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Nokia N75 Review - Organizer

Alfredo Padilla Published on June 14, 2007 Comment on this

Intro Making/Receiving Calls Software Other Features

Tour & Design Messaging Battery Life Value & Comparisons

Audio Quality Organizer Connectivity Conclusion

Imaging Multimedia Hardware Ratings & Specs

Synchronization Ease of Use (6.67)
The Nokia N75 uses Nokia's PC Suite to synchronize with a PC. This software is well developed and is easy to set up and use. You have a range of options for what information is synchronized between your devices and how it is synchronized. Initiating a synchronization is as simple as connecting your device with the computer via USB. Bluetooth synchronization is also supported, including the ability to have your device automatically recognized and synchronized when in range. We are generally pleased with the ease of use of Nokia's PC Suite and synchronization of the Nokia N75.

Synchronization with a computer is supported via USB or Bluetooth. Contact and contact photos are synchronized over as are calendar appointments, tasks and notes. We were pleased with the wide support for synchronization offered by the Nokia N75 and Nokia's PC Suite. The Nokia N75 can be synchronized with Outlook or Lotus Notes on a PC. Support for synchronization with a Mac is not currently supported, although Nokia has recently updated the iSync plugins for many of its phones so one of the N75 may be forthcoming soon. In the meantime there are various hacks available to get iSync to work with the N75.

Alerts (5.0)
The Nokia N75 allows you to create alerts for tasks and calendar appointments. The type of alert that goes off are assigned by the active profile, which means you cannot assign specific alerts for each item. When an alert goes off you get a dialogue on screen that allows you to dismiss the alert or snooze it for five minutes. If you miss the alert it will sound again in five minutes just as if you had snoozed it. We were disappointed that the N75 didn't allow you to choose how long the snooze lasted and wish we had better control over what tones sound when an alert goes off. The N75's alerts are par for the course for Series 60 devices however.

Over the Air PIM Sync (0.0)
The Nokia N75 does not support any over the air synchronization of your PIM information. You may be able to add this support in by installing software provided for Nokia's E-Series phones, however we did not test this software with the N75.

Address Book

Adding Contacts (4.38)
To test how easy it is to add contacts to the N75 we time how long it takes to go from phone closed until we have added a contact name and phone number. We repeat this for five different test contacts and take the average for our score. The Nokia N75 took an average of 22.84 seconds to add new contacts. This is faster than either the Nokia N73 or Nokia N95, albeit only by a second or two. It is slightly slower than the Sanyo M1, which took 20.6 seconds. We found that using the large keypad on the Nokia N75 helped us enter data quickly and getting to the address book was easy as you can simply hit down on the D-Pad when on the home screen. We were slowed down by some lag when launching the new contact interface and switching between fields in this interface.

Looking/Sorting/Search (3.5)
The Nokia N75's sorting & searching options are the same as those from other Series 60 devices. You can view your contacts by last name, first name or groups. You search through your contacts by typing out a first or last name using multi-tap. Unfortunately there is no support for T9 predictive search, nor can you search by company name. We found the sorting and search options to be somewhat limited, especially for a smart phone.

Fields (10.8)
As with other Series 60 devices the Nokia N75 has a plethora of fields available for contacts. There are 10 basic fields and 32 additional fields, as well as the ability to add a photo and assign a ringtone to each contact. We were also pleased to see the ability to rename fields to better fit information you might have.

Speed Dial/Voice tags/Voice command (3.67)
The Nokia N75 supports speed dial to anyone of nine different slots. This is more limited than many phones that allow you to assign as many as 98 speed dials. Voice tags are not supported, however there is a voice command application you can use for dialing contacts that is accessed by pressing and holding the right soft key when open or the next track key when closed. Voice command fared as poorly on the N75 as it did on the N73 and N95, recognizing only two of our five test names. This makes it rather useless for everyday use and compared very poorly to the Sanyo M1, a regular phone that was able to recognize all five of our test names.

Calendar

Adding Calendar Items (5.21)
To test how easy it is to add a calender event to the Nokia N75 we time how long it takes to go from phone closed until we have added a simple lunch appointment with a 15 minute reminder for the following day. We repeat this five times and take the average for our score. The Nokia N75 took an average of 19.2 seconds to complete this process. This is slightly slower than both the Nokia N73's 18.96 second time and the Nokia N95's 18.64 second time. It is however much slower than other smart phones like the T-Mobile Wing, which despite its slow interface took only 11 seconds to add an appointment. We were disappointed with how long it took to add an appointment to what is supposed to be an advanced device like the N75.

