Nokia has tried to get those stubborn old suits to part company with their prehistoric but much loved classic 6310 handsets and its biggest success has come through the E50. If its clean design and marathon battery life got the business men twitching, then its successor, the E51, will surely see them finally take the plunge.
This E-Series Symbian smartie seriously ups the connectivity quota with HSDPA download speeds and built-in Wi-Fi for rapid web browsing. It’s also festooned with dedicated shortcuts for instant access to your email, contacts, Bluetooth and calendar, along with main menu. Naturally, this enhances Nokia’s already famed user-friendliness rep even further up.
With a new tapered outline, its metallic edges and battery cover is reminiscent of the 6310-quality build. The E51 is also incredibly trim, although there’s not a whiff of fashion design here with its clean lines still screaming strictly business.
The active standby screen offers yet more feature shortcuts and you can easily set up both personal and work-based email accounts (although you may need IT to help with the latter) from here. Synching up with all your Outlook contacts, calendar and tasks is also straightforward via the bundled Nokia PC Suite software.
But the E51 also manages to slip off its business straightjacket for some funtime dabbling. A fixed focus two-megapixel snapper is rudimentary for point and shoot scenarios while the music player will keep you entertained between board meetings.
Battery life is also impressive and the E51 will last longer than a hundred conference calls.
The E51 is the perfect alternative for salarymen who don’t want the QWERTY packing smartie but still demand the business, messaging and connectivity trimmings.
Verdict
The E61 takes the classic 6310 blueprint and sprinkles it with some 21st century mobile mods. A classy business handset primed for the top.
Best features
Trim design
Incredibly user-friendly
Easy email set up
Fast HSDPA and Wi-Fi web browsing speeds
Not so good
Average camera
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