Nokia N78 Hands on

Hands ons, actually.

Certain luckier than me folks have got their hands on the N78 and luckily for us unlucky folks (this pun might prove to be headache-inducing, I realize now), posted great walkthrough videos of their experience with the device.

To name names, the first two videos come from Zach over at SiMo and Boy Genius Report, and the third one is courtesy of Jonathan Greene, of atmaspheric | endeavors.

I know this might come as a surprise for some, but I'm drooling over the N78's looks. Yes, the keys look like a compromise but I'm a sucker for the fact that when the key lights are off, it almost appears to have no keys at all (thanks to the extremely flush design) except for the d-pad and those 4 'bars'. Very, very sexy if you ask me. Can't wait to get my hands on an N78 myself! Let's hope the WOM World chaps might help with this.

Enjoy the videos!

Hands on with the Nokia N78 from Zach Epstein on Vimeo.

Hands on with the Nokia N78, Again from Zach Epstein on Vimeo.

Inside the Nokia N78

LOL!

[Source: All About Symbian]

Nokia N78: Initial Thoughts

I really must re-iterate the fact that I like the new Nseries design lines very much. And the N78 is no exception. It does have the controversial keypad design that everyone's talking about, but then, the same controversy arose when the N82 was announced, and those who later got their hands on the N82 were very pleased with (and amazed at) the fact that the keypad was usable with no fuss (some getting used to though). I hope it's the same case here, and I have to admit I enjoy seeing Nokia try to innovate design-wise. And if the general design is intentionally left alike throughout the Nseries line, it's good to see a 'different' keypad design. Another good thing is that there actually are physical keys, and not some touch-enabled pseudo-keys a la Samsung and LG.

This is the successor to the N73, and will probably go way past the 50 million units sold milestone set by the N73.

It still has a very good 3.2 MP Carl Zeiss AutoFocus camera (but only LED flash, probably not to cannibalize sales of the N82 and, curiously, the 6220 Classic), integrated geotagging, video recording up to 640 x 480 resolution (but disappointingly only at 15 fps). It goes one step further from the N73 with WiFi, aGPS, the integrated FM transmitter, and, of course, S60 3rd Edition FP2.

The battery is BL-6F, 1200 mAh cappacity. This is a good move from Nokia, as owners of the N73 (probably the first targeted base of this device) are used to good battery life, but it is still funny to compare it to the N96 and find out that the 'flagship' N96 has only a 950 mAh battery. Anyway, good news for prospective N78 owners.

It is slimmer than the N73, following the trim/slim-down trend in the (mainstream) mobile world these days. And following up on what they said when the N95 was announced, GPS units in Nokia phones are becoming a commodity. The Navi Wheel, first seen in the N81, has improved functionality now and can be used wherever there are long lists (a very welcome addition that will probably make its way into the N81 as well via software updates).

The 2.4 inch QVGA display is probably the same unit used on the N82, and objectively speaking, we couldn't have expected a bigger display in a candybar form factor without having an influence on the whole size of the device.

The FM transmitter is a nice touch and it is another way to 'share' (probably much to Ewan's dislike, I might jokingly add). It also acts as a receiver, so there is no more need to have the headset plugged in for listening to FM radio stations (useful, I guess, where cheap or free broadband, be it via WiFi or HSDPA, is not available yet - because otherwise the Nokia Internet Radio app is a must-use).

The music-playing quality has, in the words of the N78 Product Manager, reached N91 level. That surely sounds good, but I'm still curious to whether it equals or even goes beyond the music-quality in the Samsung i450 (also an S60 device) and its dedicated DSP.

USB transfer speed when the phone has a memory card inside and is connected to the computer via Mass Storage mode should also be improved (as in the N96) to about 5MB/s, which is very good. Still no sign on the ability for Mass Storage mode to show both the memory card and the phone memory (C:) drive - this is possible with Sony Ericsson non smartphones for a while now.

While it probably won't get as much press attention as the N96, this is the device that will be driving sales for the Nseries in the coming year. It's the most affordable, has the best price/features ratio and with its unconventional design will surely appeal to many - the 'conservatives' will like that they're getting a candybar, and the more 'experimenting' types will enjoy the keypad design.

Full specs here.

More pictures here.

Hands-on video here.
And what is probably the best hands-on video yet, courtesy of Rafe from AllAboutSymbian:

New N96 and N78 Hands-on Videos!

Norman John, from Symbian World, who is also attending the MWC, has posted his first hands-on videos of the N96 and N78.
Enjoy!

N96:


N78:

Live pics of the N96 and N78

Vaibhav Sharma from The Symbian Blog, who is attending the MWC, has posted live pics of the newly-announced Nseries handsets on his Flickr account.

N78 Ad

Specs for the N96, N78, 6220 Classic and 6210 Navigator

I don't claim that these are the specs to their fullest, however they are the features that seemed more important at first glance. There may be things not included in this list that are there (e.g. Bluetooth), they're probably not listed because they should be expected in any smartphone in 2008. My personal opinions to follow later today.

N96

-2.8 inch, 240 x 320 screen (this is really a disappointment)
-16GB internal memory + microSD slot
-faster USB transfer, apparently (it was about time to go beyond the 1MB/s marker, especially considering the 16GB of built-in memory)
-3.5 mm audio jack
-media keys
-location tagging of photos
-103 x 55 x1 8 mm (actually max.20mm)
-125g
-950 mAh battery BL-5F (another major disappointment)
-5MP Carl Zeiss AF camera (probably the exact same module as on the N95) with dual led flash (although a lot of people consider this to be another disappointing factor, I personally disagree as I understand that a xenon flash can not be used for video recording - and given this device's being marketed with a strong focus on video, it only seems natural to be able to shoot videos at night as well), video recording up to 640 x 480 at 30 fps
-aGPS
-micro USB
-Flash Lite 3 in browser
-S60 3rd FP2
-HSDPA only on 900 and 2100MHz
-WiFi, naturally
-and many more.

N78

-WiFi
-3.2 MP Carl Zeiss AF camera, video capture up to 640 x 480 at 15 fps
-up to 24 h (!) music playback time
-integrated FM transmitter
-113 x 49 x 15.1 mm
-102g
-aGPS
-2.4 inch, 240x320 display
-Navi Wheel
-1200 mAh battery
-micro USB
-and many more.

6220 Classic

-2.2 inch 240 x 320 display
-aGPS
-HSDPA, no WiFi
-5 MP Carl Zeiss AF camera with xenon flash, video capture up to 640 x 480 at 30 fps
-108 x 47 x 15 mm
-90 g
-micro USB connector
-and many more.

6210 Navigator

-accelerometer
-2.4 inch QVGA (240 x 320) display
-aGPS
-navigation usable without sim card
-103 x 49 x 15 mm
-117 g
-3.2 MP camera with led flash, video recording up to 640 x 480 (VGA) at 15 fps
-2.5 mm audio connector
-950 mAh BL-5F battery (disappointing again)
-and others.

A quick thought: the devices that presumably need the most power (the N96 because it's such an all-in-one device and the 6210, obviously, to be trustworthy for navigation purposes) have the same, low-life battery. Not a good idea in my opinion.

N78, N96, 6210 Navigator, 6220 Classic

6210 Navigator:


6220 Classic:

N78:



N78:

N96:

Specs will follow shortly.