Nokia E75

The basics

The Nokia E75 is an S60 (V3.2) smartphone with side-slide Qwerty keyboard and 2.4-inch QVGA display. HSDPA (3.6Mbps) and quad-band GSM are joined by Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. It supports Microsoft Exchange push email and comes with 4GB microSD card, 3.5mm headphone jack and 3.2MP autofocus camera. It weighs 139g.

The good

Beware the boss who offers to buy you an E75. With its extensive range of 3.5G, GSM, Wi-Fi and push email connections, you risk being contactable almost anywhere in the world that has electrical power. And with a slide-out keyboard that has keys large enough to actually type on, you’ve even got the ability to rework that proposal or tweak that spreadsheet while you’re on a chair-lift or bobbing lilo. Yes, it’s got Office-compatible apps, yes, there’s global GPS and, yes, the HSDPA browser is fine for carrying out research. Face it – buy this phone and you’ll never have to write another ‘out of office’ email ever again. One bit of good news for hyperactive stress bunnies: N-gage gaming is installed as standard.

The bad

The 2.4-inch LCD screen is the on the small side these days, especially for typing longer messages and extra especially for web browsing. Battery life is also pretty anaemic for its power user/road warrior target market – less than four and a half hours’ talk time – so keep the charger handy.

The bottom line

From its macho edges to its bicep-firming weight, the E75 declares that you mean business. It’s a solid and reliable messager, then, despite an underwhelming screen and battery life.