Heavy metal
Smartphone minus the bulk and hefty price tag
The Nokia E50 looks like a typical candybar mobile phone made handsome. Once you switch it on though, you'll be surprised that such a small phone supports the S60 OS, which is used by higher-end—and bulkier—Nokia N-series handsets.
The unit sports a predominantly metal solid housing with keys big enough for large fingers. But what makes the E50 more attractive is its rich 240x320-pixel QVGA display; the ideal partner for a first-rate interface. Even its web browser cashes in on the unit's display, ably supporting the full version of lengthy websites. So, imagine what a delight it would be to enjoy music and video streaming using its browser—until you realize that the phone isn't 3G-capable.
To compensate for the lack of 3G, the E50 has a nifty Nokia Office Tools feature, which allows you to read PDF, Word, Powerpoint, Zip, and Excel files—which works on files sent via Bluetooth, as an email attachment, or syncing through the included USB cable. These applications emphasize that the unit is indeed more of a business phone rather than a multimedia unit. As such, there really isn't much to expect from its built-in 1.3-megapixel camera. Although photo quality is decent, picky users may be put-off that it doesn't have photo-light and that video quality leaves a lot to be desired—as if busy professionals have time to go cam-whoring.
Other features that underscore its business appeal is its Teams function, which is like forming a group in your contacts list made more professional. Within a team, you can play big boss by organizing conference calls for up to six participants, sending messages, and sharing significant web links at ease. And to further satisfy your CEO urges, the phone provides you a secretary of sorts, which dictates your SMS messages (be wary of Filipino messages, though, as the results can be hilarious) and moreover, which you can order around too, with voice command not just for hands-free dialing, but also to open most applications.
And to further please the true control freak slash hands-on boss, the E50 supports Open Mobile Alliance Device Management (OMA DM), which provides added security by allowing you over-the-air locking of the handset and deletion of files both from the phone's internal memory as well as in an attached storage media, among others.
Those looking for a fun, multimedia handset may not appreciate the business features that the E50. Those searching for a business phone, though, need not look further — and need not dig deeper into your pockets. Chrissy D. Icamina
NOKIA E50 | P15,760
www.nokia.com.ph
TECH Symbian OS 9.1, Series 60 3rd edition. 1.3-megapixel camera. Quad-band. 256K-color, 240x320-pixel QVGA display. 70MB embedded memory with microSD card slot. Bluetooth. OMA DM. Dimensions of 113.5x43.5x15.5mm with 104g weight.
LOVE Great OS and interface. Support for most Office files. Added security. Good battery life.
HATE Mediocre camera.
WE SAY Incredibly beefy and brainy for a compact phone with a reasonable price tag.
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T3 Magazine Philippines - December 2006 Issue
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 NOKIA E50
Fast fact
The E in "E series" stands for Enterprise, like the famous Star Trek starship. This one doesn't do warp speed though.
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