The Very Sexy Nokia E66!

Put some lingerie on the Nokia E66, then slap on a business suit over it and you get the super sexy Nokia E66. Not only is the design sexy, but it's metal and not plastic so it feels pretty solid in your hand. I was not worried at all about manhandling the E66 like I have been with previous Nokia's (like the N78).

The E66 comes in White and Grey steel versions, I am using and prefer the Grey steel version. The E66 I reviewed is in Euro 3G flavor but I believe their is a US 3G version floating around out there.

If you build it, they will come
The metal build of the E66 is fan-friggin-tastic. A++ Nokia, I wish all of your phones were built this way. The only drawback to this is the back metal plate is a fingerprint magnet, but wipe it off with your shirt or cloth or live with it...it's not a big deal unless your OCD.

The E66 has a very nice 240x320 TFT screen with an output of 16million colors. I like the size, even though some may prefer a bigger screen.

The main button layout is a little cramped, but to fit all the components into such a small form factor I can forgive Nokia. The keys are customizable as well, so if you want the email key to take you to the internet, a certain application or read your messages, you can do that! The d-pad feels great on your thumb, another great job design wise by Nokia.

Nokia E66 left, Nokia N95-3 right

On the left side of the E66 you'll find the micro-USB port, Infared port, and 2.5mm audio port. (yuck Nokia, 3.5mm please!) A standard Nokia charging port is on the bottom. The back of the phone has a mono speaker (which isn't bad btw) and 3.2 megapixel camera with LED flash.

When you slide open the phone (which is sexy smooth) you're greeted by a very functional keyboard that I would say is probably my favorite on a slider.

Business never sounded so good
The reception on the E66 varied. It was not as good as my N95-3 or the E71 and N78 that I demoed, but was much better than many non-Nokia's I have used in the past. Since I'm rating this against other Nokia's I would give it a B-, sometimes dropping signal in the fringe areas, and a few times dropping calls in good signal areas. To be fair, this could also be at&t's network.

Sound quality was outstanding on the E66. The main speaker seems to be a little quiet, but not so much I couldn't hear. The speaker worked very nicely for playing MP3's, although was a little tinny at times. The lack of stereo sound was also noticeable, especially when coming from an N-series phone. The Speakerphone worked rather well, although the caller on the other end sometimes had trouble understanding me.

Lights, Camera, Action!
The E66 sports an FM radio, Nokia's built in music player, and a 3.2megapixel camera. It does have Nokia's proprietary 2mm headset jack, but you can get an adapter for a regular headset or go the a2dp route with some bluetooth headphones. The music player was typical Nokia, not bad for a business phone but no Ipod. The sound was actually really good via headphones though (used through an adapter). Tie in some bluetooth headphones, Nokia's Sport Tracker software with the built in accelerometer, and you got a possible Ipod replacement!

The camera can be a sore subject, depending on what you're used to. If you have an N-series Nokia or a good Sony-Ericsson camera phone, than you may be disappointed with the E66's offering. On the other hand, if you are used to other business phones like the E61/E62/E71 or any Blackberry/HTC model, the camera on the E66 is suprisingly good...I would actually say it's one of the better camera's on a business phone.

Save for one software glitch in my E66. The accelerometer kept the picture upside down every time I took a picture...not only annoying but difficult to take a good pic.

Web browsing was fast via the web, but I'll avoid talking speeds due to not having a US 3G version. The WiFi connection works well though, and streaming youtube was great via WiFi.

Put on your suit and tie
What the E66 is made for, business! The E66 is fully syncable with your Outlook Calendar/Contacts/Tasks/Notes via Nokia PC Suite. The E66 also comes with Mail for Exchange which can sync your exchange mail/calendar/contacts/ etc... wirelessly. MFE works very well, as I got email pushed to my phone very quickly when it was received in my inbox. The only problem I have with MFE is that it does not sync folders in Outlook mail. I also used Seven Beta Mail which works very well for the same reasons but will sync folders, although it is a battery hog.

I think some business users may be put off that the phone doesn't have a QWERTY keyboard, which I can understand. If you are a looking for a business phone and you:

-don't send many emails, just want to receive
or
-are a master of T9

than the E66 could possibly be your perfect phone. IMO, QWERTY on a phone is not a whole lot faster than T9, but that's another discussion all together.

Let's Make a Connection
The E66 comes with every connection possible (except 3.5mm headset, but hey this isn't a music phone)
-WiFi
-Bluetooth
-IrDa (Infared)
-EDGE/3G (U.S. and Euro variants)
-AGPS

WiFi worked great, and switching from WiFi to EDGE was a breeze using Psiloc Connect. Psiloc Connect is a whole other review, but allows you to switch seemlessly between connections and is software I would absolutely recommend buying alongside Handy Taskman.

The GPS is pretty solid, taking about 10-15 seconds to lock on with a good Internet signal. I'm not a fan of Nokia maps though, as they charge extra for voice navigation, but it does work well. If you're cheap like me stick with Google Maps and GPS, gives you turn by turn directions just no voice.

Check under the hood
The UI on the E66 is still FP1, which isn't necessarily a bad thing since I didn't see much improvement besides graphical with FP2.

The UI is pretty standard fare S60 with some improvements. I love the active standby...all phones should have this option. The E66 allows you to have shortcuts to 6 of your favorite apps on the home screen, and also access to your email, internet telephone, WiFi hotspots, Calendar, tasks, missed calls, voicemail and message notifications, search and is all customizable! So if you wanted to just see email, voilah, you can remove all the other features shown.

One of my favorite new things on the E-Series models is the "switch" application which allows you to have custom home screens and themes for work and for play. Nice touch with this one Nokia!

My only true complaint about the UI is that it's not more customizable like Windows phones. I would love to be able to pick what I want on the active standy such as a large clock or maybe local weather. Not a dealbreaker though.

Smart and Sexy
The E66 is possibly my favorite phone design and build wise. It felt great in my hand, the slide was super smooth, and the keypad/buttons felt like they were attached to my hand. I know some people question the red power button, but hey I dig it.

The accelerometer is a neat little gadget, but IMO totally unecessary on the phone. The auto rotation occassionally got annoying, but can be turned off if you want.

For business power users, I would probably stick with a QWERTY device...especially if you edit alot of docs/send alot of emails (unless you're a T9 wizard as stated earlier).

If you are looking for a small, sexy phone, that can sync your business data quickly and easily, this is one of the best phones you can buy.

Not Recommended for :
Power Media Users, Power Business Users

Recommended for :
Moderate to Light Business users

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