Nokia E55

The basics

The Nokia E55 is a non-identical twin of the E52. Both share a slight build and a huge array of features including GPS, Wi-Fi and HSDPA packed into bodies that have barely a shade of difference between them. (Where the E52 is 116x49x9.9mm and 98g the E55 is 116.5x48x9.9 and 95g). The major difference is the text entry system, with the E55 sporting a fancy ‘squeezed’ QWERTY system.

The good

The E55 is packed with features. As well as the above there’s super battery life that Nokia says will give you 18 hours of music playback, 8 hours of talk and up to 23 days on standby. The 2.4 inch display is sharp and bright and an accelerometer means it turns into wide format as you twist the phone in your hand. We like the 3.5mm headset connector too. Nokia has opted to squeeze in a QWERTY layout by pairing A to Z characters up on a single key. With a little time you get used to the text entry system which you can set to either multi tap or predictive text. We’d would have preferred the keys to have more return and give a little click when pressed just to reassure us when working, though.

The bad

There isn’t too much to grumble about here. Okay, if you are a keen Web user the small screen will annoy, and if you like your photography the 3.2-megapixel camera might seem a bit mean. Music fans might want more than the 60MB of built in memory, but a provided 2GB microSD card helps things along, and you can add cards up to 16GB in size.

The bottom line

This is a superbly featured smartphone. It’s more expensive than the E52 SIM free, but if you want the QWERTY option it might be worth splashing the extra cash on this.