Cell Phone Diary

The Nokia N78 boasts a 3 megapixel autofocus camera, Symbian OS with the latest S60 Feature pack 2, built-in GPS receiver, Wi-Fi, the intriguing Navi wheel navigation and an FM transmitter. All those features are enough to make it a worthy successor of the highly popular and capable Nokia N73. Of course, with a similar feature set, Nokia N82 will rival the Nokia N78.

Nokia N78 official photos

We are already working on an in-depth review of Nokia N78 but while it's still in the works we share some of our first impressions. Those should give you an idea of the most obvious (and probably some of the most important) pros and cons of the phone.

For starters, check out some photos of the new Nokia N78 we made in the comfort of our office. Hard to call it a beauty, with all that Nokia N81 design, which is not really popular with our team. The fact that all Nseries have to share the dull and unimpressive N81 looks is a real disappointment, but maybe it's just us.

Nokia N78 follows the Nokia N81 unimpressive design

The newest Nseries handset lands just below the top of the company multimedia portfolio. Except for the lack of a 5 megapixel camera and the motion sensor, it has very similar functionality to the flagship Nokia N82.

Nokia N78 however comes with the Feature Pack 2 preinstalled, which won our appreciation in Barcelona back in February. The Navi wheel is also a welcome bonus, and it is now usable across the board and not limited to the multimedia menu only, as in N81. The FM transmitter is another exciting feature, that we enjoyed in the recently reviewed Sony Ericsson W980.

Nokia N78 views

But enough small talk - let's move on and check what the N78 hardware configuration has to offer. Join us after the jump for the 360-degree spin of the Nokia N78.

User interface

As already mentioned, Nokia N78 comes with the Feature pack 2 preinstalled. It brings some nice upgrades to the Symbian S60 user interface. There are now transition effects throughout the menu system and the entire interface looks way more pleasing.

The active standby menu also offers quite some customization options with three different view modes.

Nokia N78 comes with Feature pack 2

We are quite pleased with the fact that the Navi wheel can now be used across the menus. Some on our team found it a little slow but most of us did appreciate it. It does make the phone much more fun to use.

FM transmitter

Nokia N78 also features the rather rare FM transmitter feature. We welcomed it in the Sony Ericsson W980 we reviewed a while ago so, quite understandably, we were excited to see how the Nokia performs in comparison. As it turned out, it is on about the same level, which means that it manages to outperform even some of the low-end dedicated FM transmitting devices.

FM transmitter has rather simple interface

Camera

The last stop on our preview tour is the Nokia N78 camera. The 3 megapixel module features no significant changes in terms of user interface, as compared to Nokia N82 for example.

It offers the same extensive settings - starting from manual white balance and ISO sensitivity, and including exposure compensation, sharpness and contrast settings, as well as various effects labeled Color tones. Gridline can also be applied to the viewfinder to assist you in framing you photos, using the photographic rule-of-thirds. Using it to align your subjects and place points of interest on or near the lines and their intersecting points makes your photos much more professional and aesthetic.

The camera interface is familiar

The camera sequence mode and self-timer are no news. The LED flash can be set in four ways: automatic, always on, red-eye reduction and always off.

Here are some sample photos, made with the Nokia N78 camera. They should give you the basic idea of what the camera is capable of.

Nokia N78 sample photos

First impression

As far as first impressions, Nokia N78 fares decently. It didn't win our hearts straight away but it has some interesting features that are enough to grab attention. So far the performance also seems decent, with neither stability nor speed issues whatsoever.

However, even for the short period we had with the N78 we couldn't help ourselves but notice some major flaws. The wobbly back panel, the uncomfortable keypad and the not very comfortable call and end keys aren't exactly what you would expect in a 350 euro handset.

We are yet to see if the negative or the positive impressions will take the upper hand once the full review is complete. As for now, we wouldn't advise you to rush to the nearest shop to purchase the Nokia N78.