Think of business phones and aside from Nokia's E Series, there's one name that tends to spring to mind almost instantly: BlackBerry. So what better handset to compare the new Nokia E6 to than its forthcoming rival from RIM, the BlackBerry Bold 9900?
And this pair are as well matched as you're likely to find. Specifically, they're the only two smartphones on the market that offer both a hardware QWERTY keyboard and a full touchscreen.
Well, we say “on the market”, but that's not strictly true as the BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 has yet to actually launch, meaning the Nokia E6 has things all its own way for now. But when its rival does eventually launch, which of these two business phone heavy hitters will have the edge?
We've lined up the Nokia E6 and the BlackBerry Bold 9900 against each other in 10 key categories to find out.
Size and weight
Nokia E6: 115.5 x 59 x 10.5mm, 133g
BlackBerry Bold 9900: 115 x 66 x 10.5mm, 130g
From a physical point of view, there's almost nothing to choose between these two QWERTY rivals. The Nokia E6 is a sliver taller and a couple of grammes heavier, but it's a full 7mm narrower, which makes it slightly more pocket-friendly than its BlackBerry rival.
Display
Nokia E6: 2.46-inch capacitive touchscreen, 480 x 640 resolution
BlackBerry Bold 9900: 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen, 480 x 640 resolution
It's another close call when it comes to the display. The BlackBerry's display is bigger, though the difference is less than a centimetre from corner to corner. However, crucially the pair have a matching resolution of 480 x 640, and in the Nokia E6's case the flipside of having a smaller display is that the pixel density is higher, meaning the display is effectively sharper.
Power
Nokia E6: 680MHz ARM 11 processor
BlackBerry Bold 9900: 1.2GHz processor
Symbian is known as a power-efficient platform, and the ARM Cortex line of processors provides plenty of grunt for their clock speed, but the 1.2GHz processor on board the BlackBerry Bold 9900 is still likely to be beefy enough to take this one for RIM.
Storage
Nokia E6: 8GB storage, 256MB RAM, plus microSD card support up to 32GB
BlackBerry Bold 9900: 8GB storage, 768 MB RAM, plus microSD card support up to 32GB
Another victory on paper for BlackBerry, thanks to the extra RAM. However, we've been spending plenty of time with the Nokia E6 recently, and we can assure you that its lower memory count doesn't hold it back from doing justice to the handset's wide array of features
Wireless connectivity
Nokia E6: 3G, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi, GPS
BlackBerry Bold 9900: 3G, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi, GPS
As you'd expect, there's nothing too much to choose between these two high-powered business phones on the wireless connectivity front, though the Nokia E6 does boast a newer version of Bluetooth that supports additional features such as stereo audio.
Wired connectivity
Nokia E6: microUSB port, 3.5mm audio jack, video out, USB-on-the-go support
BlackBerry Bold 9900: microUSB port, 3.5mm audio jack
This one goes the Nokia E6's way thanks to the convenience of USB-on-the-go, which allows you to connect up and access an external hard drive or memory stick via USB – a potentially highly useful feature for business users.
Camera
Nokia E6: 8-megapixel with dual-LED flash, 720p video recording plus forward-facing VGA camera
BlackBerry Bold 9900: 5-megapixel with autofocus and LED flash, 720p video recording
Another hands-down win for the Nokia E6. Nokia's cameras are among the best around, and the higher resolution and better features of the Nokia E6's snapper – plus the presence of a forward-facing VGA video camera, give it a clear edge here.
Operating system
Nokia E6: Symbian Anna
BlackBerry Bold 9900: BlackBerry OS 7
We can't comment too much on BlackBerry OS 7 yet, but Symbian Anna is a strong and stable platform for business users, and the Nokia E6 boasts all the communication tools and enterprise security that's a prerequisite for this kind of handset. More importantly, Nokia's fantastic range of services, including the class-leading Nokia Maps and the wide array of apps available from the Ovi Store, add significantly to Symbian Anna's appeal.
Battery
Nokia E6: Li-Ion 1500mAh, 7h30 talktime/744h standby (3G)
BlackBerry Bold 9900: Li-Ion 1230mAh
As a business workhorse, there's no question that battery power is important, and while we don't yet have claimed battery life figures for the BlackBerry Bold 9900, there's little chance that its smaller 1230mAh power cell and its more powerful processor are going to get anywhere near the figures offered by the Nokia E6's more miserly components and larger battery.
Availability
Nokia E6: July 2011
BlackBerry Bold 9900: TBC
Nokia fans may have expressed frustration at times with the length of time we've been kept waiting for exciting new phones to arrive, but spare a thought for those poor BlackBerry fans, who're still waiting for the Bold 9900 to launch. The point is, if you're after a hardware QWERTY touchscreen phone, right now you have only one choice. And it's the Nokia E6
To sum up, then, the Nokia E6 certainly doesn't have it all its own way against its much-vaunted BlackBerry rival, but against one of the most anticipated business phones of the year the Symbian Anna superstar is quite at home, and offers plenty of appeal for enterprise users, along with Nokia's peerless reputation for making mobile hardware. Most importantly, though, it's available right now, which puts it in a party of one in this match-up.
Do you think the Nokia E6 is a worthy rival to its forthcoming BlackBerry rival from RIM? As we've shown here, these two are closely matched in many areas, and offer unique appeal in others. But we'd love to hear your own feelings on the matter, so let us know your thoughts in the Comments below!