Nokia N78 cameraphone review

The N78 is one of the latest Nseries devices released by Nokia. While positioned as an entry-level Nseries handset, it has several features that will enable it to sitck out amongst other Nseries smartphones. In light of its price, abilities, and special features, it has more value than a just glance can offer, and more than many comparable devices.

Physical Aspects

It's pretty easy to see the N78 sitting on the table and dismiss it. From the flush front end, to the solidarity of its one-piece candybar design, it blends in more than it stands out. The front is dominated by two pieces of plastic. The top 2/3 is one piece, covering the screen and only having cutouts for the light sensor, VGA video camera, and speaker. The display sits behind this clear plastic covering that gives the illusion of a flush mounted screen, but its really more of a cover that just has no impact on screen quality.
Rotating the N78 to view the right side of the device shows the stereo speaker (top), the volume up/down buttons, and then the camera button in its familiar placement. The feel of these buttons are better than those of the front buttons, and are offset just enough from the side of the device to lend a memorable feel to use. The top of the N78 has the power button along with a 3.5mm headset jack
The left side of the N78 has the micro-USB connector (top), a skillfully hidden microSD card slot, an A/C power connector, and the left stereo speaker. Like the right side, the design of the items sit simply on the device and do not stick out until needed for use. It is interesting though that the microSD slot gets a door and the micro-USB slot does not. The bottom of the N78 has only the microphone and a laynard hole. The back of the N78 has the 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera lens and is otherwise just a battery cover. Like the N81, this is a one piece battery cover. It is very easy to remove, but putting it back on is another matter.

Core Functions

As most know though, looks are only a part of the story. Basic core features such as call quality, reception and battery life, contacts and messaging, and even data connectivity factor greatly into the phone experience. Being built on the latest Symbian S60 operating system, S60 Feature Pack 2 (3.2), the Nokia N78 is well positioned to learn from the lessons of previous Nseries models. Nokia devices are well known for their call quality. The N78 does not disappoint. Even though I am in a well established GSM market, there are some holes in the coverage that an N75 would notice that the N78 does not. Outside of the loudest volume setting, voices are clear and without distortion. On the other end, phone call reciepents report that my voice was clear and without any noticeable distortion.

The Contacts application will come across as familiar to many moblie phone users, and certainely to Nokia veterans. Like on other S60 devices, group support, multiple data fields, the ability to assign an image or specific ringtone, and send business card remain. However there has been no change in the user interface from Feature Pack 1 to Feature Pack 2. The same large fonts, gaps in white space, and tedious scrolling remain.

The Messaging application has also not changed from the last iteration of S60. It still features support for several email mailboxes, one MS Exchange account (Nokia's Mail for Exchange program comes preinstalled), and SMS/MMS messages. Threaded and timed SMS messages are still not supported.

Data connectivity is a story of two sides of Symbian S60 use. On one side you have the sheer ability to connect to data networks and do nearly anything you can think of on a mobile device. On the other side, even with the improvements brought forth with Feature Pack 2, there is much left to be desired in terms of simply connecting and getting to the data. The N78 has the ability to utilize cellular connectivity with GPRS, EDGE, UTMS, and HSDPA types of connections. In frank terms, you get the fastest 3G connectivity with UMTS and HSDPA; fast enough to make WiFi seem like something not needed.

Multimedia / Applications

The Nokia N78 is equipped with a solid 3.2 megapixel digital camera. Featuring the same Carl Zeiss lens as the high-end N82 and N95 models, the N78 photography has some solid roots. The addition of an LED flash, 20+ zoom levels, and autofocus means that one can have several aspects to taking a photo that can be taken advantage of.

As for photos, the N78 fares a lot better than the N81, which has a similar camera with the same lens. It processes images faster, shows better pictures (not as much noise unless zoomed in fully) and spotty night time performance. However, the improvement in just getting out and snapping a picture is pretty neat. Compared to the N95, its much faster. The downside is that there is no accelerometer, so changing your orientation will result in an improperly rotated photo. The phone also can use the GPS to geotag its photos, but often I was done taking photos by the time the GPS had managed to determine my location.

The N78 is a suitable MP3 player replacement. With its microSD card slot, one can carry up to 8GBs of music quite easily. The Nokia Music Player application is the same that Feature Pack 1 devices have had for some time except for the addition of the Podcasts section. The music player is another one of those areas where the hardware is a bit ahead of the user interface decsions. Playing the N78 an entire workday on shuffle I was able to manage a bit more than 6hrs with HSDPA turned on. In other words, it lasts a good while. However, album art still doesn't show up, and its just a mind numbing task to setup a playlist - way too many clicks.

The FM Transmitter is a new and special feature that the N78 offers. It takes music playing to another level. Using the FM Transmitter application, one can transmit the music from the N78 to a nearby FM radio. Configuration options in the FM Transmitter application allow you to set the station; and from there its all about just playing music.

As with other Nokia S60 devices, the N78 comes with the powerful, Webkit-based, Nokia Web Browser. Nothing has changed with it from the version that is on earlier S60 devices, yet it still remains one of the most powerful browsing packages available in a mobile deivce today. The mini-map view is still there, and renders just a bit faster than the N81 and my N75 are able to. Flash doesn't play inside the browser though: I am not sure why - it could just have been the sites that I visited. The N78 has Flash Lite 3 and so it should be able to do most anything.A feature that makes the Nokia N78 special, and in many respects features a push to make GPS even more mainstream on mid-range mobile devices, is the GPS. The GPS is quite effective when it can get a lock. Nokia Maps 2.0 is included, along with a 90 day trial to the Nokia Mapping service. With a 3G connection this is a fast and powerful solution for everything from finding a side street to just figuring out where you are. I found the user interface to be a lot better than in previous version of Nokia Maps, and most of the system over all. Menu items and needed functions were a few clicks away, and things such as color contrast with menu items were as easy to read in brightly lit conditions as as in dimmly lit ones.