Nokia E75 review

Connecting to Wi-Fi is straightforward thanks to the E75's wireless scanner, although it isn't as effortless as with a BlackBerry or iPhone. As is typical with Nokia phones, there were a few hiccups each time we opened a new application that uses an Internet connection -- the phone never seemed quite happy to settle on Wi-Fi or 3G. But, once we were connected, pages loaded promptly and looked decent on the E75's 16 million colour, QVGA screen.

Synchronised screening
At 61mm (2.4 inches), the screen, although not the largest, is fine for watching videos. Nokia PC Suite, the desktop syncing software, did an okay job of converting and transferring our test videos. It managed to convert our MP4 and WMV test files into good-looking, smooth videos that were easy to find on the handset, but it couldn't handle our AVI file. Be sure to update to the latest version of PC Suite, because it's still very much a work in progress and each update tends to be a major leap forward.

Syncing calendar entries and other tasks, like backing up the phone's contents, tend to work well with PC Suite, but you're out of luck if you have a Mac: it requires a PC. Syncing is speedy over the included micro USB cable, and we were thrilled to see that this phone also charges while syncing -- a great feature that's missing from some Nokia handsets. Battery life is also decent, with the charge still going strong after a day of testing.

The 3.2 megapixel camera is speedy and produces decent results

There's also a version of the Ovi Store app for the E75, which we were prompted to download when we visited store.ovi.com in the browser. There's still not a huge amount of content on there, considering how many great apps exist for the E75's Symbian S60 operating system, but, once it's found its feet, it should become a good source for getting more stuff for your phone. Once that happens, having the Ovi Store app will be much more useful than having to visit it in the browser, like with some other Nokia phones.

Photo call
The E75's 3.2-megapixel camera does a good job of capturing clear photos very quickly, with only a moment's delay between pressing the dedicated camera button and snapping the photo. Colours are slightly washed out, but we'd be more than happy to depend on the E75 for the occasional snapshot.

It also has an LED photo light for darker conditions, a tiny mirror for self-portraits, and a good range of image options, such as a self-timer. There's a secondary camera for video calls and even more self-portraits, and the E75 will shoot VGA-quality video at 30 frames per second.

There's also an FM radio and media player, which you can enjoy via the very welcome standard 3.5mm headphone jack.

Conclusion
With the E75, Nokia has created another sound E-series workhorse that looks and feels like it's ready to get down to serious business. The keys might be too closely packed for some users, but, if they suit your sausage fingers, this phone packs a heap of easy-to-use features into a well-made, compact package.

BlackBerry is still the king of business phones thanks to its domination of enterprise-level push email, but the E75 could be a good choice if you want to stick with the Nokia user interface that you know and love, and crave the choice of both a keyboard and a number pad.

Edited by Charles Kloet