When I first got my hands on the Nokia E75, the first thing I did after I switched it on, was slide out that QWERTY keyboard and try to type up a message with it.
In addition to the Qwerty keyboard, the E75 also offers an alphanumeric keypad too, when it’s in closed ‘CandyBar mode’. This actually makes for a great combination.
Why ?
Well here’s a little about Typing on the E75 , all about the Keypad and Keyboard, showing you a bit about the Messaging application on the device along the way too.
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Starting with the AlphaNumeric Keypad, chances are if you’ve ever used a Nokia Device in the last decade, you’ll instantly get used to it.
It has the same arrangement as most Nokia phone have had, and works in pretty much exactly the same way.
Starting from the lowest row, you’ll notice a couple extra icons on it. When you’re at the homescreen, these keys have special functions when held down :
-The * key also switches Bluetooth on/off, which is really useful at times.
- The 0 (zero) key is a shortcut to the Web Browser.
- The # key switches your profile between Silent, and the previous profile you had on.
You’ll also notice that the E75 has two shortcut keys up at the top of the keypad. Both of these are customizable to go to any application you want, on single press and long-press of each key. By default they point to the Calender and Email on single press, and New Appointment and New Email on long press.
Apart from that, you have your Dpad and Right & Left selection keys with the Green and Red Call Keys.
I said it before in my First impression, and I’ll say it again. It’s way too easy to hit the surrounding buttons though. I guess I’ll get used to it over time, but even one week-ish later I still find myself pressing the Menu key instead of the Left Selection key from time to time.
Apart from that, the Alphanumeric Keypad has great lighting, with each key brightly lit with a white backlight. It’s worth mentioning that the Dpad also has a “Breathing Light” that pulsates every couple of seconds/minutes or so when the phone is in Standby Mode.
Moving on to the Messaging application with the AlphaNumeric Keypad, it’s pretty much your usual S60 v3 Messaging app.
All the Email services you added to the Email Application, are listed here at the main screen.
From this screen you can create a new message (the App automatically detects if it’s a standard sms or mms), Audio Message or new Email.
We’ve covered Email in an earlier post, so we wont go into detail about it again.
Audio Messages, are basically what the name states. You can attach an audio clip to a message, and send it.
Coming to the text message section, it’s pretty much your standard S60 Messaging screen, but now there’s a Subject field too, for MMS.
Like I said earlier, if you’ve used an S60 Nokia device in the last couple of years, you’ll feel right at home.
The Main area’s where you input your text.
If you suddenly decide to finish the message later, you can save it as a draft, or just delete it if you wish.
Apart from this you have a multitude of options to play around with, on the messaging screen. You can Send your Message (Duuuuh), Insert Content (such as images, music, text templates, etc), or remove content from the message.
And it doesnt stop there. You have even more options to play around with such as Font Size, Printing Options,Input Options and Editing Options (such as Copy/Paste).
Going to Input Options in Particular, this is where you can turn on and off word auto-completion. One smart feature (atleast I thought so) was that you can set Word Auto-Completion to be on in both number keypad and letter keyboard, or one of the two.
I found that the word auto-completion though, isnt as good as the one on the E71. I suppose I’d have to use it more to “train” it to work well for me though.
Coming back to typing, the Predictive text on the E75 has been ‘improved’. Now when you type a word and use * to search for alternatives, a whole list pops up, which you can use * again to navigate, or scroll through it using the up and down Dpad keys.
One annoying thing I found about Predictive text on the E75, is that it automatically inserts a space after your word has been “chosen” from the list. While this might be a really useful feature overall, it’s pretty tedious entering in a new word, selecting alphabeits from the list because it keeps inserting spaces between them.
Apart from all this, the # key is used to switch between lowercase and uppercase, to switch predictive text on or off, and to switch to numeric mode.
The * key brings up a list of symbols that you might need to use.
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The QWERTY Keyboard :
Now we get to the fun part.
The E75 has a gorgeous full Qwerty Keyboard, that slides out thanks to it’s unique formfactor.
The feedback on the keys are pretty much the same as the keys on the N810, if you’ve ever used one, which is pretty good.
Initially, I was worried I wouldnt get used to the keyboard, because of the wide rubber-y surface each key has. A week later though, I was typing on it like a pro. So it does take a little getting used to after all. Each key has it’s own reassuring click when pressed.
One thing I did notice, was that if your fingernails are even a little bit too long, you’ll find yourself having to use the tips of your fingers to type. Keep those fingernails trimmed and you’ll be fine and flat-pressing each key though.
When it comes to lighting, I’m happy to say every key on the keyboard is well lit in a nice white backlight, and easily distinguishable.
You’ll notice there’s some light leakage along the bottom, sides and top of the keys. This is actually a lot more minimal than it looks in the picture, and isnt too distracting to be honest.
While it may not look that great in these pictures, the keyboard really is very well lit, and you wont have a problem distinguishing between keys.
It’s also worth mentioning that the Dpad and shortcut keys are also lit up, and accessible when the keyboard is out.