Calendar Views (4.22)
Like all Series 60 devices the Nokia N75 provides you with three calendar views: daily, weekly and monthly. The daily view is a chronological list of the day's events. It also lists the tasks that are due that day. Titles, start and end times are listed, as are indicators for things like reminders and recurrence. The weekly view shows a grid with days along the top and hours on the left. Appointments are indicated by blue bars along the time when they are active. When you move your cursor to one of these blocks a small tip pops up at the top of the screen with the start time and title of the appointment.

The monthly view shows you six weeks at a time. Days that have appointments or tasks are indicated with a small triangle in the lower right corner of the day. When you select a day that has an appointment a tool tip similar to the week view appears at the top with a list of that day's appointments including start time and title. Overall we found the agenda view to be the most useful for everyday use, but the tip that allows you to view some appointment details makes the weekly and monthly views more useful than on many phones.

Fields (6.0)
As with other Series 60 devices the Nokia N75 offers the basic calendar fields but lacks some more advanced features. Title, location, start/end time, reminders and recurrence are all on board. We were a little disappointed with the recurrence options as you can only choose from five preset patterns rather than creating your own as you can on Windows Mobile devices. We were also disappointed at the lack of an all day option, categories, notes and the ability to invite contacts to an appointment. This leaves the N75 behind other smart phones like the T-Mobile Wing.

ToDo/Tasks

Adding ToDo/Task (6.96)
To test how easy it is to add a task to the N75 we time how long it takes to go from the home screen until we have added a simple task reminding us to get groceries. We repeat this test five times and take the average for our score. The Nokia N75 took an average of 14.36 seconds to add our test task. This is slightly slower than the Nokia N73's 13.16 second time and the Nokia N95's 12.38 second time. It is a solid time however, better than what we've seen from other smart phones like the T-Mobile Wing, which took 18.96 seconds or the BlackBerry 8800's 18.8 second time.

ToDo/Task Sorting and Prioritizing (3.5)
As with other Series 60 devices the Nokia N75 provides you with a tasks view in the calendar application. This view lists all your current tasks in chronological order. You have no option to sort them otherwise, however you can set priority for individual tasks to high, normal or low. If you set high or low priority an icon appears next to the task. We appreciated the ability to set priority but were disappointed by the lack of filtering options for your views. This leaves the N75 behind Windows Mobile Professional devices like the T-Mobile Wing.

Fields (5.0)
The fields available when you create a task on the Nokia N75 are very basic, allowing you to enter a title, due date, alarm and set priority. Advanced features like recurrence, categories and notes are not supported, which again leaves the N75 behind smart phones running Windows Mobile Professional like the T-Mobile Wing. We were disappointed by the scarcity of fields on the N75.

Notes

Adding Notes (6.44)
To test how easy it is to add a note to the N75 we time how long it takes to go from phone closed until we have created a new note reminding us about a lunch appointment. We repeat this test five times and take the average for our score. The N75 took an average of 15.52 seconds to add our test note. This is faster than the N95's 17.7 second average and about the same as the N73's 15.12 second average. It is much better than the Sprint Upstage, which took 29.72 seconds to add a note.

Note Interface (2.0)
The notes interface on the N75 is the same as every other Series 60 device. Notes are organized in a simple list based on creation date, with the newest on top. The first few characters entered are the note's title. The left soft key gives you access to a menu where you can create new notes, delete notes and manage synchronization options. There are no options to sort or filter your view, nor can you search through your notes. We found the interface to be very simple, almost too much so as we are disappointed by the lack of more advanced features.

Note Formatting (0.0)
There are no options to format your notes on the Nokia N75. This includes changing font type, size or color. You also cannot add media or hand drawn items to notes. This is all par for the course for a Series 60 device.

Voice Memo (3.0)
The voice notes application on the N75 is the standard Series 60 one that allows you to record notes up to a maximum length of one minute. You can send notes via MMS, infrared or Bluetooth, however you cannot send a note via email. The application is very simple and you will find that you need to switch to the gallery in order to manage older notes. We were not impressed by it.

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