Someone has forgotten to tell Nokia that business phones are supposed to be efficient, functional and not the least bit sexy. It’s latest handset, the Nokia E71, may flaunt a full blown QWERTY, but is so deliciously slimline and oozing lashings of style that it’s close to completely transcending it corporate rep.

And with an impressive multimedia feature-set that will make those boardroom bores choke on their spreadsheets, this Symbian Series 60 swinging E71 smartie is also one of the most successful blends of business and pleasure we’ve come across.

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Four years ago Sony Ericsson was a smartphone big hitter but since the days of the Symbian run P910 and the P990, it been relegated to the lower leagues. Recent powerful handsets like the iPhone 3G, T-Mobile G1, BlackBerry Storm, Samsung i8510 and Nokia’s unrelenting Nseries wrecking crew have taken up the smartphone baton and then some. But not to be outclassed, Sony Ericsson has responded with the X1 Xperia. Is it a return to former glories?

The biggest surprise is seeing a Sony Ericsson handset powered by the latest Windows Mobile OS. WinMo detractors should hold fire because the manufacturer has done a sterling job of window dressing the normally clunky business focused OS with its own seven panel menu system for switching between features. It’s a vast improvement but still not as seamless as we hoped.

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Having just finished swooning over Nokia’s slinky slimline E71, a smartphone that outrageously flouted the rules that business phones can’t be gorgeous, we’re now set to get gooey over its equally accomplished business partner, the slick sliding E66.

As follow-up to the understandably popular E65, this new Symbian S60 skater is designed for those who don’t covert the E71’s QWERTY keyboard but demand a swish smartie that’s at home in the boardroom as it is holidaying in the Seychelles. In fact, while the Nokia’s Eseries has always possessed corporate edge, this new generation is also incredibly hip to the multimedia scene.

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