[real-eyes] Fw: [Talks] Review of the new N75 from Cingular
- From: "Steven Clark" <mobilekcpadfoot@xxxxxxx>
- To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 6 May 2007 15:27:47 -0500
Here is a review of a new cell phone I found on the Talks list.
Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: "Brent Harbolt" <bharbolt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2007 12:46 PM
Subject: [Talks] Review of the new N75 from Cingular
> Hello all. I have recently acquired the new N75 flip phone from Cingular.
> This is a series 60 phone that runs the 3rd edition of symbian software.
> I have had a couple of days now to play with the phone and feel like I
> know it pretty well. I thought I would write my initial review here for
> those interested in getting this phone.
>
> The look and feel:
>
> 1. The feel:
>
> On getting this phone, my first impression was that it was a fairly well
> made phone. It is nice and heavy when you pick it up and seems very solid
> in the hand. The main part of the phone is made of a hard plastic with
> the back and side of the phone made of a smooth rubbery plastic that
> actually seems to bend and give way if you press on it. The back battery
> cover of the phone slides on easily enough but still is a little flimsy
> for my taste. I have found this is often the case except with the E62
> which seemed to be a lot better made but this was probably also due to the
> fact that the E62 had a metal battery cover. This being said, the battery
> cover snapped into place and seems fairly snug but I would not be
> convinced that if dropped, the battery cover would remain on the phone. I
> would guess it wouldn't. The flip part of the phone is alright. I have
> seen better flip screens like on the Samsung phones that actually kind of
> snap into place when open. This particular flip phone does not. The N75
> flip screen opens smoothly but never gives you a sense that it is really
> locked into place. However, it firmly snaps down when closed. Almost to
> the point that I don't want to let it snap shut on its own because to me,
> it closes a little hard. I am not going to tell all the dimensions and
> weight and such as all of this can be found online and has been posted
> here before.
>
> 2. The look:
>
> In looking at the phone from the front with the flip closed, you will find
> two buttons to the right side toward the bottom. These buttons act as the
> video camera mode and the camera buttons. Above these buttons on the same
> right side of the phone, you have the up and down arrow keys which act as
> the volume toggles and also act as the scroll keys when the phone is
> flipped shut. On the very top of the phone you have a recessed button
> that turns the power on and off. On the front of the flip there are three
> buttons which act as the rewind, play/pause, and forward buttons. The
> phone allows you to use it as a MP3 player while the flip is closed and
> these buttons control that part. If you have new messages or email or
> missed calls, these buttons will double as soft keys to let you view
> messages, show messages, etc. On the left side of the phone you have the
> pop port which is covered by a rubbery plastic door that opens toward the
> rear of the phone. I like this idea that the port is covered but it also
> makes it a little hard to get the data cable and other pop port devices,
> plugged in and out. The door also seems somewhat flimsy and I would
> suspect that several of these will get ripped off before it is said and
> done with. This port is on the top left side of the phone and if you go
> down toward the bottom, you have the battery charger plug, and then a
> small cover that you flip open to expose the memory card slot. It is very
> small as this phone only takes a micro SD card. The phone also has stereo
> speakers that are located on the top left and right sides of the phone
> toward the back edge. The display screen on the flip part of the phone is
> probably one of the largest I have seen on a flip phone but I guess it
> doesn't do much for us blind folk. The camera lens is on the back of the
> phone and the lens is total exposed and not covered like it was on the
> 6682. Opening the flip exposes the keypad. From left to right starting
> at the top, you have the left soft key and the left side and the right
> soft ke!
> y on the
> right side. Right below the left soft key, you have the call or send
> button. You then have the menu button that is a vertical larger button.
> Next, you have the round directional pad which consists of a round circle
> for up, down, left, and right with a button in the middle for the select,
> or enter key. To the right of this circular area, you have a key that is
> the same size as the menu key but this one is a dedicated for the music
> menu. Unfortunately, you cannot assign it to anything different. To the
> right of it is the end or exit button. There are two keys under the
> circular pad which the one on the left is the edit key or the talks key
> and the one on the right is the clear key. Below all of these keys is the
> standard number keypad with the five key have a little raised dot. When I
> say little, I mean little! I think that the keys are nice sized keys but
> where a lot of people will have problems is the fact that most of the keys
> are almost flush with the phone. The keys have a nice feel to them but
> there is a very minor lowered area between each keys. I found myself
> hitting the end key when meaning to press the clear key. This is just an
> example of how the keys feel very much the same.
>
>
> The function:
>
> 1. Speed and memory:
>
> I am using the N75 with the latest public release of talks version 3.10.2.
> The installation on the phone went smooth. It appears that Nokia has not
> defaulted to the option on the phone where you have to go to application
> manager and allow all software. The talks software installed fine with no
> problems. The first thing I noticed is how much better the talks works on
> this phone than on the E62. There was no sluggishness or hesitation.
> Just as quick as on my 6682. Of course ,the third edition software is
> about the same so I am not going to touch on that. The phone holds up to
> almost 60 meg of internal memory so there is plenty of room to install
> programs. The processor seems pretty fast and things opened pretty
> quickly on the phone. Of course, it could always be faster. I noticed
> the faster processor when installing programs. They didn't take much time
> at all.
