Nokia E71 + iPod Touch = Productive n Fun Experience

Nokia E71 + iPod Touch

So one weekend, a friend of friend was visiting US and in need of iPhone. There I offered him to buy my phone at very reasonable price and give him all the instruction he needed to unlock the phone. That was my last day with my iPhone 3G.

I have used iPhone since generation one (if you follow my blog) and then I were able to sell it high on eBay and upgrade myself to 3G. It has been a great experience using iPhone (despite of all the shortcomings). I manage to get my life around all the wonderful iPhone apps that I become relying myself to. From the day-to-day apps such as Facebook, Pandora, Imeem, Tweetie, WordPress, Amazon Kindle Google Maps, and WordPress to all the fun games such as Crash Bandicoot and Monopoly, it is almost difficult to transition to other phone.

My wife persuaded me to go with Blackberry Bold. So I tried to register one of the BB that she had bought from eBay. Unfortunately, I experienced the worst nightmare that a Blackberry owner could have, the BB PIN was suspended on that phone. Tried to resolve it with both AT&T and Blackberry but at the end they just wouldn’t reactivate the PIN even I have offered them all the proof of purchase and payment! There I ranted over this subject on my tweet for several days. I think it is so ridiculous that the system that was created to protect their customers, they end up use it to please their contract with carrier and punish the customers who bought their phones not from their authorized carrier.

So BB was off the table, I decided to give my little Nokia E71 a try. I’ve always been a fan of Symbian OS since day one. I used Symbian when there are still the OS for Psion handheld. Then there SonyEricsson P800, the first touch screen phone (before anything else) that everyone has forgotten by this time. Symbian has been a very stable and great OS for phone. I love the communicator series from Nokia, and if only the E90 communicator supports US 3G network, I would have been bought it in the heart beat. Therefore, moving to E71 is an easy decision for me, especially when I only have to pay $10 per month for unlimited data. This should give me good alternative phone until the new iPhone is out.

Nokia E71 is definitely nice in terrm of form factor. Much slimmer than BB, the keyboard is solid and easy to use. Now my challenge is how I can transpose all things that I am accustomed with on my iPhone to this little guy? Luckily, there are many user forums out there sharing all their experiences with E71 applications and soon enough I am able to successfully run all the tasks that I usually do (emails and calendar sync with corporate exchange server, tweeting, word press blogging, browse the net, chat) with my E71.

They even have more apps that I didn’t have with my iPhone. There is Nimbuzz allows you to VOIP over SkypeOut account that works seemlessly with the 3G network of the phone (not like the Skype app that is in iPhone which required WIFI). There is Gravity that allows you tweet easily on multiple account. However, the experience is still different. I miss my native Facebook apps on iPhone. I can’t read my Kindle books anymore (and I don’t feel spending $350 buying the Kindle reader either). I miss my Evernote, Remember the Milk apps and much more

Last week Apple announced the highly anticipated new iPhone 3GS. I was bumped to learn that I will not qualify for the $199 upgrade price. Instead, they will charge me for $399 for the upgrade. That was just terrible.

This is what I finally decide. With the Nokia E71, there is a way to let the phone becomes a WIFI router and share the 3G connection (just like the jailbroken iPhone). I tested with my laptops and that solution is working great. Instead of getting the new iPhone, I decide to get myself an iPod touch instead and I access my Nokia E71 3G connection via WIFI.

It is perfect!! It works so great that now I have the best of both world. I have all the wonderfull apps and keyboard experience with my E71 and at the same time, I get back the access to all my favorite iPhone apps! On the top of that, I don’t have to extend my AT&T contract and keep my unlimited data plan at $10! The only draw back is you have to carry two devices and that is not a problem to me since I usually carry a UMPC with me anyway and with this combination, I don’t need to anymore. The apps on from the AppStore work great with the iPod touch that I don’t need a computer most of the time (great browser, great document viewer, great email viewing).

So here is my new magic formula: Nokia E71 + iPod Touch = Productive and Fun mobile experience!