Nokia E51 executive phone
Does the business
Review Business is business, so it’s no surprise that the world’s most successful mobile maker knows exactly what makes the executive phone user swoon. Nokia has a long track-record of producing handsets that may not get consumers’ pulses galloping, but which absolutely bowl over businesspeople.
The E51 is Nokia’s latest of these. Its design is classic Nokia understatement - a slim candybar phone with an elegant metal trim and back panel adding a classy feel to the package. The metal edging is available in three flavours: shiny silver, black or bronze.
Nokia E51: pushing all the right buttons for businesspeople?
It’s optimised for email, supports a wide range of popular push email offerings, and it features VoIP voice for low-cost calling over the internet via Wi-Fi. High-speed data connectivity is facilitated by HSDPA 3G.
While the E51 has been crafted first and foremost with business usage in mind, with plenty of office tools and personal information management features, Nokia does acknowledge that even business users like their multimedia distractions. The phone has an MP3 player, an FM radio, a RealPlayer video player and a two-megapixel camera on the back.
A subtle pinhead pattern etched on the back of the casing is not only aesthetically enhancing but also helps you grip the phone when you're tapping away at the numberpad. The E51 is a good size, measuring a long but slim 115 x 46 x 12mm. The metal casing helps push up the weight to 100g, giving it a substantial and well-balanced feel without being pocket-saggingly bulky.
COMMENTS
Business phone - with a camera?
Ok,
How can it be a business phone it's got a camera, I find that many of my customers (private and public sector) and my employers policies prohibit a camera on site. Indeed one of the more enthusiastic customers uses a hammer/hole punch and mastic on the "business" phones they issue their employees - to disable the camera.
I'm still looking for a replacement for the 6130 or the 6810..
@ Calvin • Monday 28th January 2008 10:35 GMT
"best feature is that by long-pressing the home key you can see all running apps, and force-quit any that have stalled (i.e. ctrl-alt-del)"
Well I could do this on my N91 straight out of the box 18+ months ago, you just long press the menu key. I think, but am not 100% sure, that this was a standard feature on most S60 3rd Edition phones...
@ Anonymous Coward
Big fan of this phone. Have been looking for a couple of years for a replacement for my bulletproof 6230i.
I've had the e51 now for 3 weeks and it's a joy to use. i've Had an n73 for a couple of months and the e51 puts it to shame.
The keys are high quality, excellent feedback for quick texting (inifintely much better than the n73). I've dropped it twice and it still seems in pretty good shape. The metal rear cover adds a feeling of durability.
The UI is always at least twice as fast as on my N73. I dont take photos on phones so i dont care about the camera. I dont video call so i dont care about no front-camera.
I'm a big fan of s60. e51 seems to take it to another level. best feature is that by long-pressing the home key you can see all running apps, and force-quit any that have stalled (i.e. ctrl-alt-del)
Voip calling is excellent. it comes bundled with gizmo, but im using truphone cos its free to landlines till the end of the month. I get about an hour's battery while voip calling over wifi. excellent quality. the headphones are annoying. probably better to get bluetooth.
searching for access points is incredibly simple. i dont mind the web browser actually - the back/forward function is really well done. great design - slim, functional, understated, no gimmicks, no slidey-whatsits, no stupid colours, wouldnt have minded a slightly bigger screen, but it's relieving to be able to get a phone that is a tool
Looks like a perfected E65!
Seems to have all the things I love about the E65 plus the few problems about it sorted (no HSDPA, no way to easily turn on/off Bluetooth, a sbit of slugishness of the OS).
Hum... Anyone fancy a heavily abused E65?
Did the reviewer actually USE the phone?
How responsive is it? How do the keys feel? What's the battery life like in the real world? How about build quality?
After six pages, I am no wiser. El Reg, this fall far short of the standard of your usual reviews - it doesn't tell me anything I can't read on the Nokia site!
