I would not recommend the N78 — Nokia Nseries S60 3.2 Phones (Nokia N78, N79, N85, N86 and N96)

Nyxmorph 01 Oct 2008, 10:17

Hi,

Just to let people know about the N78. I upgraded to one of these from a Nokia E51.

First of all the build quality is very low - its very cheap 'creaky' plastic.

Secondly the power charge point is on the left side of the phone - so if you are taking a call in your right hand and charging - you end up having a wire stuck in front of your face for the call.

Thirdly, the buttons on the edges dont work all the time - (menu key, call start, left selection key, right selection key, call end, C key). Sometimes you will press them and nothing will happen. Especially annoying if your alarm is going off and you press the left selection key which is stop and nothing happens lol.

The smearing and fingerprints that appear on the phone are TERRIBLE. Its a finger print magnet.

Also (this is just a critism of N series60 FP2) you still cant configure the standy screen like you can on the E series phones. In fact they have even added another bar on the front screen which wastes space and messes it up called the ovi sharing bar which constantly displays on the front screen with no way to remove it). [this is using the standard horizontal standby system].

Also, the screen completely switches off when in standy, you dont even get the dim time/date screensaver (guess this was an attempt at saving battery life), although the battery only lasts about half the time that it does on the E51 (about 2.5 days in comparison to 6 days on the E51).

Thanks, and I hope some of these comments help save some of you!

(Im now back using my E51 and I will have to wait another year before my next upgrade)

bartmanekul 01 Oct 2008, 11:33

Moving from an E series to an N series is always going to have a big drop in build quality.

E series are usually better in everyway except specs. Sadly Nokia dont think any E series need decent cameras (before anyone says 3.2 is enough, try it in bad light).

jwaisanen 01 Oct 2008, 12:30

i own an N78 and really like it. i'll agree with you on the build quality, although i wouldn't call it "very cheap" - it's just not rock solid.

i've never had problems with the buttons on the edges. supposedly the latest firmware update addressed some issues with the sensitivity of these buttons.

yup, definitely a fingerprint magnet. unfortunately, seems like every manufacturer is going glossy these days. i wish i could find more matte-black products.

as far as the standby turning the screen entirely blank, you can just hit any button and the screen lights up for a few seconds and then goes black again. i hated that dim date/time screensaver. i've actually been impressed with the battery life, but then again my last phone was an N80ie which didn't exactly take it easy on the battery.