Nokia E55 review

The usual email suspects are supported (IMAP4, Mail for Exchange, POP3 and SMTP) and the handset locked onto our Wi-Fi network quickly and easily. Message volume is flagged next to the mailbox on the home screen – as are other items such as missed calls and the like – so you can, at least try to, keep on top of the deluge. Although, as outlined above, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to speed reply to any emails.

That said, just being able to keep track of what’s happening in the office when you’re not there is useful in itself.

Web browsing is also a pleasant experience on the E55, with IT PRO loading quickly and the home screen rendering surprisingly well. Although there’s no multi-touch or other whizzy features, moving around the page is still quite easy and the user experience isn’t really adversely affected. Being able to search for keywords on the page, for example, is a simple but welcomed touch.

QuickOffice is also present and correct, as is a PDF reader and other handy productivity tools including a wireless presenter feature.

There’s a 3.2megapixel camera on board, which serves up good quality images and boasts a dedicated zoom and solid LED flash. Once you’ve taken a shot, you can then send it to friends or colleagues or share it online, add to an album, obtain details or delete. Icons for these tasks appear on the right-hand side of the screen with text describing what they do appearing as you scroll down - although they are quite self-explanatory. Video recording isn’t too shabby either (at 15fps) although it struggled a bit under artificial lighting, resulting in a slightly darker than expected image.

A digital compass and Nokia’s Ovi Maps are on board too and we were mightily impressed with how responsive the app is on this handset. It locked onto our location quickly and easily – mere seconds - despite being on a coach en route to Birmingham and then continued tracking and updating our location effortlessly.

When Nokia first announced the E55 back at Mobile World Congress in February, it touted the device as being optimised for efficiency and offering “one click access to the most commonly use programs.” Aside from our gripes about the keyboard – which Nokia claims you’ll be able to use with the same ease of a normal keypad with practice – we’d have to agree that it does live up to its claims.

Quoted battery life figures are 29 days of standby and eight hours of talktime and during our fairly heavy use tests, we’d say they’re quite honest estimates. That said, if you’re using email, Wi-Fi or the like a lot, it’s worth keeping more of a close eye on juice levels.

Looks aren’t everything and in these days of touch screen dominance, it’s nice to see that a humble Symbian device can still hold its own.