Nokia unveils E75 - and some free advice for NZ telcos

[UPDATE: Nokia confirms there will be two separate iterations of the E75. Both will be physically identical, but one will be 900MHz - i.e., for Vodafone 3G, and one 850MHz - i.e. for Telecom's XT network. So: in the case of this handset, at least, there will be no opportunity for hopping between networks.]

The Nokia E75, to be released May 29 for Telecom and later for Vodafone toward the end of June, will become the new flagship in the Finnish phone maker’s E-series of smart phones.

Where the E71 has a qwerty keyboard built into its all-in-one form factor, the E75 (above and below) features a standard keypad in its closed position, plus a slide-down full qwerty keyboard. A roomy 2.4-inch screen, 16-million colour display automatically reorinatates when you slide down the email-friendly keyboard.

The slide-down arrangement makes for a much thinner, snugger form factor than Nokia's prevsious entry in the horizontal full keyboard range, the Communicator with its lunchbox form-factor hinged screen. A brief preview (stand by for a full review shortly), NBR was convinced that this is going to be one of the signature mobiles of 2009.

With the keyboard tucked away, this snug 139g W-CDMA smartphone measures just 111.8 x 50/80 x 14.4 mm.

GPS and b/g wi-fi are standard, and the E-75 will come in variants that support both the 900MHz (Vodafone 3G) and 850MHz (Telecom 3G) band. A 4GB SD HC memory card is bundled, with expandability options up to 16GB.

Unlike the coming N97, the display is not a touchscreen.

The E75 will come with standard with the new Nokia Mail service, which provides free middleware for real-time syncing with IBM Lotus Notes or Microsoft Exchange, plus a consumer-level push email service receiving web mail or your ISP email account on your mobile.

In New Zealand to unveil the hanset, Nokia’s ANZ MD, Emile Baak, said the E75 would initially be ranged through Vodafone.

But after the May 29 launch of XT (for which the E71 is already confirmed) he expects it to be on Telecom’s network too.

And although he won’t yet comment on 2 Degrees (formerly NZ Comms) until after its anticipated August launch, with all three mobile operators on W-CDMA, Mr Baak says he expects Nokia to be “right across the market” with most of its models.

The E75 will retail for $999 off-plan in New Zealand. Nokia E-series product manager Brett Inman, across the Tasman for the E75 launch, noted that in Australia it will be available from one operator at zero dollars up front on a $A79 monthly data plan.

Mr Baak says the more competitive mobile market coming to New Zealand should result in similar deals here.

The latest model in Nokia’s second flagship line, the N-series, is due in about two weeks. The N97 - see NBR preview here - abandons the N96 and N95’s slider keypad form factor in favour of a Communicator-style full keyboard.