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In a world of small cell phones, the Nokia N75 feels nicely substantial. At first it might seem too large, but once you've held it for a while it simply feels like a well constructed, solid phone. Think of it as a music phone for people who appreciate Nokia's durability.

Nokia has never been a design powerhouse, and while the N75 has a certain style, you wouldn't call it sleek. Under the hood, it's targeted as a music phone, but the exterior looks all business.

The N75 measures 3.7x 2.1 x 0.8-inches and weighs 4.5 ounces, so it feels weighty in the hand. It's a quad-band GSM worldphone offered solely by AT&T Wireless, with 3G UMTS available for data subscribers.

The front of this flip phone offers a 128 x 160 pixel, 262,000-color LCD, with three music playback buttons underneath. Flip the phone open and you find its large enough to stretch from ear to mouth, even for a tall person (shorter people may find it too large). The inside, main, screen measures 240 x 320 pixels (2.4-inches diagonally) with 16.7 million colors.

With the extra space, the Nokia designers have added some extra buttons around the navigation pad, while still managing to keep it simple. To the left and right of the pad are buttons for calling up the main menu and the music application folder. Stretching around these are two soft keys and call start and end buttons. Finally, two buttons for editing text or clearing what you've written sit underneath.

The left side houses a proprietary headphone port and a microSD slot, while the right side holds camera controls and an infrared port. Infrared? We haven't used that since our last Palm PDA way back when.

Around the back you'll find the lens for the 2.0 megapixel camera and a small but powerful flash. There's no self-portrait mirror, however.

The N75's main appeal is as a music phone, so if that's why you're buying it be sure to get a sizable microSD card to store your tracks.

There's a simple player onboard for playing MP3, M4A, AAC, eAAC+, and WMA songs.

Most of the included music features are really services that charge a fee. You can shop for songs online (although you'll have to download songs to your computer first) or stream songs with the MobiRadio app. You'll also find tools to identify songs or watch music videos, and these also charge fees.

We're a little disappointed that a music phone doesn't come with a headset in the box, and that the proprietary connection means you can only plug in a Nokia model.

And it seems pretty cheap of Nokia that the radio app (which plays FM radio for free, as long as you have a headset connected) isn't stored in the Music folder with the other music apps, but is buried at the bottom of the Tools folder.

While we like the quality of the 2.0 megapixel camera, pictures take on a yellowish cast so be sure to use the white balance first. The N75 includes several photo controls and can even shoot video.

We're used to built-in speakers sounding week, but the N75's were surprisingly good, offering a balanced output with more richness than most cell phones.

Call quality was reliably good in our testing in the New York City area, although we weren't impressed by the 3G connection speed. It didn't feel like a 3G connection most of the time.

While the battery is rated for 4.2 hours of talk time and 200 hours of standby, we didn't get that in our testing. Worse, the battery drains suddenly, so keep an eye on the level.

Currently selling for $99 with two-year agreement and rebates, the Nokia N75 is a decent music phone for those who need something more solid than the latest ultra-thin model.