Nokia E6 in the wild running on Symbian Anna

Had lunch with Nikka Abes of Nokia Philippines and she showed me a prototype Nokia E6. Imagine the best selling E72 with a touch screen integrated into its system and refurbished with stainless steel and glass: voila, Nokia E6! This phone is due in the second quarter of 2011 with no pricing as of late. However, if we are to look at trends, it should roughly be the same price as the Nokia E71 and E72 when they made their respective debut. These phones went for an average of PHP 20,000 so it should be somewhere in that line, even cheaper.

This phone runs on the next upgrade to S^3 (pronounced “Symbian 3”) called Symbian Anna. It is a minor upgrade with the most noticeable difference being the new icons, which are called “Squarecles” or a combination of squares and circles. LOL. Other upgrades include faster browsing, better maps and better photo navigation. If you own a S^3 device such as the Nokia E7 or the N8, you may be able to upgrade S^3 to Anna soon.

The phone is significantly heavier than the E72 and has that smooth surface feel to it. It might slip from your hands like a bar of soap, but in return you get a sleeker phone. Like S^3 devices, the Nokia E6 also supports USB smart plugging so you will be able to read data from other mini USB devices such as thumb drives and portable hard disks. Not all are compatible though.

The E6 does a good job of combining the “touch and type” feature putting it at par with devices like the BlackBerry Torch in terms of input methods. I personally still believe that keyboard + touch screen make for a good combination in a nation that still does a lot of SMS.

That’s it for now. In the meantime, enjoy the pics till this phone becomes available for real!

Here’s a fact sheet about the new Symbian upgrade:

Symbian Anna
Symbian Anna includes fresh, new icons and usability enhancements such as improved text input, a faster browser and refreshed Ovi Maps
In coming months Symbian Anna will also be available as standard on newly shipping Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia C6-01 and Nokia C7 devices, as well as available to download on previously purchased models of those same smartphones.

New software features in Symbian Anna:
New, fresh icons and usability enhancements
Improved text input:
Split screen view while typing; see your message thread, webpage, maps, contacts or email
Virtual portrait QWERTY for fast, one handed typing
An easier to use and faster browser (address bar visible, pages load faster, improved opening, closing and navigation between windows)
Refreshed Ovi Maps with:
Simpler and quicker search
New public transportation routes

For business users:
Instant messaging and presence with Microsoft Communicator Mobile
E-mail enhancements including full meeting request support
True business grade security with HW accelerated encryption
Easy and secure intranet access (IPSEC and SSL VPN enablers, intranet application –necessary features for all business users who want to access their company intranet)