The E75 still lives on

It has been over a month now and I am still using my E75 and it is going strong. Even with the v10 firmware the phone is solid. In hind sight I have made the right decision to avoid both the E97 and Omnia HD. It also proves how mature s60v3.2 is to provide a good user experience.

I have read many reviews of the N97 and all have commented saying the build quality of the phone is exceptional but actually using the phone is bad.

I have already blogged about the low memory even before the device came out and I was right. After using the 5800 of which like the N97 is not for power users. Probably in 6 months time when there have been several revisions of firmware the n97 might be worth reviewing especially when the price comes down.

What surprised me recently with the omnia hd was samsung actually have released new firmware. Even after owning the i8510 for 6 months, getting rid of it and then 6 months later there has been no firmware. Because of this I no longer will have a samsung as I cannot afford to spend a lot of money on a feature rich handset which has faults and never gets fixed. A chap I am following on Twitter has an Omnia HD. Being an avid E90 user he thought the N97 was a joke so got the samsung. He is having issues but is persevering.

Looking back over my phone choices over the past year the nokia E series have been the best in terms of build and stability. It is just a shame Nokia cannot release a converged device composed of the e series build and stability with the high end features of the n series.

The E75 is quick to respond, has a good camera for stills and video, great for messaging and is comfortable to type on.
Everything I have thrown at it works and it continues to surprise me that I have actually found a good work horse. Okay, there is no wvga, no touch, no stereo speakers and no 3" screen. But after having and trying several devices with this configuration and being disappointed. What am I missing? Just the hassle of these not working.

When I had my E90 I thought wouldn't it be great to have a smaller device with an integrated keyboard. That's why I got the 5800 but I soon got bored because of its limitations. The E63 and similar formats are great to use but a little bulky. Then enter stage left the E75. Both the size and hidden keyboard make this phone an ideal form factor.

My only criticism is qvga where I didn't think it would bother me. I do get sick of scrolling or squinting when trying to read. If there was a device with a full screen and then a slide out keyboard then that would be the next one to consider.

But until that time the E75 is still the choice.

How many?

I have purchased three phones this year already a Nokia 5800, an E63 and recently upgraded to an E75. All of them have three different from factors, features but all run symbian s60. O2 my provider had already contacted me to advise me that I could upgrade but as I was in no rush I wanted to wait.

I was toying with the idea of either the E71 or N97 and bought the E63 as a halfway gap to help me decide if I would like the form factor of the E71. When I originally saw the E61 I just laughed at the size of it which was probably hypocritical of me considering I had a Nokia 9500 and E90 before. However I braved my hypocrisy and got the E63.

First impressions where good where I loved the thumboard and found I can use it either one or two handed for typing. The only real let down for me was the Nokia Maps software which didn't make use of the screen real estate. Therefore I was really close on getting an E71. When NokiaExperts on Twitter got hold of an E71x with S60v3.2 So I then wanted to hold off again and get this. However being a NAM only device I didn't know if there would ever be a EURO model.

So the E71 was looking to be my E90 replacement for the next 18 months.

The thing that surprised me about the E63 was it handled everything I threw at it and just worked. Bearing in mind it is a low priced device it performed better than my 5800 which would either run out of memory or slow down.

I was going to wait for the N97 but after listening to a recent All About Symbian podcast it sounded as if the processor speed and memory issues that plagued the 5800 are present in this device. However this will be confirmed over the coming months.

Because I just want something that works I decided to skip this device and settle for an E series phone because of my experience on the E63, the build quality and the longevity of my E90.

So E71 is still looking good until I looked investigated it further. In a nutshell I dropped this device for the E75 due to its weak camera in terms of quality and lack of 30 fps video recording.

I phoned O2 who could only do the E71 and then I received a phonecall from carphonewarehouse who could do the E75. So I bit the bullet and ordered one.

The build quality is excellent but I am still getting used to the keyboard. As an E90 replacement I am not too sure as I do hope Nokia do release a communicator replacement. However I will persevere with the phone blogging and twittering about it.

I have purchased and loaded all of my sms, call filtering, call recording and other apps such as profimail, officesuite, wavelog and gsync. This weekend I will test the gamin sat nav software instead of the nokia maps. So whilst there is still a lot to do I will hang onto the 5800 to see if the touch improves or the E63 if I just want something that is robust.

The phones do get a good workout from me as I twitter, email, blood browse and occasionally call on them instead of using a Pc. Also I have just started to download all of my podcasts direct to the handset where last month I clocked up 1gb of data.

People ask me how many phones do I have and need. My answer is one at a time as I do like to change and the set I have at the moment allow me to do this comfortably.

In conclusion, it will be interesting to see now long the E75 lasts me and if I do change again soon. Should there be another communicator then that is where my money will be.