Cool Yule rating: 4 stars
Price: $450
Buy this at Amazon.com
Description: The E65 is one of the industry’s best selling smart phones. In fact, Nokia sold more than 1 million E65s in the last quarter alone. This is a heavy-duty business phone for the power user who needs to be connected all the time and is willing to pay $450 for a device that will deliver. The quad-band E65 does it all – Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, instant messaging client, MMS, SMS, e-mail, Web, VoIP.
The phone has a slider handset that’s cool and easy to use, plus the back of the phone has a nice, leathery feel. The display is incredible. And the phone uses a combination of command keys plus what Nokia calls “one-touch keys”, which are located on a raised rim that surrounds the main keypad. I found this somewhat tricky, because you have to hit the rim keys just right, otherwise you’re also pressing on the inside set of keys.
In terms of strengths and weaknesses, this isn’t a spiffy camera-phone (only 2 megapixels) or a great multi-media device, and there’s no QWERTY keyboard. But its focus is straight-ahead business functions such as calling, messaging, e-mail, Web access and calendaring. If that’s what you’re looking for, this phone has a proven track record of success.
