E61i : QWERTY Enthusiasm

With a total of 52 keys offering various functions,summing up to more than twice the number of those physical keys E61i is the perfect example for a mobile computer(I’m not calling it a Pocket computer,cos the word “Pocket” doesn’t suit it in general with its dimensions,but still I have to admit that you can have a total computing experience with it ).Leaving aside the idea of the BlackBerry or Windows Mobile substitution,this solid device comes with a real bulk of productivity in the means of a handheld.Though this post is dedicated to discuss the nature of E61is QWERTY layout,let me first cover a little bit on the other keys,in fact they too offer a vast range of customization and expandability.

First starting from top right corner the power button offers switching between 6 default profiles,keypad lock and phone lock like every other Nokia smartphone.Then moving to the left side of the phone the there are 3 white plastic(I think the white coloured plastic parts including the rear side bottom part ruins the elegant design).The two top most white buttons are for volume control,but sadly don’t work in the camera or gallery for zoom in/out functions like in other devices and the third one from the top brings the voice recorder into action with a single press and a long press you’ll get voice commands activated.Moving back onto the front side keys the selection keys and call/end call keys work like in other Devices,but there are 3 additional shortcut keys beside the D-pad replacing the usual arrangement of pencil key,multimedia key and the ‘c’ key.You’ll see a predefined shortcut key for contacts,and another shortcut key for your email inbox which will prompt you into the new email message window by a long press.Next to that the own key,a key which is totally customized as you wish,where you an assign a preferred function.

Ahh that’s all about it and now its time move on to QWERTY.In this full keyboard there are 39 keys and among them except 14 all the others are having an additional function which is indicated in blue colour at the top right corner of each key.So you’ll hardly miss your PC or laptop,apart from the relatively small size of the keys.But that too wouldn’t be a big issue and most probably you’ll get use to this,I’m saying so with such a confidence cos I too had some down toward thoughts about the key arrangement,but after using it for the last couple of days,I’m very much satisfied.Its true the keys are crammed but they aren’t jammed,each and every key is separated by a gap and you’ll find it easy to use.

In idle screen only the num-pad,backspace and “p” key are working,very similar to a ordinary T9 kaypad.To see the full key pad in action you gotta try an SMS,email or any other document.Like in a normal keyboard in the bottom most row there are two shift keys and a space bar,also a ctrl key which allows you to perform copy,paste and save operations like on a PC.But there is no delete key and you can use the backspace for deleting.And there are some dedicated keys for special characters,also you can use the chr key for a complete list of other characters.So my impression on this keypad layout is very satisfactory one and I’m telling this by my experience as I’m writing all these posts on this.After playing sometime with this keypad you’ll see that how fast and easy the typing can be.So if you are hardcore texter or a blogger go grab a E61i and give a try for your self.