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N78 Still Ugly, On Sale In Finland

By The Guru on May 26, 2008

The Nokia N78 is an odd duck. I think it will sell pretty well, to be honest. The 3.2 megapixel camera, FM transmitter, GPS and other niceties are packaged in a rather small candybar handset, and the planned price is nice, as well. Given that there will be 2 versions, supporting either Europe or America’s 3G networks, I’ve no doubt that the Nokia N78 is positioned to do well.

However, I simply can’t get past the terrible design and color choices on this thing. For all you Finns, the handset is now officially for sale, which is a good sign, hopefully the U.S. version will be coming soon, as well. Stefan over at IntoMobile.com got his hands on one for a few hours recently, and took tons of high-quality pictures for your enjoyment. Am I the only one who finds the combination of black front, bronze sides, and white back simply ghastly? It looks like one of those cars you see driving around with high performance body kits, still sporting the primer look. I think it gives a very piecemeal look and am completely turned off by it.

However, Stefan’s pretty pumped about the handset, saying that the build quality and firmware is pretty solid, even now. What do you think? Can you get past the looks to see the features within, or are you as turned off as I am by the poor color choices?

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The Guru

The Guru, aka Ricky Cadden, started Symbian-Guru.com in November 2006, out of his excitement for the S60 3rd Edition version of Symella. The Guru has used Symbian devices since the Nokia 6620, and is known for his perspective as a power user. You can follow The Guru on Twitter at @Rcadden

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  • http://maticek.wordpress.com/ MaTiCeK

    Hi,

    I am actually thinking of switching from my N95-1 to this device. It has all the things I need and a battery to kill for.
    At first I also thought it’s odd and the looks just didn’t impress me at all. Now I’m slowly getting used to the design.
    Oh and being an N95 user, I defenitely choose specs over design :) .

    Can’t wait to get my hands on it, but I doubt it’s out in other parts of Europe. Have to check with Nokia Slovenia tomorrow!

  • http://maticek.wordpress.com MaTiCeK

    Hi,

    I am actually thinking of switching from my N95-1 to this device. It has all the things I need and a battery to kill for.
    At first I also thought it’s odd and the looks just didn’t impress me at all. Now I’m slowly getting used to the design.
    Oh and being an N95 user, I defenitely choose specs over design :) .

    Can’t wait to get my hands on it, but I doubt it’s out in other parts of Europe. Have to check with Nokia Slovenia tomorrow!

  • Devin Balentina

    Yep, it’s ugly. Very ugly indeed.

  • Devin Balentina

    Yep, it’s ugly. Very ugly indeed.

  • Cheung Yuen Wong

    I thought first that it looked quite nice with its black front.
    However as I saw it up closer that it was tricolored I thought it was a bit strange.
    Maybe just a question of taste here.
    But not exactly the phone for me.

    When it comes to specs I think that both the N95 (versions) and the N82 (black) are better in terms of the camera solution. I’m here thinking about the pixels supported as well as the camera shutter.
    Even thought the N78 was said to be autofocusing faster.
    (There are simple tricks to autofocus faster in both N82 and N95).

    The GPS in N82 is superfast after updating to v20.0.062 don’t know about the N78.

    The only better here I can see compared to the above mentioned models is that it runs S60 3rd FP2.

    Overall what I’ve read in the net is that it is good if you’re upgrading from an N73 else is better to wait.

    (For e.g. the N96, but the lack of Mobile TV in Norway + the lack of a shutter makes me want to wait longer before upgrading from N82. But it would be madly nice to have a total of 32Gb, or more of memory on the phone and the light for videorecording.)

  • Cheung Yuen Wong

    I thought first that it looked quite nice with its black front.
    However as I saw it up closer that it was tricolored I thought it was a bit strange.
    Maybe just a question of taste here.
    But not exactly the phone for me.

    When it comes to specs I think that both the N95 (versions) and the N82 (black) are better in terms of the camera solution. I’m here thinking about the pixels supported as well as the camera shutter.
    Even thought the N78 was said to be autofocusing faster.
    (There are simple tricks to autofocus faster in both N82 and N95).

    The GPS in N82 is superfast after updating to v20.0.062 don’t know about the N78.

    The only better here I can see compared to the above mentioned models is that it runs S60 3rd FP2.

    Overall what I’ve read in the net is that it is good if you’re upgrading from an N73 else is better to wait.

    (For e.g. the N96, but the lack of Mobile TV in Norway + the lack of a shutter makes me want to wait longer before upgrading from N82. But it would be madly nice to have a total of 32Gb, or more of memory on the phone and the light for videorecording.)

  • http://maticek.wordpress.com/ MaTiCeK

    Well I guess for the N95 8gb (probably aswell for the clasic N95) and N82 users is best to wait for the next symbian version with the touch interface. The N78 just seems so much more thin and sleek, not clunky like the N95 and partly N82 (but this is mainly due to the camera cover, which I like).
    Then again, sometimes I drown my N95′s battery just too fast. I started doing the only GSM network trick to prolong the up time when going to a party or an event I would take a lot of pictuers and shoot some videos.

