Nokia E51 review

The Nokia E51 has been designed to press all the right buttons for the corporate mobile user while still crossing over into serious consumer buyer territory. One of Nokia's Eseries enterprise-class mobiles, the E51 follows in a Nokia line of tightly targeted mobiles that business users swear by, simply because they do exactly what's required extremely well.

The E51 is a sharply crafted candybar-design mobile, with a refined, elegance about it that we can see having plenty of appeal for business execs. On the surface it may be understated, but beneath the slimline, stainless steel-encased shell its in fact a strikingly well equipped smartphone that covers all the bases as far as corporate email and messaging requirements are concerned.

It supports a businesslike spread of corporate push email and remote synchronisation solutions, and is equipped to support VoIP voice over internet applications too.

The E51's functionality is built on the Symbian S60 operating system, with all the flexibility for adding software and applications this enables. The phone features high-speed 3G HSDPA as well as Wi-Fi connectivity, with the flexibility to configure its internet-based voice calling to be part of an in-house corporate wireless PABX system as well as a high-speed messaging device.

Its appearance isn't going to catch the eye of the fashion-phone buyer, but it has an attractive slim but solid appearance and feel. The sleek look is emphasised by tthe metal back plate and front edging - available in a chrome, black or bronze finish. It's weighty in a good way, at 100g, giving a substantial feel despite its 12mm thin waistline.

Nokia has attempted to get the work-life balance right in this device. Unlike some security-conscious corporate-preferred mobiles, the E51 has a camera - an average 2-megapixel shooter without a flash or autofocus system. The E51's multimedia agenda includes a multi-format music player, FM radio and a welcome RealPlayer application for video playback. Alas, if you're a fan of face-to-face video calling, that's not up for discussion - there's no specialised video calling camera on the front.

A suite of office-orientated applications keep the emphasis on serious stuff; Quickoffice document reader software will bring up Word, Excel and PowerPoint files onscreen (and you have the option to upgrade to full editing versions over the air), while there's an Adobe PDF viewer and a ZIP file manager app.

Nokia's standard wide range of personal information management apps are augmented by additional Team apps, enabling you to organise multiple messaging and calling groups together, which will be useful for any level of group management. A new Active Notes application allows you to attach images, video and sound clips and attach to contacts or send to others.

Road warriors (or even home worriers) can get route planning, mapping and local information from the E51 too. It hasn't got an integrated GPS receiver like some recent Nokia high-end devices, but it does still feature the Nokia Maps navigation solution, enabling you to carry out searches for a huge variety of locations, look up routes and so on, using Nokia's over-the-air information service. To add true satellite location finding, you need to employ an optional standalone Bluetooth-enabled GPS receiver, connected wirelessly. It's a welcome addition to the out-of-the-box software package, nonetheless.

In addition to a well-balanced out-of-the-box spread of applications, Nokia has geared up the E51 for personalisation via a typical Nokia Download! tool. Click on this and you're presented with a catalogue of software you can choose to download with a few phone button clicks.

Whether you need games to liven the day, an eBook reader, WorldMate travel information, widgets from WidSets or mobile anti-virus software from F-Secure, you can download a variety of apps for free. There's also a Windows Live Messenger and Hotmail application you can add to the phone from here. And of course, there's plenty of other third party software available for the S60 platform.

While there's much to like about the spec list, the way it's all so accessible is also admirable. Although the E51 is loaded with sophisticated messaging and office-related abilities, it has a remarkably straightforward set of controls to take you into these. You can quite comfortably use it as a simple voice and text phone without being daunted
by the smartphone functionality, and similarly keep abreast of your email without having to worry about what lies beneath.

The controls on the front panel are well designed, improving on Nokia's previous business smartphones such as the E50 and E65i. A central navigation D-pad takes centre-stage for menu controlling, but on either side, Nokia has arranged neatly labelled fast access one-touch keys for priority features.

The abstract S60 symbol previously used to indicate the main menu button has been replaced by a more sensible 'home' icon, while there are buttons with symbols for calendar, contacts and emails. Simple really, but smart too.

To speed things further, a longer press of these keys takes you straight into the most likely function you'll want to use under that category - a new calendar entry, new contact or new email, or with the menu button, a list of open applications. These keys do the business, quickly and fuss-free - you really don't have to be a tech-savvy high-flier to feel familiar with them.

