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Review: Nokia E66

The smoked chrome accents and glass buttons on Nokia’s newest business handset make you wonder what kind of business, exactly, the Finns had in mind when they designed the thing. Maybe this is the phone the high-class-escort set has been clamoring for. Nokia E66 5/10 Learn How We Rate Wired A magnificent piece of hardware, […]
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Rating:

5/10

WIRED
A magnificent piece of hardware, with Vertu-level build quality. Nice form factor: thin enough to disappear in your pocket but large enough for a 2.5-inch screen. Upgraded processor runs S60 even more snappily than the N95 8GB. Automatic screen orientation. Finger-friendly textured keys. Hard buttons for silent mode and Bluetooth on/off.
TIRED
Mullet mode adds yet another level of menus under which to bury functions. Arrgh! Swanky metal backplate gets hand-scaldingly hot. Road warriors will scoff at the battery life: around three hours of talk time (con Bluetooth). Attention Finland: You're charging five Benjamins for a business device; I shouldn't pay extra for business applications -- document, spreadsheet editor, etc. Side-mounted volume buttons offer scant tactile feedback. Camera sucks in anything but perfect light, serving up a heaping spoonful of image noise and low dynamic range.

The smoked chrome accents and glass buttons on Nokia's newest business handset make you wonder what kind of business, exactly, the Finns had in mind when they designed the thing. Maybe this is the phone the high-class-escort set has been clamoring for.

Working girls (and guys – hey we're equal opportunity here) will certainly appreciate what we in the lab have taken to calling the "mullet button" (actual name: switch mode). This feature of the S60 refresh (3rd Edition, Feature Pack 1) allows your mobile to toggle between two separate screen modes. Keep the first one full of all your spreadsheets, work e-mail, TPS reports and other boring business stuff. When you leave the office, let your hair down a little and switch to the personal mode and start using all the applications that hamper productivity or just may be not safe for work. Unless, of course, you're a high-class escort, then your entire profession is predicated on being NSFW.

The E66 has a lot in common with an N-series device, and is functionally almost identical to the N78, sporting 3G, Wi-Fi, media player, FM radio and a 3.2*-megapizzle* cam. But there is one overarching quality that puts it squarely in the business world: Like many jobs, it sounds great at first, but gets old real fast once you see past the shine.