TechGazing

Posted by Nimish Dubey

Nokia has been advertising its recent enterprise device the Nokia E71 as one that is suitable for both work and play. A jack of all trades of sorts. While there can be no doubting the quality of the device purely in enterprise terms, the claim that it is good for work as well as play really does not wash. The device is magnificent when it comes to handling e-mail, viewing and editing longish documents (I still wish it had a larger screen) and offers decent GPS and a not-too-bad camera (rumours of the purple haze notwithstanding). So when it comes to work, it scores. But play? Ah, that’s another story.

To start off, there are not too many games available for the E71, thanks to its awkward screen size – no other notable phone has a 2.36 inch screen as of now. To make matters worse, Nokia has for reasons best known to itself, has provided no support for its N-Gage platform on the device. In the past, the company could have claimed that this was because the E series was an enterprise series of phones, with entertainment being the forte of the N series and Xpress Music series, but the “work and play” line used for E71 blows a hole in this premise. What’s more, company officials I talked to at a recent press conference insisted that there was no plan to take the N-Gage platform to the E series.

In sum, how does a phone that supports very few games and not even its own manufacturer’s gaming platform be considered fit for “‘play.” Of course, Nokia might define play differently, but we think the company needs to amend its ad campaign for the E71.