Over lunch, I finally got to use a friend's Nokia E61i. The Nokia E61's descendant is thinner, features an easier-to-use five-way navigator (no more making mistakes with a fudgy joystick), and has a built-in camera. The E61i also facilitates VoIP over its Wi-Fi connection, something the E61 doesn't do out of the box. They rounder QWERTY keys are also easier to press.

Aside from that however, nothing's changed. But then again, you can't go wrong with the big display, loud external speaker, high-capacity battery, and the QWERTY thumbboard. The Nokia E61i truly addresses the limitations of its forerunner, integrating a camera and better menu navigation controls, while retaining many of its advantages, like the superb S60 3rd Ed Symbian OS.



Yet from my first impressions, the Nokia E61i isn't revolutionary enough for most E61 owners to sell their units and make the switch.