With its keyboard and support for push email, Nokia's Symbian-based E61
smartphone is an obvious rival for RIM's BlackBerry devices. Available since June, the E61 uses Nokia's Series 60 third edition user interface and supports 3G networks, Wi-Fi links, and Bluetooth for wireless headsets and satellite navigation kit.

In tests, we were impressed with the ease-of-use of the E61's core features. However, the user interface could be improved when you step beyond the basic functions.

A key feature for mobile executives is the E61's ability to create and edit documents in Microsoft Office format, and read such documents sent as email attachments.

The design of the E61 is reminiscent of BlackBerry devices, with a mini qwerty keyboard underneath the screen. The keyboard is somewhat calculator-like, but well laid out, and we found we could type quite easily using thumbs when editing emails and documents and text messages. The screen is easy to read and uncluttered, with the home screen displaying links to messaging, calendar, web browser, Bluetooth, a clock and calculator functions. Two keys beneath the screen also link to Notes and contacts, the latter enabling users to call a contact by selecting their name.

For our tests, Nokia supplied us with an E61 connected to T-Mobile's 3G network. The E61's browser allowed us to view standard web pages, although download speeds seemed little faster than with some GPRS handsets we have seen. Its centrally placed mini-joystick control lets the user pan and scroll web pages with ease, as well as highlight links to click on.

The E61 supports a wide number of email systems, including Microsoft's ActiveSync protocol to link with Exchange servers. Our handset was configured with a test account on an Exchange server, but we found that test emails sent to the handset did not get delivered speedily, and many were bounced back as undeliverable. This was likely due to problems at the server end, however. The handset also had an executable to install a BlackBerry Connect client to link to BlackBerry mail systems.

Linking to Bluetooth devices is easy; users select the Bluetooth icon on the main screen, from where they can turn Bluetooth on or off and scan for available devices to pair with.

By contrast, the 802.11b/gwireless LAN is more difficult to use than in rival devices. Users must define an access point before they can connect to it, and these settings are buried deep in the menu structure.