Nokia E61 - "Nokiaberry"
Available
now 12th October 2005 Discuss this
handset in our forum
The Nokia E61 is just crying out to
be called the "Nokiaberry" - and the reasons
for that are obvious. The large screen with the QWERTY
keyboard arranged underneath bears a striking resemblance
to the classic Blackberry format, but unlike Motorola's
Moto
Q device, Nokia have styled the E61 so that
you can instantly tell that it's really a Nokia (OK,
perhaps it reminds us of a Stretch
Limo a little too.)
This is certainly a sophisticated device
- the Nokia E61 is a 3G handset with quad-band GSM support,
WiFi and Bluetooth. There's a large 320x240 pixel display
in 16 million colours, combined with the Symbian Series
60 OS (version 9.1). Navigation is through a Nokia-style
mini joystick and softkeys, so this should be pretty
familiar territory for Nokia users.
There's no camera on the Nokia E61 -
this is useful because many businesses have serious
issues with digital camera proliferation, especially
in sensitive commercial environments. It does come with
expandable memory using miniSD cards (and there's a
decent 75Mb of internal memory too). The Nokia E61 is
quite a capable multimedia device, with support for
MP3, AAC and Real Video and Audio. As the E61 is a 3G
device, it can also download a variety of streaming
multimedia.
You
can tell by the E61's look though that this device is
designed for email, and the E61 supports standard Internet
protocols (POP3/IMAP/SMTP) and also Blackberry Email
Connect, Visto and Seven Always On push email systems.
There's also an instant messaging client compatible
with Yahoo! and AOL. There's an XHTML web browser too,
which takes advantage of the E61's 320 pixel wide display
(but it's not as wide as the fantastic display on the
Nokia 9300 and 9500 devices).
WiFi is included on the E61, and the
handset can even support VOIP telephone calls over its
TCP/IP connection. There's Bluetooth too on the E61,
and of course you can also connect it to a PC using
a USB cable.
The camera on the E61.. well, it doesn't
exist. Perhaps Nokia have learned a little from the
launch of the Nokia
9500, where the camera actually put some corporate
customers off. This means that there's no 3G calling
either, but then the Nokia E61 isn't that kind of device.
Software support on the E61 is good
- you can view and edit Microsoft Office documents,
view Adobe PDFs and even work with ZIP files. The Symbian
Series 60 OS is also expandable, so you can add more
applications. The E61 also has a comprehensive set of
PIM applications preloaded, and it comes with just about
everything you would expect from a device of this type.
Nokia E61 vs Blackberry 7290
One question then.. how does the Nokia
E61 stack up against the Blackberry
7290? The E61 has twice the number of pixels
on the display, plus 3G, WiFi and expandable memory.
The Blackberry probably has better keyboard ergonomics,
and RIM's transflective display is very impressive.
The "footprint" of both devices is very similar,
although the Nokia is significantly slimmer. Talktime
and battery life on GSM are roughly similar. The Nokia
seems to lack the neat holster that the Blackberry comes
with though.
Whether or not the E61 is better than
a Blackberry is hard to say - Blackberry devices are
very focussed on messaging, where the E61 seems to have
a little too much going on. Certainly the Nokia
E61 is a better phone from looking at the specifications,
but Nokia can't expect an easy ride as they're up against
some tough competition.
Nokia E61: Our Verdict
This is a fine handset, with a very
impressive technical specification. If you're interested
in messaging, and are committed to the Nokia/Symbian
platform, then this is an excellent device.. compared
to a Blackberry. But in many ways the E61 competes with
the Communicator platform, represented by the Nokia
9300 and 9500. We prefer the wide screen and large keyboard
on the Communicators, and in terms of size and design
the 9300 is brilliant. If Nokia could fit all of the
E61's features into a device like the Nokia 9300 then
that would be even more desirable than the E61.
The Nokia E61 is expected to be available
from Q1 2006.
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Nokia
E61 at a glance
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Available:
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Q1
2006
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Network:
|
UMTS
(3G) + Quad-band GSM
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Data:
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UMTS
(3G) + GPRS + WiFi
|
Screen:
|
320x240
pixels, 16 million colours
|
Camera:
|
No
|
Size:
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PDA-style
device 117x70x14mm /
144 grams
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Bluetooth:
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Yes
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Infra-red:
|
No
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Polyphonic:
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Yes
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Java:
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Yes
|
Battery
life:
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4-7
hours talk / 9-11 days standby
(GSM)
|
|
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