The Nokia E61i is the next step up from the E62, but don’t go throwing your E62 in the trash just yet. As far as upgrades go, this one is minor. There have been some token changes to the design and a camera has been added, but that’s about all. In a way, it is even a downgrade, as the E61i has no contract or support from any of the major U.S. cell companies. This means paying premium prices, which for the E61i is around $400.

Probably the most obvious changes between the E61i and its predecessors comes in the area of design. Even having said that, however, there’s nothing new here that will blow many people out of their socks. They’ve changed the color scheme from silver to brown and silver, for instance, which softens the look a bit. In a step backwards, though, they’ve made some of the controls out of strange white plastic that detracts from the aesthetics of the phone. It’s about the same size as the E62, which is to say it’s a bit on the large side.

The display screen hasn’t come with any modifications in this version of the phone, but we’re not complaining. The E62 got this aspect right, with a brilliant and bright screen with 16 million color capabilities. It is not a touch screen, however, so if you’ve been hoping for one, you’ll want to consider that when shopping for your newest phone.

They’ve done quite a bit to the navigational properties of the E61i, giving you a big QWERTY keyboard and a quick launch button that will help you navigate to your contacts with less of a hassle than before. They’ve also replaced the joystick technology with a scrolling band, which is both a good and bad thing. It’s easier to hit some of the buttons, but at the same time the scroller is kind of difficult to use without hitting the inner wheel.

The calls we made were rather good, even though there was a bit of white noise that could be heard when no one was talking. Still, it provided clear voices and the phone could definitely be recommended from a call quality standpoint alone.

Pros
Improvements made to the keyboard and a very good camera for a cell phone
Bluetooth and plenty of applications in the email program
Quickoffice suite should be appreciated by most business professionals
Cons
The speaker could be a little more powerful
No tie in with any many U.S. phone services
A bit on the expensive side
Overall
Compared to Nokia’s earlier outings, it can’t be said that the E61i is that much of an upgrade. Still, for those who have plenty of money to spend, it is a solid smartphone.