Rafe also spent a lot of time with the Nokia N78 at Mobile World Congress. Here's his detailed and illustrated preview. A natural evolution of the best-selling N73, despite the hardware improvements, it's the software and services improvements that really caught Rafe's imagination, taking Ovi and a much more rounded package to the mass market.
Read on in the full article.
Great preview Rafe, like you say it's a budget alternative to more expensive smartphone models and the N73 proved there's a large market for such a device.
Interesting to see GPS included, it's also included on the other upcoming budget smartphone the 6220, and one wonders if this will soon become as ubiquitous on phones as a camera. It's now getting easier to see why Nokia has spent literally billions on purchasing satellite navigation companies, they clearly see GPS' future as not just a popular feature but a must-have feature.
Very nice preview Rafe, looks set to be a very successful handset.
Like you Krisse I see GPS becoming ubiquitous in the medium-term. From Nokiaworld it was very apparent that this is a key direction for Nokia, its almost certain that they view it as a "must-have" feature (or at least attaining that status very soon).
From my own experience, coming to an N95 having never had a GPS device before, its one of those things that "you never knew that you always needed to have". Good analogies would be power-steering in cars, or broadband internet; once you've experienced them they are not something that you'd be willing to forego afterwards. I think the penetration of GPS is such that its close to reaching a critical mass in the average consumer awareness, I think Nokia's research tells them this also, and they're positioning themselves well to reap benefit there.
Rafe, thanks for the first real review of this phone. Regarding the FM transmitter, you mention that it is activated within the Music Player. Is it also possible to direct Internet Radio output to the car's sound system? One can imagine how useful that would be during a long road trip.
I think that if it would have had the 5mp cam and xenon flash, it would possibly be the best seller of that batch of phones (N96, 6220 classic, 6210 navigator etc).
Personally Im looking forward to a 6220 classic hands on review.
krisse wrote:Interesting to see GPS included, it's also included on the other upcoming budget smartphone the 6220, and one wonders if this will soon become as ubiquitous on phones as a camera. It's now getting easier to see why Nokia has spent literally billions on purchasing satellite navigation companies, they clearly see GPS' future as not just a popular feature but a must-have feature.
Absolutely. Location based services make a lot more sense if you've got a GPS on board. I think of the Navteq acquisition as being about buying the base component / DNA of location in general. I suspect it also helps Nokia get the kind of location data they need (i.e. they can direct Navteq to build up pedestrian and multi-modal information).
NZtechfreak wrote:Very nice preview Rafe, looks set to be a very successful handset.From my own experience, coming to an N95 having never had a GPS device before, its one of those things that "you never knew that you always needed to have". Good analogies would be power-steering in cars, or broadband internet; once you've experienced them they are not something that you'd be willing to forego afterwards. I think the penetration of GPS is such that its close to reaching a critical mass in the average consumer awareness, I think Nokia's research tells them this also, and they're positioning themselves well to reap benefit there.
Yes I agree. And I think the potential has only just begun to be tapped. Devices like the N78 (i.e. towards the mid tier) will create a large potential user base so I'd expect to see more things that use the GPS come along in the next year from third parties. There's already some good stuff out there - Viewranger springs to mind, and there's also a number of activity tracking apps. Thanks for the nice words on the preview too!
[QUOTE=95%;367248]Rafe, thanks for the first real review of this phone. Regarding the FM transmitter, you mention that it is activated within the Music Player. Is it also possible to direct Internet Radio output to the car's sound system? One can imagine how useful that would be during a long road trip.[/QUOTE]
Yes I believe so. I can't be 100% because I didn't check that.
From my own experience, coming to an N95 having never had a GPS device before, its one of those things that "you never knew that you always needed to have".
Yes, same here when I first tried it on a 6110. It was just like when I first had a mobile phone at all, there was an initial scepticism followed by a "gosh, isn't this useful?" phase and then eventually "how did I ever manage without it?".
