The screen is a 2in, 240 x 320 display that can render up to 16m colours. It's detailed and bright, but smaller than we’re used to seeing on recent Nokia smartphones.
The main control action is based around a standard Nokia scroll key nav-pad. Immediately on either side of it are four one-touch keys for specific functions. Here, Nokia has departed from the usual S60 script. Sensibly, Nokia has labelled the main menu button as the Home key with a house icon rather than the usual abstract Symbian squiggle.
The E51 feels substantial and well-balanced without being bulky
We hope to see more of this on future models. Under this button is a Calendar key, and on the other side of the nav-pad are Contacts and Email keys - all very clear and intuitive. One quick press takes you to the applications, but a longer press activates the most obvious or useful function in that application.
For example, while one click takes you into a list of contacts, holding down the Contacts key creates a new contact, while a longer press of the Calendar key pops up a new meeting entry for you to fill in. Similarly, you get a new email when you hold the button down.
The Home key takes you into the menu with a short press and opens up a list of active applications with a longer one. In addition, 'double-clicking' these keys returns you efficiently back to the previous application. Although these buttons are marked with function icons, it is possible to reconfigure them.
Just below the screen are the usual soft-menu keys. They’re quite thin so first-timers could end up hitting the one-touch keys underneath by mistake, but you’ll quickly get used to them.
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!
