Nokia N79 Nam Review – First Impressions

Nokia N79 Nam Review - First Impressions

The first part of our review on the Nokia N79 NAM is, as usual, simply my first impressions of this new phone. I received it a few weeks ago, but due to the 5800 XpressMusic review, I had to shelve it for a little while. I’ve been using the phone now for a few days, and have some first impressions that I’d like to share. As with the 5800 XpressMusic, the Nokia N79 is small – real small. I like that with its newer phones, such as the E66, E71, N79, and N85, Nokia is giving some attention to the size of the phone. Despite this, the buttons are nicely laid out, and not overly cramped.

After using the N85 and 5800 XpressMusic, I’m also keenly aware that the N79’s slide-lock feature is located on the top of the phone. This is rather annoying, as I found the side location to be insanely convenient. I hope that future phones will have this feature on the side.

The biggest thing that I’ve noticed about the N79, though, is that it’s just…..meh, but in a really interesting way. It’s an incredibly solid phone,  in terms of hardware, software, overall feel, etc. However, compared to my N95-3, it just doesn’t really offer anything.

While it’s nice to get 2 spare Xpress-On covers, I’m disappointed that there wasn’t any sort of phone strap included in the package. Since I received the white variant, I would like to have had a nice white leather strap included, similar to what comes with the E71. The included stereo headset and inline remote is white, though, which looks nice.

I’m a bit light on first reactions for this little phone, but will be continuing the review through Monday. Tomorrow, I’ll share with you the top things that I really love about this little phone, so check back to continue the series. If there’s anything specific that you’d like to know about this phone, please let me know in the comments, and I’ll make sure to cover it.

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Comments

  1. just wanted to first thank you, for telling people about the nokia flag ship store sale that they had around black friday. this is when i went to the new york store and got the n79. I would like to know if you have any problems installing the new firmware update on the nam version, when i try it tells me that there is no update. Also i would love to know what you don't like about this phone because i have not found much if anything that i don't like. Thanks again
    Mike
  2. Hi, good to read your review on Nokia n79. My prob is I cant find one to feel! No shops in Norwich sell this little beut' I would have to travel 130 miles to my nearest Nokia shop to check it out. I'm worried about the (Mother of all!) firmware update. I might buy a buggy one? Or a good one? Howard I have read many user reviews. Most happy, but some not at all happy! Any sugestions on how I can avoid buying a bad un? I like the white but the red cover one (My fave') does not come with white phone. I'm sure this is true, 'please' prove me wrong, but it is not pos to buy xpress-on covers on their own. Arrrrh!! Nokia. PLEASE sell covers on their own. Please note. I have just given you good idea for making even more money! Could this deserve me a free n79? :-) Please put me out of my obsessive n79 state and reply with good news, Thanks, Howard
  3. Hi there - could you please discuss how well gaming functions on this phone? For example, do games work better in landscape or portrait orientation? Do games auto switch to lansdscape orientation? How smoothly do they run considering there is no 3D chip? What keys are used to play the games? How comfortable is the phone when gaming?
    Thanks!!!!
  4. Keys wise, the N79 is like the reverse of N82. The N82 has smallish number keys and big soft/call/end keys. The N79 seems to be addressing the complaints that the number keys are hard to type, but they somehow have to make the soft/call/end keys small. Can't they do both? So my question is how do those smallish keys fare in terms of pressing them, and whether you may accidentally hit the much bigger/flatter Menu/Cancel "pads" surrounding them.
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