Nokia officially announces E51

To Steve's "why, why, why" question: feeling of security has nothing to do with the actual level of threat (allegory: threat of terrorism is worth sacrificing civil liberties to), and a single security breach can, no matter how unlikely, be devastating. Hence, including Virus Protection is basically just a marketing move from Nokia, albeit them thus giving in to the argument that a security breach is possible in the first place.

Very, VERY, impressive! Thinnest S60 ever. Incredible feature list for the size, and looks great, and as far as one can tell from the pics, the keypad looks quite ergonomic.

The new home key is much more intuitive, and I would think its worth trying in other/all S60s going forward. The symbian swirl must be a mystery key for anyone not used to the S60.

>> feeling of security has nothing to do with the actual level of threat, and a single security breach can, no matter how unlikely, be devastating. Hence, including Virus Protection is basically just a marketing move from Nokia, albeit them thus giving in to the argument that a security breach is possible in the first place.

Exactly. By even acknowledging such software (let alone bundling it - shudder) they make people think that Symbian OS 9 isn't secure after all. Which it is. Go figure. Rest assured I'll be wading into the Anti-virus firms' stalls at the London Smartphone Show with some (ahem) probing questions. Anyone want to buy tickets to see the scrap?

Its amazing what they've managed to squeeze into such a small package. It also shows you can create a device attractive to the corporate customer without making it a QWERTY type device.

I hope that price really does include tax (they just say "retail price", no mention of any taxes) because if it does this is a very very low price for what is a high end smartphone. The camera's only 2mp and there's no built-in GPS, but the rest of the phone is pretty much everything you could ask for on an S60 right now, and on top of all that it's the smallest S60 so far.

It's such a shame this is being marketed as a business phone, it would do really well as an Nseries or numbered model in the mainstream market, but then I suppose that's what the 6120 is for (and that IS doing really well by all accounts).

On the virus thing, I think having "protection" software may be partly a psychological thing for extreme newbies. I know people who blame a virus every time something goes wrong on their PC, even though it has no internet connection and they never install any software. Even on this site's forums you see people accusing viruses when their phone doesn't work properly.

This isn't anything unique to Symbian or even computing, there's entire industries worth billions built on scaring people into buying pointless and useless medicines, food supplements, weapons, survivalist paraphernalia etc etc. There's not much you can do about it without taking away people's freedom to live their own life, and as most smartphones have open software platforms it was inevitable that eventually we would see third party anti-virus security apps springing up left right and centre, with marketing departments lying to people about how vulnerable their phone is.

Looks set to be a great addition to the E-Series line-up and Nokia S60 phones in general.However you did mention that the E51 uses a miniSD connection but according to the Nokia site its a microUSB connection,a real bummer.But impressive size and should be a compelling WiFi S60 phone,given its price...:icon14:

"However you did mention that the E51 uses a miniSD connection but according to the Nokia site its a microUSB connection,a real bummer.But impressive size and should be a compelling WiFi S60 phone,given its price...:icon14:"

The official Nokia For Business site lists it as having a miniUSB connection:

http://europe.nokia.com/A4546299 (look under connectivity in tech specs)

The official Nokia consumer website lists it as having a microUSB connection:

http://europe.nokia.com/A4546209

Crazy, isn't it?

However, there's a photo of the bottom of the phone on the consumer E51 page, and it shows what appears to be a miniUSB (not microUSB) connector, so I'm going to believe the Nokia For Business site for the moment.

It's definately miniUSB.Look its connectivity cable-the model is DKE-2,which is compatible with phones like N95,E90,6290,6110,5200,5300 and so on.

According to the pdf file on the E51 consumer site,it definitely is a miniUSB connection,which is good news.Also mention is the battery is the BP-6MT rated at 1050mAh.No news yet on what processor and free RAM is available.Also up to what resolution can it record videos,probably QVGA like many other S60 V3 FP1 phones...

So the specs as to the battery is also contradicting. Will it be BL-4L with 1500 mAh or BP-6MT with 1070 mAh. Both Nokia for Business and Nokia Europe show that it will be BP-6MT, but on the other hand, when you press on "See Nokia 51 in action" on Nokia Europe's website and "View Detail" on Nokia for Business' website, they pop up a visual presentation of the device, and when you press on the "large memory and long battery life", you will see with your eyes that battery is in fact BL-4L! It also gives the information that the talk time will be up to 5 hours. Whereas the specifications in the afore-mentioned websites show it as 4.4 hours. If it will be really BL-4L, this will be a WONDERFUL business device. (It will be still OK with the other battery) That visual presentation may be a computer trick, as I seriosuly doubt how BL-4L can fit in it...

