MWC: Nokia Hypes Two Handsets, Updated Navigator

BARCELONA, Spain—Nokia’s first day at Mobile World Congress wasn’t all about software and services, like the company’s Ovi application store, but about products as well. Nokia unveiled three new handsets: the E55 and E75, and an updated version of its GPS-enabled Navigator, the 6710, which has been synched up with Ovi.

The Navigator 6710 boasts a slew of updated features, such as high-resolution aerial images, three-dimensional landmarks for more than 200 cities, terrain maps, weather service, premium travel, and events content and traffic and safety warnings. “[It] provides everything you would expect from a dedicated GPS device with all the benefits of a converged mobile device," said Nokia Vice President Markku Suomi. "We want to make the experience as simple and effective as possible.”

Along with the phone, Nokia is including in-box a car holder; a speakerphone HF-310, which offers echo cancellation and noise reduction technology, is optional. The Navigator also comes equipped with a 5-megapixel camera that comes standard with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash. The GPS capabilities extend to the Navigator’s camera phone capacity as well, Suomi said. “Geo-tagging the exact location a picture is taken is easier than ever," he said.

E-Series and E-Mail

Nokia also announced the release of two E-series models, the E55 and E75, which come equipped with the company's new e-mail user interface as well as Nokia Messaging, which, when added to a company's corporate e-mail clients, allows users to access consumer and corporate e-mail on the go. The enhanced e-mail user interface includes folder and HTML e-mail support, expandable views, and a sorting capability by date, sender and size. The E75 has a sideways slider with a full QWERTY keyboard. Nokia boasts that the E55 is “the world’s thinnest smartphone,” enabled by a 20-key SureType style keypad (think BlackBerry Pearl) that helped Nokia reduce the handset’s size.

"Efficiency is about doing more with less and focusing on what's truly essential," said Nokia Executive Vice President Kai Oistamo. "With direct access to Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes, companies can potentially save up to a third of their operating costs, as there's no need for middleware or additional servers."

Both devices also offer improved calendar capability, as well as contacts and task management. "With the Nokia E75, we took a lot of inspiration from the Nokia 9300, which was our first mini communicator," said Oistamo. "Owners of the Nokia 9300 loved the messaging functionality a full keyboard provided, but also used the traditional phone keypad a great deal. With the Nokia E75, we kept these essential ingredients, significantly upgraded all of the features and made it as compact as possible."

For business owners on the go, the E55 and E75 come loaded with full Nokia Maps and assisted GPS with a three-month license for turn-by-turn navigation. The E75 also comes with Ovi Files, which allows users with files stored on a PC to remotely manage and share them, even when the PC is switched off. The E75 is expected to ship in March, with the E55 following in the second quarter of 2009.