The crown jewel of Nokia right now is the E51 and Hi-Mobile.net sent us one over for a review. Some of you will be surprised by this comment as there are other and more powerful Nokia phones out there, but there’s a reason for it. Read on to read it.The E51 comes with European HSDPA support, quad-band GSM support and EDGE, a 2″ QVGA 16mil colors TFT screen, a microSD slot, 130 MB storage, 96 MB SDRAM, an ARM11 at 369Mhz, Wi-Fi 802.11g, Bluetooth 2.0, a 2.5mm audio jack, a 2MP camera and an FM radio. In the box we found the phone, a Li-Ion 1070 mAh battery, a charger, a handsfree, a USB cable, and the manual/CD.
The phone only weighs 100gr and it’s really thin/small for a business phone. It feels very good on both the palm and on a jeans pocket. On the bottom of the device you will find the standard mini USB 2.0 port, the charging port and the 2.5mm audio jack. On the left side you will find the voice recording button, and the microSD slot. Note that you need to remove the battery door to place the microSD card in it, but you don’t need to remove the battery or — if you are careful– turn off your phone. On the top you will find the on/off/profiles button, and on the side you will find the vol up and down and “voice command” button. The main keypad is classic, with some shortcut buttons for calendar, contacts and email. I found the main keypad really easiy to press, and press precisely, but the side rubber buttons (volume/voice recording) were difficult to register. Also, the E51 automatically adjusts its screen brightness and keypad light on/off depending on how much light there is around. It has a light sensor for both the screen and keypad.
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The device exhibits great signal strength, and top notch voice quality. Battery life was very good, 4 hours of talk time, well over 10 days of GSM stand-by, and 3 days of standby when WiFi is constantly registered to a VoIP server (yes, this is good battery life for a WiFi/VoIP). It is very fast to operate, and the interface is spiffy too. Among my favorite features are A2DP support, h.264 QVGA support and of course, VoIP SIP. In fact, most of my calls during the testing period were via GizmoProject’s VoIP network, mostly to Greece. An important thing to note here is that the E51 did not sprang out of VoIP “registration” like the N95 did last summer. The E51 has a very solid implementation of VoIP.
Regarding the apps found on the phone, it’s just the usual Symbian S60 3.1 apps, which I should not repeat again on each Nokia review we publish… It’s got the usual, plus AdobePDF, QuickOffice, Active Notes, Search, plus a camera capture application that makes more sense than the one found on the N-series. Java worked as good as always, with Opera Mini, Gmail and Google Maps support being very fast.
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Now, there are a few negatives on the phone, however some people might not even think of them as such. First of all, there is no camera flash. The camera has a green noise on almost all pictures. The second problem is that the QVGA MPEG4-SP recording is only at 10 fps (sample, right click to save it). I ran my videos on Quicktime and checked their frame rate, it’s just waaaay too low. I hope this is fixed on a new firmware release, because it doesn’t feel great to have a super-fast ARM cellphone with mediocre recording abilities just because Nokia wanted to segmentize their market instead of any real, technical reason. Finally, the last negative point is the higher-than-normal SAR values (radiation) — numbers released by Nokia on their site.
Overall, this is one of the best business phones around, and one of the best phones in general. It’s reliable, it’s thin, it’s a true smartphone and it has super-reliable VoIP. It’s a great upgrade over the E50 and the E60 models, so if you are looking for a good “all-arounder” this is the model to get. AllAboutSymbian seems to agree too.
Rating: 9/10
RAM11 ? I didn’t know that cpu type
Nokia ship phones on boxes now? Cool for people of smaller stature I guess?
I try not to pick at the grammar of non-native English speakers, but this is the second article I’ve read in the last few days (tho one might have been a blog entry) where Eugenia has used “on” instead of “in”.
And you will read many more. I am not likely to change the way I write. Neither anyone is going to proof read around here.
I am not likely to change the way I write.
There’s no need to. Most of us get the message in your reviews without any problem at all.
However, when some pick at the way you write just take it to mean that your review was well received and they couldn’t pick at the subject.
Good job.
