Nokia E90 Communicator was the Last King of the Keyboard Era, Here’s a Fascinating Look Back

In 2007, Nokia released a device that felt like it was pulled out of a spy movie. The Nokia E90 Communicator was announced at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona and was a statement of engineering bravado, a clamshell wonder that packed a whole office into your pocket.

Open the E90, and you’re met with a sight that feels almost ritualistic: a 4 inch 800×352 pixel internal display springs to life and the colors are so vibrant they rival a high end laptop of the time. This screen combined with a full QWERTY keyboard turns the phone into a mini workstation. Close it and the 2 inch 240×320 pixel external display and numeric keypad looks like any other Nokia of the time – unassuming, almost deceptive. This dual personality design with its chocolate brown or metallic grey finish feels solid, like a tool for the ages. At 210 grams and 132 x 57 x 20 mm, it’s heavy yet purposeful. The double hinge mechanism is a marvel of engineering, it clicks open with a satisfying snap and reveals the internal screen and keyboard with a smoothness that’s almost addictive. Nokia’s attention to detail is impressive here, from the spring loaded MicroSD slot cover to the steel bar that reinforces the hinges, it feels as solid as it looks.

Running Symbian OS v9.2 on the S60 platform, it had an ARM11 330 MHz processor, 128 MB of RAM and 256 MB of internal storage with up to 4 GB via MicroSD (32 GB cards worked according to reports). This was a pocket computer in every sense, it could handle email (IMAP4, POP3, SMTP), instant messaging and even Microsoft Exchange with Nokia’s Mail for Exchange app. It had quad band GSM, 3G UMTS, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 and infrared, it was a connectivity beast for 2007. A 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash took decent photos, a front facing QCIF camera for video calls – a rarity at the time. The integrated GPS with Nokia Maps turned the E90 into a navigation device, but a subscription was required for full functionality. A 1500 mAh battery with up to 14 days of standby or 5.8 hours of talk time and you had a device for the road warrior.

Using the E90 is like stepping into a time machine. The QWERTY keyboard with its tactile, curved keys makes typing emails or SSH-ing into remote systems via apps like Putty a joy. The internal screen’s ultra-wide aspect ratio is perfect for watching videos or playing games like Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart, though some apps struggle to scale to the larger display. The Symbian S60 platform is versatile with its huge app ecosystem but shows its limits—many games default to the smaller external screen and the web browser is dated even for its time. Still, the E90 is a multimedia device with stereo speakers that punch above their weight and a RealPlayer app for video playback. Load a MicroSD card with MP3s or movies and you’ve got a portable entertainment hub that rivals early iPods.

Cultural significance elevates the E90 above its specs. Launched first in Indonesia where the Communicator series had a cult following the first unit sold at auction for $5,000 to a businessman, it’s a luxury tool for power brokers. Leaked documents from Edward Snowden later revealed that Australian spies monitored the E90 of Indonesia’s president, it’s a device for the elite. Business travelers loved it for its ability to replace their laptops, a full day of battery life and pocketable. But it was released at the wrong time. Just months later, the iPhone arrived and the touchscreen era began and keyboard devices like the E90 were obsolete overnight.