The Nokia E75 is an Eseries handset, which typically means a rock solid build quality. With a glass front and metal accents, the E75 doesn’t disappoint. The front of the phone features the 2.4″ QVGA resolution display, with the ambient light sensor and front-facing camera for video calls where supported positioned above. Below this is the S60 navigational cluster, with the numeric keypad below. The S60 navigational cluster features a total of 8 buttons, plus the d-pad. However, each button is sized so that it is not difficult to press any of them.
The various navigational buttons are positioned in three rings. The outer ring, with each button covering one of four corners, is pictured here. The left and right softkeys are, as expected, just above the dedicated end/send keys. The end key doubles up as the power key, something that I find rather annoying, personally, though it might be OK for you. Inside these buttons are 4 more buttons, 2 of which are user-customizable shortcut keys. Top left is the S60 menu/home key, with the Eseries picture of a house. It should be noted that, on Eseries, this button can be pressed once to always take you to the standby screen, and again to get to the menu, whereas on Nseries, this button usually takes you to the menu first. To the right of this is the delete/back key.
Below these buttons are the Calendar and Messaging shortcut keys, both of which can be changed by the user to point to any application on the phone. Each button also has two modes – short press and long press, for a total of 4 user-customizable shortcuts. I had mine set for the short press on the calendar to take me to the music player, while the long press opened Mobbler. For the email button, I set that to open the Nokia Messaging client, with long press set to initiate a new email.
Below these is the standard numeric keypad, with the larger font that I pointed out during my hands-on. The whole front keypad is flat, and made up of single horizontal strips of plastic. While most would think this is a poor keypad design, I actually found it quite nice to use, with each number offering great tactile feedback, with no mushiness.
On the bottom edge of the E75 is the 2mm Nokia power port, colored white to signify power (according to Nokia). The right edge of the phone features three chrome buttons – the volume up/down buttons and the dedicated camera key. I want to point out again that this camera key not only focuses and snaps the photo, but is also able to actually launch the camera application, finally. You do have to hold it down for several long seconds, but it still works. At the top of the phone is the lone 3.5mm audio port, and unfortunately, the E75 does not support TV-Out.
The left edge of the phone is where you’ll access the microUSB port and microSD card slot, both covered by hard plastic doors to keep debris out. When you slide the phone open, the display automatically rotates to horizontal landscape mode, so that you hold the QWERTY keyboard in both hands. The E75 also features a built-in accelerometer, if you want the display to rotate even without the keyboard slid out, as well. The slide mechanism is smooth and spring-assisted, for a nice solid ‘snap’ in either direction. When closed, there is absolutely no movement or wobble between the top and bottom parts of this phone. However, once opened, there is a slight wobble that allows the right side to drop slightly. It’s not annoying, nor does it interfere with use, but it’s there, nonetheless.
The buttons on the QWERTY keyboard are exceptionally nice to use, reminiscent of the keypad on the Nokia N75. Each is a large, flat square, with a slight gap in between each key. There is a chrome bar that splits the keyboard down the middle, and I’m told it is there to ensure stability of this bottom half. Unfortunately, it is not a touch-sensitive scroll bar, though I wish WISH that Nokia had made it so, since it’s perfect for that.
Typing on this QWERTY keyboard is easy, and I found that I was quite fast in using it. The function key is located at the bottom left, with the top row of buttons on the keyboard pulling double-duty as a number row. There are a few other characters available through the function key, though oddly, the blank space key (_) is not there – you must click the ‘Chr’ button to access it and other characters. The spacebar on the keyboard is……decent. I found myself missing it quite a bit at first, until my fingers learned where it was.
There are no arrow keys on the keyboard, nor are there any additional softkeys, which means that you have to reach up to the top half of the phone to use either of these. It’s certainly not the most intuitive situation, but again, after a bit of learning, it quickly became second nature.
Overall, I am quite impressed with the build quality of the E75. The materials used feel like they will stand up to plenty of use and abuse, and the slide mechanism is quite solid, as well. The keys – all of them – are comfortable to use and offer a nice tactile ‘click’ when pressed. The inclusion of a dedicated camera key that actually launches the camera, as well as a standard 3.5mm audio port are both nice touches that I hope we see in all future Eseries models.
We’ll bring you our review of the software side of the Nokia E75 tomorrow, now that we’ve had a chance to play with the final production firmware for a few days.