Don’t care about whiney people, I think it’s just simply amazing that you find it in yourself to even write articles for free for others to read
And I atleast haven’t seen you spreading any FUD or such here so I have nothing to complain. Sure, I can sometimes disagree with you about something but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate you contributing your time to writing stuff for me to read 
Oh, and on another note..I find it rather stupid that a camera phone with high mega-pixel camera doesn’t have a flash :O I personally wouldn’t touch such a phone even with a stick. And I was just wondering that it’d be cool if someone made a camera phone which would take a picture the instant you press the button instead of waiting like 5 seconds before launching. You always miss the best shots when you gotta wait… :/ Some might argue that that’s what real digital cameras are for but well…not everyone always has a digital camera in their pocket whereas almost everyone has their phone with them all day long.
All you need to remember is:
in – inside
on – on top
vs
on – onside <- not a real word
in – in top <- not a real phrase
This is something *basic*. Which means that if I still confuse it after 10+ years of living in English-speaking countries, it means that this is how my brain is wired (in conjunction to how my native language works), and so that won’t change easily. So don’t waste your time. I don’t.
Sure. You know I’m not *meaning* to offend you. If I was going to *try* to offend you I would make it far, far more obvious 😉
…but the recent Ogg nonsense is a real thumbs-down for you, Nokia.
Refresh your coolness!
It seems to me that the camera/video recorder in most phones is pretty lame. Maybe this is one feature that should just be left out.
So when are we getting these in the states?
I don’t know if it will ever “Come to US” but it is widely available from online retailers. I have been seriously considering picking up one of these phones as a replacement for my Pearl, as I am a big fan of nokia devices. It’s the same size as the pearl but toss in wlan and other goodies.
What gets lost using it in the states is the 3.5G speed. You would be bound to EDGE speed at best unless Nokia spins a ATT 3G version like they did with the N75.
Do you know Nokia’s part number for the US version of this phone? There are many places selling it, like buy.com, but they don’t list if it’s the US version or not.
There is no US part number. The phone is a GSM device, therefore it will work in the states provided you have a GSM provider (TMobile, ATT, Suncom, etc). The caveat being, the phone does not have the 3G frequencies used by the US GSM provider, so you will get EDGE speed at best for data.
The gsm providers in the US use different frequencies than the rest of the world, of course. I think there is a snaffu with the frequencies because the military heisted them for their own bidding.
Are you sure about this? phoneArena says the phone should work on AT&T’s 3G network—http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Nokia-E51-for-business-article-a_20….
Edited 2007-12-12 21:05
I used it with AT&T too, but it seems that I was not on a 3G area at the time. I didn’t see the 3G logo you see.
A few places have it now, with a US warranty. You can check the howardforums thread for those names. Otherwise, go to hi-mobile.net.
this a great nokia smartphone.. ive been waiting for it…. the only drawback is the video thing for me (i hope they fix it with a firmware update)
is already available on many online stores for around 295 ~ 310 U$S but you have to hurry… when a new batch arrives it goes out of stock pretty fast!
http://www.google.com/products?q=nokia+e51&btnG=Search+Products&sco…
My quandry is that I am torn between the E51 and the E61i. Eugenia, and noticeable performance or big gains with the S60 feature pack 1 on the E51 over the E61i?
I think the biggest difference between the two phones is the keyboard (i.e. blackberry fully keyboard) on the E61i vs the standard phone design / keyboard of the E51
Not entirely true. The e51 includes Feature Pack1 which has gotton some great reviews on performance and stability. Some functions like Bluetooth and SIP (VoIP) got completely reworked in Feature Pack 1. The e61i does not support feature pack 1.
Feature Packs are not the same as firmware upgrades.
It is indeed a very nice phone, though I have to confess I never got the Gizmo’s SIP stuff up and running correctly (probably having to do with anal firewalls and routers). Instead I installed fring on it and while I would have preferred the free SIP protocol, at least I have Skype for VoIP. Google Maps also installs and runs fine. Connecting to encrypted WPA/WEP WLAN connections works fine and the 3G connection here in Sweden is ok for data transfer. This brings me to my question.
