Nokia announces E55, E75

Updated at 6:09 a.m. (PST) with more details and photos.

Nokia rolled out two new E-series phones at its press conference on the first day of the GSMA World Congress here in Barcelona. Both offer full messaging and smartphone features, but they take a different approach to design. Full specs are below, but be sure to check out our Nokia GSMA photo gallery as well.

The Nokia E55 has a candy-bar design and comes in white or black. Nokia says it will be the world's thinnest smartphone, but we know the E55 has lots of competition in that race. In any case, Nokia kept the size down by skipping a full QWERTY keyboard in favor of what it calls a "hybrid keyboard." Basically, that's a just like a SureType keybaord on a BlackBerry device, where two letters share the same button. The 2.4-inch display supports 16 million colors and it works in both landscape and portrait modes. And thanks to a massive battery, Nokia promises that the E55 will deliver a month of standby battery life.

The E75 has a full keybaord.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

Features include Bluetooth, voice commands, text and multimedia messaging, assisted-GPS, instant messaging, organizer features, IMAP4 and POP3 e-mail, USB support, 100MB of internal memory, a 3.5mm headset jack, PC syncing, instant messaging, a 3.2-megapixel camera with video recording, a voice recorder, a text-to-speech message reader, and a music player. The quad-band GSM world phone will come in two versions for 3G (HSDPA) support, one of which is compatible with North American networks. It will be available this summer for $339 (265 euros).

The E75 has a horizontal slider design that hides a full QWERTY keyboard. It also has a standard numeric keypad, but it still manages to be relatively compact for a smartphone; it measures 4.4 inches by 1.9 inches by 0.56 inches when closed and weighs 4.9 ounces. Other exterior features include a 2.4-inch, 16 million-color display, a memory card slot, and a 3.5mm headset jack. The E75 comes in three colors: silver black, copper yellow, and red.

The E55 has a hybrid keyboard.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET Networks)

Inside you'll find a stereo Bluetooth, 50MB of shared memory, USB mass storage, full e-mail and messaging, a 3.2-megapixel camera, assisted-GPS with Nokia Maps, a digital-music player, organizer applications, a text-to-speech message reader, a voice recorder, speaker-independent voice dialing, a Symbian Series 60 (third edition) OS, and a speakerphone. And like the E55, the E75 is a quad-band GSM world phone with one version that supports North American 3G (HSDPA) networks. Nokia is accepting orders starting Monday on its Web site. The price is $352 (275 euros).

Photos: Nokia E55 and E75