I got myself a new handset last Monday because I killed my Nokia N73, but to use the word new is a bit misleading in two respects; the handset was released a while ago now, and it’s actually in used condition, but it’s new to me. The handset is a Nokia E61 (not the E61i) and I have to say I love it. I went from a Nokia N73, and although this handset is missing some features from the N73 like any form of a camera and stereo bluetooth (it’s a bit hard adjusting) the features it has which weren’t available on the N73 kind of make up for it. The screen is the same resolution although bigger and in my preferred orientation of landscape. The reason the screen is landscape is obvious when you take a look at the thing, the QWERTY keyboard (the best feature) takes up half of the phones surface.

Other features I like are the more advanced active standby which shows the message inbox (though without plug-ins), 802.11G WiFi and a notification light which actives with a new message (and maybe missed calls) though this is useless to me since mine came with a book style case.

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I’ll bet you’re a bit curious about the circumstances involving the N73. I simply made the poor decision of applying a theme from another model Nokia handset without previewing it first, and installing said theme in the phones memory. If I had installed the theme onto the memory card I could simply pull the card out and the phone would start with the default theme (though every time I removed the memory card the theme would change). This turned the N73 into a useless paperweight that lights up white (useless because it’s not bright enough to be a torch).

Back to the E61, quite possibly the most curious thing about it is it’s capabilities, I typed up the original version of this post (before I added the images because I don’t know how to do it in Opera Mobile) on the E61. It’s also very easy to hack, I’ve got rompatcher installed (allowing unsigned apps to be installed and show hidden menus, among other things), I’ve already got my favorite theme from the N73 (waveform) back and of coarse changed the operator logo to DARKCOLD (but there’s heaps more to do).

In closing I have to point out the best thing of all; how cheap you can get your hands on one. I found mine on eBay for practically nothing ($100 buy it now plus postage) and it came with two memory cards (a tiny 64MB each), charger, original box and the book type case. Not bad at all for something running Symbian operating system. I recommend the E61 if you’re in need of an interem handset, or you could go all out and get the E61i (with a 2.0MP camera on the back) though be prepared for people to call your handset a calculator. Also of interest is the new E71 which is much cooler (with a 3.2MP camera among other features).