Nokia shows off E72 business smartphone

Nokia on Monday unveiled the E72, the successor to its popular E71 business handset.

The updated version of Nokia's QWERTY-keyboarded candybar phone includes an optical navigation key. According to Nokia vice president Ilari Nurmi, the new input method allows for "more intuitive scrolling through menus, e-mails and fast panning of images."

Another enhancement visible on the front of the Series 60 phone is the ability to turn the handset into a flashlight with a single press of the space bar key.

The E72's camera is a 5-megapixel affair, while the E71 only had a 3.2-megapixel camera. The device also appears to have a new speaker at the back of the phone.

Nokia says the E72 uses active noise cancellation to make calls clearer. The handset also has a 3.5mm headphone jack -- unlike its predecessor -- so standard headphones can be used without an adapter.

In terms of its dimensions, the E72 is almost identical to the E71 -- it is the same height and thickness, but is 1mm wider and a gram heavier.

The E72's 3G data connectivity specifications are superior to those of the E71, which has 3.6Mbps HSDPA. The updated handset takes that downlink speed to 10.2Mbps, and also has HSUPA uplink speeds of up to 2Mbps.

A new version of the QuickOffice productivity suite is included, offering compatibility with Microsoft Office 2007 formats. Preinstalled e-mail clients include Mail for Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes Traveller.

The E72 will go on sale at the end of the third quarter for 350 euros before tax and operator subsidies.

David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.