Hands-on with new Nokia phones

We road-tested new Nokia phones for style and substance

In a move to capture the fashion-phone crowd, Nokia seems increasingly intent on making sure they emphasize style and substance. At CES, the company introduced several new models, and we tested two of them hands-on.

The new 7510, which will come out in the next few weeks as a T-Mobile phone, has two trendy features. One is an OLED display on the outer casing that looks embedded into the phone. You can see the time, an incoming call, and watch a quick sparkling illumination that’s eye-catching and unique. Secondly, the casing itself is removable so you can replace it with a different color. In a hands-on test, the phone felt light (at 4.3 ounces) compared to the N97 and sleek enough that it fit in a short pocket. The display inside the phone (2.2 inches, 240×320, 16M colors) is noticeably clearer than some previous fashion-phone models. The phone also has a 2 megapixel camera with a 4X digital zoom.

The E63 – announced for the US market but already available overseas – will sell for $279 as an open unlocked phone. It has a QWERTY keyboard and runs on the Symbian S60 Third Edition OS. In testing the phone and the latest OS, it’s obvious that Nokia is serious about making the software more useable. We used the new Ovi for Files sync software in a test and found that the system works quite well: you can see files located on the Ovi.com site, and sync them with your phone and your PC at home to always keep the latest files just a click away.

Watch our video on the new Nokia phones