GPS is something that practically anyone could benefit from, no matter where you live or what you do, it's just a question of waiting for the equipment to get cheap enough and portable enough.
113mm N78 versus 102mm on the K850, that is a huge difference. Whilst the 2.4 inch screen is good, I feel that Nokia phones are suffering from some serious physical bloat and this one is another that is too big. 113mm is almost as big as a hiuge slab iphone, it's unacceptable for something that people want to carry about all the time.
If this carries on I'm heading back to S40.
Unregistered, it might be better to compare CC (volume) figures instead of thickness, some phones are very thin but very wide so they may actually be quite large.
The trouble is manufacturers don't always publish these CC figures, and you can't easily work it out from the dimensions because phones usually aren't shaped like boxes.
Unregistered wrote:113mm N78 versus 102mm on the K850, that is a huge difference. Whilst the 2.4 inch screen is good, I feel that Nokia phones are suffering from some serious physical bloat and this one is another that is too big. 113mm is almost as big as a hiuge slab iphone, it's unacceptable for something that people want to carry about all the time.
I don't feel there's any bloat here, though. The N-series is highly targetted towards multimedia, and most people who want to use their phones for multimedia, also want larger screens. I, however, think a 2" screen would be enough but I reckon I'm in the minority for these kind of phones.
If the 6120c had a 3.5mm jack, then I would easily pick that phone. I wonder how long it will take until we see a 6120 replacement (6220c is too big), although it probably doesn't matter since Nokia seem to only use 3.5mm jacks for their 5xxx phones and N series.
Do we have "Timed profile" (where in a profile can be activated for a specific duration) in N78? I think it should be part of the FP2 feature list!
I reckon K850 is comparable, its always been the width and more importantly the depth of phones that's been more important for me. But I guess everyone wants something different.
BK76 wrote:Do we have "Timed profile" (where in a profile can be activated for a specific duration) in N78? I think it should be part of the FP2 feature list!
Yes, that's a standard part of FP2.
krisse wrote:Unregistered, it might be better to compare CC (volume) figures instead of thickness, some phones are very thin but very wide so they may actually be quite large.
No, this doesn't work out. For a casual dresser who wants to keep a phone in a jeans pocket, the width and height dimensions make a big difference. A too slim phone becomes a more fragile phone. An N95 is only 1 cm longer than a standard credit card which is OK, but borders on the too deep, (however much better than the N80).
No, this doesn't work out. For a casual dresser who wants to keep a phone in a jeans pocket, the width and height dimensions make a big difference. A too slim phone becomes a more fragile phone.
I suppose that's what I was trying to say too, a slim phone which is very wide may be less convenient than a thick phone which is very narrow.
Some people just talk about thickness, but like you say that's not the whole story.
It only A-GPS or it has GPS too?. If Im in a place with no carrier signal but clear sky still works?.
PD: sorry for my bad english.
AGPS will not work without GPS. So yes, it has standard GPS.
Hi Mate
When are you going to be writing your opinions on this phone?
I would like to know how this phone fares against a Nokia n82.
I am looking for a new phone and am wondering if the Fm transmitter runs smoothly enough to let fact, that is has a much worse camera than the n82, slide. Also i would like to find out if the new operating system is that great as compared to the one of the n82.
I want a phone with a suberb camera and a great quality output from the extensive audio library. Wifi is an added bonus but hey the perfect phone doesnt exist yet. SO is this phone worth my money or should i buy an n82?
THX A MILLION for you opinion
Some years ago the Nokia phones were the best looking phones. The last 3? years that is reallty not the case. But now with some new phones, Nokia is back
See for a really good example of what i mean:
http://www.n78.nl
Hi,
I came on here to compare the N82 to the N78.
I currently own the N73 (November 2006), and am updating to the N82 later today ($460 USD in Phnom Penh).
The 'must have' is the GPS feature.
I've been a standard GPS user since 2003, and welcome the feature to phone handsets as a godsend.
