Camera Phone Reviews

Nokia N71

A pocketable entertainment system, the Nokia N71 keeps people entertained with digital music, videos and stereo FM radio and is the latest member of the Nokia XpressMusic family. The Nokia XpressMusic feature brand makes it easy for people to identify Nokia products that provide a superior mobile music experience. In addition to a 5-band equalizer, the Nokia N71 has a slot for a miniSD card of up to 2 GB, which can store up to 1500 songs. Users can transfer their favorite music from a compatible PC simply by dragging and dropping onto the Nokia N71 using USB 2.0. Furthermore, with support for Visual Radio*, listeners are offered a richly interactive information channel, including the song and artist currently playing.

The Nokia N71 makes keeping on top of busy work and social life easy. Thanks to latest 3G technology, people can enjoy fast connection speeds, ideal for sending emails with attachments, browsing the internet or uploading favorite images to share online with friends. The full range of organizer information, including calendar, notes and to do lists, can also be effortlessly synchronized with compatible PCs via Bluetooth wireless technology, infrared or USB. Additionally, features like email, instant messaging, MMS and SMS enable Nokia N71 users to keep in touch with friends or colleagues. Furthermore, the Nokia N71 includes the Catalogs Client mobile shopping application, enabling users to quickly discover, trial and purchase new applications, services and content from operators or third-party sources.

Incorporating a 2 megapixel camera, Nokia N71 users can capture spontaneous moments or record experiences and, thanks to the Nokia XpressShare solution, quickly and effortlessly with just a few simple clicks share them. With Nokia XpressShare, photos, video and audio can be shared via email, MMS or Bluetooth wireless technology directly after capture or from the device's gallery. Moreover, images can be shared immediately with friends thanks to the large high resolution color display, which also heightens the experience of video communications, including video sharing*, where people can share a live camera view or video clips during a normal voice call.

The Nokia N71 music experience can be further enhanced by the in-box Nokia Audio Adapter, which enables users to listen to the device's digital music player or stereo FM radio through standard stereo headphones. With the separately available Nokia Audio Cable, users can also plug the Nokia N71 into a compatible home stereo system for stereo playback.

The Nokia N71, which is based on S60 3rd Edition and Symbian OS, is planned to be commercially available in the first quarter of 2006 with an estimated, unsubsidized sales price of approximately 400 euros.

Nokia N71 Reviews

Trusted Reviews has a review of the Nokia N71, and writes about the phone's camera: "This is a 3G handset and there is a VGA camera for video calls sitting at the top right of the screen. The front fascia houses the main 2-megapixel camera and fairly healthy flash. ... There is no way to start the camera running with the handset closed. You need to open the flip, go into the main applications menu and choose it from there. Nor can the front screen double as a viewfinder, so you can only shoot images with the flip open, though from there it is easy to switch to the secondary camera above the main screen to take shots of yourself."

MobileBurn has a review of the Nokia N71 and writes about the phone's camera, "The camera on the N71 does not have an auto focus mechanism. The Nokia N71 can capture images at full 2-megapixel resolution (1600x1200), and there are also two lower resolutions available - "Email" (0.5-megapixel, 800x600) and "MMS" (0.3-megapixel, 640x480). The 20x digital zoom made full use of its 2-megapixel sensor - in order to maintain image quality when the digital zoom is in use, the N71 reduces the dimensions of the photos it creates, essentially zooming by way of cropping the larger 2-megapixel photo. ... Overall, the images taken by the N71 were of decent quality, though the lack of an auto focus mechanism really made a negative impact on the image. However, pictures captured still looked decent and would be great for candid shots. If you are lucky, you might just get a decent enough picture for print."

3G reviews the Nokia N71 and writes, " We are quite used to seeing front screens on clamshell phones doubling as viewfinders, so not having that option here makes the N71 feel a bit dated. ... And the camera controls, once you've got the thing running, are very straightforward. You use the softkeys and the navigation key to access the camera settings, and working your way through them is fast and easy. A novelty we really like is the range of options for auto shooting a sequence of images. Shooting a sequence – or 'burst mode' – is not exactly rare on phones, but in this case you can set the time lapse at intervals between 2 frames a second to one frame every 15 minutes. It'll carry on shooting for as long as storage memory holds out."

CNET Asia reviews the Nokia N71 and writes, "Shooting images with the main camera can be frustrating. Without a dedicated shortcut button for the camera, you have to activate it through the main menu. The most obvious consequence of this is that you might miss some candid shots. The camera itself has plenty of settings, which you can mostly access by flicking through a horizontally scrolling menu bar that sits under the viewfinder image on the main screen."