We just got our hands on Nokia's sexy new
N78, which it's bringing to us previously Nokia-starved North Americans in full-fledged, unlocked 3.5G. The phone boasts Nokia's new maps 2.0 app, along with photo geotagging, and of course all those N-series trimmings like WiFi and dual cameras. There's no N-Gage support yet, but a firmware update is forthcoming. Unfortunately for us, we had trouble getting geotagging or even online photo uploads in general to work at all -- we didn't stoop so low as to look at the manual, but Nokia certainly has some interface kinks to work out here. Maps 2.0 is all it's cracked up to be, and the phone tracked our walk down the block with accuracy bordering on creepiness. The keypad is a bit of a departure for Nokia, with ridges instead of full keys, but it didn't take us long to get comfortable with. We're less impressed with the touch sensitive "Navi wheel" on the d-pad, given Nokia's sporadic software support and its generally janky nature. The overall build of the device is classic Nokia, light but not too light, certainly not too thin but quite comfortable to use and pocket. We had no problem reading the screen in direct sunlight, and it's bright indoors as well. Though we can't recommend this unit without reservation, it's certainly one of the hottest phones for its form factor going, and once Nokia spruces up the new software a bit -- S60 3.2's new transitions are nice but aren't quite enough to make up for the shortcomings -- our gripes will be pretty much non-existent.
posted Jun 5th 2008 3:12PM
Is this the 3g iphone NOT
why is everybody reverting to stupid 90's smart-allic comments like: "... NOT!" or "... MUCH!"?!?
please cease and desist.
Too bad it's not a clone of the iPhone... NOT!
It is totally tubular.
@Backwards People
Your parents never hugged you did they?
@Aaron Wanker ....."please cease and desist."
Breaker, breaker, that's a big NEGATORY..... Over.
Just like the N78.... Over and out.
Negative Ghost Rider, the pattern is full.
So will AT&T or T-Mobile USA be running with this smartphone?
We should all start posting all over the 'net that Paul Miller of Engadget says it'll support T-Mobile USA's WCDMA ... because he said "North America", and not "AT&T", "850MHz/1900MHz WCDMA", or something equally unambiguous.
What problems did you have with geotagging and uploading photos? It's TOO easy...
Well, atleast it wasn't Chris Ziegler that got it... Thanks again Mr. Miller!
I think they had problems geotagging because it seems they didn't put in a sim card. Without a sim card, there's no data. With no data, the A in A-GPS is missing.
Well then they should have turned AGPS off, gone outside and used the GPS on its own.
Bleh. Where's the i...
Gotcha.
Box is sort of large for this thing, ain't it? It better have a lot of international plugs in there :P
I hope AT&T... outside of the iPhone and the Blackberry Bold, their phone selection is AWFUL.
I'm currently "rocking" a Samsung D807 which, while comfortable and small, really sucks for doing anything at all (especially anything that involves typing). Also, the handset volume is brutal. Thank god for the jawbone!
WTB functionality in a phone, PST!
Have you heard of the Tilt? ATT is the only US carrier that really grabbing some good phones. And iPhone is only the beginning of their selection.
You can even open it up to get HDSPA speeds if you are in a US market that has it....
I'm on HDSPA in Houston, Texas. Once you enable it in the Tilt as lest you get download speed faster than current 3G.....
Good luck with this, Nokia. It's a commendable effort. You said you would penetrate the North American market with Nokia goodness and here it is in all it's 3.5G glory.
Next time, read the manual, even if it's 100 pages long. At least you figured out how to turn it on and that's half the battle.
You press the on button.
Seriously.
How do i get it, I live in NYC, mobilecityonline was supposed to have it yesterday, anyone know of a place to buy it in the city?
your local chinatown phone shop has everything that you need
Yikes! Tiny number keys! Guess this is not for the texters ;-)
the amount of copying that goes on in the industry is pretty amazing. Sony Ericsson are onto a similar thing with some of their phones. God knows why.
At least it has some spacing between the keys... but the lack of surface area on each key is quite disturbing.
Nokia are lazy. This is exactly the same as the N82 only the screen is a bit of a different shape, the button layout is different, and it has a speaker. Other than that it even has similar rear pattern, identical frame design, and almost identical ancillary button placement.
I will never own an iPhone but I at least cheered it because I hoped it would shake up the industry and provoke some inspiration, all they ever got around to was coping it like for like though.
Come on manufacturers, how about some high build quality, interesting and nice looking devices that actually inspire us and build brand respect and loyalty? All us fan boys and girls are waiting.
How different do you think the iPhone v2 will look compared to the iPhone v1?
