Nokia E62 shipping on Cingular

It may not share the WiFi radio of its pricier sibling, the E61, but the E62 still rocks all that landscape QVGA, QWERTY, S60 3rd Edition action that made the original famous -- and as expected, it's gone live with Cingular today for a relatively reasonable $150 on contract. Besides the lack of 802.11, the E62 gives up the E61's UMTS 2100 support, but Cingular's guessing its average buyer isn't going to mind (seeing how we don't do UMTS 2100 in these parts). With the QWERTY market heating up in the next few months, it's unclear whether Nokia and Cingular ultimately have a winner here, but any way you look at it, it's a win for American S60 proponents who generally get pretty well starved for handsets of any form factor.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2006 12:45PM]

I just called cingular on broadway they said 350 no commitment so its cheaper to just buy one with UMTS and WiFi on ebay

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2006 2:14PM]

I have been using the E61 for the last month. It is by far the best smartphone I have used. (And I've used a bunch in the last few years.) This phone (even without wifi) at this price is an absolute winner!!

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2006 3:47PM]

I've been watching prices of the e61 on a number of different online vendors for a couple of weeks in anticipation of an irresistable impulse to buy. I'm a little concerned that with today's announcement by Cingular, it seems that: (1) a number of vendors have gone out of stock, or (2) prices have jumped dramatically. Does anyone know of a vendor who is still carrying the e61 for $360 or under and actually has stock?

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2006 4:12PM]

No thanks Cingular!! I will keep my E61 that has rocked my world the past 4 months ;)

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 29th 2006 4:46PM]

Just went to the local store and they pulled one out of the back to show me. Nice form factor and keypad. Makes me want a real version (3g and wifi) even more.

When will Cingular pull their heads out of ... and realize that more people want 3g for e-mails and the web than for buying their overpriced songs and impossible-to see TV.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 30th 2006 1:14PM]

We all know why Cingular choose the e62 over the e61, and that's because they want to be able to charge for over usage. WiFi will defeat their profit margin so get rid of it and screw your customers even harder and longer. They are now too big to care about the customers anymore.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 30th 2006 11:45PM]

I'm torn - I love this unit and the full keyboard over the weird little BB pearl keyboard. I would love to outfit the crew with these and cut down on the mishmash, and support just one unit. But I need a camera. {Sigh} Guess I wait for the N63...

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 2nd 2006 9:23PM]

I bought this phone and returned it the next day. While the exterior features of the phone are gnarly (slim design, solid keyboard and gorgeous screen), the UI and OS were god awful. There is a submenu for everything and then another submenu for that. Switching between applications (e.g. Email to Home Screen) would take on average 3 seconds. If I didn't pay full price for this phone I would have flushed it down the toilet.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 3rd 2006 1:19AM]

It's sweet, it runs Symbian, but... useless without high-speed data. EDGE? Groan, gimme a break!

[Omagus Posted Oct 3rd 2006 12:49AM]

Lol, I'm guessing that Barry has never used a Symbian OS. Holding down the Symbian (menu) button allows you to toggle between applications, similar to the Alt+TAB function on a PC.

As for the lack of wifi, supposedly it was to help keep the cost of the phone down. But then you have to wonder why you can get an imported E61 for around the same price.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 3rd 2006 10:26AM]

I picked one up and like it a lot.
http://www.e-series.org

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 27th 2006 4:51PM]

Not that we expect them to break but the E61 import has no US warranty or support. Cingular wanted to pick up the E61 but was too pricey with the extra hardware for Wifi and UMTS. They and Nokia wanted to price it right to encourage sales. Im thinking once they sell a boat load of them they will continue with this smartphone and its successors in the future (with the added features). Finally, a Nokia smartphone that has staying power with an Amarican carrier. Cingular also has this phone exclusively from Nokia in the US till December. Do we see T-Mobile on the horizon?

[(Unverified) Posted Nov 25th 2006 5:08PM]

Hi everybody, I'm interested in Nokia E61 but I would like to have your impress about autonomy: 7hours is true ? yes, no ? If I use Wifi everyday 20 min, what happened for battery ?

Thanks =)