After several weeks with a Nokia E75 mobile device, from the kind generosity from the folks at WOM World/Nokia I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I took this device on planes, trains and automobiles – even ferries – and was my only camera at a wedding. A few blog posts here at The Hot Iron were written on it too. Still, I was having a hard time deciding what I thought of the device.

Then it hit me; it isn’t for me.

It was while waiting for a train from Chicago to Milwaukee when I realized this. Standing in the tiny Amtrak lobby, I saw many people typing away on keyboard device models by Samsung and LG among others. As I observed their pecking away on their device’s full keyboards, I noticed the keys were smaller than those on the E75, which are much larger than most devices out there. The people using them were probably in their 20’s and 30’s and were very adept at “texting” as we call it in the States. As I looked at the E75 in my hands, it then dawned on me why it wasn’t for me.

Here’s my conclusion – the E75 is for the business user who isn’t comfortable with the small size of keyboards such as those on a Blackberry or even like on the Nokia E71.

Now I don’t base this on anything I have read elsewhere, only my own brainpower. As I consider myself a high-end tech user, and love the E71 the issues I had with using the keyboard on the E75 were due to the fact I was trying to use it like I did the E71 – fast, and with one hand. This is not what the E75’s slide out keyboard was designed for.

My evaluation process was more utilitarian than scientific. I simply charged the E75, put my T-Mobile SIM card in it, synced my contacts and calendar and started using it as my primary device during the trial. I did install Qik and tried the Ovi Store – actually I did them in the reverse order as I was unable to install Qik from the Ovi Store, so I went directly to Qik’s Web site to initiate the install.

As a mobile phone, the E75 works well. The best way to describe the keypad is that is similar to shingles on a house. I’ve never seen this concept before and it worked for me. The Navi key was familiar to me as I used it on the E71. Much of the use of the E75 was like the E71, including a camera on the front as well as back, ideal for self-portraits and recording video of one’s self.

It seems the main selling point of the device is the slide out keyboard. The actual sliding part was solid as the device is overall. Down the middle of the keyboard is a metal bar which I presume is for stability. When the keyboard slides out the action buttons on the phone keypad remain active as well as the Navi key, but the remaining keys are disabled. This is too bad, as it’s difficult to quickly key numbers on the keyboard and leaving them active would have alleviated this issue.

Here’s some specific regarding the E75 keyboard. There is only one function key, which you need to get to the alternate characters on keys, namely numbers. This made it hard to type traditionally or with thumbs as you would on a smaller keyboard. It was also hard for my fat fingers to press the top row of keys as it kept hitting the edge of the top of the phone from where the keyboard slides from. On top of it all, the flat keys prevented “feel” typing.

As for the camera, overall it was good and much better than I anticipated. It took decent photos in daylight as well as good video. Photos at night were somewhat grainy and those from a distance were a little blurred. I didn’t try any of the settings on the camera as I used it in auto mode always. I have uploaded some photos to a Flickr group for your perusal. I was able to get some great photos and video of my friend’s wedding which was a good thing.

Thus my conclusion that the E75 is for a low-tech business user who thinks standard keybaords on mobile devices are too small. Any other takers on this opinion?

So E75, it’s not you – it’s me. There is a match for you out there, and you two will make a great pair. Your older sibling the E71 is more my type, or it’s half-sibling the E72 may be the one for me?

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Next Tuesday, July 14, I will be the guest speaker in the chat room during the live domain name auction on Bido. Bido is a unique “social auction platform” which offers for auction one domain name a day exclusively on the Web. You don’t have to bid on a domain name to participate in the live chat, but you do need to register.

The domain name to be auctioned is unlock.info. The term "unlock" has a high degree of meaning in the world of mobile devices, as a device is either locked to a particular provider or unlocked and can be used on any provider. I have written on locked vs. unlocked mobile devices before and I only own and use those unlocked.

I am looking forward to joining the conversation on domain names, mobile technology and Internet services during the chat on Bido. If you have never participated in a domain name auction I encourage you to check it out.

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Announcements • Domain Names • Mobile Technology • (5) Comments • Permalink

Last week I was riding the Brown Line in Chicago north and I got an idea to truly test out the video on the Nokia E75 I am evaluating. So I held it up against the window of the car and pressed record, and the following is what was captured.

If you cannot see the video above, follow this link to watch my Chicago Loop L Ride Recorded by Nokia E75.

This is a view heading north from the Randolph/Wabash stop to the Merchandise Mart stop. You will see the famous Chicago Theatre sign, the Chicago Board of Trade building and the Chicago River.

What do you think of the video? Is it of good quality? I have been using the camera for still photos and video and even took it to a wedding - look for a full report on my use of the Nokia E75 soon!

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Thanks to the great folks at WOMWorld/Nokia, I will be evaluating the Nokia E75 device for the next few weeks. It arrived last week, and here is a video I made of my first impressions as I was unboxing it.

If you cannot see the video above, follow this link to watch my Nokia E75 Unboxing Video.

Since then, it has been my primary device, as I have switched my T-Mobile SIM from my Nokia E70 device to this. I am going to give it some time and really try it out, including installing the new Ovi Store and several apps, including Qik, ShoZu, Facebook and a Twitter client. I also plan on reading the instruction manual – seriously.

Since I made this video, I discovered a few things. The camera does not have a Carl Zeiss lens, though it has taken some decent pictures and video so far. The case that comes with it is very cool – the strap is not a locking, Velcro strap as I first thought. It is wrapped around the inside of the case, and I pull the tab to slide the E75 out of the form-fitting velour-like case. I haven’t seen such a case idea before, but I definitely like it.

Watch The Hot Iron for a full report when I am done reviewing it, or if I decide to share something in the interim, like photos or videos or who knows what! I will be sharing thoughts on it on Twitter - follow me @thehotiron.

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A few weeks back there was a meetup for S60 users and enthusiasts at the Nokia Flagship Store in Chicago. It was coordinated by S60Users.com though as they are in New York nobody was there from them. Despite this, there was a small but might gathering of 5 of us, as shown in the accompanying photo courtesy of Jon from JDMOTO Photography.

Our hosts from the Nokia store let us play with an earlier model of the forthcoming Nokia N97. As it was an earlier model of hardware and software, they wouldn’t let us take pictures of it. For myself, it was my first hands-on with the device. I liked its size, feel and layout. Though the keys on the keypad are small, they are easy to feel, especially compared to the new N75. Drawbacks to the keyboard are no separate row for number keys (there’s room for one!) and that they are hard to read. Of course the true test of the device is in its real-world use, and I would love to help the cause and try one out – hint!

Speaking of the N75, they had them on display and I spent some time using one. Where I like the form factor and how the keyboard slides, the screen is not much bigger than the E71, and the fact that they keyboard is flat is a drawback, as you can’t “feel” out the keys as you type. They are larger keys and there is also no separate row for numbers. As I have called this out twice now, it is obvious I enjoy this feature on my E70 as well as when I evaluated the E71.

And it wouldn’t be an event without swag! The friendly staff had some S60 items, including a flat 512MB Flash drive, pen and refrigerator clip. They mentioned they may be hosting other events in the future, so I will be on the lookout for them and will report back here on The Hot Iron. You can see more pictures from the meetup on Jon's blog.

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