ESPOO, Finland – The hotly anticipated Nokia E7 begins shipping to customers around the world today. This sleek and powerful smartphone is geared towards business users and anyone else for whom keyboard input is a must. Join us below for a reminder of the device’s key features.

Keyboard: Though the device is nearly as thin as the Nokia N8, it snaps open to reveal a full, QWERTY, four-row keyboard with 42 keys. This is arguably the most important feature for those who need to power through their emails or put a document together while they’re out and about.

Screen: At four inches, corner to corner, the Nokia E7 not only boasts the largest AMOLED touch display in the new Symbian range, but it’s enhanced with ClearBlack Display technology to give blacker blacks, more vibrant colours and eliminate reflections.

Camera and HDMI: The Nokia E7 comes with an 8-megapixel full-focus camera with dual-LED flash. The camera can also shoot HD Video. There’s also an HDMI adapter so you can use the device to show off your photos and videos, not to mention business presentations, on large displays and using projectors.

 

Storage and Adaptability: There’s 16GB of on-board flash memory. If that isn’t enough, or you need to share files, you can use the USB-On-The-Go feature to attach USB memory sticks. The same technique can also be used for accessories such as the recently released digital radio and DVB-TV adapters.

Business connectivity: The Nokia E7 provides secure access to email, calendar, contacts and tasks through Microsoft Exchange server. You also get Microsoft Communicator Mobile, for secure corporate instant messaging. For smaller businesses and individuals, naturally it supports other POP/IMAP services like Gmail, Hotmail and thousands of other domain names.

 

For the technically inclined, the device measures 123.7 x 62.4 x 13.6mm and weighs 176g. The battery is rated for up to five hours talk-time over WCDMA (more over GSM) and 430 hours standby. It offers pentaband communications for international travellers, 3G data rates up to 10.2 Mbps over HSDPA and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi. The device is available in the same colours as the Nokia N8: dark grey, silver-white, blue, green and orange.

Of course, there’s also all the other features that you’ve come to expect from a new Symbian device, with access to Ovi Store for great apps and free drive and walk navigation across 80 countries with Ovi Maps.

Need to see it in motion? Here’s designer Shunjiro Eguchi explaining how he found inspiration for the device in a pomegranate…

The price will vary, depending on local taxes and operator subsidies, but will be around €495. The full specifications are available here.