Nokia N78 With US 3G On Sale Now
Nokia has announced today that the N78 candybar is now officially shipping in the U.S., and is on sale at the Nokia Flagship Stores in Chicago and New York as of today. I’ve confirmed that the units in stock at the Flagship store are U.S. 3G, with dual-band WCDMA (850/1900MHz) for use with AT&T’s high-speed 3G network.
If you’ve been under a brick lately, the N78 was announced earlier this year at the 2008 Mobile World Congress and rocks a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and geotagging support. Built-in GPS with A-GPS offers a quick satellite fix and Nokia Maps is pre-installed. The N78 also features S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2, the latest version that includes several small but neat new features, such as the new WiFi Home Sync, which Jonathan Greene recently discovered. Our own Dotsisx has also recently had her hands on it, and was impressed.
Amazon.com is also carrying the handset, priced at $464 shipped, and it is also the U.S. 3G-compatible model.
Cool! I really hope it comes to AT&T with a very low subsidized “with contract” price. Even if that means they screw with some of the features. Nokia desperately needs major carrier support for N Series too (and not just their low(er) end phones).
I had read on another blog that this wasn’t going to be offered through any carrier contract. If so, stick a fork in it. No one is going to buy this for over $450 out of pocket when they can get an iphone for $200.
Zaq, err… well, only that they are not getting an iPhone for $200 - more like $2000 afterr a 2 year contract with the oh-so-special super expensive data plan.
Precisely. The N78 costs ~$470, but you can get the $15 unlimited MEdiaNet package with it, and you can use it with T-mobile if you want to. Freedom costs a little more.
But why would I want to use T-mobile? I like my AT&T service.
If I have to pay for service anyway, and I’m likely to keep my service for two years (as I’ve had at&t for several years now, anyway) I’d rather save the money up front. It’s not like buying an unlocked phone magically frees me from having to pay for monthly service. It’s more money, in the long run, to pay for an unlocked phone.
Scenario:
$470 phone, $50/mo for 2 years: $1670
$200 phone w/ contract, $50/mo for 2 years: $1400
But most importantly, I don’t have to drop nearly $500 all at once.
“Freedom” is expensive as hell.
@Zaq - The cheapest iPhone plan is more than $50/month.
The N78 can be used, with 450 anytime minutes, unlimited data, and unlimited messaging, for $39+$35=$72/mo
The iPhone 3G can only be used with iPhone plans, which will offer 450 anytime minutes and unlimited internet with only 200 SMS messages for $69.99/mo (source: http://ipod.about.com/od/iphone3g/a/iph_3g_rates.htm)
Thus, you’re paying the same price for only 200 SMS, while the N78 would have unlimited SMS and MMS.
If you want the EXACT same features, the N78 would be $39 + $15 for Internet + $5 for 200 messages = $60. So the N78 is ~$10 cheaper/mo than the iPhone, for the exact same plan features.
$470 phone, $60/mo for 2 years: $1,910
$200 phone, $70/mo for 2 years: $1,880
Plus, the N78’s 3.2 megapixel camera, FM transmitter, removable memory card, and Stereo Bluetooth capabilities just might be worth it to some.
I know it’s worth it to me to pay $500 for my N95-3 out of pocket.
@The Guru
I don’t suppose I should have compared the n78 to itself as that’s likely to draw the ire of Nokia fans on a Nokia blog. I’m not an Apple fan, myself (I don’t own a single Apple product, in fact). I’m merely pointing out that I wish Nokia would offer the n78 with a carrier partnership; I would rather save the money up-front, even if it means being locked into a contract (that I would be using for that long anyway).
That’s the reason I compared the n78 prices to itself; the $200 figure is something I came up with as an estimate for a with-contract n78 price.
typo alert:
“I don’t suppose I should have compared the n78 to itself”
should read:
“I don’t suppose I should have compared the n78 to the iPhone”
@Zaq - No worries, I certainly agree with you. However, if you take a look at the last Nseries that AT&T offered (the N75), you’ll see that they completely butchered the handset with their branding. They removed the handy Download! app, disabled NSU as a way to get the latest firmware on your device, and eventually replaced the convenient Active Standby option with their craptastic ‘Tab Top’ garbage.
To me (along with most), it’s worth the extra expense to know that AT&T didn’t have their greedy fingers all up in the firmware, after seeing what they’re capable of.
I agree with you on the pricing issue, though, and wish that there was an indirect dealer somewhere who would offer unbranded handsets with a regular contract, though I know it’s usually against their agent agreement with the carrier.
Jun 25th, 2008 at 10:03 am
[...] the Nokia N78 sure is getting alot of attention from the mothership. The candybar handset only just started shipping in the U.S. yesterday and has been in other countries only for a short time. Today, Nokia has announced that a firmware [...]
Jun 26th, 2008 at 1:00 am
[...] is new’ memo! Mike at SymbianAddict has discovered that the online retailer is listing the brand spanking-new Nokia N78 with U.S. 3G (850/1900MHz) for a bargain $440, a full $100 discount off Nokia’s official asking [...]