Nokia E6: It is all about interface

Price: Rs 17,500

Features: 2.46-inch touchscreen, 680Mhz processor, 256MB RAM, 8GB storage, Symbian Anna, 8MP fixed focus camera, 720p video, 133g

Pros: build quality, web browsing

CONs: small display for touch use, average quality camera

NEW DELHI: It might be having a rough ride of late, thanks to the efforts of iOS and Android, but there are few who doubt Nokia's ability to churn out quality handsets for the enterprise through its famous E Series. And amongst the latest in that segment is the E6, Nokia's first candybar device to feature both a fullQWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen.

There are more firsts, it is the first phone in the E series to run the latest flavour of Symbian, Anna, and is also the first candybar in the series to come with an eight megapixel camera. It is also choc-a-bloc with the usual E Series goodie, connectivity options galore (Wi-Fi,3G, GPS, you name it), easy e-mail set-up, and lots of bundled software, along with 8GB of internal memory (with support for a 32GB memory card) and a 2.44 inch display with an unusually high resolution for the size (640 x 480 pixels).

And all this comes packed in a body that is definitely eye-catching.Nokia has clearly taken the best out of both the E71 and E72 in terms of looks, retaining metal accents on the front, a steel panel on the back, and serving up a spacious, four-row QWERTY keyboard (with a large spacebar, something we missed in the E72), in a frame that looks solid in spite of being just 10.5 mm thin.

But the E6 is not really about specs or looks, it is all about interface. And for the most part, it works a charm. The 2.44 inch touchscreen (capacitive, incidentally) might seem a bit small to some but it is just perfect for tasks like selecting items, hitting login buttons and scrolling through options or screens (you start out with four customisable homescreens on which you can park application shortcuts and widgets).

Speaking of which, there are no Menu and Options hardware buttons on this device, you need to touch the screen to make them work. Anna has considerably improved the appearance of Symbian, the icons are more colourful and the interface itself is more touch-friendly. The browser has been improved significantly with support for tabs and better and faster page rendering, you can even scroll up and down by tapping the upper or lower part of the display.

Traditional strengths like multi-tasking have been retained and Nokia has thrown in some excellent third-party software to sweeten the deal such as JoikuSpot, QuickOffice and the F-Secure security package. The bright display (326 ppi) is great for watching pictures and videos, call quality is very good, and battery lasts comfortably for a day and a half with widgets and mail in full cry.