Nokia's slim new E-Series

These are the latest smartphones to emerge from Finland - or should that be Thinland? The two Series 60 handsets, a the E66 slider and E71 QWERTY emailer, are just 13.6 and 10mm thick respectively.

Stainless steel accents are the order of the day on the "premium" E66, which comes in either "grey steel" or "white steel". It features HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPS (complete with Nokia Maps), video calling, a 3.2MP camera and room for up to 8GB of MicroSD memory. It also gets an accelerometer for some iPhone style tilting - but no touch controls for the 2.4in screen. 

Pulling off a mix of both business and pleasure, it enables speedy switching between corporate and personal email accounts - and easy log-in to the likes of Google Mail, Windows Live or Yahoo! Mail, as well as Microsoft Exchange.

Even more at home in the email department, with its QWERTY keyboard, is the ultra-thin E71. It still manages the same Wi-Fi/HSDPA/GPS and 3.2MP camera combo of the E66, with only a slightly smaller 2.36in screen pointing to any compromise.

Small the screen may be but it still has the same resolution as the older, and considerably larger, E62, making it an attractive Blackberry alternative.

Expect them both next month for around £275 + VAT in SIM-free form.

[ Nokia ]