Nokia E7 coming to Three in the new year

The 4in smartphone will target enterprise users

Three has announced that it will be the first operator to sell Nokia’s premier business smartphone, the E7, in the first quarter of 2011, as the manufacturer aims to make up for this year’s lacklustre performance in the high-end mobile device market.

The E7 was unveiled at Nokia World 2010 in September and was referred to as a " premier business-class" device, so it is no surprise that it will be heavily marketed in a bid to win over enterprise users.

Key features include a 4in Amoled touch screen with 640x360 pixel resolution, a full slide-out qwerty keyboard, 16GB of internal memory and an 8-megapixel camera.

The device will support video and multi-party conference calling, as well as having device management features including remote lock and wipe. Users will also be able to sync corporate email and social networking accounts.

Preloaded applications include Quickoffice Dynamic Premium, allowing Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents to be viewed and edited on the move. Adobe Reader will also be preloaded, allowing PDF files to be viewed.

Users get free lifetime usage of Nokia Ovi Maps turn-by-turn voice navigation, while speech recognition app Vlingo will allow texts and emails to be dictated.

However, a possible deterrent could be the Symbian ^3 operating system, a feature that let down the Nokia N8 and could fail to attract users away from the iPhone 4 and Android-based HTC Desire HD. Nokia has also sealed in the battery, which may put off business users who travel frequently.

An exact launch date and pricing details have yet to be confirmed. The Carphone Warehouse is asking customers to register interest and is expecting to ship the device in March.

The E7 is expected to have a similar price to the flagship N8, which is available free of charge on contracts starting at £25 per month.