When the Nokia E71 Smartphone came out, I had to have it. I’ve been a fan of the E-Series and the Nokia S60 devices since I got my hands on an E61, courtesy Papa Guj from a2zwireless.com. The phones are an absolute dream to use and allow me to run my business remote. At the time of release, only the E71-1 or the Asian/European version of the E71 existed, so I purchased it, making due with lower speed but tolerable EDGE Internet access.

Recently, I decided to bite the bullet and purchase the North American E71-2 which can take advantage of high-speed 3G internet here in Canada. I was impressed but I also noticed some interesting differences between the first phone I got and the second one. Apparently, the E71-2 I received has an additional feature – quickdial. On the standby screen, you can start typing your intended victim’s name and voila – the E71-2 will try to discern who you’re trying to reach and wil pop up a list of potential callees. No such luck with the E71-1. This, of course, is pre-firmware upgrade. I’ll report once I actually get to that.

For reference, my E71-1 bears a product ID of RM-346. The E71-2 bears a product ID of RM-357. Other than that, they’re both firmware 100.07.76 dated 08-06-2008.

BTW – I also discovered a new shortcut for the phone. If you want to toggle between predictive text and standard entry, hit ALT then press CTRL then hit SPACE. If you’re looking for other shortcuts, check out the E71fanatics page on the topic, HERE.