130MB of internal memory is built in for content downloads, although for extending the phone’s storage capabilities you can add Micro SD cards of up to 4GB in capacity, fitting them into a slot under the rear casing.
The E51’s Wi-Fi and HSDPA capabilities means the Nokia Web Browser doesn’t drag its feet. You can view web pages in their normal full screen format, with Mini Maps helping you negotiate the pages. Pages are completed quickly on the high-speed data connections.
Available in three flavours: shiny silver, bronze or black
The camera on the back of the E51 is a standard two-megapixel shooter that produces average quality photos. This is unlikely to be a selling point of the E51 - its user interface isn’t particularly camera-like, with most of the limited settings options listed in simple list format.
The camera achieves better results in bright lighting conditions outside, while indoors images aren’t as crisp – there’s no flash to help matters in low-light conditions. Video can be recorded too, though at a maximum 320 x 240 (QVGA) resolution, and is again fairly average mobile phone limited quality fare.
Nokia’s figures for optimum battery life suggests up to 13 days on standby or 4.4 hours' talk time. We managed to get around three or four days of standby with an average amount of usage, although this declined with greater use of Wi-Fi, the music player and other power-hungry features. Still, intensive business users shouldn’t find battery life an issue here.
Verdict
The E51 has all the credentials to make the grade as a high quality business phone, but it has much more appeal than simply a work-day handset. It has a sharp and understated design and it's straightforward to use if you want to access key features easily.
The phone’s display isn’t going to be large enough for some users, and anyone looking for a top-end multimedia cameraphone, GPS-equipped mobile or BlackBerry-style keyboard should look elsewhere. But the E51 is a cracking handset that is more sophisticated than it looks, with excellent business-grade features.
Nokia E51 executive phone
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!
