Side-sliding QWERTY: exploring the Nokia E75, 5730 and LG KS360
Published by Steve Litchfield at 17:48 UTC, September 25th 2009
Steve Litchfield compares three slide-sliders (two of them Symbian)...
There's definitely been something in the air over the last year or so, with slide-sliding qwerty phones popping out of the woodwork from all directions. It seems that qwerty is back in vogue, but that users would rather it was tucked away most of the time to keep their 'classic' phone looks. Here I wanted to directly compare the Nokia 5730 XpressMusic and Nokia E75, obviously from exactly the same design department (much of the main board layout, mechanical frame/slide and specification is identical), adding in the mass market LG KS360 by way of showing how far down qwerty now goes down the food chain.
(This comparison is also by way of a 'first impressions' introduction to the new 5730 XpressMusic, ahead of my full review later in the week)
| LG KS360 | Nokia 5730 XpressMusic | Nokia E75 | |
| Current price unlocked or on pay-as-you go, including VAT | £80 (pay as you go, unsubsidised price around £120) | £250 (unlocked, likely to fall to £200 within three months, was £280 initially) | £255 (unlocked, was £380 initially) |
| Form factor notes | Slides to the right, unusually. Also unusual for the discrete direction keys rather than a d-pad, and for the camera shutter button to be on the left, i.e. for left handers. Also for the capacitive touchscreen at this price, though see note below. | Strangely thicker (by at least 1mm), despite being essentially the same as the E75, thanks to a bowed plastic battery cover under which the battery rattles around. Also rather stupid are the 'low visibility' key legends and the sunken function keys. More on all this in the full review. | Slim and tightly designed, only the strange protruding port covers irritate. Excellent d-pad and clear key legends |
| Build quality | Reasonable plastics throughout, no wobbles or concerns. The keys are very 'clicky'. | Same sturdy frame as the E75, but there's a clip-on plastic back instead of metal. A nice positive qwerty slide though, with no wobble problems | Goodish, high density plastic and metal, good slide action. Spoilt only by the amateurish finish of the keyboard surround |
| Styling | Big range of colours, over-styled circular buttons that hinder usage | Several colour options, quite striking, especially on the keyboard surround. Dot matrix key legends may appeal to the youth market? Or may not. They do look cool at night, with all the keys lit, e.g. in a pub or club though....! | I've only ever seen this classic silver/black and a maroon version. Classical Eseries styling though - I just love the textured metal battery cover. |
| Weight, thickness | 108g, 16mm | 135g, 15mm | 139g, 14mm |
| Platform | Proprietary | S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 on Symbian | S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 on Symbian |
| Screen size, resolution and visibility | 2.4", QVGA, TFT and unreadable in sunlight. Capacitive touchscreen, but only used in the dialler app (amazingly) | 2.4", QVGA, transflective, excellent in all light conditions | 2.4", QVGA, transflective, excellent in all light conditions |
| Camera specs | 2mp, fixed focus. QVGA video recording at 15fps, low quality | 3mp, Carl Zeiss optics, decent aperture and very good photo quality in most light conditions. LED flash. VGA video recording at 30fps | 3mp, decent aperture and good photo quality in most light conditions. LED flash. VGA video recording at 30fps |
| Wireless specs | Tri band GSM, Bluetooth | Quad band GSM, Tri band 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS (including digital compass) | Quad band GSM, Tri band 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS |
| Music control and output | Music control only via direction keys within MP3 player application. Output is via an average phone speaker or a proprietary LG wired headset. | Dedicated music keys, spoilt by being without any indents for 'unseen' use, plus d-pad control while in Music player etc. Output is high quality via 3.5mm jack, with some good in-ear headphones supplied or via a good but slightly muffled loudspeaker (there are no holes in the battery cover - a strange design decision) | Music control only via homescreen shortcut and within Music player or Podcasting. Output is high quality via a 3.5mm jack or good mono loudspeaker |
| Application highlights (over and above PIM and phone basics) | Yahoo! shortcut, Stopwatch | 'Favourite Contact' homescreen plug-in (with feeds, communications history, etc), Internet radio, Ovi Chat built-in, Nokia Maps, Music voice search (didn't work for me), plus an assortment of social web widgets (Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Hi5 and so on), Quickoffice viewers, Zip manager, and some of the software from the traditional Nseries bundle, e.g. the newer Photos system and video editor. | Quickoffice editing suite, Internet radio, Nokia Messaging built-in, Nokia Maps, Zip manager |
| Battery | 800mAh | 1000mAh | 1000mAh |
| Other notes | Dialler button that brings up the capacitive dialler on-screen | Dedicated gaming keys, Dual charging (microUSB/2mm) | Dual charging (microUSB/2mm) |
As you can see, the gap between the (admittedly token) feature phone and the Nokia smartphones is fairly huge, but then the price gap is also significant. It would have been nice to have found a phone that retailed for £160 unlocked, with the same form factor. Any suggestions?
