EngadgetMobile reports that the Nokia E61 S60 smartphone is finally shipping.

From the news release:

“The Nokia E61 is designed in the familiar style of today’s most popular mobile email devices. Yet it is incredibly slim and packed with powerful new functionality. A cinch to use with either hand, the device has a four-way joystick and full keyboard combined with a wide 16 million color screen making mobile email easier than ever before. Supporting multiple mobile email clients like BlackBerry Connect, GoodLink, Nokia Business Center, Seven Mobile Mail, Seven Always-On Mail, and Visto Mobile, the Nokia E61 provides seamless and encrypted mobile connectivity. Full attachment handling (documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDF viewer and ZIP manager) and an editing function (document, spreadsheet and presentation) are included. The Nokia E61 also includes the same advanced business call features and IP-based telephony functions as the Nokia E60 and Nokia E70. The Nokia E61 can send and receive emails, even when on a phone call. The Nokia E61 operates in GSM850/900/1800/1900 and WCDMA2100 networks.”

Nokia E61 Reviews

Infosync reviews the Nokia E61 and concludes, “The E61 does what Nokia does best: connects people. Its all-encompassing connectivity setup is exploited in full by a broad line-up of quality messaging, office and browsing applications which run in tandem with a superb screen and more than decent thumbboard. Granted, it’s not among the most powerful business phones nor does it fare well in the department of synchronization - but the latter is at long last addressable by several third party solutions. Sprinkle with handy utilities, attention to detail, good battery life and a compact form factor, and you end up with a very solid business phone contender indeed.”

Australian IT reviews the Nokia E61 and finds the real strength of the handset is in its quad-band phone application: “Not only does this mean you can travel the globe and phone home from most places (Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific, North and South America, in fact wherever GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and WCDMA 21000 networks are supported), but there is also the capacity for multimedia messaging — for text, voice clips, video clips and still images, which can be received, edited at will and forwarded to other.”

OSNews reviews the Nokia E61 and concludes, despite some of the issues that came up, that “Overall, this is actually a great device. Remember, this is the first of its kind coming out from Nokia. In my opinion, this device is much more stylish than either the Treo or the Blackberry, and its voice features works very well. In my opinion, this device can even replace PDAs on the enterprise, as more and more third party applications are ported every day to this updated S60 platform. I like this phone very much, despite of some of its bugs due to the young age of the firmware.”

Trusted Reviews reviews the Nokia E61 and is pretty impressed with the phone. Battery life, for example, was impressive. Overall: “The E61 does what you’d expect a mobile email device to do, retrieving email and catering for viewing and editing of attachments – though it could do with .rtf and PDF file support in its arsenal. Its ergonomics are very good, with a particularly strong keyboard and mini joystick. The Web browser lets it down on the software side, though. 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and infra red cater for flexible connections. I can live without a camera very easily and battery life superb.”

3G reviews the Nokia E61 and writes, “Obviously cramming a reasonable mini keyboard and relatively large screen into a pocket sized device means it needs to be bigger than the average handset, and in fact not surprisingly the E61 is about BlackBerry sized. It has 64MB of built in memory for you to fill, and supports miniSD cards if you need more. Nokia has put the card slot under the battery cover but not under the battery, so you can hotswap cards if necessary.”

MobileBurn has a review of the Nokia E61 and writes, ” the E61 has a very nice, large 320×240 display that is capable of displaying up to 16 million different color shades. The 2.8″ diagonal display fills the entire width of the E61, even though it has a lower resolution than those found on devices such as the N80. … The device does most everything, save take a photo, and does it exceptionally well. From the business user’s perspective, the vast push email support and full functionality that comes from a fine web browser backed by EDGE, UMTS, and WiFi network connections means that the E61 can take care of some serious work. … It might not be the lightest or thinnest QWERTY phone on the market, but it is one of the most usable. I give it a “Highly Recommended” rating, with the hopes that the IMAP email support will get straightened out.”