  • http://maticek.wordpress.com MaTiCeK

    Well I guess for the N95 8gb (probably aswell for the clasic N95) and N82 users is best to wait for the next symbian version with the touch interface. The N78 just seems so much more thin and sleek, not clunky like the N95 and partly N82 (but this is mainly due to the camera cover, which I like).
    Then again, sometimes I drown my N95′s battery just too fast. I started doing the only GSM network trick to prolong the up time when going to a party or an event I would take a lot of pictuers and shoot some videos.

  • Cheung Yuen Wong

    Indeed.

    However I suspect that the latter models coming will have less internal memory.

    Taking account for that services gets more and more web / internet based. This of course is just a theory but is true especially for the mid-range phones.

    The touch from Nokia however is interesting but still it needs more time to grow to harvest the fruits of its potential. At its current phase it won’t exactly beat either Windows Mobile or iPhone.

  • Cheung Yuen Wong

    Indeed.

    However I suspect that the latter models coming will have less internal memory.

    Taking account for that services gets more and more web / internet based. This of course is just a theory but is true especially for the mid-range phones.

    The touch from Nokia however is interesting but still it needs more time to grow to harvest the fruits of its potential. At its current phase it won’t exactly beat either Windows Mobile or iPhone.

  • http://blog.p4n.net/ Peter Rullmann

    I don’t like the design either. The only thing that caught my interest is the tagging support (not geotagging, but adding keywords). That feature of FP2 could be pretty interesting and useful.

  • http://blog.p4n.net Peter Rullmann

    I don’t like the design either. The only thing that caught my interest is the tagging support (not geotagging, but adding keywords). That feature of FP2 could be pretty interesting and useful.

  • bazza

    I like it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and i like this new sleek design the Nseries are adopting, its a sign of refinement in and evolution in nokia build and design.

    The white back has to go though.

  • bazza

    I like it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and i like this new sleek design the Nseries are adopting, its a sign of refinement in and evolution in nokia build and design.

    The white back has to go though.

  • Viipottaja

    I think the white back is NOT a standard feature. In fact, I would be ready to bet my dirty underpants that its not.

    And given that it will not include a white back as a standard feature ;) I think it look freaking gorgeous!! Yes, I too thought it was fugly when I first laid my eyes on that beauty.. and it grew on me in like 2 days. It’s b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l!!

  • Viipottaja

    I think the white back is NOT a standard feature. In fact, I would be ready to bet my dirty underpants that its not.

    And given that it will not include a white back as a standard feature ;) I think it look freaking gorgeous!! Yes, I too thought it was fugly when I first laid my eyes on that beauty.. and it grew on me in like 2 days. It’s b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l!!

  • http://maticek.wordpress.com/ MaTiCeK

    Huh, you all say the white back is ugly! Honestly, if I buy it I buy it with a white back :).

  • http://maticek.wordpress.com MaTiCeK

    Huh, you all say the white back is ugly! Honestly, if I buy it I buy it with a white back :).

  • Viipottaja

    MatiCeK, yep, I am sure it will look fab with your baby blue jump-suit and white platform shoes.. ;)

  • Viipottaja

    MatiCeK, yep, I am sure it will look fab with your baby blue jump-suit and white platform shoes.. ;)

  • JD

    I will be replacing my original N95 with this phone. Why pay twice the price for N96 when its killer feature – digital tv will almost certainly not be available in Australia.

  • JD

    I will be replacing my original N95 with this phone. Why pay twice the price for N96 when its killer feature – digital tv will almost certainly not be available in Australia.

  • xj

    The N78 I have to play with has a black backing as well as front. Doesn’t look near as horrible.

    I’m getting used to the keypad, and actually find it usable for most everything except gaming. It really blows for games…

    In other news, the FM Transmitter seems to be buggy, causing the phone to freeze up after so many minutes of playback. (confirmed with numerous tests)

    The built in browser also seems to have some stability issues, occassionally crashing the handset when looking at media intense sites like youtube.

    All in all the phone has definitely grown on me, the size is a winner, the quirks are just that, quirky, with the only major hurdle to get over is the keypad IMO.

  • xj

    The N78 I have to play with has a black backing as well as front. Doesn’t look near as horrible.

    I’m getting used to the keypad, and actually find it usable for most everything except gaming. It really blows for games…

    In other news, the FM Transmitter seems to be buggy, causing the phone to freeze up after so many minutes of playback. (confirmed with numerous tests)

    The built in browser also seems to have some stability issues, occassionally crashing the handset when looking at media intense sites like youtube.

    All in all the phone has definitely grown on me, the size is a winner, the quirks are just that, quirky, with the only major hurdle to get over is the keypad IMO.

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