Nokia E63 Smartphone Introduced

Nokia has released the E63, a less expensive version of the popular E71 QWERTY smartphone with some features removed.

The E63 is slotted in the middle of Nokia's E-series lineup.

Design and Hardware

From a design perspective, the E63 is similar to the E71, but changed slightly. Instead of a metal body, the E63 has a plastic one, covered with a soft touch paint scheme (ruby red or ultramarine blue).

It is also much thicker than the E71, with a QWERTY keyboard that extends lower on the device. The keyboard features a smaller space bar and two additional keys than the one on the E71.

It supports 3G connectivity, but does not offer HSDPA. unlike the E71 which supports UMTS and HSDPA. Bluetooth 2.0+ EDR and Wi-Fi are included,

On the multimedia side, the E63 has a 2 megapixel camera, 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, support for at least 16 GB microSDHC memory cards, and support for wireless stereo headphones.

The E63 does not have built in GPS, and it is also missing the infrared port that appears on the E71.

It has the same 1500 mAh battery that is in the E71.

Software

The Nokia E63  features the Symbian S60 operating system version 3.1 (Feature Pack 1), which makes it essentially the same as the E71. Feature Pack 1 of the Symbian S60 operating system has matured quite well before this device. PIM, QuickOffice, Adobe Reader LE, and many other applications are standard fare.

Support for Nokia's Mail for Exchange out of the box brings MS Exchange ActiveSync compatibility, which includes email, calendar, contacts, and tasks sync, plus global address book lookup.

Nokia's online files service called Files on Ovi is included, offering 1 GB of space for free.

And the E63 is compatible with several thousand Symbian S60 titles, many of which can be found via the Download! application present on the device.

Availability

The E63 is being rolled out now in Europe. There is no confirmation of this model coming as a North American-specific version, however Nokia  released a European version of the E71 before the North American version, so this might happen again.

The E63 has an estimated retail price of EUR 200, before taxes and subsidies. That's half the cost of the E71 at its launch.

For more information about the Nokia E63 and other E-series smartphones, visit the Nokia website.

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