Love it or leave it won't do here, we're afraid. Love it or hate it is more like it. There's so much to get excited about with Nokia N78. The excellent display and capable camera, topped with Navi wheel, FM transmitter, GPS and Wi-Fi sure round off a nice deal. And yes, the latest FP 2 is a downright treat. If only… Well, you must know already what we think of the package. Anyway, you're welcome to read on. Nokia N78 has a whole review up ahead to unleash its potential and a lifetime to beg for a facelift.
Key features:* 2.4" 16M-color display of QVGA resolution
* 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus and LED flash
* S60 UI with Feature Pack 2
* FM transmitter
* Navi wheel
* 3G with HSDPA
* microSD card slot, 2GB card in the retail package
* GPS receiver and 3 months of free voice-guided navigation
* Wi-Fi
* Stereo speakers
* 3.5mm standard audio jack
* FM radio with RDS
* Bluetooth and USB connectivity (microUSB port)
Main disadvantages:* Keypad or whatever they call it
* Shaky battery cover
* Not our kind of design
* Call, End and C key placement
* FM transmitter has weak signal
Nokia N78 stacks up just below the top of the multimedia phone market. The megapixel count and screen size are probably the only things to stop it from directly competing with the N95. It is still quite close and even offers a few features that the omnipresent Nseries ruler lacks.
A nice - even if somewhat humble - alternative of Nokia N78 is Samsung i550w. Carrying a very similar feature-pack, it trades the FM transmitter and the Navi wheel for a trackball and a larger 2.6" screen. The best part about the Samsung is that it costs a great deal less than the Nokia N78, retailing at about 260 euro. Now, the FM transmitter and FP 2 are not exactly the first things one would choose to trade, but we can understand those willing to save themselves some money.
Another handset to rival the N78 is Nokia N82. The best cameraphone by Nokia to date is currently available for about 300 euro. The 5 megapixel camera comes with protective cover and Xenon flash, while a built-in accelerometer is also on offer. On the other hand, N82 too lacks the FM transmitter, which might sound as a deal-breaker to some.
Design and constructionDesignwise Nokia N78 is obviously inspired (shall we say infected) by Nokia N81. Well, it's no secret that we are not in love with those looks and we hardly miss an opportunity to say it out loud.Nokia N78 is finished in glossy black at the front and dark brown at the back. The best part of the casing is the brushed light brown surface at the sides. A few metal accents here and there wouldn't have hurt but the materials are still fine as they are.
A major issue with the glossy plastic is fingerprints. It takes only a short while for the Nokia N78 to get all covered in smudges, so prepare for some major cleaning. The Nokia N78 excellent display takes further advantage of the ambient light sensor, which is placed in the top right corner of the front, along with the video-call camera. The earpiece is dead center.
The central elements on the N78 front panel however are the 2.4" display and the keypad. Those will be dealt with a little later in our review.
The right side of Nokia N78 hosts the dedicated camera key, the volume rocker and a loudspeaker grill. Both the camera key and the volume rocker are large and tactile enough, and provide sufficient press feedback so they are no problem to use. Quite surprisingly the other loudspeaker is placed all the way down the diagonal on the opposite side of Nokia N78. It's found just above the lower edge of the left side. The remaining elements on the left are the charger plug, the microSD card slot and the microUSB port. Of those, only the microSD card slot is hidden under a plastic lid, which makes the USB port prone to filling up with grime and dirt - not to mention that the hole doesn't look all that attractive. The same goes for the charging port.
The microSD slot is neatly tucked under its protective cap but things are not as sweet in terms of usability. The problem is that releasing the card is a fiddly job. You would normally need to keep the cap out of the way while trying to eject the card from its narrow slot deep within the surrounding surface.
Looking at Nokia N78 from above we notice the power key, which is also used for changing the ringing profiles and the 3.5mm standard audio jack. Its location is not that convenient - it's uncomfortable to operate the handset with a pair of headphones plugged in right on top. At the bottom of the phone there's the microphone pinhole and the lanyard eyelet. The back side of Nokia N78 hosts the 3.2 megapixel camera with LED flash. The lens is unprotected and thus vulnerable to scratches and fingerprints.
Nokia N78 is equipped with a BL-6F battery of 1200 mAh capacity. It is quoted at up to 320 hours of stand-by and 4 hours and 20 minutes of talk time, which sounds quite a promise to us. In reality it kept the phone going for about 3 days of moderate usage. yes, we know, that got us totally unexpected too. It may get beter once the battery reaches its full potential after several charges. We can't really nag about the construction quality of Nokia N78. But we just won't let the wobbly back cover get away with it. Honestly, it doesn't feel right. The fingerprint disaster of a surface is the other thing. The rest of the handset is well done. After all, we wouldn't have complained about the wonky rear if the whole thing was one mess of a handset. But it's not, so those little details tend to get on your nerves.
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