Nokia E63 triggers double-take

ESPOO, Finland – Deja vu kicks in when you first lay eyes on the new E63, which comes as little surprise considering it has been built on the same well-postured backbone as its sibling the E71. But despite sharing the same skin (although the E63’s has a pinch more colour in its cheeks), these Eseries devices are far from twins.

For the most part they share the same technical DNA, but the new E63 enters the fray at 199 Euros (before taxes and all that other subsidies stuff), making it a different proposition, planting more of a focus on messaging, social networking, and drawing that clear line in the sand between personal communication and work, with both aspects cleanly executed on the same device with one-press profile switching.

So with the E63’s pendulum swinging towards social networking and professional messaging, the handset has been race tuned to strip out excess baggage, enabling it to launch with a significantly lower price tag.

“People use Eseries to access their corporate mail, review their calendar and work in their business network, so the Nokia E63 still includes Wi-Fi connectivity, easy access to Mail for Exchange and dedicated key access to contacts, calendar and email”, explains Soren Petersen, Senior Vice President at Nokia.

Instead of the E71’s 3.2 megapixel camera the E63 comes with 2-megapixels, and GPS has been removed from the equation. Is this an acceptable compromise for the cost, and does it make this an even more appealing option than the E71, or less? Would you rather have had GPS to Wi-Fi? Or is the balance just right? I’m insanely biased here, because I’m a huge fan of the E71, as I know the rest of the Conversations team is, and GPS has become such a staple of my mobile diet, with Maps, Sports Tracker and geotagging playing a daily role. Let me know what you think.

We’ll shortly be posting a video of the E63 in action, so check back later to see in up close and in detail.

Related posts:

• Messaging goes social
• Nokia E63 launches in the US
• Where the phone and the service come together

Tags | e63, e71, eseries, GPS, Nokia, wi-fi