IT Reviews has a review up of the Nokia E61, and writes, “Based around Symbian Series 60 third edition, there isn’t a lot that this handset can’t do right out of the box. Wi-Fi and infra-red are here, in addition to Bluetooth. The handset is 3G as well as quad-band GSM. The 64MB of built-in memory can be boosted with miniSD cards. … Mobile e-mail devices for power users, like the E61, aren’t meant to be sylph-like. They need a good screen and usable keyboard. Nokia has that covered here. They also benefit from plenty of connectivity options and a strong range of built-in software. Another tick in the box. The lack of a camera could be a problem for some, but if past evidence is anything to go by it won’t be enough on its own to hold the E61 back.”

OhGizmo has a review up of the Nokia E61 and writes, “The build quality of the E61 is top-notch and the device feels incredibly sturdy and solid. Like a lot of other reviews have mentioned the majority of the weight on the phone is located in the upper section but it never really feels top-heavy at all when holding it. … The screen on the E61 is fantastic and will probably be one of its biggest selling points. It’s as crisp and bright as the screens used on the DS Lite and PSP and even works great out in full sunlight. … Before the E61 came along I will admit I was not a fan of Nokia’s phone offerings but I’m quickly being converted. The company has been in this business a long time and to me the E61 shows they really know what they’re doing. All I can say is ‘Highly Recommended.’ ”

CNET reviews the Nokia E61 and writes, “Though its performance as a phone was great, the Nokia E61 occasionally slowed to a crawl when opening and switching apps. MP3 playback wasn’t bad. Volume was adequate through the phone’s speakers, but we didn’t have a chance to test the quality through a pair of headphones. Video performance was also satisfactory. … The Nokia E61 certainly isn’t for everyone, but with its powerful productivity apps, connectivity options, and good call quality, the smart phone will make a good addition a corporate user’s arsenal.”

MobileTechReview has a review up of the Nokia E61 and writes, “It’s the best browser we’ve ever seen on a mobile device, combining the best of Thunderhawk, Opera and Safari in one package (no, it doesn’t really use Thunderhawk or Opera technology but it does share some of the same features). … High style, a QWERTY keyboard, WiFi and durability have finally converged, thanks to the Nokia E61. The phone is stunning looking and happily it works just as well as it looks. It beats the BlackBerry on expansion, style, durability and multimedia features, though its keyboard isn’t quite as good. While Palm OS is getting long in the tooth, Symbian OS 9 and S60 3rd Edition are much fresher and more powerful (faster networking, multitasking and more). And it competes strongly against Windows Mobile devices, being more responsive and perhaps a bit more secure.”

Brighthand has a review up of the Nokia E61 and writes, “With only a 206 MHz processor and a paucity of RAM, the E61 won’t win any PDA smack downs. I am not an apologist for Nokia here, but so far I have not found the CPU speed or lack of memory to be a problem. Most applications open quickly — the exception being Java applications. … The E61 is pretty close to the perfect device for a user like me. It gives me lots of options in terms of connectivity, platforms and ways to use the phone. … With a few quirky exceptions, I can not imagine a mobile professional that would not want the E61 over a Palm or Blackberry (and maybe even a Windows Mobile) device. Why? Because the E61 does everything that those devices are known for and does them well with a minimum of compromises.”

TechWorld has a review up of the Nokia E61 and writes, “Any review of an E-series phone is inevitably partly a review of the Symbian operating system and Nokia’s series 60 platform built onto it. In weeks of use we found it to be reliable. Basic functions are fairly easy to find, and more complex ones became straightforward once we had mastered the routes through a menu structure somewhat different from that of Windows Mobile phones or smartphones. … Overall, this is a phone we would be happy to call our own. It has limitations - it is large at 69.7mm wide by 117mm deep, and at 144g quite heavy, and is also too business-like to include a camera. But these are all by-products of its virtues.” Link.

Pocket-lint has a review up of the Nokia E61 and writes, “The Nokia E61 is one of many smartphone options available from T-Mobile and it’s clear that it’s an alternative to the BlackBerry - or the company’s own branded Vario range - rather than a replacement. The real crux of whether you choose the E61 over the BlackBerry or the Treo isn’t down to services, as they both offer a similar package, but whether you prefer the screen, the keyboard and the overall look of the hardware. … A solid phone that offers plenty for the business user afraid to leave the comfort of the Nokia interface.” Link.