We thought it would make a pleasant change to drift away from talk of the iPhone, if only for a little while (wait for news on third party applications sometime in the next day or so). So, to the latest Nokia smartphone range the E-Series and the N96.

The E71 and E66 smartphones will probably feature GPS, a 3.2MP camera, and 128MB of internal memory. It’s believed, thanks to a Nokia leak, that these will be released within the next month.

Nokia has also announced that it will release the N96, a top end consumer phone, within three months. This will feature 16GB of internal memory and a 5MP camera. With a number of features similar to the newly announced 3G iPhone, news that the N96 has been on pre-sale at £599 certainly makes the lightened $299 Apple price tag look incredible.

The Nokia website claims that the N96 is designed for video and TV entertainment. Not only does the Video Centre include a range of video functions, but the handset also includes Live TV capabilities. Digital music player and an FM radio round off what looks to be a powerful multimedia handset.