Does anyone know if there is a Symbian tool or perhaps some SDK code around that can set the WLAN card into ad-hoc/promiscuous mode and lets your phone itself act as a WLAN hotspot? It would be very nice to use the phone as a WLAN bridge to the net via 3G. Bluetooth is the traditional wireless protocol for this, but we all know it is painful to configure, slow compared to WLAN and not possible to share among several clients at the same time. Any ideas? Eugenia?
Fring also supports SIP (starting with version 3.01 IIRC). Tried it successfully with my rather old Nokia 6680 (S60v2). It even worked quite well over GPRS (~56k).
Again 9 out of 10? You guys are quickly losing credibility as reviewers.
Ipod touch: 9/10
Adobe Photoshop 8/10
Nokia E51 9/10
JVC GR-D347US: 8/10
Nokia 6120 Classic: 9/10
Sony Ericsson W580i: 8/10
iLO LCT32HA36 HDTV: 9/10
HTC TyTN-II (“Kaiser”): 9/10
I mean, purely from a statistical point of view, they can’t all be that good, can they?
Edited 2007-12-12 16:53
I guess they are reviewing only the top of the crop devices.
I’m sure there are plenty of bad devices out there.
Maybe, they should review my Nokia 6085 to put things in perspective but yes, it’s difficult to believe that everything deserves such high ratings.
I would imagine that Hi-Mobile.net won’t send them anything that will get a bad review, at least, as far as phones go.
The phone appears to do everything—nice. Too bad it’s missing GPS.
I can’t say you came anywhere close to convincing me why this beats out the N95, N82, E90 or any of the others that could be considered Nokia’s “crown jewel”. Seriously a piss-poor review.
One place in particular IMHO where it beats those devices is size. This guy is almost the exact same size of a blackberry pearl or like a motorola SLVR…none of the other phones have the same pocketability. Outside of the resolution and keyboard, it is basically the exactly a shrunken E90 feature wise…I think features+size is the key difference. Only thing it’s really missing is GPS, but cramming wifi into a device this size if feat enough in itself lol.
Don’t mean to sound like a salesman, I am just looking for the same constructive criticisms, because I have been seriously considering picking up one of these puppies.
This device is expected to come down to $300 in less than a month. Compared to $600-700 N-series devices, this *business* device does the job VERY well. VoIP is its STRONGEST feature. If you want a VoIP phone, that’s the one to get. It performs on that much better than ANY N-series device.
Fair enough, Eugenia, but that still doesn’t explain why it’s their “crown jewel.” It’s marketed far less than any of those that I mentioned.
It is already available from many online retailers in the $299-350 range depending on where you order from. $400 it where most retailers I checked were topping out at.
Eugenia, you should really loose those stuffed animals and rake the leaves up in your yard. I’m mean come on!
That’s not my yard. It is taken care by the owner every Wednesday.
As for the stuffed animals, there is no reason to “loose” them. The last thing you want is to have sheep “loose” in the house.
I was only kidding and I’m in my place.
the screen (like in 6120 classic) is only 2.0″ and that makes the font quite small and unreadable for some people.
I could be wrong, but my understanding of 3g from att was that the phones used separate upload and download frequencies, hence the need for 850+1900 to make a hybrid 3g line. I could be wrong and you only need one of the frequencies. That being the case, I believe 1900 is the more prevalent frequency so it sux either way.
Would be nice to know, that would be icing on the cake. ATTs 3g frequencies are weird is all I know lol..Can anyone clarify and give it a yeah or neh
I have the same basic question/critique as I had with the iPod Touch: for a device thats primary function is a cellular phone, can we get a more descriptive idea of the PHONE abilities than the one sentence of “good reception, top notch voice quality” ? Does anyone know how it stacks up against in areas that normally get bad reception? Voice quality versus a few other types of phones? It is just that after reading, I feel enlightened about everything the phone can do, except be a phone.
This is just a cheap knock-up of a review to serve only to direct traffic to the aformentioned dealership. For a more comrehensive review try this http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_e51-review-193.php or this http://dailymobile.se/2007/12/09/pictures-nokia-e51/#more-2093