So I used the E75 for a while then went back to my trusty E71 and back and forth and back and forth for weeks now.  I love the format of my E71 but like the menu and speed of the E75.  Plus the E75 has US 3G and my E71 doesn’t.

I keep telling myself be patient the E72 is coming.  SO WHERE IS IT NOKIA?  We haven’t heard a peep in what feels like months about the E72.  I’m actually getting tempted to buy an iPhone to tide me over until the E72 arrives.

I was told that it should be out around CTIA in San Diego next week.  Well next week is almost here.

Import thing is I’ve been told that emoze and Truphone will both work on the E72.  I would imagine that Nimbuzz and JoikuSpot will also because they work on the E75.  So I’m set in terms of my must have apps.

Now I was told that there would not be a North American version but I was then reminded that probably meant that it wouldn’t be picked up by a provider like AT&T or T-Mobile but that Nokia would still launch it.  My only question is how long will we have to wait for the NAM version?  Nokia has a nasty habit (except for 2 handsets recently) of launching NAM versions weeks or even months after the European variant is made available.  So let’s hope they launch at the same time.

A few reasons I’m so excited about this handset is that it will have the same physical format as the E71.  It will have the upgraded firmware including Feature Pack 2 and have the juiced up processor/RAM.  Lastly because of the 5mp camera and 3.5mm headphone jack.

I’m tapping my fingers on my desk as I wait………

So as all of my readers know I’m a hard core Nokia E71 fanboy.  I’ve been infatuated with the E71 since I first heard about it roughly 2 years ago.  Now I’m impatiently waiting for the much anticipated E72 but I decided to whip out the E75 I was graciously lent for review and have been using it for 4 days now.  Hot shit, this phone is great.  I forgot how much I liked it.  It’s not perfect but I’m really digging it.  I forgot how much I liked it when I first used it.

S60 3rd edition feature pack 2 is really a nice upgrade to the E71′s feature pack 1.  There are so many little things I like more about it, but what the E75 is missing is memory/RAM.  The E75 seems to stall out sometimes and needs a reboot but that’s really my only single complaint about the software.  Of course it could be a little faster and of course it could have more of this or smarter that, but in general it’s all around solid software.

As far as the hardware goes it’s a candy bar style with a side slide QWERTY keyboard that’s 90% great and 10% ehh because of the lack of tactile feedback on the QWERTY portion.  I find it to be very useful and descent to type on.  You do need 2 hands to type on it because of the width of the keyboard which is good or bad depending on your preference.  Personally it is not my taste but I know quite a few people that are gaga over this style and particularly the E75.

Software wise the E75 does support the 4 apps I can’t live without and of course many many more apps but in particular
emoze – a push email and content client (my companies client)
Truphone – mobile VOIP offering me cheap international calls around the world and to my home country when I’m traveling
JoikuSpot – an app that turns my phone into a wifi hotspot by rebroadcasting the 3G it pulls in
Nimbuzz – an instant messaging (IM) client that supports GChat, Skype, MSN, AOL, Yahoo and ICQ

All in all the E75 is a solid piece of kit that doubles and triples as multiple devices.  Regular phone, VOIP, email, IM and wifi hotspot one by one or all at once.  This phone won’t disappoint and won’t let you down.  I have high regard for it but it’s not perfect because of the minimal RAM.  Most people would never miss it but I like to run everything all at once so if you’re a power user hold out a little longer for the E72 or something else otherwise I say pick one up and enjoy.

I am suddenly infatuated with having 3G again.  I have been carrying 2 phones around lately because I really like my E71 but equally enjoy having 3G speeds on my device so I have the E75 for that.  The other night though I was driving home from watching the Lakers basketball game and nothing was on the radio so I pulled out the Nokia E75, fired up the internet radio and was chillin to Soma.fm in the car for the whole ride home.  No hiccups or pauses for the whole 30 min drive.  I’m suddenly back hooked on 3G and don’t want to go back to EDGE.  I’m not sure what to do honestly.  I hate to go thorough the work of selling my white E71 Euro version and buying the white US version but I really want 3G speeds.  Anybody have a white US E71 in perfect condition that wants to trade???

Anyway here’s to 3G!

I have been having real issues with the E75 and using the D-pad to press down.  I know I’m not the only one so why is it so mushy?  This is an E series device not some $15 prepaid dumb phone, it’s supposed to be the flagship of Nokia’s E series and a replacement for the E90 Communicator.  I’m hoping they just have a few bum handsets and not a whole run of them.

Post here and let me know if you’re having issues.

I’m not here to criticize my friends or Nokia or my friends at Nokia.  Nor do I want to pressure them.  But I haven’t seen all that many people on Ovi Chat.  I know what you’re going to say, I don’t need another IM ID.  Well I know lots of people who signed up for Ovi Chat so they have an ID.  The question is why didn’t they add it to Adium or any other IM app.  It would be quite easy to.

Is Nokia planning on doing much with Ovi Chat?  I get the feeling the answer is yes. I think we will see a great deal done with presence over the next few months and years.  I think the N97 will play a large roll in this too.

Back to my point, where are all the people?  Why aren’t more Nokia folks on Ovi chat as well?  I only know of a few that I’m connected to.  Maybe there are many more but I have used the search tool and not found many.  Shouldn’t Nokia folks be using it? Is Nokia using it internally for instant communications?  I get the feeling the answer is NO and I’m wondering why.

By the way, what’s up with the name, Ovi Contacts?  Shouldn’t it be Ovi IM or something like that?

Anyways, the Ovi Contacts (IM) integration on the new E75 I’ve been reviewing is fantastic, I hope we see an update for many of the handsets and I hope it is included/implemented on many of the new handsets.

So I just got back Friday afternoon from CTIA in Las Vegas. As a whole in terms of announcements, hardware and software it was quite a boring show. I did get to play with the Nokia E71x, N97 and E75 (I got to take one of these home, I have a review coming), those were the only 2 pieces of phone hardware I liked and found interesting.  I did get an earphone/microphone to test, it will turn an iTouch into a VOIP phone using Truphone (one of my favorite apps of all time).

The other interesting application I saw and have been using of late is Emoze (a client of mine).  It’s a 3rd party app you download on your phone to give you a greatly enhanced email experience. I like it because it connects to my Gmail, it also has the ability to connect you to Yahoo, Hotmail, and Facebook.  It also syncs with Outlook and has a good OWA (Outlook Web Access) interface.

I can’t forget that I saw Nimbuzz and really like what they’re doing with all the different communications methods they’re enabling people with now.

All in all it was a pretty boring show as shows go.

Wow, what a whirl wind first day of Mobile World Congress.  Nokia had a few big announcements today.  One of the big announcements is that they are going to be launching 2 new E Series handsets, the E55 and E75.  Take a look at the pics.

What I think is the more interesting announcement though a bit less subtle is the announcement of the Ovi store.  It will be a place to aquire apps for your handset,but more importantly it will have a rating system and a social aspect to it.  So you can see what your friends like.

Anyways, here are some pics of the two new handsets.

Sorry for delay in posting but internet access has been BAD here.