Nokia N75 Review - Software
OS (8.0)
The Nokia N75 runs Symbian Series 60 version 9.1. this is the older version of Series 60 rather than the latest version that runs on the N95. Symbian Series 60 is a smart phone operating system that includes extensive PIM and multimedia capabilities. It is also capable of multi-tasking and you can expand its abilities with native third party software. Series 60 is a powerful platform on par with other smart phone operating systems like Windows Mobile, BlackBerry OS and Palm. Our score for all Series 60 devices is standardized.
Home Screen Score (7.0)
By default the Nokia N75 does not use the advanced active standby screen that is available on Series 60 devices. For that reason we are scoring this section on the more basic home screen that is used. This screen has indicators in the top fourth of the screen, including things like battery power, signal strength, time and date. At the bottom of the screen are two soft key indicators, the left assigned to messaging and the right to MediaNet by default. Although there are no visual representations there are also four shortcuts assigned to the four directions of the D-Pad. Up is assigned to a new text message dialogue, right takes you to the instant messaging application, left opens the My Stuff applications, where you can access your various media files, down opens the address book. Both these shortcuts and the soft key applications are user customizable.
If you choose to activate the Active Standby the interface resembles that of a Windows Mobile Today screen, with plugins for your calendar and tasks and a series of shortcuts to launch various applications. This is probably the better home screen for those who are power PIM users, but others should be fine with the standard screen. Either way you can change the background picture easily to use any picture on your device. We like the ability to choose between two home screen types, and especially like the information offered by the Active Standbye display.
Extensibility (8.0)
Running Symbian Series 60 the Nokia N75 provides users with extensive options to extend the capabilities of the device with native third party applications. In addition to the hundreds of software titles available for this platform users can also install java based games and applications, with support built into the operating system rather than through a virtual machine such as on Windows Mobile devices. We were very pleased with the N75's extensibility options.
Customizebility (7.0)
The Nokia N75 provides users with a good selection of customization options. You can switch shortcuts on the home screen and change the background picture, as we discussed above, as well as change the device theme if you want an entirely new look and feel. You also have the option to change the size of the displayed font to one of three different sizes. Finally you can reorganize the applications in the menu screen, putting things in different folders and generally organizing it in the best way for your. These options all make the N75 one of the more customizable phones out there.
OS Responsiveness (5.0)
The Nokia N75's interface was a little slower than we would like. Although nowhere near as laggy as the
T-Mobile Wing, it took awhile to launch programs like Web, Gallery and the music application. Even simple things like launching a new email from the messaging application took a couple of seconds. It certainly isn't as fast as the BlackBerry OS found on devices like the
BlackBerry 8800. Most users will be able to live with the small delays however.
Gaming (4.0)
The Nokia N75 only comes loaded with evaluation versions of several java games. The Snakes game that is included with other Series 60 devices has been removed. As always we are disappointed at phones that don't at least have one full game loaded when purchased, we feel it is rather cheap. Regardless of which game you are playing you will probably find the N75's controls a little frustrating. Specifically the D-Pad is small and prone to errors. For those who are willing to go out and purchase games the Series 60 platform on the N75 provides you with a lot of flexibility as it supports both native third party software and java based games. You won't have any trouble finding a good selection of titles to choose from.
Browser Features (8.0)
The Nokia N75 runs the excellent Series 60 browser, although not the latest version found on the N95. This browser provides solid functionality including support for standard HTML pages, javascript, images, frames, RSS feeds, encryption & cookies. Unfortunately because it is not the latest version of the browser it does not support WAP pages. This means you will need to use the older services browser included on the phone to browse such pages, and this is the browser used for AT&T's medianet service. There is still no support for advanced technologies like java and flash. We are rather displeased by the lack of WAP support, but otherwise you will find that the Series 60 browser will be able to handle most modern web pages that don't rely on flash. Sorry, no YouTube for you.
Browsing Interface (9.0)
The Series 60 browser on the Nokia N75 does an excellent job of displaying full web pages just as you would see them on your desktop. The browser uses a "mini-map" that allows you to view a thumbnail of the whole page and navigate to the section you want. In practice this works very well. Unfortunately, as with other Series 60 devices, loading full web pages will very quickly use up the meager RAM on the N75 leading to low memory errors and sometimes causing the application to shut down. We found that we could only browse to two or three full sized pages before we ran into trouble. This is a serious limitation of the N75's browser.
The history on the Series 60 browser does a good job, with pages you have visited being saved between sessions. History is automatically saved in an auto bookmarks folder, and when you type in a web address matches from your history are automatically populated in a pop up list. Bookmarks are similarly easy to use, with support for folders and the ability to edit bookmarks you have already created. We were happy with the history and bookmark support on the N75.
We found that the menus on the Series 60 browsers were a little large, with severa sub menus. Without having the ability to use your number keys to automatically launch items in the menus as on other phones these can be a little bit of a chore to navigate. The browser does have shortcut keys, for example 1 will open your bookmarks and 8 opens the mini-map. It's too bad that these shortcuts are not user configurable. Although the browser does support opening links in new windows, you cannot open a new blank web page.
The browser found on Series 60 devices is certainly one of the best found on a mobile device, giving users the experience of browsing real web pages on their phone. Now if only Nokia would match this ambitious browser with the hardware necessary to run it without problems.
Browser Access (5.0)
To test how easily you can access the browser we count how many steps it takes to go from the home screen until we have opened Wirelessinfo.com. We use steps instead of a timed test to take network connectivity issues out of the process. We count typing out the web address as a single step. The Nokia N75 took 8 steps to get to our web site. By far the majority of these steps come from the fact that the advanced Series 60 browser is buried in the menu system. The reason for this is that the link on the home screen goes to AT&T's medianet service, which uses the older browser. Although we understand that AT&T wants people to use their online services its entirely conceivable that those not familiar with the platform won't discover that the more advanced browser exists. Once you actually launch the browser you are automatically taken to a field where you can enter a web address and then just hit go to open the page. We recommend that users replace the medianet link on the home screen with one to the better Series 60 Web.
Calculator (5.0)
The calculator on the N75 is the standard one found on all Series 60 devices. The number keys on the phone are used to enter digits while functions are entered by using the D-Pad to navigate an on screen buttons. The calculator is sufficient to do basic arithmetic (+,-,X,/) functions, but you can't do more advanced scientific calculations.
Alarm (1.0)
As with other Series 60 devices the alarm on the N75 is very limited. You can only set a single alarm to go off every day at one time. There is no ability to create advanced recurrence patterns like on Windows Mobile Professional devices. As always we are disappointed by the lack of functionality provided by alarms on the N75.
Document Software (4.0)
The Nokia N75 ships with the view only version of Quickoffice for viewing Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents. If you want editing functions you will need to upgrade to the full version of Quickoffice. Adobe PDF is on board for viewing PDF files and a zip manager is installed as well. We were pleased with the document software included on the N75 as you should be able to handle just about any file you need.
Other Software (2.0)
In addition to the software we've already discussed the N75 comes loaded with an array of additional software. Items that we thought were worth some additional points include the Lifeblog application, for blogging while on the road and a file manager. Of course you can also add an array of third party applications to the phone as it runs Symbian Series 60.
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