A pair of regular softkeys sit above and wrap around the side of the one-touch keys. The softkeys are a touch too narrow at the top, which can initially get your thumb straying on to the button below, but you get used to it and avoid slippage quickly. The numberpad below this means business too. Keys are large, well-separated and responsive. The plastic finish used here certainly doesn't feel cheap either.

Helping navigate the menu system is Nokia's useful Active Standby screen layout. The 2-inch, 320x240 pixels 16-million colour active matrix display is smaller than on most recent Nokia smartphones, and you do notice the difference in text size - even if it's still bright, sharp and readable.

A string of icons on the top of the screen provide shortcuts to six applications or functions of your choosing; some are pre-set, but you can set your preferred batch from dozens of options across all features - including one-button access to web links.

The Active Standby screen also has handy plug-in wizards for initially setting up email and VoIP apps, and helping you to serach for and log on easily to Wi-Fi networks. Plus you can get calendar appointments, notes and message alerts onscreen (a flashing notification light on top of the phone also makes sure you don't miss any).

The messaging functionality of this device is excellent for a phone that doesn't have a BlackBerry-style Qwerty keyboard. Email is easy to set up and use, and is central to the attractions of the E51. And if you want to use an optional Bluetooth keyboard, the E51 naturally supports that too.

The multimedia functionality of the E51 deserves a mention too. The music player is capable of a pretty impressive audio performance, using a regulation Nokia S60 interface that's akin to a standalone MP3 player. The internal 130MB user memory can be supplemented by hot-swappable MicroSD cards. The slot, hidden away on the side under the back casing, can take cards of up to 4GB. This gives plenty of tune-room.

Audio quality is comparable to other Nokia Nseries smartphones, and the supplied earphones are acceptable if not outstanding quality. With a 2.5mm socket for earphones, you'll need an adapter if you want to upgrade to a better quality set that use a standard 3.5mm plug. Stereo Bluetooth streaming is another option - or you could rock the room/annoy your work colleagues with the loudspeaker.

High speed downloading and streaming of audio and video is possible using the phone's 3G HSDPA or Wi-Fi connectivity, although Nokia Music Store isn't supported on this particular handset yet.

The presence of a camera is welcome, as some corporate models prefer no snappers for internal security reasons. This phone isn't designed to wow with its shooting abilities, though. It produces reasonably good quality shots for a 2-megapixel camera in good lighting conditions, though in dull and low-light conditions, results aren't quite so good. There's no flash or autofocus system and a limited range of shooting options and controls. These are presented in an austere user interface, and the lack of a fast access camera button doesn't encourage you to get clicking either. Video quality is typically limited mobile-grade at maximum QVGA resolution (320x240 pixels).

(See our article Nokia E51 camera samples for more detailed information on the E51's photography skills and examples of shots taken with the phone.)

Web browsing is quick and easy, thanks to the E51's connectivity options. You can choose the most convenient access point, and enjoy browsing the full internet on the Nokia Web Browser, with Mini Map technology to help navigate pages.

Syncing the E51 locally with Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes is straightforward too, using the supplied Nokia PC Suite software and USB cable. SImilarly, copying music or video from a PC across to the phone can be done via the in-box software.

Battery life is serious business if you want to woo the big corporate mobile buyers. Nokia claims optimum talktime of up to 4.4 hours on a full charge, or 13 days of standby time. How long you get in real life will depend on your particular phone habits, but in our tests we found no shocking, out-of-the-blue 'battery out' moments following our regular usage patterns. That's obviously a crucial issue if you're taking, making or waiting for important calls.

So too is call quality and signal holding, and the Nokia E51 shines on both counts. There were no worries on signal strength, and call performance was exemplary.

The Nokia E51 is designed to appeal to a particular job as a mass-market business phone that delivers a high quality messaging experience. It feels solid and looks like a serious, quality mobile phone without tipping over into flash.

While it's properly suited and booted to fit the business profile, its excellent build quality, spread of serious features, ease of use and nods to downtime usage give it plenty of appeal across the board, not just in the boardroom. It doesn't try to do absolutely everything - there are other Nokia phones that can tempt you with the full multimedia works, keyboards and suchlike - but it fulfills its role perfectly, with plenty on top. A job well done. 

Nokia E51 technical specifications.