CES 2009: Nokia Bringing E63 Smartphone To The U.S.CES 2009: Nokia Bringing E63 Smartphone To The U.S.

Nokia first introduced the E63 smartphone back in November. It is a solid little smartphone that offers a good feature set at a great price point. Today, Nokia announced that it will be available in the United States.I wasn't overly impressed when I first read the news of the E63. It is a more mass-market-minded version of the brilliantly executed E71. It loses the E71's metallic skin, drops the camera quality from 3.2 megapixels to 2 megapixels, and also ditches autofocus. It also loses the E71's HSDPA 3G speediness, substituting slower WCDMA instead.

It is also a tad bit thicker than the E71, but it is still thin enough that you're not really going to notice. The soft-touch paint job on the exterior plastics feels good in the hand, and the weight is nicely balanced. By losing the metal casing of the E71, it is noticeably lighter.

The one really positive change is that it expands the headset jack from 2.5-mm to 3.5-mm, which is the size most stereo headphones use. With so many downgraded features, it's a relief to learn that the price is a mere $280 (unlocked, before subsidies), compared with the E71's $450 price tag.

The other nice thing to learn is that this version will support U.S. 3G networks. The version first announced in November didn't.

Since the basic form factor is so close to that of the E71, the real news here is that if you want a good smartphone for less than $300, the E63 is a good choice. It covers most of the smartphone basics, and does so at a more attractive price point.