Currently, the E75 can be found for around the same price as the 5730 XpressMusic, due to the latter being 3 or 4 months 'newer', but if the 5730 is to have any chance then I'd expect to see it at £200 very soon, and free on modest contracts, of course. At that price, with the E75 at £250 or with the 5730 at 'free' on a £15-a-month contract, with the E75 'free' on a £20-a-month contract, then it may have a chance, but buyers will have to have handled (and liked) the styling and chassis in a shop first. The current pricing, wherein the equally as impressive E75 can be gotten for around the same price, does the 5730 as few favours as its idiosyncratic design.
On the positive side, the 5730 XpressMusic does have those music and media controls, the slightly better camera, the digital compass, plus it's great in the dark and has a number of software differences from its business-focussed sister device. And there is the thorny issue of that styling - while it didn't appeal to me directly ('Mr Usability'), maybe it's more of a young person's device?
Watch this space for more on the 5730, right here on All About Symbian.
Steve Litchfield, 26 Sept 2009
Categories: Hardware
Platforms: General, S60 3rd Edition
Feature Discussion
Unregistered
I hope you compare the sound quality with the E75. AFAIK, the 5730XM offers better headphone-out in comparison. This may tip music lovers into its direction whatever its fault. I had the E75 and was disappointed with the audio playback. Much better than most E-series I've played in the past, but no where near the 5800XM.
mozam
looking forward to your review steve. I have been using it for the last one month and m loving it. I have used e75 as well and i dont know why no one has reported e75 poor network reception. E75 has weakest antena on a phone i have used in recent times. There is only one video on youtube with this issue. I moved to 5730 only because of E75's issue and i have tried couple of them with the same problem. The only issue i have with 5730 is that the notification light doesnt blink on nokia messaging. I have tried everything but it just doesnt work. Steve look into that and come up with a solution please. Otherwise a very good handset. A good value for money. Wonder why nokia hasnt advertised it at all and there are no firmware upgrades either. My firmware is 101
mozam
and steve i dont think the sound is muffled. Surprisingly its quite ok. I think the back cover is designed in a way that gives slight hollowness but causes the battery to wobble a bit. Would have been perfect if stereo speakers and tv out option were given but i guess nokia cant give everything in one phone. No 1 reason to still have around 47 percent share;-)
realtalk
I dont know what you guys think but all three of those phones look like crap to me! The E75 and 5530 shouldn't have front keys at all but should be one continuous capacitive touch screen all the way with the slide out keys when you need them. The OS needs to be touch friendly not this S60 v5 crap! When Steve Jobs said the iphone was going to be 5years ahead of its competition I didnt believe him and curiously waited Nokia to answer with something mind blowing! Well, to this day i'm still waiting! And it looks like Steve Jobs was right in many ways! :S The only company to bring out something compelling to the touch friendliness that phones need is Palm but their limited hardware components along with its infant software state of the device only shows that its still premature but needless to say very promising indeed, I'm excited about their future products! Nokia has nothing promising in their line up! S60 v5 is awful just like those two phones shown from them, I see nothing exciting in them. Until Nokia comes out with an OS as friendly as webOS or OS X then I see them losing out in this segment. The only one thing i like about the Nokia phones right now is the live front screen widgets, now thats very convenient and very great idea! The decision not to include that in all their touch phones only shows that their not in touch with their customer base. I'm a long time Nokia user and at one point the were the none plus ultra but now I no longer am satisfied.
