Nokia N75 Review - Display & Audio

Display & Audio

The N75 sports two displays and both are excellent, if a bit smudge-prone.  On the outside there’s a 1.3” display capable of 160 x 128 pixels of resolution across 262,000 colors.  Nokia gave this display pretty comprehensive capabilities, moving beyond the standard “external status display” to include camera viewfinder and music track and EQ information capacities.  This display was bright and legible under almost all lighting conditions.

On the inside, there’s a big, bold 2.4” display that’s an absolute treat to look at.  That’s the upside of the N75 being such a large handset - there’s plenty of room for the main display.  While not quite state of the art, the screen’s 240 x 320 pixel, 16 million color resolution is more than capable of handling text, images, and video clips with stunning results. 

Display options include customizable themes and wallpapers (which AT&T is happy to provide you plenty of for a fee) and one of my favorite Series 60 features, the Active Standby screen.  Active Standby displays a row of application shortcuts and reminders of upcoming appointments and tasks on the home screen along with time, network, and messaging (voice, SMS, and email) information.  If you’re like me and rely on your cellphone’s calendar to keep you on task and schedule, a feature like Active Standby is a huge plus.

I tested the quad-band GSM N75 on AT&T’s network in the San Francisco Bay Area of California.  Performance was absolutely stellar on voice calls.  The handset exhibited virtually no hiss during calls, and people on the other end came through loud and clear without exception.  The built-in speakerphone was imminently usable, too - loud and clear, even in moderately noisy surroundings.  Kudos to Nokia for remembering the “phone” in “cell phone.”

The N75 can also be used with wired or wireless headsets, but does not support stereo Bluetooth.  Nokia’s Pop-Port accessory system allows for mono or stereo headsets to be connected via a rather awkwardly placed and covered jack on the side of the handset.  An adapter is necessary, however, for the use of standard 2.5 or 3.5mm headsets; I’d prefer to have seen the standard 3.5mm headphone jack that’s built into the N76 and N95 models.

That being said, music playback with an adapter and a quality set of stereo headphones was excellent.  Nokia’s music player application is easy to use and pretty comprehensive, and after adjusting the EQ settings to my liking I had a near-iPod experience listening to my AAC and mp3 music files (WMAs are also supported).  Music played back through the built-in stereo speakers was loud, if pretty tinny.

I had no trouble pairing the N75 to a Bluetooth headset (I tried several), but was disappointed by the lack of A2DP stereo Bluetooth support.  Voice calls made via Bluetooth came through loud and clear, though quality of course was dependent on the earpiece being used.

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