News from MWC ‘09: the Nokia E71 evolves into two very sleek, but very different, E-series devices
We love our Nokia E71. In fact, we think it’s the best smartphone you can buy at the moment. So, when Nokia reps took to the Mobile World Congress stage today and announced two new variations on the E71 formula, they caught our attention.
Both ‘phones come with all the latest S60 goodness you’d expect from top of the range E-series devices: GPS, latest Nokia Messenging with HTML email, Music, 3.2 megapixel cameras and so on. They also have the latest version of the operating system with the cute screen transitions if that matters. So, let’s get down to specifics.
The first new device is the E55. This is a scaled down version of the E71. Nokia have sacrifced the full QWERTY and replaced it with a two letter per button layout for the keyboard combined with some clever predictive text softare, enabling them to shrink the device to an even smaller size than the already diminutive E71. In fact, Nokia are claiming that the E55 is “the world’s thinest smartphone” – a claim we can well believe.
If only for its tiny size, this is an appealing ‘phone. But as you know, The Guide is a firm QWERTY fan and the two letters per button solution is enough to rule it out to us.
So, the second new device is the more interesting to our eyes. The new E75 looks very similar to the E55 at first glance but then you realise that it’s a little thicker. Why? Because it has a full, great looking QWERTY keyboard that slide out from the side.
As Nokia were keen to point out today, it combines some design elements from the Communicator range in that it offers both a full QWERTY keyboard and a normal numeric keypad. The sacrifice you have to make for having a thin, pocketable device as opposed to the bulk of an E90 is that you lose the wide internal screen. On the other hand, the E75’s screen is no smaller than the E71’s and we get on well with that.
The E75 is a great looking device. On balance, we don’t think there’s quite enough here to tempt us away from our beloved E71, but if you don’t already have an E71, then the E75 should definitely be on your list of alternatives.
Some video footage of the E75 in action:
Straight-Six
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