It's too easy to get lost in Cambodian countryside (jungles, dead end tracks etc), so it will be handy to have the convenience of GPS nav in my pocket, as opposed to lugging my "Garmin Streetpilot III" around!
There are now some good Garmin maps available for Cambodia for N series S60 platforms, including navigable street level maps of Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (Angkor Wat), so my phone will be superior to my $2000 Streetpilot!
I am purchasing the N82 later today after a week of comparisons with the N95 8Gb.
I decided that a bigger screen is just not worth the extra size and money, plus i'm not a 'slider' fan.
Why are these supposedly Nigerian spammers being allowed to advertise on a forum?
Is there no moderation on here?
Thanks for a good informative site.
Keep up the good work, and kick the spam scum off here!
I upgraded to the Nokia N78 on O2 and have had the phone for a week. Here are my impressions:
Build quality: Disappointing. You may have read other reviewers� concerns on the thin plastic back of the phone, and I agree. The back does seem cheap and �plasticky�, and the phone �rattles� on vibrate. The back light can be seen through various cracks on the sides of the front plate.
The keypad: Personally, I like it and had no problem with the bar-type keys. However, the placement of the �c� button makes texting v awkward and uncomfortable.
Design: I love the design. It is sleek, quite slim, and understated.
Nav-key: The D-pad is touch sensitive and works (or is supposed to) in the same way as the iPod click wheel. In reality, this is just a gimmick with little practical use. It simply doesn�t work well enough to make a difference.
Overall: 6/10
I was v excited about this phone, and have waited months beyond my upgrade date for it. But upon delivery, it disappointed me to such a point that I have returned it, cancelled my upgrade and await the release of the 3G iPhone.
Hope this helps.
I have to say, I think the N78 is fantastic. I've got to write somewhere how great I think it is and here's as good a place as any. I've been using it for a week and a half and keep discovering great new things on it. It does everything that I could ever want it to do (almost, see end). These are the things I use daily in no particular order:
1. TomTom runs on it just fine with a bluetooth GPS. It sits perfectly in the dashboard of my '07 reg Renault Meganne, just between the two big dials. It's as if it was designed for it.
2. I get all my email accounts delivered whenever I walk into a wifi hotspot.
3. fring's VOIP SIP over wifi means it behaves just like another extension on my business phone system.
4. The FM transmitter kicks butt. I haven't listened to a CD or the radio in my car since.
5. On the Wifi at home I use the UPnP client to play tracks on my Vista machine upstairs. I've never managed to get any other UPnP client work with Vista, so that's a true miracle. Naturally I pump the streamed music out of the FM transmitter to my stereo in the sitting room downstairs. Awsome. It's quicker for me to browse the UPnP client than to find the original CD on my shelves.
6. SportsTracker works with the internal GPS doodah. Once home I can see on Google Earth where I've been on my bicycle. Cute.
7. The camera's perfectly adequate. It's just another USB disc as far as Vista is concerned so importing photos is a doddle. I do have to rotate photos to their correct orientation but that's not much of a hardship.
8. The Podcasting bit downloads podcasts over the wifi while I sleep. Had never listened to a single podcast until now.
9. I can see whenever my mate's have posted new flickr photos there on the front screen. Brill.
10. I play my music through the speakers when out cycling. I'v got it in an old phone case that I've zip tied to my bicycle's handlebars.
Now, all that said... The only thing that it can't do is make normal phone calls. If I answer a call when I've been using the music player (like I do pretty much solidly all day) the phone either locks up, mutes me or the caller or both. Often the only way to end a call is to remove the battery and restart the phone(!) This is quite fiddly as you can imagine. The back of the phone is very cheap and flimsy - it won't last for long I don't think. I hope this is fixed in firmware soon because I'm reluctant to make any calls or answer any calls on it right now.
I still think it's great though and hope that an update to fix this is out really soon. I'm going to keep using it, in spite of not being able to use it as a phone.