From Vishnu Anand

A smartphone with a pull-out vertical keypad and an 8 megapixel camera -- Nokia has launched the E7 in India. Positioned as an all-in-one business smartphone, the handset, which runs on Symbian OS, follows the launch of the N8,which was positioned as an entertainment smartphone.

The phone is possibly the first since the decade-old "Communicator" of bulging pocket memory, to sharply  target business communication needs

Viral Oza, Head - Activation, Media and Online Marketing, Nokia India said, at Monday's Bangalore launch event:"Back in 1996, we launched the Nokia Communicator range of mobile handsets, which in 2004, morphed into our E Series offerings.In the meantime, we also launched the N Series handsets for business on-the-go. Recently with the N 8, we embarked into the entertainment smartphone segment -- where 'fun' functionalities like image/video and music were of superior quality….Today, with the launch of the E 7,we are targeting the 'mobile office' segment that needs superior business productivity on-the-go."

The smartphone's main screen features primary mailbox,a stream of social networking feeds that are refreshed every three minutes, besides multiple widget feeds from customizable third-party providers.

The E 7 features Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync support, and HD video capabilities besides access to Ovi apps.

Speaking to IndiaTechOnline, Viral Oza said, "The developer community that uses our QT platform for coding apps has been steadily increasing --so much that there are around 3000 apps created around the E 8 itself.We hope this number to grow as more people use the phone and give us feedback on what app functionalities they desire."

The Nokia E 7 is priced at Rs. 29,999.

March 14 2011