Nokia N78 review: Nokia N78

With more multimedia-toting smart phones entering the market, Nokia's N-series is certainly less lonely than it was when it launched. Two years ago, handsets such as the Nokia N73 were topping the charts. Can Nokia repeat the same success with the Nokia N78 in today's feverish smart phone market?

6.5

Nokia N78

The Good

HSDPA; GPS; Wi-Fi; 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Bad

Navigation key isn't as easy to use as we expected; camera could be better.

The Bottom Line

The N78 isn't a bad phone by any means but it's not as easy to use as we'd hoped for. While the range of features makes it exciting, the occasionally fiddly navigation key and 3.2-megapixel camera had us yearning for something a little more refined

The Nokia N78 is available SIM-free for around £300 and will be available shortly for free on a monthly contract.

Design
The Nokia N78's design harks back to the candy-bar roots of the first N-series phones. But while this design reminds us of the two-year-old N73, the N78 is much thinner than its predecessor and its glossy front and silver, curved border stands in line with Nokia's new design direction. We like the different approach, but some people have said they prefer the older, more boxy look of the N95. Preferences aside, one sure thing is that the glossy surfaces make it a fingerprint magnet and there's plenty of flat space to leave smudges.

The Nokia N78 has a large screen with a light sensor that adjusts its brightness depending on ambient light

The cancel, menu, send and end keys are flat but click when you push them, making them easy to use. Instead of a standard four-way navigation key, the N78's navigation key can be used like an iPod's scroll wheel. It works well for speeding through long lists, such as contacts or music tracks, but it's not very accurate when you move slowly. The navigation key is also fiddly to press up, down, left or right and detracts from the overall user experience.

One of the most interesting design features on the N78 is its keypad, which is made up of four horizontal lines. It looks like it shouldn't work well, but it's surprisingly easy to type on and much better than the N73's. Our only issue with the keypad area is that the cancel key is on the bottom right of the N78, which feels unusual compared to its normal location up at the top; fortunately, you do get use to it after a while.

Features
The N78 is like the N82's thinner cousin, boasting almost all of the same features. You'll notice when you start using the N78 that although it runs on S60 3rd edition, Nokia has tweaked the interface slightly so that it looks more flashy. When you go from one app to another, for example, there are transitional effects with an Apple OS X feel to them.

While the keypad looks weird, it's actually easy to use. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the navigation key

But it's not just about a fancy interface. HSDPA (3.5G) and Wi-Fi help you stay connected to the Internet almost everywhere you go and you can download third-party apps such as the Opera Mini browser for a desktop-like browsing experience.

Navigating around town is made easy using the N78's A-GPS; it picks up satellites very quickly using a combination of cell and satellite data. Navigating using Nokia Maps works well, particularly if you want step-by-step information, although you need to pay for certain services such as voice guidance. You might also want to try using Google Maps -- it's free and offers an aerial view option, which we really like.

The N78 comes with a 3.2-megapixel camera that disappointingly only comes with an LED photo light instead of a xenon flash

You can easily load up your N78 with music by dragging and dropping tracks via the PC software. Plus, there's a microSD card slot for adding extra storage space. A built-in 3.5mm headphone jack lets you plug your normal headphones straight in, which is a small but very important feature as it cuts out all the messing around with adaptors. The N78's stereo speakers pump out ample sound, but they certainly won't replace your hi-fi.

We're disappointed with the 3.2-megapixel camera on the N78. It can't compete with the camera on the N82, as the picture quality isn't very clear. There's no xenon flash either and without a camera cover, you have to wonder why Nokia has bothered.

Performance
Battery life lasted for about two days with medium to heavy usage, which is good going when you keep in mind how many features the N78 has. GPS and HSDPA hogged much of the battery, but if you're not planning on using them a lot, then there shouldn't be a huge problem.

Conclusion
The N78 is a mixed bag. It packs more features than most phones, but the camera is underwhelming and the navigation key is fiddly to use. It's by no means a terrible phone, but it's not a great one either.

Compared to the similarly-specced N82, we don't think it holds up very well. Sure, it's thinner and it'll help you find your way around as you browse the Web and listen to music, but the overall user experience isn't what we expected. With a few crucial tweaks, it could have been a much better phone.

Edited by Shannon Doubleday