
Overlooked UberPhone

The Nokia N75 is one of the few (perhaps only) series 60 revision 3 phones to be carried by a phone carrier in the US. This is a shame, for the series 60 phones have a very rich development community. Unlike many carrier's phones, it is quite easy to install 3rd party software on the phone, significantly enhancing it's functionality. Nokia has developed interesting software for the phone, such as integrated blogging. They have desktop management software for Windows that allows you to sync your contacts and date book, as well as do other housekeeping. The phone works with iSync on the Mac as well (http://europe.nokia.com/mac), plus there is a media manager application for the Mac that works with iPhoto.
The phone is oriented as a media/web device, with dedicated controls on the outside of the phone for controlling the really nice music player. The phone supports miniSD cards so you can have a couple of gigabytes for music, images and video. Video playback works quite well. Finally, it has a built in FM radio, which will play through the built in stereo speakers, or headphones. It can capture video and still images.
Many of nokia's phones have quite good cameras, but this is a notch below; certainly good enough for outdoor shots, but too noisy for decent indoor shots -- roughly equivalent to the so-so phone built into the iPhone. However, the screen is the best I have ever seen on a cell phone -- clear, bright and sharp -- even in daylight.
The included browser is based on the same core code as Safari and iPhone's web browser, which means many iPhone optimized pages work great on the phone. It is indeed a nice browser, doing a good job of rendering pages on it's small screen.
The biggest glaring error with this phone is that it does not have a built in 3.5 mm jack for a pair of standard headphones. Users have to buy either a dedicated handsfree kit, or a adapter to be able to use their headphones. They should have at least included the adapter with the phone.
If you have a Cingular branded phone, try to get it unlocked (Cingular will do this if you have been a customer for a while -- think it is 6 months). You will want to ask for a "subsidy unlock code". This will not only let you use the phone with any GSM carrier, but will also allow you to install newer Nokia supplied firmware on the phone. The Nokia supplied user interface is much cleaner and more powerful. It does not have the junkware that the Cingular phone has, and functions are a little bit simpler. Understand, though, you will want to spend some time with the manual to uncover all the things this phone can do.
Oh, and by the way -- this phone is a world phone -- capable of working anywhere in the world that has GSM coverage, which means most of europe, and a big chunk of Asia -- plus of course, the USA, central and south america.
It is not a giant PDA phone that screams that you are a Geek. It is not a blackberry or iPhone. It is larger than a Razor, but packs in much more functionality and flexibility. If you consider yourself an advanced user, but wants something that looks slick and will fit in a shirt or pants pocket, here you go.
Review ID: 10000000004952638

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