Sliding up to the Nokia E75

TheSun: Sliding up to the E75
N. Shashi Kala


If you aren’t yet an iPhone convert, find the Blackberry charmless and the N series too bulky, the new E75 offers a plausible alternative to your smartphone needs.
The Nokia E series is a business-orientated smartphone with emphasis on connectivity and email. The E series has been around since 2005, and there have been several well-received models, including the E71 and the E90 Communicator.

This new quad-band 3G model’s claim to fame is the side-sliding QWERTY keyboard and screen that lies flat instead of tilting upwards like the E71. It also boasts advances in Nokia’s own email client that makes getting emails on the go absolutely easy.

The slimmed down design belies the myriad features in this 111.8 x 50 x 14.4 mm phone, which weighs 139g – not exactly light, but not a pocket buster either.

The metallic back gives a pleasing feel of sturdiness, and the smooth slide motion does bump up the cool factor. But the front of the unit is not nearly as pretty, and the keypad had this plastic-like texture.

The review unit was red – not the flashy, fire-engine version, but the more understated ruby red.

There’s a 2.4" TFT active matrix display on the front, and a full keyboard on the slider, with an accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate of content.

Design-wise, the front keypad is a bit cramped, especially the system keys beside the D-pad, such as Call, End, Calendar, Home and Backspace. I kept pressing the wrong keys by accident, and it was quite frustrating.

The E75 has a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, but I was disappointed with the image quality, which was generally poor, even in daylight shooting. Another gripe is the camera button on the side of the phone, which wobbles and doesn’t work very well. I was not impressed.

Considering its price, Nokia really should have done better.

On the plus side, the slide-out keyboard is a smooth operator, and despite the lack of raised keys, you can get used to it rather quickly. The keys are just large enough for typing out notes and quick emails without cramping up your fingers too much. The hotkeys can also be easily customised, and you can choose between active standby, basic or talking theme (yes, this phone talks back to you) to access the menu.

The Nokia E75 runs on Symbian 9.3 OS with the Series60 3rd Edition user interface. It is powered by a 369 MHz CPU, which in theory makes it faster than the E71. Yet, there’s still a bit of a delay when launching applications, but not enough to complain about.

The phone has WiFi capability with a built-in WLAN and it works well. But I really liked is the email client, which is a joy to use.

It’s straightforward and easy to get your email set up – just seconds, actually – by adding in your username and password and you are good to go. Encryption is also included, so really, this is neat.

Nokia has also included a music player in the E75, supporting multiple music formats. It’s easy to transfer files via the Bluetooth support, and the sound quality is good enough for most music lovers.

The phone also offers smooth web-browsing, video player, and the usual business applications.

In a nutshell, the Nokia E75 lives up to its billing as a premier communication device for business people. But a better camera function and front keypad design would really make it a must-buy item.


Updated: 11:48AM Mon, 27 Jul 2009