Nokia N78 - elegance & style redefined

The Nokia N78 is an all-around phone designed for navigation, photography, and music. The model has integrated A-GPS with free Nokia maps for geo-tagging of your photos. Speaking of photos, the Nokia N78 has a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. It features a card slot which can accommodate up to 8GB microSD cards, FM transmitter, and WLAN and HSDPA support. The Nokia N78 can access the Nokia Music Store, Nokia Internet Radio, and Share on Ovi -- Nokia's new personal media sharing community.

I recently received a device from Nokia/WOM World for trialling along with an MD-4 speaker set and a HB-703 headset - and I've got to say that the initial excitement moving over form an N95 classic to a N78 was amazing (note the bold type). Thing is, compared to the clumsy build of the N95 with all those shakes and wobbles moving over to the N78 was like trading a Ford POS for a Rolls-Royce. And the Symbian S60 3rd Feature Pack 2 that comes with it makes it all the more elegant. The difference is so much that it makes you feel that the N95s operating system was just a hurried pack-up of some features lying around..

The S60 v3 FP2 and the elegant N78 make for a stunning deal. The cool transition effects especially when you activate the camera, and the selection effect in the Haze theme are my personal favorites. The menu just flows along from one selection to another. Another new add-on is the availability of a vertically oriented standby screen.

The ergonomics of the phone are the best I've seen since the 7610. Excellent fit, and a flush body gives a really expensive feel to the device. I particularly liked the way they've partially hidden the charger connector hole. It doesn't stand out at all like the other handsets. But the 3.5mm seems to have been added with only utility in mind as it sits right at the top with a gaping hole next to the power button. The speaker are situated on either side with a twist - the right one is at the top while the left one is at the bottom.

FM transmit feature on the phone is indeed a boon. Especialy because, ever since these smartphones started to get serious about music I've been finding more of my music files getting transfers onto solid state storage like microSD cards than onto CDs - with the result that my car stereo is kept tuned to a radio station. With the FM transmit on the N78 I can transmit my own music on air through the phone onto the cars FM receiver and hear my fav songs - without compromising on quality.

What I hate..well there isn't anything particular that i hate about the N78..but I found myself strangely happier on returning to my N95 after a few days of usage of the N78. Maybe it's because of those silly buttons - they're exciting at the first shot but later they become tiresome. I lov ma N95 buttons ! Which reminds me - the N78 doesn't have the 'pencil'! How worse can it get? Wonder what the guys at nokia were thinking.. a smartphone without the 'pencil' is like life without music...

There are certain basic functions which I feel still lag in this device. One is concerning the clock's alarm feature. It doesn't change with change in hometown. So if you'd put an alarm for 6 in the morning while in a plane and then you changed you're hometown to that of your destination the alarm would ring at 6 at the destination..
And then i found that if you had an incoming phone call while you're switching of the phone, then it would continue to ring even in switched of mode! Really nice..



Specifications
Dimensions
Volume: 76.5 cc
Weight: 101.8 g
Length: 113 mm
Width: 49 mm
Thickness (max): 15.1 mm

Memory Functions
Up to 70MB internal memory
MicroSD memory card support (hot swappable)
Approx.memory capacity indication with included 2GB microSD card:
Video (VGA @ 15fps): up to 120 min
-Photos (3.2 megapixel): up to 3,400 photos
-Music (eAAC+): up to 1,500 tracks*
Battery: Nokia Battery BL-6F 1200mAh
Talk time: up to 190 minutes (WCDMA); 260 minutes (GSM)
Stand-by time: up to 320 hours (WCDMA); 320 hours (GSM)
Still images: up to 375 pictures (3.2 megapixel)
Video capture: up to 215 minutes (VGA @ 15fps)
Video call: up to 125 minutes
Video playback: up to 280 minutes (VGA @ 15fps)
Music playback: up to 24 hours (offline mode)
Web browsing: up to 3 hours (3.5G)FM radio: up to 14 hours
Nokia N78 (including Nokia 2GB microSD Card MU-37)
Nokia Connectivity Cable CA-101
Display and User Interface
2.4” QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) [TFT color display with up to 16 million colors and wide 160° viewing angle. Ambient light detector - to optimize display brightness and power consumption]
Operating system: Symbian OS
User Interface: S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2
Java™: MIDP2.0 E-mail

RealPlayer media player
Full-screen video playback to view downloaded, streamed or recorded video clips Supported video formats: MPEG-4, H.264/AVC, H.263/3GPP, RealVideo 8/9/10, Flash 3.0

Mobile Video
Video resolutions: up to VGA @ 15 fps
Audio recording: AAC stereo, 48kHz
Digital video stabilization
Video clip length: max 60 min per clip
Video file format: .mp4 (default), .3gp (for MMS)
Zoom: Digital up to 8x

Camera Specifications
CMOS, 3.2 megapixel (2048x1536)
Auto focus
Carl Zeiss optics: Tessar™ lens
Zoom: Digital up to 20x
LED flash
Secondary camera, CIF (352 x 288) sensor

Music
Music Features OMA DRM 2.0 support for music.
Nokia Internet Radio
Stereo speakers
Nokia Stereo Headset HS-45/AD-54
Digital music player: supports MP3/ AAC/ AAC+/ eAAC+/ WMA with playlists, equalizer and album art.
Synchronize music with Windows Media Player 10 & 11.
Stereo FM radio (87.5-108MHz /76-90MHz) with Visual Radio™ support

Navigation
Integrated Assisted Global Positioning System (A-GPS)Pre-installed Nokia Maps application and free downloadable maps

Browsing
Nokia Web Browser with Mini Map
Java Applications

Connectivity
WLAN IEEE802.11 b/g with UPnP support
USB 2.0 high-speed through micro USB connector
Bluetooth wireless technology 2.0 + EDR
Nokia Nseries PC Suite connectivity with USB, and Bluetooth wireless technology

Unboxing Videos:

Coming soon!