Compare with Nokia E71
by sb (admin)
(Virginia)
Since both the Samsung R355C and Nokia E71 look (somewhat) similar, it is tempting to compare the two as there’s a jump in cost between the R355C ($139.99 with $30 card and $154.99 with the $45 card) and the E71 ($244.99 with $45 card).
Music Player and Camera
Music Player
Both phones can play MP3 tunes which you store on a microSD card. The Nokia E71 package from Straight Talk includes a 4GB memory which would otherwise cost an extra $20 from Amazon or Walmart etc. Both phones have a 3.5 mm jack so you can use your regular or hi-fi stereo earphones without any adapters.
Camera
The R355C comes with a good 1.3 megapixel camera that’s pretty good for posting on say your Facebook page or a blog. The 3.2 megapixel camera on the E71 appears to promise a lot more but not all that you think. While the pictures have more pixels, the camera sensor is still a cell phone camera sensor and not the kind of quality you could get from say a Canon 3.2 megapixel camera from a couple of years ago. Still, in strong sunlight, you will get more detailed pictures from the E71, and you should be able to make some good small prints from them.
Web Access
The real difference between the Straight Talk Samsung R355C and the Nokia E71 start to be found with their web capabilities.
R355C Web Capabilities
The R355C has pretty good mobile web capability, but it’s a little slow and you can always get to any website if it’s not optimized for mobile phones. For example, I sometimes get an “Insufficient memory for this operation” error when looking at even basic websites. It’s not that big a deal, as you can just press “OK” and the site continues downloading. Inserting a memory card doesn’t solve this problem.
However, if you’re happy with the provided links to the search engines and networking sites, you shouldn’t have any problems. You can check your Facebook status and the photos your friends have uploaded. The Facebook photos are really small though.
E71 Web Capabilities
With the Nokia E71, you get full HTML capability so you can visit any website in addition to the mobile websites offered by Straight Talk. This should make web browsing a lot more enjoyable.
Smart Phone Apps
Since the Nokia E71 is a full-fledged smart phone, you get apps capability. You can download apps from Nokia’s Ovi store including some nice games. For example, the last time I checked, they were advertising things like “Angy Birds” app which happens to be the latest craze.
Plan Options
The Nokia E71 has quite a few advantages, but in order to make full use of them you will need to use a lot of data. For that reason, the E71 is only offered with the Straight Talk Unlimited plan which offers unlimited talk, text, and web for $45 every 30 days.
With the Samsung R355C you can choose to go with either the $30 plan (1000 minutes, 1000 messages, 30 MB data) or the $45 unlimited.
Activation is free with all Straight Talk phones, and both are offered with free shipping when you order online.