BTW, as humanbeings we will always want more right? I wish this device had 3,5 mm stereo jack along with TV out put, because the screen of this device is a bit smaller than other E series devices, it would be very convenient to connect it to a TV and work on your office documents along with a bluetooth keyboard. Nokia should consider that TV output can be used for business purposes. It is not solely for connecting devices like N95 to play games etc.

Anywyz...all in all, great device! Big (and a bit surprising) step from Nokia for me!

"BTW, as humanbeings we will always want more right? I wish this device had 3,5 mm stereo jack along with TV out put"

I'd love to see TV Output on all portable devices, but this requires a relatively expensive graphics chip (it's the same chip that does the 3D graphics acceleration apparently).

But I bet in two years time all S60 smartphones will have TV Out.

3.5mm jack would be nice too, but that might add to the bulk and the major selling point of this phone is the small size.

Great phone... an 6120 with Wi-Fi and a fair price.😎

Where can I find info on this PBX integration thingy?

Nice little beast 😉 however, the design reminds me of 2650 (was this the name?) but it's pretty attractive.

My new fav. question after the N95. How much ram has it got ?

Zuber

slitchfield: Security isn't black and white. There's no such thing as a _secure_ system. All systems have bugs. AFAIK, the security of Symbian hasn't been put to the test. Had it gotten the treatment that the iPhone received, I'm sure security problems would have been found.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with platform security, it's a sound system, although it does come with some severe problems in the infrastructure around it.

But saying that a Symbian 9 device is _secure_ because it has a security architecture, that's just really buying into the Symbian marketing hype.

Allow me to be the proverbial black sheep, and weigh in against the new 'house' key. To abandon the standard, established Menu key (its official name, according to several S60 device manuals) would be a mistake. It would cause unnecessary confusion by breaking a beneficial element of continuity from older generation Nokia devices to newer ones, particularly if its function were to be altered in addition to its appearance and name.

Anyway, if the standby screen is renamed to the 'home screen' (way too much Apple copying for my taste here), would it not be redundant to have a dedicated key to access it, as it is...um...already the standby screen?!? It makes vastly more sense to have the existing paradigm of a menu key, which is used to...um...access the menu, with the additional (and extremely useful) functions of toggling back to the standby screen and switching among open apps.

Not to mention, it's also a cool-looking button. 😉 S60 is superior, and should have something to distinguish it from boring, generic alternatives. This device really looks generic to me. The color is nice, but it is just lacking something otherwise.

I, for one, found the continuity from a DCT3 device through DCT4 and eventually to S60 to be quite a natural and intuitive one. This new device looks to be breaking with tradition in a way which is unnecessary at best, and potentially a great step backward.

Oh, and what did they do with the edit ('pencil' or shift) key?

"But saying that a Symbian 9 device is _secure_ because it has a security architecture, that's just really buying into the Symbian marketing hype."

I don't think Steve is saying it's 100% secure and always will be, what he's saying is that there are no known cases of Symbian phones being infected in the wild without the user having played some active part in the infection.

For example, many of the scare stories about Symbian imply that if you carry it around it can just get infected by Bluetooth without you noticing. This is impossible, because the user of an uninfected phone would have to manually accept the download and installation of the virus application file. If a user never accepts strange files from Bluetooth, the user's phone will never get infected by Bluetooth.

When you confront these Symbian security software vendors with direct questions about how a phone could get infected without the user noticing, they don't provide any concrete in-the-wild examples of it actually happening.

It's the equivalent of a medical company selling a vaccine for a disease which has never infected anyone so far. Once infections are observed there would be a role for such a vaccine, but if there are no such infections then it's a waste of money and a drain on resources.

"My new fav. question after the N95. How much ram has it got ?"

We don't know until Forum Nokia put up their E51 page. We'll newspost when they do.

"To abandon the standard, established Menu key (its official name, according to several S60 device manuals) would be a mistake. It would cause unnecessary confusion by breaking a beneficial element of continuity from older generation Nokia devices to newer ones,"

I don't think most people understood what the Swirly/Menu key was there for. All the S60 users I know just use it to bring up the application menu from the standby screen, but if that was its only role then it could be replaced by the d-pad button, which is how Series 40 phones handle their menu system.

The real role of the swirly key is to switch applications when you hold it down, but many S60 users don't know this, in fact last year AAS highlighted a blog article by a very experienced smartphone user who was complaining that S60 didn't have multitasking! Of course it does, but he didn't know that you have to hold the menu key down to access this ability, and if HE didn't know it, then heaven help the average user.

"Anyway, if the standby screen is renamed to the 'home screen' (way too much Apple copying for my taste here), would it not be redundant to have a dedicated key to access it, as it is...um...already the standby screen?!?"

Well, the thing is the only other way to get to the standby screen is to actually kill the application, but the whole point of S60 is that you can run many applications at once.

