Nokia's E51 smartphone has a slim design and Wi-Fi compatibility, but lacks a front-facing camera for videoconferencing and produces below-average picture quality. As with any electronics device, you should take the E51's advantages and disadvantages into consideration before pulling the trigger on the purchase.
Memory
With just 130MB of built-in memory, adding memory to the Nokia E51 is more of an eventuality than a possibility. The phone comes with a built-in microSD card slot for up to 16GB of expanded memory. The device supports microSD cards, which are available in an assortment of capacities up to 2GB, and microSDHC cards, which are produced in capacities between 2GB and 32GB. With this much room for expansion, not to mention the diversity of card possibilities, the E51 is well-suited to handle the addition of large-scale files, such as music and videos.
Battery Life
One of the E51's biggest disadvantages is its battery life. A standard lithium-polymer battery provides the phone with up to 4.4 hours of talk time and up to 312 hours -- 13 days -- of standby time. Compared to similar devices on the market at the time of publication, these times rank below the seven-hour average for talk time and the 437-hour average for standby time. Since the phone was released in 2007, you're likely to get even shorter battery times, especially if the phone contains its original battery. You can help prolong the phone's battery life by minimizing the display screen's brightness level and shortening its sleep mode timer.
Camera and Messaging
The E51 is equipped with a 2-megapixel camera that captures still images at resolutions up to 1,600 by 1,200 pixels and captures video at 320 by 240 pixels. Digital zoom gives the phone added photographic functionality. The phone supports mobile email through connections to a SMTP, POP3 or IMAP4 server and instant messaging through third-party clients such as Yahoo!, AOL and Microsoft. You can also send and receive text, voice, video and picture messages using the phone's multimedia messaging function. The phone does lack push email, which delivers incoming email directly to the phone and does not require you to log in and manually check for new messages.
Miscellaneous
The Nokia E51 accesses the 2G network using GSM technology on the 850, 900, 1,800 and 1,900 frequency bands, making it a quad-band phone that is capable of accessing 2G networks worldwide. The phone also connects to the 3G network using HSDPA technology on the 850 and 2,100 frequencies and is Wi-Fi compatible. Using the phone's Wi-Fi feature will provide you with data transfer speeds of up to 54 megabits per second, which is considerably faster than HSDPA's rate of 3.6 Mbps. Using the phone's Wi-Fi can also save you from using your data plan's monthly data allotment.
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