/media viewing comfort, I'd probably go with the nokia E90 or HTC Touch Pro or Advantage x7500. And if I want to really use it as a computer I would consider the Azus Eee ultra portable... as of today that is. With the upcoming models, we'd keep changing the way we use these devices.

Hope it helps. When I research products, I found it very helpful from some of the reviews. This's a great feature on the web and I hope that I'm doing my part contributing to it.

cheers.

By the way, I use t-mobile. And as others reviewed, it looks cool and the operating system is stable and fast.

First of all, Symbian OS is very stable and user friendly. Phone is super fast, and after installing 100s of applications it is still fast. Phone is great for both your business and for your entertainment. Its Exchange email support is great, and you can also use your phone with blackberry servers. Office support, PDF reader, ZIP support, and blue tooth printer support is just what you need for your business. Phone comes with Flash player, RealPlayer and Music player. You can even watch your favorite youtube videos.

This phone doesn't have full keyboard nor GPS receiver. If you need full keyboard you should go with e61, or e62. If you need GPS so desperately then E series is not for you. You should consider buying N series phone. I hate people who rates this phone 1 just because they say phone doesn't have qwerty keyboard. it is in the specs, this phone has no qwerty keyboard nor gps.

This phone is not supported by AT&T. In my case 3G is not working. I know there are some people who can use their e51 with AT&T 3G but it is very spotty and most of the times you only get edge. me on the other hand never seen my phone working with 3G.

The firmware loaded on the phone is buggy and several features, including VOIP and the Download! application, simply fail to work. Nokia has a firmware update application (PC only) on their website, which solves these problems. The list of fixes is extensive, so I wouldn't bother configuring the phone before flashing the phone to the updated firmware. You can back up your settings to a memory card or a PC if you already configured it, then restore the settings after you flash to the new firmware. Otherwise a lovely little phone.

The Nokia E-51 phone is a good business tool for those who need a compact, non-gizmo phone. It makes calls just fine. It has buttons you can map to common uses. It accesses WiFi just fine (but the screen is small, a warning to those of mature eyesight). It goes to Europe just fine, with a second SIM and contract (avoid Virgin; Orange is better in the UK). There are plenty of applications, free or cheap, that use S60 platform. The battery life is neither better nor worse than other phones I've had.

The E-51 does not play games or take high-resolution pictures, but if you need to photograph something urgently (such as a car accident), it can. And then it'll download the pics to your laptop without paying again for phone data transmission. It may well play music, but I've never tried. Nor does the E-51 have a QWERTY keyboard, but you should have figured that out from the specs, right?

It's sleek and compact. I use T-Mobile for a cheap plan and have no problems in Chicago and the East Coast. All in all, a good phone for practical uses.

Pros: easy to use, good call quality (T-Mobile), great applications like Fring to allow the phone to use Skype over the WLAN.


Cons: the power button is really annoying, it is difficult to turn the phone on and off.

I had been eyeing this phone since last fall, but kept looking for something better and newer. I didn't find it. Finally, as my old Nokia 6682 was falling apart, I decided I'd better get this. I have had the E51 for 3 weeks now and I am kicking myself for not having bought it sooner! I was primarily waffling between this and the E71, but I prefer the numerical keypad and the sleeker design. I am not sorry I chose the E51. It can do just about everything the E71 can, and it is a really good looking phone too.

SETTING UP
Copying all of the information from my old Nokia to the E51 was a snap -- when I first turned on the new phone, it asked if I wanted to copy info from another phone. I just activated bluetooth, told it what I wanted to copy (I chose only contacts and messages) and it did, except that it has dedicated buttons for contacts, email, and calendar. Since I am not setting up a mailbox, I changed the dedicated mail key to open up a text message (short press) or take me to the messaging home screen (long press). Each button is customizable (tools > settings > general > personalization > one touch keys). All of the buttons are a little firmer than on previous Nokia models that I have had, so I have to remember to push them a little harder when typing text messages. But the plus side is that buttons are far less likely to get pressed when it is in my purse or pocket. (I don't always remember to lock the keys.)

3G WORKS IN NYC
With all of the trouble I have been hearing about 3G and dropped calls, I purposely chose this phone to avoid 3G. It works like a charm and I have great signal strength. While the specs say that the 3G will only work in Europe, the phone showed that it was operating on the 3G network during a recent trip to NY. When I left NY, it went back to not being on 3G.

WI-FI - FAST!
I don't use an AT&T data plan, and the availability of wi-fi was a key reason why I got this phone. The wi-fi is blazing fast. It's so amazing, I can barely believe it. The screen is small, however, so if you have trouble with fine print even with reading glasses, it might not be ideal for you. The images are sharp, the screen quality is excellent, and I have no trouble with the sound. (When using the built-in speakerphone, the speaker is on the back of the phone, so just turn it around to hear better.)

CAMERA, SO-SO
The camera isn't that great and has no flash, and probably not as good as the one on the Nokia 6682. But isn't that terrible for a quick snap of something you need to remember. (If I'm going to an important event and want high quality photos, I carry a camera.)

MUSIC & FILE TRANSFERS ON A MAC
While I bought this phone primarily for its business functions, I decided to put some music on it. It was easy transferring files from my Macbook to the phone, and unlike the old Nokia models, the Macbook can browse and copy files to and from the E51 via bluetooth. I copied about 10 songs and made a custom playlist on the E51. The phone comes with a stereo wired headset if you want to use it to listen to music.

USING MICRO SD CARDS
Another note, I had difficulty getting memory cards to register but one intelligent phone guy at BestBuy figured out what I was doing wrong -- when inserting the memory card, slowly keep pushing it all the way to the left until you almost can't see it anymore. It will click again and the phone will make a beep. It's deceiving because you get a premature click when the card is inserted even though it's not all the way in. I've read that a lot of people were having a problem getting memory cards to register, and my guess is that they are not in all the way. (I bought the Kingston 4GB class4 card from Amazon and it works fine.)

Good luck in your phone choice. I really adore my E51. It's sleek, slim, looks beautiful in silver. I've gotten a lot of compliments on it already, and it does everything I need it to do.

I'm been using this phone for like 6 month and I'm satisfied with the purchase. The call quality is good (and it comes with headset). S60 is easy to use. You can view PDF, word, ppt... but the quality is not that good. You can also synchronize your calendar/contacts/.. from outlook through the PC Suite software (download the latest version from their website, the one in the box is old) with bluetooth. If you use wifi then there's a lot of applications available: Gmail, Google Maps, IM... I dont really use it to surf web cuz the screen is too small and it isn't easy to use a keyborad to navigate, but the browser does display real html pages as you see on your PC.

Cons:
1. Screen not big enough
2. When I received the phone I found there's slim gap around the thing that covers the camera len. After a while my len is covered with dust and there's no way to clean it. I don't use the camera anyway. But I think Nokia should pay more attention to details like this.

Exellent phone. Light, funcitonal, fast, great design...one MAJOR flaw. You cannot advertise your device in America as a 3g phone if it does not support American 3g spectrum. This is NOT a 3g device if you want to use it in the states!!