Nokia Tailors E71, E66 for Mobile E-mail

Boasting support for e-mail protocols from Exchange to Gmail, Nokia's new stainless-steel-clad mobile devices put work and personal e-mail together on one phone.

Nokia made an appeal to mobile e-mail addicts on Monday with the launch of two new phones designed specifically to ease the process of checking e-mail in on the go. With support for a vast array of different e-mail protocols, the Nokia E71 and E66 allow users to check both work and personal e-mail with a one-touch setup.

The duo support the common Microsoft Exchange format (popular for work addresses), along with the less-common System Seven and Visto Mobile formats, and even popular personal e-mail services like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Hotmail. After entering the necessary setup information, users are able to pull up e-mail with a single touch, and switch between a work screen and personal screen just as easily.

Though both devices come wrapped in stainless steel bezels, each takes a different approach to user input. The slim E66 gets a smattering of important buttons on the outside and a slide-out numeric keypad inside, while the E71 gets a full QWERTY keyboard outside in exchange for a little more bulk. The E66 also gets an orientation sensor to rotate the screen intelligently and silence the ringer when it’s turned over.

Besides e-mail, both phones also get a host of features that have become near standard on new Nokia offerings, including HSPDA Internet access and a built-in browser, Wi-Fi, Assisted GPS, Nokia Maps, and a 3.2-megapixel camera.

Nokia says both phones will begin shipping in “key markets” (most likely Europe to begin with) in July. Both phones will sport similar price tags of about €350 ($540.68 USD).