Review: Nokia E75

Despite Nokia's vast array of mobile phones, the company had never made a model with a full landscape slide out keyboard until the E75, previously opting for the dual-screen hinged format used in its Communicator series.

That said, that's about the only thing that's remarkable about the E75. It's not a bad phone by any measure, but it lacks any kind of feature that helps it stand out from the crowd.

For a phone boasting a full slide out keyboard, the E75 is remarkably compact and is certainly one of the slimmest in its class. However, although the sprung sliding mechanism makes sure that the keyboard snaps reassuringly open and shut, it feels like this could start to weaken over time, making the entire mechanism loose.

The keyboard has nice large keys but we would have preferred some shape to them, as trying to type quickly by touch can result in a lot of misspelling because it's difficult to differentiate between the individual letters. Also, to help make the keys as large as possible, Nokia has done away with a dedicated number row and directional keys on the main keyboard.

Both of these issues are fairly minor gripes and most users will quickly get used to the layout and moving their right hand up to the keypad to navigate around.

The rest of the casing feels very solid and the metal rim and battery cover are a nice touch. All in all, the device is quite weighty but fits well in the hand and should be easily usable by just about anyone.

Critically, the 2.4in screen has a 320 x 240 display which is bright and clear, so there is no problem reading emails or surfing the net. Video playback is smooth and clear for a screen of this size.

There is an accelerometer inside so the display automatically changes orientation between landscape and portrait if you turn the phone on its side, and it will always go into landscape mode if you open the keyboard.