BlackBerry Curve 8900 vs Nokia E75

When we reviewed both these handsets separately, Nokia’s E75 scored a not-to-be-sniffed at 3/5, while BlackBerry’s Curve 8900 received the almost gold star of 4.5/5.

Our reviewer even went on to suggest that RIM’s product was “the eagerly awaited successor to the mighty 8300 line and possibly one of the best sequels since the Godfather Part II.” Strong praise indeed, particularly from cynical review types.

That said, we’ve tried to cast any historic favouritism aside to ensure we look at what both handsets have to offer and, conversely, what users who opt for them may have to miss out on.

Keeping it in the family
Both the Nokia E75 and the Blackberry 8900 are siblings in their respective families with a lot to live up to. As part of Nokia’s Eseries – the Finnish giant’s business lineup – the E75 comes after the E65 and E71 both of which were well received.

However, while many would not be naïve to expect progression rather than regression when a mobile player unveils its next generation device, Nokia has made no secret of the fact that the E75 has more than a little whiff of throwback to its first Communicator device the Nokia 9300.

The Blackberry 8900, on the other hand, is a step forward from the Bold, which in itself is a nice piece of kit. It is certainly more slim line and lighter (109g to the Bold’s 136g), in addition to possessing both style and substance in the form of a reassuringly solid build. The enhanced trackball and top-mounted screen lock, for example, are evident.

The Nokia E75 is also lighter than some of its older siblings. Weighing in at 139g, it is still much heftier than its BlackBerry-shaped competitor, but certainly much lighter than its family member the E90 which is a whole lotta phone at 210g. However, while the E90 had a whole four inches of screenage to tempt us, both the E75 and 8900 serve up just 2.4 inches each. Although both handsets certainly make the most of what they’ve got screen-wise and the situation could be much worse.

While the E75 may take its inspiration from the 9300, that’s not all it takes. One of the screens has also been taken away. The 9300 featured two screens, but the E75 has just one. The 8900, steals the one-upmanship crown again by squeezing in more pixels than the Bold, which results in crisp and clear display of icons and applications.

Feature rich?
Both the E75 and 8900 feature full QWERTY keyboards, which is a must for business users and fast-becoming a must-have for consumers too.

As the E75’s is of the slide-out kind, it can afford to be a bit more generous when it comes to space and, as such, some users – particularly those with bigger digits – may find it a more comfortable fit than the BlackBerry’s keyboard.  

In addition to the usual suspects when it comes to business applications and email support, the 8900 and E75 both come equipped with a 3.2-megapixel camera. Both have auto focus and digital zoom, with BlackBerry’s winning in the zoom stakes (with 8x digital zoom to the E75’s 2x digital zoom). Pictures are of average-to-good quality and, while they won’t win any awards, they do the job well enough.

Surf’s up
Connectivity-wise, both handsets support Wi-Fi, which would be a massive oversight in the eyes’ of the business community had this been neglected. And, while the 8900 doesn’t boast 3G, it’s not as big a deal as you’d think on paper once you actually get to play with the device and see how it makes up for this connectivity omission.

The E75 can be charged through microUSB, which makes a refreshing change both business users and consumers alike. Though it’ll need charging a little more frequently than the 8900 as it boasts 280 hours standby to RIM’s 356 hours. The gap narrows significantly, however, when it comes to actual talk time with just 10 minutes separating the two handsets.
As we know, all work and no play makes Jack – or Jackie – very dull. Both Nokia and RIM have clearly got this sussed and provide some multimedia fun to back up their business heavyweights, with both devices supporting the main audio and video formats.

Verdict
Both handsets are pretty pleasing to the eye, but BlackBerry has got the edge when it comes to packing a lot of great features inside a beautifully-built shell. It may lack 3G but it certainly makes up for that in other areas – including credit crunch price friendliness - and for that, we salute it.

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