The Nokia E-series, namely the butterfly-like E70, the candybar E60, and the QWERTY-tastic E61 aka the Smiler, are methadone to the Crackberry addiction. The E61, shown above, is the latest in Nokia's long war for the pockets of the business-class with support for "BlackBerry Connect, GoodLink from Good Technology, Nokia Business Center, Seven Mobile Mail, Seven Always-On Mail and Visto Mobile."

The phone has a great spec-sheet: VOIP via WiFi and MiniSD expansion are nice. Quadband and Bluetooth are nice. The US release date, Q1 2006, is a pipe dream, but it would be nice to see Nokia prove us wrong.

What does that mean for the rest of the QWERTY phone space? Not much, but Europe loves them some Nokia so any inroads Blackberry may have made onto the Continent are in peril. The E61 is basically Nokia's answer to last year's pledge to focus on push email. After a few false starts, it's nice to see they're getting something right. [Thanks, NBCt]

Nokia Strengthens Smartphone Range [BIOSMagazine]
Nokia announces The Nokia E60, Nokia E61 and Nokia E70 [Pocket-Lint]
Nokia Launches QWERTY Equipped E61 VOIP Phone [MobileBurn]

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