Do you remeber when in 1996 Nokia launched its first Nokia Communicator? Besides SMS and Voices Services, the Communicator came with Internet, Email, Fax and many other business features. It was THE mile stone in the Evolution of mobile business devices. The very successfull communicator series was continued and 2008 Nokia released its 6th model of this series, the E90. But now things are changing. There is a new competitor – from Nokia. The E75. Lightweight, Stylish, Fast and Compact are only a few characteristics of this new device. Well, and now I have one myself ;-)

 During the last 6 Month I was using different smart phones from Nokia, where as my main use is business communication, which means: voice, text, mobile email, documents and navigation. I spent the summer with the 6220 Classic, then switched to the E71, had some quite good experiences with the N85, but switched back to E71, tried the 5800 and – again – switched back to E71. From my point of view, the E71 is the best device Nokia ever made. So, let’s see if the E75 can do better.

The E75 – from a software point of view – has the same features as the E71. Both are using Symbian OS/Series 60 Version 3.x, which make it easy for Nokia users to switch between different models. Both devices come with the same camera, the same display and the same communication capabilities. An advantage of the E75 over the E71 is the possibility to use “normal” head phones with the 3,5mm-Stereo-Connector in like in the 5800. Thus for listening to music, you don’t have to use the ordinary headset. The E75 (139 g) is slightly heavier than the E71 (127 g), but in day-to-day life you will not notice that. Actually I like the “heavy” weight of the E-Series devices in comparison to the 6220 (79 g), which felt like “nothing”.

The most special feature of the E75 is the slide mechanism and the full size query keyboard. The slider mechanism is solid and works very well. Comparing it to the N85 (which felt a bit cheap), the mechanism of the E75 is impressive. As I’m already used to the small keyboard of the E71, typing on the bigger one of the E75 is quite different, but after some days you will get used to it. When opening the keyboard, the display automatically switches quickly to horizontal view. Also the seperate telephone keyboard of the E75 is of top quality (not like the one of the 6220). So, there is actually not much of difference between the E75 and the E71.

So, you simply have to decide if you like the look of your device. The E75 is – due to the full size keyboard – “fatter” than the E71. The E71 still is very charming and comes with this nice leather cover to protect its premium class surface. And – one important thing: The battery of the E71 (1500 mAh) last longer than the one of the E75 (1000 mAh).  To sum up, I’m switching again back to the E71. The handling is good, the uptime is fabulous, it is extremely stable, it has all the business features you need and it looks impressive. From my point of view, the Nokia E71 is still the best device Nokia every made. But decide for yourself.