Nokia N75 Cell Phone Review
By Alfredo Padilla
Reviewed.com Editorial Staff
Published on August 12, 2007
The Nokia N75 is the first of Nokia's consumer oriented N-Series phones to be offered by a U.S. carrier, and as such it carries many expectations. Although there's a lot to like about the $199.99 N75, the subpar camera and atrocious battery life combine to make it a pretty unattractive package. Thicker than a Razr, but otherwise similar in size, the N75 is a small flip phone. It sports a high quality 2.4-inch screen inside, a 1.36-inch exterior screen, and buttons that can control music without having to open the phone.
We were able to dial a number fairly quickly on the N75, in 3.34 seconds, taking advantage of the large, comfortable keypad. The N75 provides very good call options and an extensive address book, with room for up to 42 fields. The organizer features are above average, with a decent selection of tools for keeping your life in order on the road. You can also synchronize your information with a PC using the included PC Suite software.
The N75 performed reasonably well in our audio tests. The sound received by the phone was very good, while the sound sent by the phone was decent, but a little clipped; some high frequencies weren't accurately reproduced, which could make your voice sound a little flat. Side tone, the small amount of your voice you can hear through the phone's speaker so you can judge how loud you are talking, was a little lower than we would have liked, meaning you may find yourself speaking louder than you need to in order to be heard.
The Nokia N75 sports a 2-megapixel fixed-focus camera. Nokia has been known for making solid phones with decent cameras, but the N75 falls far short of the company's usual standard. The resolution was low and colors were inaccurate, so it got some of the worst resolution and color scores we've seen from a 2-megapixel camera phone. Only the appalling camera on the Razr V3m came close. The N75 is only suitable for picture taking when there is no alternative.
Thankfully, the Nokia N75's multimedia functions are much better than the camera. Video playback on the large screen is good, although you do have to hold the phone awkwardly in the sideways position to get the full effect. The music player is the standard Series 60 media player, which is easy to use and does its job very well. The exterior music controls allow you to easily access music functions without opening up the phone.
The Nokia N75 supports both text and multimedia messaging and has a very good built-in e-mail client. The performance of the large and comfortable keypad was solid; we were able to type 42 words per minute. As a Series 60 device, the N75 allows you to multi-task, and you can install a wide variety of applications to extend the phone's capabilities. The Series 60 Web browser is one of the best we've seen on any phone. Rather than mauling the website, it displays the full page and allows you to easily zoom in on the area you want to view. The N75 supports AT&T's 3G network, albeit only at the slower UMTS speeds rather than the faster HSDPA. This has an unfortunate impact on battery life.
The N75 put up some of the worst battery scores we've seen from any phone. Talk time was only 2 hours and 23 minutes, and browsing time was a similarly unimpressive 2 hours and 42 minutes. The N75's terrible battery performance is its major drawback. Music playback performance was slightly better at 5 hours and 36 minutes, but that's still on the low side; most other phones we've tested lasted longer. In use, it may last you for a day between charges, but it won't go much longer than that.
The N75 is a handset with a lot of promise that is hampered by a couple of major drawbacks. Battery performance is the biggest problem, but those hoping to get decent pictures will also find themselves let down by a simply terrible camera. After a long struggle to get their devices picked up by a U.S. carrier, Nokia has dropped a bad egg with the Nokia N75. The N75 is not a good choice for those looking to use all its capabilities, and if you're not going to do that why bother picking up a smart phone at all?For a more in-depth review, visit the Nokia N75 Review at our partner WirelessInfo.com
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