Nokia E61: The pre-iPhone

Rumors and rumors. Will Apple's iPhone be coming? When? What will it look like? Will it be the 'one more thing' in January?

I don't know. And I am not sure if I care. Of course I am curious for it because I'm totally addicted to mobile devices (I stopped counting how many I used years ago) and I always dreamed of Apple joining the cellular market.
But know there is a romance that seems to be quite stable for a relationship between me and a cellular device.
I found the Nokia E61. Using it for several months now I come to the conclusion that this is as perfect as I expect the iPhone to be (if it will see the light of reality). But why?
Keeping out a philosophical discussion whether you like Nokia or not the E61 focusses on the thing you really need. These are usability, compatibility and integration.

It is operated by one of the most elegant mobile operating systems these days - S60 3rd Edition - which is easy to use and looking really nice while the device doesn't even need a touchscreen to be handled. You really have to try it if you want to find out about all its elegance and usability. It's just hard to describe (as I am not able to use words for describing the advantages of Mac OS). It just works fine.

The full QWERTY keyboard finds a nice balance between not blowing up the device's size too much and it's usability.This again in combination with a not too sensible joystick makes operable with just one hand for everything (try to enter a new appointment into your calendar on a touch screen device with stylus. I am not talking about a situation when the device lies on a table).

Most applications you need are coming directly with the operating system just like Mac OS. And as we talk about this best-mother-OS-in-the-world the E61 can be integrated to iSync and even be synchronized with iTunes. Memory is limited to the size of your miniSD card. Watching videos and movies on the go is really fun with the excellent screen and really mobile.
Like for Mac OS Tiger there are some kind of dashboard widgets available (called 'widsets') and the metal design fits perfectly to the design of Apple's Pro product line.

If you need any more applications or functionality you can choose from a large offer of 3rd party software (which is not as large as the 3rd party market for Windows Mobile or PalmOS but these device don't combine all the other mentioned advantages).

All this comes for less than $450 and in dimensions of 17 mm x 69,7 mm x 14 mm with a weight of only 144g.

Apple, we trust in you - I think this will be hard to beat. But let's see...

Related news: P4MR, Weblog, Blog, Citizen Media, Nokia, E61, E62, S60, Apple, iPhone