Nokia E66 Cell Phone Review - Value & Comparisons

Value (4.0)
The Nokia E66 will be sold directly from Nokia in the U.S. as an unlocked phone that will work on AT&T or T-Mobile's GSM networks, although support for 3G will only function on AT&T. Nokia had not announced pricing and release date as of the writing of this review, but the phone is expected to become available in the third quarter of 2008 for about $500. As an unlocked phone you won't be getting any kind of discount for signing up for a contract for the E66, which makes the $500 estimated price rather steep for most users. The E66 is certainly a capable device, although we do have concerns about battery life, but asking someone to spend $500 for any phone means that its going to be out of reach for most users. With devices like the BlackBerry Pearl, Blackjack II and iPhone providing many of the same features as the E66 at a fraction of the price we can't call the E66 a good value. Of course those who hate signing a contract with a carrier may see it as a bonus that they can buy a phone like the E66 unlocked at full price.

Comparisons

Palm Centro - The Palm Centro is a fully featured smart phone that gives users 80% of the E66's capabilities at on fifth the price, with a contract. Even when you consider the unlocked price for the Centro at $299 it's two hundred dollars less than the E66. If you want a more capable camera, 3G connectivity, GPS, Wi-Fi or any of the other things that the E66 brings over the Centro the difference in price may be worth it, but we believe most users will be better off saving $400 and buying a Centro from your carrier.

BlackBerry Pearl 8130 - The Pearl is a very capable smart phone combing RIM's powerful BlackBerry OS with traditionally great email functionality. It also compares better to the Nokia E66 than the Centro in that it supports Verizon's 3G network, has GPS functionality and its two megapixel camera actually takes photos almost as good as the E66's. This makes it difficult to pick the E66 over the Pearl when you consider that you can pick up a Pearl 8130 from Verizon for only $99 with a two-year contract.

Nokia N82 - Nokia's N-Series devices are their line of consumer and multimedia focused devices, as contrasted to the E-Series devices that are focused on business functions. The difference are slight, under the hood both the N82 and the E66 run Symbian Series 60, although the N82 has a slightly upgraded version of the software. In terms of price they will both cost you north of $500 as an unlocked device. The N82 has a better camera than the E66, amongst the best for both still and video we've seen on a mobile device. The E66, on the other hand, has support for AT&T's 3G network, although the poor battery life this resulted in may lead you to turn that support off. We're going to call this one a toss-up, if you like the E66's business enhancements and can either live with the battery life or turn off 3G go with it. If you want a more powerful camera and don't care about 3G go with the N82.

Samsung Blackjack II - The Blackjack II is a very capable Windows Mobile device that is the equal of the E66 in many ways and beats it out in terms of battery life and the inclusion of a QWERTY keyboard. This last does make the Blackjack II a larger device, if that matters to you the E66 might be a better choice. The E66's camera is also much better than the Blackjack II, which frankly takes terrible photos. The big kickers for us, however, is that both devices will run on AT&T's 3G network but the Blackjack II's call time was over 75% better than the E66 and its available at one fifth the price.

LG enV2 - The enV2 is our only comparison device that isn't a fully featured smart phone. This puts it at a disadvantage compared to the Nokia E66 in that it can't compare with the organizer and email features you get on the E66. The enV2 does have a nice QWERTY keyboard, however given how fast we were able to type on the E66's keypad this may not be as big an issue. The E66's camera was better than the enV2 in terms of resolution, but the enV2 did better with color fidelity. The big difference, as with most of our comparisons, is price, with the enV2 available for $150 with a contract. We liked the enV2 a lot and if you don't need a smart phone its definitely one to consider over the E66, but if you want raw capabilities the E66 is the way to go here.