It’s a bit annoying that you have to move your fingers all the way away from the keyboard, and toward the top slider to use the Dpad and selection keys from time to time. We’re glad the upcoming N97 has it’s Dpad along with it’s Qwerty Keyboard.
When you slide out the keyboard, the whole screen is changed to Landscape mode, and any controls are changed accordingly. This orientation change happens throughout the phone, including it’s Homescreen too.
Coming back to typing on the Keyboard, let’s look at the Left Half.
As you can see, it looks exactly like a normal QWERTY setup, but the numbers are in blue at the top on certain keys. By default, only the white colored values on the keys are used. To access any of the blue characters, all you have to do is press the blue arrow key on the lower left, and then the key. If you want to use only the blue values for a messaging/email session, all you have to do is double tap the blue arrow key, and all keys will output it’s blue colored symbol.
The white arrow pointing up helps you switch between upper and lower case.
The “Chr” key brings up the list of special characters, if you wish to select one.
The rest of the keys pretty much output the characters that are printed on them.
Moving on to the Right Half of the Keyboard.
Here you’ll notice the Space Bar is right under a long chrome line. The “line” doesnt do anything by the way, I assume it’s just there to help with the slider mechanism.
Once again you’ll notice there’s an ‘up arrow’ key on the lower right, to switch between lower and uppercase and vice-versa.
You’ll also notice there’s a Ctrl key, which can be used to carry out basic functions such as cut, copy, paste, etc.
You have to hold the ‘up arrow’ key and use the Dpad to highlight words though.
Above the Ctrl key, is the Enter key. Above that, is the delete key.
It’s worth mentioning that Word-Auto-Complete works in pretty much the same way as in portrait alphanumeric keypad mode. The App tries to take a guess at words you’re typing, and if it’s right, you press right on the Dpad to move on. If it’s wrong though, you can choose from a list.
To be quite honest, I found myself typing on the Qwerty much faster, and this ‘feature’ only slowed me down. Still, it’s nice that it’s there though. Maybe someone might get some use out of it.
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So there you have it. Typing and Messaging on the Nokia E75. I was pretty suprised by how fast I got used to this device, and I find myself sliding out the keyboard and largely ignoring the alphanumeric keypad for texting or typing anything in general.
All in all, I’m pretty impressed with the Nokia E75 so far.
Stay tuned for our review folks ! It’s a’comin.
Clinton is currently based in New Delhi, India and is executive editor for UnleashThePhones. He is responsible for all editorial decisions, and covers all forms of Mobile and mobile-related accessories.
Cj is addicted to caffeine, social media, and technology. Always up for a good conversation, you can reach him through the contact form, his website, on Google Plus 
or on Facebook or Twitter: Follow @clintonjeff
Hi. I have a question. Do u have the list of the last chosen receivers in your options when sending sms? In older Nokias u have that list, u could choose from your favourites, from last calls numbers etc. Here i can't find any of these. Only that phone book every time.Thanks in advance.
I like my new E 75 but am really annoyed that they have removed the auto signature facility on text messages. This feature is amost universal on mobiles. I feel totally lost without it. I get heaps of txts back asking who I am when replying to enquires.Nokia help desk suggests that there might be a third party software to correct this stupid mistake. Can anyone point me to where I might be able to find this software. I can not find it on Ovi.
I like my new E 75 but am really annoyed that they have removed the auto signature facility on text messages. This feature is amost universal on mobiles. I feel totally lost without it. I get heaps of txts back asking who I am when replying to enquires.Nokia help desk suggests that there might be a third party software to correct this stupid mistake. Can anyone point me to where I might be able to find this software. I can not find it on Ovi.
I'll have to agree with your point about Nokia Conversation. Until the app takes over the default sms app its basically silly.iSms actually is pretty good. The only drawback to the app is, you dont have avatars displayed like in the conversation app, but it does a very good job. One thing though, iSms is an unsigned application so you'll need to sign it first before you can install it.It's worth checking out : http://www.junnikokuki.com/
I read about those apps, and it seems like they aren't received that well in the community. This seems to be just about the consensus: "Conversation does not take over as the default SMS handling application. It really FEELS STUPID to use Conversation outside of the messaging framework - e.g you can send SMS via Conversation but you CANT RECEIVE SMS on it, and still have to go to Messaging."I couldn't find as many comments on iSMS, but I also couldn't find anything on how well they integrated. For instance, do you have to leave the apps running in the background for them to work properly? Have you had any experience with either of these programs personally? How well (or poorly) do they integrate with the default SMS app?Thanks again
Hey there Sam. There are two threaded sms apps for the E75.One is Nokia conversation which is the official app : http://betalabs.nokia.com/betas/view/conversationAnd another is an application called iSms : http://inicholas.net/2009/04/05/free-isms-threa...
Do you know if any sort of threaded SMS is supported by the E75?
Now that you have made a review of E75, which one do you love the most, the E75 or 5800 XM?
Now that you have made a review of E75, which one do you love the most, the E75 or 5800 XM?
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