Nokia E51

Launch price From £free

Loading...

Stuff says

Not many business-class phones are this user friendly. Well connected and fat free, it's straight from the smartphone top drawer

* * * * *

Stuff.tv hot buy

Even today, you still see businessmen's knuckles turning white as they hang on to their beloved 6310 handsets.

Nokia tried to prize this Jurassic (OK, 2001) phone from their gnarled fingers with the simple and clean E50, but with limited success. Now it's the turn of the E51 to convince the suits to modernise.

Suited and booted
The E51 neatly steps into the well-built metallic shoes of its predecessor, but trades in the workmanlike design for a more stylish look. Sure, it still has an efficient business air about it, but its tapered and incredibly trim torso is rather dapper.

Matching the smooth look is a carnival of shortcuts, with dedicated keys for accessing a specific email account, contacts, Bluetooth, calendar and main menu. The soft keys are customisable and the standard Symbian standby screen details new messages, calendar and Wi-Fi status.

Compared to its straight-laced predecessor, the E51 is tooled up with the latest in connectivity: built-in Wi-Fi, the latest HSDPA download speeds and even that old dog, infrared. At top speed, web browsing is a treat. You could argue that the stunning but slightly small two-inch display isn't geared for full-fat internet viewing, but with the help of Nokia's Mini Map browsing technique, navigating around desktop-rendered web pages is a cakewalk.

You've got mail
Personal email accounts are a doddle to set up, but connecting to the office's exchange server or third-party push email solutions might require some IT savvy. If your emails arrive with attachments, the E51 is rigged with QuickOffice apps, PDF and ZIP readers, so you can view and edit documents on the hop.