Unregistered
realtalk. The Nokia phones don't suit you then. I prefer them to the others for a number of reasons, but basically they suit me. The iPhone isn't 5 years ahead of the competition, it's user interface is about 3 years ahead. It's still a large and bulky expensive phone with an inflexible sales package. Nokia make smaller cheaper phones that do everything the iPhone does, but without the inflexible network options. Choose Nokia and you only lose the user interface, but you gain a shedload of cash. I will happily take that cash and use it to enjoy life, instead of fiddling round with a gadget in your palm.
slitchfield
Responding to the two main issues above, I'm 99% sure that the wireless antennae on the E75 and 5730 are identical. Ditto audio output. These things have exactly the same insides. However, in the light of your comments, I will of course do some proper testing 8-)
I'm even about 80% sure that the cameras are identical, despite one being advertised as Carl Zeiss and the other not!
I'm even about 80% sure that the cameras are identical, despite one being advertised as Carl Zeiss and the other not!
mozam
steve do check the reception in areas with weak signals. i had noticed that signals would drop when i wld cover the bottom part of the phone with my palm. and this would happen with only one operator while other networks worked fine and that particular network worked fine on my e71, 5730 and 5530. i have checked this on 3 e75s so thought of faulty phone was ruled out. btw i still cant understand what is so cool about iphone. five years ahead!!! so u guys think in coming five years things like mms, sms forwarding, flash videos on web browsers and sending stuff via bluetooth will become out of fashion???? well i dont want to sit in steve jobs time machine.... i would rather prefer to remain 5 years behind the rest of the world.
moonshot
Quote: while it didn't appeal to me ('Mr Usability'), maybe it's more of a young person's device?
Not every older person wants a phone with a hundred applications, but in reality only use six or seven of them; and some older people do listen to music. Or should they avoid the Nokia gimmick (if that’s what the express music phones are) and buy the real thing...... an i pod.
I have the 5530 and it does all I want. Or rather it would do if Nokia had spent a little more time with it and got things right before churning out more of the same.
Not every older person wants a phone with a hundred applications, but in reality only use six or seven of them; and some older people do listen to music. Or should they avoid the Nokia gimmick (if that’s what the express music phones are) and buy the real thing...... an i pod.
I have the 5530 and it does all I want. Or rather it would do if Nokia had spent a little more time with it and got things right before churning out more of the same.
slitchfield
Reponding to my own comments on it being a young person's device, I've noticed (playing with the 5730 in the evening here in the UK) that the translucent plastic edges and dot matrix key legends all work VERY well when backlit.
So - an E75 for the day and then a 5730 for heading out to the pub or club? 8-)))
So - an E75 for the day and then a 5730 for heading out to the pub or club? 8-)))
Unregistered
Having owned an iPhone, I can say that the UI is anything but user friendly. Flashy maybe, but intuitive? lol. You must be kidding me. And you can't even multitask with it.
Sorry, I'll stick with S60v3 and S60v5 for the time being.
Sorry, I'll stick with S60v3 and S60v5 for the time being.
machimshin
Its nice to see 5730 reviewed here on AAS, looking forward to read about E72 :)
Unregistered
Quote:
| Having owned an iPhone, I can say that the UI is anything but user friendly |
clonmult
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
Having owned an iPhone, I can say that the UI is anything but user friendly. Flashy maybe, but intuitive? lol. You must be kidding me. And you can't even multitask with it.
Sorry, I'll stick with S60v3 and S60v5 for the time being. |
Bloody irritating at times though. Organising possibly hundreds of apps on a flat menu structure is mind-numbingly stupid. The screen can only be used with your fingers, not with gloves on (thank the gods that I'm no longer doing a cycle commute to work). Screen auto-rotates exactly when you don't want it to, with no (obvious) way of switching the function off.
Unregistered
Quote:
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Originally Posted by clonmult
The screen can only be used with your fingers, not with gloves on (thank the gods that I'm no longer doing a cycle commute to work).
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malerocks
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
Yep. I spend my days looking after 28 horses (give of take) and spend a lot of time gloved. Capacitive screens are a royal pain in the Rs.
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But now this pain is not limited to iphones only. The i8910 has a capacitive screen and finally Nokia has also given in and introducing capacitive screens. I believe the 1st one is the X6. So this rant should now be for capacitive screens in general and not specific to the iphone, even though it debuted on the iphone and was exclusive to it for a long time.
Unregistered
am abt to buy this nokai 5730 tomoro and i really need to knw tht is its front camera good at taking quality pics???