Nokia just launched their first N-series phone on AT&T just a few weeks ago, the Nokia N75. It’s also the first N-series phone to be picked up by a carrier and we had the privilege to test it out. In the box you’ll find a charger, USB cable, software disc, and a user manual - Nokia provided us with a microSD card, but you won’t find this in the retail version of the N75.

The Nokia N75 is a flip-style phone that has a 2-megapixel camera, 3G connectivity, and access to AT&T/Cingular Video. On the front of the device, there are media controls for playing music without having to open the phone and a small external screen for navigating through your music.

On the inside you’ll find a generously sized keypad and navigation buttons, as well as a dedicated key to the music application and a shortcut to the main menu. At the top of the phone, you’ll find a small power button which was hard to find when we first unpacked the device. At the right side there are volume controls, a dedicated camera button and a video/photo mode button to switch to either mode.

The device runs the Symbian operating system and allows you to access email, view PDF documents and Office documents on the device.

What we liked most was the support of AT&T’s 3G connectivity that allows you to get high data rates while downloading music, streaming video, and loading webpages on the phone. With the included media player you can play a variety of file formats such as WMA, AAC, and MP3. It is compatible with services that use the PlaysForSure certification (Napster, Rhapsody, Yahoo!). The downside is you cannot purchase these songs directly from the phone, but instead have to transfer them with the included USB cable.

Moving on to the camera, pictures weren’t great but decent for sending to friends, etc.

Call quality was excellent and we had no trouble hearing folks on the other end and vice versa. Also improved was the navigation performance, much better than both the N95 and N80 we had reviewed previously. On the flipside, we didn’t like the battery life. After using most of the features on a daily basis received about 2-3 hours of battery life.

All in all, the Nokia N75 is a great choice for people who want to listen to their music on go and is one of the best performing N-series phones we’ve seen. If you’re looking for long lasting battery life or print-quality photos, you might want to look elsewhere. The N75 is available immediately from AT&T for $199.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a 2-year contract.

Pros

• Roomy keypad
• Excellent call quality
• Great performance compared to other N-series phones
• External music controls

Cons

• Photos aren’t for printing
• Short battery life

Final Verdict
4 out of 5 stars.