I would personally prefer a "change apps" key, to emphasise that you don't have to exit an application in order to open another one. In fact I think this is what the S60 key's logo was intended to convey, a picture of two objects being swapped, but no one has ever really explained this to consumers.

"Oh, and what did they do with the edit ('pencil' or shift) key?"

Almost all of the latest S60 models have merged this with the # key. The shift key works fine on #, because # is never actually used in applications so it was always a spare key.

I've used quite a few S60s with no separate pencil key, and I really don't miss it at all.

"Not to mention, it's also a cool-looking button. S60 is superior, and should have something to distinguish it from boring, generic alternatives."

The reason S60 sells better than all other smartphones put together is that it's bought by ordinary people rather than tech fans. Most S60 users probably don't even know they own an S60 phone, all they know is that it has a really good camera or GPS or TV Out, or whatever feature attracted them to getting a slightly more expensive phone.

S60 isn't really even a consumer brand, there's nothing on the phone itself which actually says S60. As far as most S60 owners are concerned, they own a Nokia (or Samsung or whatever), not an S60.

The E65 has the pencil key on the right side of the phone. They probably did the same thing with the E51.

Tzer2 wrote:
"My new fav. question after the N95. How much ram has it got ?"

We don't know until Forum Nokia put up their E51 page. We'll newspost when they do.

You mean this one?

"
Memory:
Max User Storage: 130 MB
NAND Memory: 256 MB
SDRAM Memory: 96 MB
~50 MB Free Executable RAM Memory
Memory Card: Micro SD
Max Memory Card Size: 4 GB
Memory Card Feature: Hot Swap
Unlimited Heap size
Unlimited Jar size
"

Max.

Tzer2 wrote:Most S60 users probably don't even know they own an S60 phone,

...there's nothing on the phone itself which actually says S60.

...and therein lies the single most useful aspect of the 'swirly key'.

Up until the E51, we could say, "If you have this key <image of swirly key> then you can run our s/w."

What are supposed to do now, give them a list of model numbers? I'll contend most people don't even know what *model* their phone is, let a lone that it runs S60, and finding out often requires removing the battery - way too much hassle for the average user.

I think the fact that it runs S60 should be made more obvious. Something like printing 'S60' on it would be ideal. I guess that's too late for the E51...

I'm curious what the 'home' key does. Obviously not a replacement for the swirly key, since that had the opposite function - it took you to the menu. Is there a 'menu' key too?

Max.

It's really perfect smartphone. Its 50 mb freeRAM and 369 MHz is just fantastic features! (and plus wi-fi, miniUSB, 1050 mAh, many softkeys, thickness etc). It looks like some fan's fake😉

Well, maybe I was too quick to buy 6120... However, one thing seems to be missing in E51: a separate loudspeaker. Dual function speakers, like those in thin Samsungs, compromise the sound quality. Or am I wrong?

The way I see it, the E51 has all the features of an E65 in a 6120C package and with the 6120C (FP1) speed. Where do I sign up?

Can somebody comment on the multimedia functions in E51?

The E51 has an extra speaker on the back side. It's clearly visible beneath the engraved Nokia Logo: http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/zoom.php?p=1357&g=4

Hi...

I am from India.I recently purchased the Nokia E51 Model.

And i am very happy with it.

It is very sleek. Very easy to operate. Battery life is good enough. Screen resolution is good. The keypad buttons smooth to operate. Light weight is a big advantage. It has a handsome phone cover along with it. It has battery "Bp-6MT".

Also the Wi-Fi feature is a great advantage as now i can use internet easily from anywhere.

By the way, the phone has 130Mb Internal card and 512Mb external Card.(extendable to 4Gb)

As other Nokia phones, the multimedia feature is very good. The quality is crystal clean and sound loud enough. I can use the earphone and also the inbuild speaker phone for music. FM radio clairfy too is very good.

But one think i am not confident about is it's security. As this has a Wi Fi connection so the phone will be exposed to viruses. I am not sure whether the software (S60 software) is able to provide proper security against viruses through Internet. Do I need to install any Anti-Virus software. Which is the best Anti-Virus software for this phone.

Anyways, I recommend this phone for all. Specially for those who use Wi Fi and for other business purposes.

I will say this phone is "BEST OF THE LOT"

hey check this site out nokian82.co.uk

Hemabh, glad to hear you like the E51, I'm about to buy one myself.

Regarding your concerns about viruses, I believe they are not well founded. Have a read of this article by Steve Litchfield, which should put your mind at rest.

ANY business phone MUST have GPS. If E51 had it now I would buy 5 for the business tomorrow. Meanwhile I am waiting for Nokia to fit GPS into this or a very similar E series phone