>
> 2. The 3g network:
>
> Because this is a 3g phone, if you have the new Cingular 3g 64k sim card,
> then you can take advantage of this if your area offers it. I live in the
> Dallas Texas area so my phone was able to take advantage of the 3g
> network. My email downloaded very quickly using this and also going from
> web page to web page was a snap. One down side of the 3g network is that
> it sucks the talk time of your battery down by almost two hours. Since
> the battery in this phone is already very small and only a 800 MA battery,
> there is not much to spare. Some Nokia phones will give you the option to
> disable 3g but unfortunately, this phone or Cingular should I say, has
> disabled this feature. So, the only way to disable the 3g feature is to
> use an old sim card that doesn't support it. Since my card is a newer 64k
> card, I had to purchase an older 32k sim card off of eBay. I would rather
> have the longer talk time than the faster data speeds. The talks software
> will read the 3g icon on the top right of the screen so you will be able
> to know when you are picking up the 3g network. If you are in an area
> where this is not supported, then the phone will automatically switch back
> to the GSM network.
>
> 3. Sound quality:
>
> If you are like me and most blind people, one of our biggest concerns is
> the sound quality on the phone. I must say, right off the bat, I am very
> impressed with the sound on this phone. Like I mentioned earlier, it has
> stereo speakers so you are getting sound from both sides and not just one.
> I confirmed that it is true stereo by accessing the built in FM radio and
> I could tell instantly that the phone was true stereo. Of course, the
> speakers are pretty small so you are a little limited in sound quality but
> for a cell phone, I was impressed. The sound wasn't so tinny like it is
> on the 6682. Furthermore, the handset quality was equally good. Not too
> mention Nokia finally did it right and gave the ability for a nice loud
> handset. I almost never have to turn it up all the way because it gets so
> loud. The ringer volume gets equally loud. So much as I had to take it
> off of its highest setting because it was too loud. Of course, the
> speaker phone is just the half duplex variety but still has nice volume
> and nice quality sound. The speaker phone does allow you to close the
> flip and still be connected. I actually saw a flip phone one time that
> you had to keep the flip open in order to keep the person connected while
> using speaker phone. So, as far as sound goes on this phone, I give it
> two thumbs up. OF course, it is not as good as the Nokia N-gage QD but is
> better than the last few Nokia phones I have had.
>
> 4. The flip:
>
> The cool thing about this phone is that there are several things you can
> do while the flip is closed. Or should I say, there are several things
> that we have the potential to do. I say this because this is where the
> latest version of talks falls very short. When the flip is closed, there
> are options to play music, view missed calls and text messages as well as
> emails, and view your calendar and appointments. You can also change
> profiles from here and shut off the phone and use all of the features you
> get if you press the power key quickly. Talks does a few of these things
> but not many. There is going to have to be a lot of work done to get up
> to speed. For instance, if I press the power key once quickly, it brings
> up the normal screen to change profiles, etc. At this point, I can use
> the up and down volume toggle on the side of the phone to scroll up and
> down but talks tends to read the first one in the list and then not read
> any others. Another example is that the flip screen will tell you if you
> have any emails. You can press the button to read them and it will bring
> up 1 of 3 emails. but when trying to arrow down and then select to read
> the email, it won't read it. So, as you can see, there are a few things
> that talks falls short of now but I know they are working on a new version
> that will most likely address these issues. The cool thing is that soon
> we will be able to do all these things with the flip closed. You also can
> lock the keys when the flip is closed and all you have to do is open the
> flip part to unlock the keys.
>
> 5. Accessibility:
>
> For those of you not using a screen reader, there are a few built in
> features for accessibility for the blind. One is the voice aid program
> which I know that most of us know about. It has built in speech to read
> recent calls, contacts, missed calls, etc. Another feature is the message
> reader which has another voice to read out text messages. These voices
> are fairly clear and will work fine for someone that needs something
> temporarily or doesn't need the power of a full screen reader. Of course,
> there is the normal voice commands, voice prompts, etc. Another cool
> feature is that you can set the profiles to read out the persons name.
> So, if I have the flip closed and Stephen is calling me, the phone will
> ring and also say Stephens name audibly at the same time every few
> seconds. The speech for this is not the best but is sufficient.
>
> Conclusion:
>
> My conclusion is that this is one of the coolest phones I think Nokia has
> released in a long time. It seems very fast and is packed with features.
> I have also been told that this phone supports true bluetooth stereo but
> haven't confirmed that yet. The phone seems well made and works very well
> with talks. It has all of the same things you come to love with the
> series 60 symbian software. The quality of the sound is great and I think
> that this will be one of Nokia's best sellers. If you like fast data,
> then you will also like the 3g option. The hot swappable external micro
> SD card slot is nice since you don't have to remove the battery cover to
> get to it. Also, having so much internal memory makes it nice so that you
> don't have to worry you are going to run out soon. From Cingular, this
> phone sells for $399 or $199 with a two year contract. I would say in my
> opinion that it is worth every penny of the $199 and probably even the
> $399. Please feel free to ask any questions about anything that I might
> have forgotten to mention or touch on.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Brent Harbolt
> _______________________________________________
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