I just received my e61 a couple of days ago and am pretty well pleased but there's just one little ArrrrrghowthebloodyhellcouldNokiahavebeensoflingin gdumb that I've encountered. It seems that we mere mortals are not allowed to configure the phone's VPN. &&^Tg$#!!! You have to have a "VPN-policy server" to set this up for you. All I want to do is VPN back to my Windows XP PC. I'm not running a corporate network here! Arrrrg!!

Otherwise, pretty happy. Have downloaded and installed Truphone, Boingo, Metro, UTM data, smsbug, Google Maps, Gmail, Opera & fring. I have some other's I'm downloading but have not yet installed: ActiveFile, HandiWi & putty. I'm not exactly sure which of those I'll really be using but it's interesting to see that there's so much available.

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No doubt Nokia E61 is good phone but personally I prefer Nokia N series especially Nokia N95 which is much better because it has everything such as a good camera, music player, video player, phone, messaging, video calling, and a lot more. You can check out experienced person’s opinions. http://www.swotti.com/mobilephones/

Well, N series doesn't have the Voice support for reading sms, etc. etc. ... I appreciate it expecially when I'm driving, can't live without a E series :D

For me, one of the selling points of the e61 (not e61i) was that it did not have a camera. (One of the few 3G phones without one.) However, if I use a Mini SD card in my camera I can move pictures onto the e61 and do whatever I like with them.

VPNs are definitely a week point on this phone. I use a commercial VPN service from Birdstep, but apparently they don't sell this to the public anymore. My account is still good, but no new customers.

All I really want is a VPN policy file for the default Windows XP Pro VPN setup. You wouldn't think it would be so difficult.

Google on Nokia, VPN, Linux. There are a ton of articles on how to build a client back to a Linux server. It sounds mildly painful, but possible.

I've been reading a bit on how to build the VPN policy files. It seems a bit more than mildly painful. Something I'll have to look at when I have more time.

I'm posting on an old post here, but I really like my E61i. I've used it in China, Pakistan, UAE, Poland, UK, Mexico, and US, using my AT&T SIM in US and either Celtrek's SIM elsewhere they offer reduced roaming and when the best deal locally, i.e., Du in UAE and Zong in Pakistan. The apps that E61i can leverage are excellent. Check out qik.com, eqo, nimbuzz and shozu for a couple.

I'm sitting in an hotel lounge in Singapore waiting for a flight to Doha. I have an E71 here and love it. I agree that I wish there was an easy way to build a VPN policy for it, but its VOIP is great. In addition to its regular VOIP, Fring makes connections on many systems with worse bandwith and taps the same VOIP account.

Fring works on Du in the UAE, but not Etisilat. Another application that I love on it is Swyx which allows you to make calling card calls as if they were direct dial.