I totally agree with you. There is a gap below the screen and I, too, noticed light escaping from it with the illuminated screen.
It has only been a few days and I am already bored with my E71's capabilities in comparison with my old E90.
There is one redeeming quality in this E71 for those who do not already have the E90: portability.
Other than that, I believe that the E90 surpasses the E71 in all other regards when it comes to convergence and multimedia capability. I honestly wonder if I am getting bored with the Nokia S60 OS as a whole instead of just the E71 itself, because it appears to remain the same with even the feature packs. I really don't think that there will be any sort of overhaul on the S60 OS until the first touch screen UI device is released, and until then the S60 will continue to be predictable with the exception of new media and office capabilities.
Navigating the menus and trying out different apps was interesting for the first two days, but after a while it seemed to fall into the "E90 wannabe" stage. This would be a welcomed device if I didn't already have my E90 for when I have the need to play with Symbian S60, but to own it would be like buying a high-end VW when you've already got a more capable Audi.
For Nokia fans without an E90, this E71 is a sure step in the right direction for qwerty functionality with a sleek form factor.
While the E71 review trial has been fun, I am surely glad that this is only a review unit that I eventually get to send back overseas.