By Damian Koh
29/04/2009
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39051199,44555739p,00.htm

As is expected of a Nokia smartphone these days, the E75 is packed to the brim with features including a 3.5mm audio jack and support for N-Gage, a move which grays the line between the Eseries and Nseries multimedia-centric handsets. Side-stepping that topic for the moment, the E75 also succeeds the immensely popular E71, which throws up further questions. Like exactly what proposition of this new smartphone with dual keypads is? And is there a market for it in the wake of the E71? We'll discuss that in our concluding thoughts, but for now, our assessment of the E75 follows.

Design

A quick glance at the E75 reminds us of the earlier E51. Aside from a few modifications to the numeric keypad, the metallic silver rim and textured steel back casing are based on the same design DNA as the E51. The dedicated button for Contacts has been replaced with the Back key which used to sit below the D-pad on the E51. It's a minor change, but users already accustomed to this arrangement, which can also be found on the E66, may find themselves hunting for the button initially. We like the generous buttons, but not the plastic material and cramp control panel. If you profess to liking the E51, chances are you'll be comfortable with the E75, too.

Two millimeters may seem like a small number on paper, but in the hands, it can mean a world of difference. That's exactly what we felt with the E75 which has a 14.4mm profile compared with the HTC S740 at 16.3mm thick. In fact, given its slimness, the E75 would easily have passed off as a standard candybar.

Although we believe there are users who will appreciate having two keypads, we've never found ourselves thoroughly convinced with such a feature. Our thumbs felt a little stretched when typing on the elongated keyboard; on the E75, the keys are flat. That dampens the typing experience. It caters to a niche market, which explains why there aren't many of such devices around.

The screen on the E75 measures 2.4 inches diagonally with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. That's fine if you surf the Web or work on documents occasionally and for short periods of time. If these are important to you, you might be better off with a larger display on other devices. The ambient light sensor and video call camera sit above the panel.

On the sides of the E75 are a microSD expansion card slot, mini-USB port, 3.5mm audio jack, volume controls and shutter button. This is not the first time a 3.5mm jack has appeared on an Eseries (the earlier E63 also had one) and is certainly a welcomed feature.

Features

Compared with the E51, the physical changes may not be significant on the E75, aside from the hidden full-size keyboard, but the software enhancements are. The E75 runs on the S60 3rd edition platform with Feature Pack 2. This brings customizable home screens (similar to having two virtual desktops), firmware upgrades over-the-air, transition animations synonymous with the Nseries and support for N-Gage gaming, a first for an Eseries model.

There's also a new Talking theme as an alternative to the Active Standby mode with application shortcuts. For the former, you can access Call features, Clock, Voice commands and Message reader when in standby mode. As you scroll down, these options will be read out. While this may not be applicable to a casual user, drivers will find it convenient as they can keep their eyes on the road, not on the screen.

Email has also become an integral part of the E75 with Nokia Messaging. The enhanced interface lets you receive HTML mails, manage folders and sort messages by date, sender and size. Also riding on the new UI are enhanced calendar, contacts with predictive search and task management. What's different from previous software is that the Nokia Messaging app integrates multiple email accounts on one interface. That includes personal POP3 and IMAP email services such as Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail and also corporate clients like Mail for Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes Traveler.

We tried this out with our Gmail and office Exchange email accounts. Setting up the former was a breeze and easily done with a few simple steps, but the latter was trickier. Previously, Mail for Exchange could be used to synchronize our office email, calendar and contacts. Now that the app has been integrated into Nokia Messaging, calendar and contacts are separated from the email client and housed under Applications in the PIM settings. We struggled initially to set up the synchronization as the settings were now buried deep within the sub-menus. Though once we managed to figure them out, we didn't have to go through the same process again.

One gripe we have is when we click to read an email from the Home screen. There isn't an option to let us return to the mailbox from there. Instead, we'd be brought back to the standby screen. This is a minor issue that can be fixed with a future firmware update. Overall, we like the integrated mailbox approach that lets us switch effortlessly between our Gmail and office accounts. It helps that the icons are now more elegant-looking throughout the whole software.

Like the recent crop of Nokia smartphones, the E75 supports HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth A2DP, FM radio and GPS (with A-GPS) for navigation. The only notable exclusion is HSUPA for high-speed data uploads over the cellular network. You can also remotely access files on your PC via the Ovi File service, encrypt data on both the phone memory and microSD card (a 4GB card is bundled) and remotely lock the handset via a coded SMS. If the phone fails to unlock after three attempts, all the data on the device will be wiped out. Built-in accelerometer-based functions include automatic screen orientation, silencing calls and snoozing alarms. These are nice additions which may come in handy occasionally.

Some preinstalled applications include Quickoffice, Adobe PDF reader and Maps. The copy of the Quickoffice that's bundled lets you view as well as create new documents. Not all Eseries devices come with this version. The E51 and E66 are examples. Maps is Nokia's own mapping solution which is one of the best free tools around for navigation.

Performance

With the Eseries, we've come to expect a certain level of performance on the E75 and it didn't let us down in this aspect. The software was snappy and the smartphone handled multitasking with ease. The 1,000mAh battery is rated for 5.3 hours of talktime and slightly over 17 days on standby. That's not too bad if you look at it from a standalone point of view, but pales in comparison with the higher-capacity 1,500mAh cell on the E71. That said, the battery should be able to last the average user at least a day or two on a stretch.

Voice quality was great and the built-in speakers were loud enough to hold conversations in an indoor environment. Video calls were average at best, though there's an option to switch between the main shooter and the front-facing camera.

Image quality, like the E71, wasn't one of the strengths of the E75. White balance was spotty and discoloration was noticeable toward the edges for pictures taken in our Labs. The built-in LED flash has a working distance of 1m according to the literature, but don't expect it to light up subjects more than an arm's length away. Real-world images were nothing to shout about, though the picture quality would suffice for casual snaps. In short, it's a basic camera. Shutter lag was measured at 0.4 second.

Conclusion

Here's where things get interesting. There are two products we would compare the E75 with. The first is the HTC S740 with a similar form factor, i.e. a slide-out full-size QWERTY, and the earlier E71 with smaller buttons but a "tighter" (less wide) keyboard. For the former, we are looking at different operating systems and fewer features on the HTC (it doesn't support 3G video calls and there's no autofocus for the camera). So the E75 is likely to come across as a more attractive device with its compact size. Moreover, its retail price of S$768 is slightly cheaper than the S$848 S740 when it was first launched.

Compared with the E71, the E75 ends up as an alternative to the former. We don't see current E71 owners switching to the E75 since there isn't any compelling reason to, unless a 3.5mm audio jack and N-Gage gaming capabilities are important to them.

Like we mentioned earlier, we never found ourselves truly comfortable with a dual-keypad device. It's great as an alternative input method and the fact that Nokia has kept the E75 slim is laudable. But like the S740, we ended up using the numeric keypad more often than the QWERTY keyboard. Eventually, it boils down to a matter of personal preference. We have no doubt that the E75 is a very competent smartphone, but it isn't one that particularly excels nor compels enough to entice us to rush out and get it.