Nokia N75 Review - Messaging
Supported Email Services (6.0)
The Nokia N75 supports POP3 and IMAP4 email accounts, which means that you can use it with just about any email service out there. Unfortunately there is no support for automatically configuring popular email services like Hotmail, AOL and Yahoo. This means you will need to dig out techie things like server information for whatever email you set up, which can usually be obtained from your provider. It is unfortunate that an advanced phone like the N75 doesn't help you automatically configure your email, but the ability to handle both of the most popular email protocols means that you should be able to configure your email with a little bit of work.
In addition to the standard email application included on all Series 60 devices the N75 also comes installed with Cingular's web only email program. This allows you to easily access popular services like Hotmail, AOL and Yahoo, however the inability to store messages locally means that we do not award any points for this additional app.
Push Email (0.0)
The Nokia N75 does not support any push email services like Exchange Server, Blackberry or Good email out of the box. You may be able to add this functionality back by installing some of the push email clients that Nokia provides for its E-Series lineup, however we did not test this.
Multiple Email Accounts (10.0)
The Nokia N75 was easily able to handle up to five email accounts, and can probably handle more. Each account has its own box on the front page of the messaging application. This is a boon for users that need to access multiple email accounts.
HTML and Attachments (5.0)
As with other Series 60 devices like the N73 and N95 the Nokia N75 does not support HTML email, leaving it behind newer Windows Mobile 6 devices that now support HTML email. The N73 does a good job of handling email attachments with the view only version of Quick Office allowing you to view Word, Excel and Powerpoint files. The N75 also includes Adobe's PDF viewer and a program to handle zip files so all common attachment types are covered.
Email Customizations (2.0)
As with other Series 60 devices the N75 offers few email customization options. You cannot change the view of messages in your inbox, nor can you change font size, color or type. You can create signatures to be added to outgoing messages, however this is about it for the N75. We were not impressed with the N75's email customization options.
Time to a New Message (2.85)
To test how quickly you can create a new email message we time how long it takes to go from phone closed until we have a new email message dialogue. The Nokia N75 took an average of 7.02 seconds to complete this process. This is very slow for a smart phone, slower than its N-Series compatriots the N73 and N95, which took 5.2 seconds and 4.4 seconds respectively. It is also extremely slow when compared to other smart phones like the
BlackBerry 8800 that took only 1.76 seconds to get to a new email message dialogue. We were very disappointed with the N75's performance on this test. Considering that there is a link to messaging right on the home screen it is remarkable how long the N75 took.
Email Usability (6.0)
Email accounts on the Nokia N75 are given their own boxes in the messaging application. Sent items, drafts and other folders are shared across accounts. Emails appear in a simple list sorted by date. You can also sort messages by sender or subject. While in your inbox the left soft key opens a menu where you can manage your messages, retrieve new messages and access more advanced settings. Moving between your messages is as easy as hitting up/down on your D-Pad, while left/right moves you to other accounts and shared boxes. Pretty much everything is what you would expect from a Series 60 device is here. One addition that comes with the AT&T branding is the ability to send a real postcard from your cell phone. This is a service that AT&T has offered for awhile now and has not caught on too much.
Supported IM Services (0.0)
The Nokia N75 ships with AT&T's instant messaging software that allows you to access AIM, MSN and Yahoo instant messaging services. But you can only be signed into a single service at a time, and AT&T will charge you for each instant message sent or received at the same rate as text messages. You can get around this by avoiding the carriers software and instead installing a separate client like
Agile Messenger, which has better features anyways. We do not award points for pre-installed instant messaging clients that use an SMS gateway. We feel that customers already pay for the data to access internet services like this and cellular companies should not charge you again simply because they can.
MMS Support (7.0)
The Nokia N75 fully supports MMS messaging. MMS messages are delivered to a unified inbox that is shared with SMS messages. Unfortunately you cannot turn an SMS message into an MMS message simply by adding multimedia, you will need to decide in advance what type of message you want to send. We were pleased to see that MMS messaging are solidly integrated with the album and camera software, allowing you to send a message from either. You can also send an audio recording from the voice notes application. We were generally pleased with MMS support on the N75, as we are on all Series 60 devices, but would like to see a little better integration between SMS and MMS messages as found on Palm devices.
SMS Smiley Face Interpretation (0.0)
To test if the messaging application interprets smileys as graphical representations or leaves them in text format we send a sample text message to the phone with four common smileys. We were disappointed to see that the N75 did not graphically interpret smileys, instead leaving them in text format just like every other Series 60 phone we have reviewed.
SMS/MMS Ease of Use (6.0)
SMS and MMS messages come into a single inbox in the messaging application. The interface is very similar to that of email except of course when creating new messages you have fewer fields. As we've discussed you will need to decide before hand if you want to create an SMS or MMS message. The only real difference in the interface is the ability to drop in media with MMS messages, which is previewed in the window. You can send messages to multiple numbers at once or to a group. We found the interface simple and easy to use, but still wish for better integration between MMS and SMS messages.
Time to a New SMS Message (5.43)
To test how easy it is to create an SMS message we time how long it takes to go from phone closed until we have a new SMS message. We repeat this test five times and take the average for our score. The Nokia N75 got to a new SMS dialogue in an impressive 1.84 seconds. This is much better than the
Nokia N73, which took 4.28 seconds, however it is about twice as long as the
Nokia N95's excellent .9 second time. The N95 aside however it is better than most phones. The N75 is helped by the fact that a shortcut on the home screen allows you to get to a new SMS by hitting up on the directional pad.
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