Six Reasons why we think the Nokia E5 rocks!

The Nokia N8 might have grabbed all the headlines with its dazzling specs and camera, but we feel that the Nokia E5 is going to be every bit as much of a winner in the market for the Big N. The E series has traditionally showcased Nokia’s classic virtues of stability and consistency, borne out by superb handsets like the E61i, the E51, the E71, the E72 and the E63. The E5 is a extremely proud addition to the line. And these are the six reasons we think why.

1) Looks remarkably smart:

Yes, we know that business phones are not SUPPOSED to look all that impressive but then all that had changed with the snazzy E71. And the E5, while not having as much metal as that device, definitely is no pushover in the looks department with its mix of black and metal. The metal plate on the back looks very  classy.

2) It is zippy:

The E5 runs on the Symbian Series 60 (3rd edition) which is not the latest from the Symbian stable but is the best in terms of enterprise users. This is perhaps the fastest E series phone we have seen – and we say that after bogging it down with over a thousand contacts and five hundred text messages, which would normally slow down most E series phones.

3) Improved interface:

Yes it is the same Symbian Series 60 interface and menus for the most part, but there have been some mighty neat touches thrown in like integration of Facebook with contacts, a Facebook app, a row of shortcuts on the home screen, and the option to put pictures of your key contacts on the home screen. Combine that with the core strength of handling email and chat brilliantly, and the as good as ever multitasking and you can see why we are impressed.

4) Lovely keypad:

We had been prodigious fans of the E61i, and its immense keyboard, which we still think was the best we saw in any candy bar QWERTY device, but had been a bit disappointed by the relatively constricted affairs on the E71, E72 and E63. Well, the E5?s keypad is far more comfortable than that seen on any of those three worthies. The keys are raised a bit making them easy to hit, and the track pad cum D-pad effort in the E72 has been abandoned for a more conventional but highly responsive D-pad. There are SIX keys around this, but somehow it does not look crowded. Great design, Nokia.

5) Battery life and connectivity:

Enterprise users are used to having their phones ticking over for more than a day on a single charge. And the E5 does not disappoint on this front – it ran for a staggering two and a half days with push mail turned on all the time and a few hours of calls and Internet surfing. As far as connectivity goes, the E5 comes with the full Monty – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and AGPS are all there. Now, that is pretty impressive

6) Price

Barring the E63 and the E51, the E series devices have generally been a bit on the expensive side, but the E5?s price tag of Rs 11,800 is surprisingly on the lower side. In terms of sheer value for money, we must admit that this is the best value for money enterprise device we have seen.

This is not to say that the E5 does not have its weak points. The 5.0-megapixel camera is frankly ordinary (hey! No auto focus), the 2.36 inch display with QVGA resolution seem to be from another era, and the browser still remains an Achilles Heel that can be cured only by a download of Opera Mobile or Opera Mini. But we honestly think that these are pretty much overshadowed by the performance of the E5. Those looking for their first enterprise device could not do better than this extremely efficient and yet light on the pocket handset.

BlackBerry 8520 killer? We think so!