The UK Mobile Phone Blog

Nokia N78 Mobile Phone Review: Hidden Gem

The Nokia N78 raised a few eyebrows in the office when it was first announced as no one could quite put their finger on where exactly it fits in the Nokia range. First things first; the design: it’s hardly going to revolutionise mobile phones as we know them but it is an attractive piece of kit. Build quality, as you would expect from Nokia’s Nseries, is excellent with a nice weight to the phone (despite its diminutive size) and a nice polished effect that does manage to avoid getting completely covered with grubby fingerprints. What first strikes you is the keypad which is fully backlit meaning that when the phone is switched off or not in use then the keys are invisible. The only exception being the four raised strips that are the part that you actually press to enter a number/text etc.

While pleasing to the eye, this definitely takes a bit of getting used to even for those text-aholics out there. After spending some time playing around with the handset however, I did find you do become quite accustomed to this new style of keypad. One aspect that failed to win me over was the silver strip which forms the side of the phone as I prefer a phone as all one colour, though you can put that down to personal preference. On the back we find a nice textured effect and the N78’s camera and the absence of a lens cover which is also a cause for concern.

This leads us nicely onto the camera. Featuring a 3.2 megapixel camera sporting auto-focus and an LED flash, the interesting feature of the camera is the support for Geo tagging which uses the in-built GPS to tag where a photo was taken - this information is then stored with the image and can be used with other software such as Flickr and Google Maps. Aside from this the N78 offers extensive settings starting from manual white balance and ISO sensitivity and sharpness and contrast settings as well as various effects. Resulting picture quality is quite good though not likely to trouble Nokia’s flagship camera phones the N95 8GB and N82. Colours are precise and natural as is the sharpness (sample picture right). The N78 is equipped with a 2.4″ 16 million colour display of QVGA resolution improving the experience further. Video is also covered, shooting in VGA resolution at 15 fps which works quite well.

In terms of music the N78 is well covered from the off thanks to a 2GB memory card and stereo headphones with a remote control for ease of use. Plus thanks to the 3.5mm audio output jack, you’re not limited to which headphones you want to use. All the major file formats are supported including MP3, AAC, eAAC+ and WMA and navigating your music once it’s on the phone is made easy thanks to Nokia’s user friendly menus. The real crowning glory in this area and to be honest, the stand out feature of the N78, is the FM Transmitter. Put simply, activating this in the phone menu means the N78 will search for a blank radio frequency then all you have to do is tune into that station on a radio and everything you play on your phone will play back through the radio. EVERYTHING!

Maybe I’m getting over excited about this but as a previous owner of an iTrip for my old iPod, this feature is awesome! Tuning in to the corresponding radio station on your stereo means all that music on your phone is now playing through those nice big speakers. No wires, no docking station, just some sort of magic! This is a brilliant feature that also appears in the upcoming Sony Ericsson W980 and that is sure to become a regular feature among Walkman and other multimedia orientated devices.

Away from the media side, the N78 is a capable Symbian handset running on series 60, has a built in GPS receiver with A-GPS support working with the Nokia Maps application. The N78 is one of the best GPS handsets Nokia have released to date and is very quick to get a lock on a GPS signal.

To conclude, the adage don’t judge a book by its cover springs to mind. The N78 is a great all rounder with something to appeal to everyone but isn’t going to break the bank if you take the plunge. Yes the keypad takes a little getting used to and the subtle understated design may not be to everyone’s tastes. Look past these minor issues and you will discover a world of fun with the FM transmitter, a capable camera with a healthy list of options and an excellent GPS device.