With a feature set near identical to the hot-selling N70, Nokia's N71 clamshell brings a smorgasboard of features to the table in a clamshell form factor; Jørgen Sundgots pops the hood and takes a look.
Review summary of the Nokia N71:
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 In addition to Nokia's usual outstanding wireless performance, the slightly rotund N71 clamshell is an all-rounder which fares decently in most respects, be it whilst shooting quality 2 Megapixel stills; playing music - despite its poor out-of-box audio quality; or doing light e-mail and document viewing. Its main allure is the spacious, high-resolution 2.4-inch display which offers the ideal canvas for its browser - but sadly, this isn't fully exploited due to the lack of layout optimization. Still, the N71 offers a sufficiently broad mix of quality features to earn a hearty recommendation. Release: May 2006. Price: $525.
Pros: Spacious, bright and high-resolution display; excellent connectivity; good camera
Cons: Needs to lose a few grams; mediocre out-of-box music playback and browsing capabilities
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Full Nokia N71 Review:
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Slightly more rotund than its popular N70 sibling, Nokia's N71 is - at 99 x 51 x 26 mm and 139 g - still smaller than its closest match for a 3G phone, the Sony Ericsson W900i. The bulk is to an extent explained through its extensive slate of features, which includes a dual display setup; one a decent external affair with a dedicated button for a handy, backlit time and date view, the other a highly impressive and spacious 2.4-inch internal screen with QVGA resolution, an ambient light sensor and user adjustable brightness.
Can you see me now?
Not only equipped with dual screens, the N71 boasts dual cameras as well. A 0.3 Megapixel model sits just above the right corner of the main display for vanity shots and video calls, while an externally-mounted 2 Megapixel variety shoots high-quality stills and records decent video clips. Post-processing and sharing options are extensive, with upload-to-print solutions as well as direct printing through Infrared, Bluetooth or PictBridge. Users can also blog on the go courtesy of Nokia Lifeblog, or share images over plain old MMS.
The N71 also harbours an audio player which supports MP3, AAC and WMA formats in a reasonably good bid to provide audible entertainment. With sub-par out-of-box audio quality and only 128 MB of memory in the shape of a bundled miniSD card, however, the N71 cannot be said to be much of a music phone, particularly considering its limited battery life and near complete lack of dedicated music controls. It does, on the other hand, include USB 2.0 for snappy file transfers and a fully adequate stereo FM radio for when the onboard library of tunes has been depleted.
Let's go surfing
As we've come to expect from Nokia, wireless connectivity in the N71 performs superbly - even though it doesn't contain the maker's most extensive line-up. Tri-band GSM, GPRS, EDGE and 3G take care of the long haul, while Bluetooth brings up the rear for mono headset and laptop connectivity, among other things. The N71 does its best to exploit this setup with the contrast-filled browser, which excels at enabling navigation of full-size web pages through panning and zooming whilst simultaneously failing to provide readable versions of said pages due to its lack of layout optimization.
That's not the only gripe we have with the handset, though. We're slightly concerned about its hinge, which doesn't rank among the most sturdy we've come across. Also, although the numerical keypad is responsive and reasonably large, its muted white backlight is unevenly dispersed, while the navigational pad's cramped quarters call for unnecessary precision when attempting to hit left or right. Rounding up on a high note, we have to mention the inclusion of the excellent QuickOffice suite for light productivity work as well as the precise speaker independent name dialing feature and a battery life which clocks in around 2 days with average use.
Price and availability
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