Email revamped on Nokia's new E-series duo

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 16 Feb 2009 at 12:16

Nokia has launched two new E-series smartphones, marking the debut of its new email software.

Both the E55 and E75 will include Nokia's new email interface, which at long last offers support for inbox folders and HTML messages. The new software also allows users to sort messages by sender, date and size.

The company also claims to have made improvements to the E-series Calendar and Contacts software, as it attempts to keep pace with corporate rival RIM.

So what of the hardware? The E75 is a communicator-style device with a full, slide-out QWERTY keyboard that emerges from beneath a traditional phone keypad.

It measures 111 x 50 x 14mm and weighs 139g, offering a claimed standby battery life of up to 11 days.

The device boasts a 3.2 megapixel camera, 802.11bg wireless and support for speeds of up to 3.6Mb/sec over HSPDA.

The slender E55, meanwhile, squeezes the QWERTY layout on to a traditional phone keypad. This means the phone is slimmer than the flagship E71, measuring 116 x 49 x 10mm, with Nokia rather disingenuously claiming it's "the world's most compact messaging device".

The E55 also includes 802.11bg, but it offer support for HSDPA speeds of up to 10.2Mb/sec and uploads of 2Mb/sec.

Battery life is pegged at an impressive 28 days of standby, although we'll wait and see if it lives up to that promise in our real-world tests.

Both phones allow users to retrieve documents from PCs using Nokia's own Ovi Files service. They also support N-Gage, Nokia's flagging mobile gaming service.

The E75 will cost around 375 euros, before taxes and contract subsidy, when it's launched in March. The E55 is scheduled for a second quarter launch and will cost 265 euros.

Nokia has also unveiled its Ovi app store at the Mobile World Congress today.