Although my first impressions were rather short, I’ve put together a list of the top 5 things that I really love about the Nokia N79 NAM. I’m still desperately seeking to find a new S60-powered phone to replace my aging N95-3, and the N85 Euro’s build issues canceled it out of the running. I’m working on picking up a NAM N85, but in the meantime, let’s see how the N79 handles itself.
First off, the thing I love the most about it is the customization options. Especially out of the box, I have 3 different colors of Xpress-On covers that I can use, including brown. The front of the phone is not user-changeable, and I like that white, brown, and red all match the white front of the N79 NAM. The brown cover actually reminds me of the white/mocha N73 I had a few years ago.
Each of these Xpress-On covers also has a corresponding theme that can automatically be activated when you change the cover. You can also override the automatic theme, if you wish. I like that all of the various N79 cover themes are preinstalled on the phone, though, as that gives me even more options out of the box for cool color combinations.
The second thing that I love about the Nokia N79 is slightly related – the phone supports Audio Themes. I’ve covered these before, but basically it’s a set of themed sounds for nearly every action on your phone. Locking/unlocking the keypad, incoming calls, incoming messages, etc. can all be changed with the Audio Theme. Nokia itself has over a dozen, though you’ll be better off downloading the zip file I made of these, rather than trying to download them individually from Nokia.
The third thing that I really like about the Nokia N79 is the numeric keypad. I’m only talking about the 1-9 and special characters here, not the navigation cluster up top. These keys are responsive, and very easy to use, which is a plus coming from the N95-3, which has an awesome texting keypad. The N79′s keypad is also nicely lit, so that it’s easy to use at night.
Fourth on this list is the FM transmitter. This is a feature that I actually thought was rather gimmicky at first, until I had a chance to use it in real life. Mrs. Guru and I were riding around with my parents, and we needed some Christmas music (OK, you caught me, I pulled the N79 out and used it before I started the 5800 XpressMusic review. You think I can really just leave a new phone sitting in the box?! I’m weak.). Since we were in my parents’ car, I didn’t have a 3.5mm input to their stereo, like I do in my own truck. However, with the N79, I was able to actually pull up Mobbler, create a tag-based station for ‘Christmas’, and then fire up the FM transmitter. It worked awesomely, and really impressed my parents, as well.
The last thing on the list of things that I really love about the Nokia N79 is actually the form factor. I’ve always preferred candybar phones, up until I got my N95-1 to replace my N73. The slider form factor has its advantages, but the candybar has revealed itself to be my true preference, and I’ve been reminded with the N79. It’s just so simple and natural to use, with no moving parts to worry about.
Keep in mind these are not the best features of the phone, just the things that I personally have found to be exceptional. I’ve honestly been enjoying the N79 more than I thought I would, though there are still a handful of complaints that I’ve come up with about this particular phone. I’ll present those tomorrow, as I list out 5 things I hate about the Nokia N79. What things do you like about the N79?
