Nokia Launches E52

Cell Phones — on May 7, 2009 at 10:15 am | 1 Comment

I’ve never been much of a fan of touchscreen phones. And I’ve never been such a fan of QWERTY phones either. For me, I prefer the candybar form factor. And for me, I’ll take nothing but a standard alphanumeric keypad, thank you very much. And so I’ve got myself a Nokia E51 the week it was launched, and so far I’m satisfied. Someone actually loaned me an iPhone and an HTC phone with touchscreen and QWERTY keypad, and I didn’t get to appreciate them much.

And now Nokia announces the successor to the E51, another much awaited addition to the veritable business-line E-series: the Nokia E52. And wow! Does it impress!

Nokia Conversations talks about the E52, and highlights the battery life. It has a super call time and standby time, indeed. Imagine, eight full hours of talk time. That’s enough to last a business day. And 23 days of standby time? You can get stuck in the middle of nowhere, and still get your business deals done.

This is truly a business phone, judging from the specs and the looks. I love my E51, even with the drab, unimpressive looks. But my E51 has 3G, HSDPA and WiFi, which are features that a modern road-warrior businessman would consider life-saving especially during those instances when you absolutely must check on your email while riding the cab as you roam abroad for a convention or meeting.

The E52 ups the ante, with the addition of GPS, HSUPA, and a flash, and a front-facing camera (the e51 only had a camera at the back, and it didn’t have a flash).

And all this in a smaller package. The E52 is almost paper-thin at 9.9 millimeters, while its predecessor, the E51 was about 13 mm. The E52 includes other features you would expect in a business phone, like email capabilities, synchronization with Microsoft Outlook and ActiveSync, MicroSD expansion, Bluetooth, and a host of other features.

Still, the E52 is not all work. Multimedia lovers will appreciate the fact that the E52 has a 3.5mm audio jack–compatible with most conventional earphones and headsets out there. And the front-facing camera will be ideal for video calls, too–great for calling the wife or junior while you’re in business trips abroad. The E52 also features the dual home-screen mode introduced in the E65, which lets you switch between business mode and home mode.

Still not convinced? I think the best feature of the E52 is its price. Pegged at about $320 standalone (without a plan or lock-in), I think this is a good deal!