Nokia E61i

Nokia smart phone fans in the U.S. can rejoice. Last year's Nokia E62 was a solid handset, let down only by a slow EDGE data connection and some music syncing issues. But it paled in comparison with its foreign E61 counterpart, which included built in Wi-Fi. Nokia's new E61i, now available in the U.S., is a shrewd, solid update to the E62. It's still not perfect. But with the added Wi-Fi support and slick redesign, it's a great choice for corporate mavens looking for lower cost alternatives to the Blackberry.

In addition to Wi-Fi, the new model includes a number of other significant updates, such as a 2 mega pixel camera, a thinner shape, and a revamped D-pad, along with built in Quickoffice 3.8 for document editing. This is an older version of Quickoffice. The more recent Quickoffice Premier 4 retains a document's complex formatting even after you save changes on the phone, a key feature to have.

Oddly, the E61i also works over 3G data networks, just not ours. It supports only UMTS, not HSDPA, and only on the overseas 2,100 MHz band. That means the otherwise high-flying E61i still kicks it down to EDGE speeds when used Stateside.

The E61i impresses with its sleek, thin, aluminum and black plastic enclosure. At 4.6 by 2.8 by 0.5 inches, the phone's thinness is partially offset by its width. Sure, it's a bit ungainly to hold to your ear, though not nearly as bad as the brick like i-mate JAQ. It weighs 5.3 ounces, putting it in the middle zone between svelte 3.5 ounce Black Jacks and fat 6.4 ounce Treos. The 2.8 inch, 320 by 240 pixel wide screen doesn't come close to the T-Mobile Wing's or Motorola Q's in brightness, but it's sharp and easy to read.

No smart phone is truly easy to type on. But the E61i's keyboard is the best one I've tested to date, with dedicated symbol keys, good resistance and no noise, leading to few mistakes while typing. The new D-pad that controls the cursor and redesigned soft keys are also nice improvements over the E62's miniature joystick. The micro-SD card slot is a little inconvenient, since you have to slide off the battery cover to access it. At least you don't have to remove the battery itself.

Calls through the E61i sounded good, with clear reception, though voices took on a somewhat brittle timbre at higher volumes. I paired my Plantronics 510 headset with the E61i on the first try; it took much less time to do so than with my benchmark Motorola Q. The E61i sounded great through the 510, with instantaneous voice response and a warm sound.

Like its predecessor, the E61i runs Symbian S60 3rd edition, missing out on the latest Feature Pack 1 enhancements. Symbian S60 phones are not known for their blazing speed, but the E61i was responsive enough to my commands, feeling almost as fast as a Palm OS Treo or a new Blackberry.

The built in Web browser is essentially Apple's Safari, recompiled for Symbian and with a zoom function. It's easy to use and presents full size Web pages well. Surfing was speedy even in EDGE mode, with the E61i scoring an average 177 Kbps download rate on Benchmark test.

Nokia smart phones have always made great business handsets, and the E61i is no exception. It's certified for good mobile massaging, Visto, Nokia Intellisync, Mail for Exchange, and Blackberry Connect. There's also a built in e-mail client that supports POP and IMAP accounts.