Are Apple lazy for keeping the look of the iPod almost identical for 7 years?
"It has a speaker"? That's how I know that you have no clue as to what you're talking about.
Specs from NokiaUSA help explain why this is actually a VERY GOOD phone for the US to get!
http://www.nokiausa.com/A4839026
Is this a Joke? Look at that thing. I mean common, No one in Europe will dare pick that up. Thats what American cell phone business has become; A Dumping Ground for Ugly looking phones. Well I cannot blame Nokia, The Carriers want Crippled out cellphones, and they are doing just that.
Sigh, when I think Japan is almost at 4G, or are they?
Do you live in Europe? This phone will probably sell 15million+ just like the N73 did.
besides the fact that this has only a 3.2 camera how is this crippled? the camera has af and flash by the way. it has s60 so a host of are available for it. 3g . wifi. geotagging. a-gps and gps with nokia maps pre instaled and being able to be used without an internet connection. fm tuner. decent sound quality with 3.5 mm jack. It is also the first phone to be released by nokia with the this particular interface.
http://www.nokiausa.com/A4839026
A little spec page to show just how mistaken you are.
I would have to say this is possibly the best looking mobile phone ever. You know that it is in the box and has stickers and so on over it in that picture?
oh i forgot it supports flash lite ...so it can play any flash content through the browser
I posted this on the mobile engadget, but it looks like there's a lot more comments on here...
Does anyone know whether N78 has an accelerometer?
I am debating between N95 8GB, N82 and N78 and can't seem to decide.
Also, how different is S60 3.2 vs. 3.1?
Thanks very much in advance!!!!
no it does not have it.....go with the n82 .and feature pack two mainly only has more more eye candy.
Price?
Since I paid $400 for my iPhone, I expect this to be priced at around say.... @250? WITHOUT CONTRACT! I don't do contracts for phones, never have.
Nice phone with nice features and it's easy to use. It's not even too thick.
Why is everybody so mad at this device? Maby 'cos it has a lot more features than the iPhone or most of the crap American carriers are offering to you. Suck it up and stop crying.
Lol i do love how people react to these Nokia smart phones in USA based blogs :D It's like these devices are made by the prime evil or some thing, but Nokia's rain of terror should last as long as Europe and Asia stays the biggest(and most developed) phone markets.... you figure how long will that take ;)
Thought this phone aint that good really. It will probally sell at least as good as N73 mostly because there isnt competition for what it offers for that price(and no i'm not talking about price some of you are getting it in states) build quality really isnt the main point with this one and that's a shame, but hopefully E66 will fix that with the superb E series build quality.
The N78 is a nice phone but I don't think it improves on the N73 enough to do as well in the market. Nokia's big guns just now are the N95 8Gb and the N82 both of which are absolutely superb. The N96 is the next big model but it's really just a beefier N95 so I'm not sure I'll bother with it.
However, the E71. Well that's just frackin' awesome.
I hear you, I love coming to engadget to read the cluelessness of people's comments!
I specially lol'd at "it has a speaker" and "No one in Europe will dare pick that up", personally.
Importers will sell it for less, just make sure it's the NAM version they're selling you.
had a play with this in a phone shop (UK) and I think its a shiny turd. Too big and the keypad is way to small YUK!
Specs from NokiaUSA: http://www.nokiausa.com/A4839026
Does that help explain why this is actually a good phone?
It's nice but it's not one of Nokia's best.
Are you from the US or Europe? For the US, it IS one of the best, LOL!
The UK. I know Nokia's footprint in the US isn't that great.
Which they make up for by totally dominating Europe and Indo-Asia. And just about everywhere else come to think of it.
When will Nokia drop their N series prices to compete with the iPhone? If they did I'd probably buy one!
Hmm this just dosent sound right. All N series devices are cheaper with 2 y contract i mean you can get N95 for free. Only 8xxx and Vertu's from Nokia are more expensie and that's mostly why iphone didnt make it in Europe because there actually is devices that you can get so much cheaper, but still do more.... Sometimes i just wonder do people here even understand what unlocked means ;D
Most of the ones sold in the US are fully unlocked and are with no contract. You pay more for that.
Nokia walks while Apple runs! I gave up on Nokia a few years ago.
Are you being serious or making a joke? It's hard to tell if you're insane or a comedian.
I have Nokia n78 on my table right now (european version - I live in Slovakia) for testing purposes and I have to say it is really awful phone. It has some niece functions like GPS, FM transmitter, text-to speech, but it it sooo ugly. Front side is like mirror. Any time you touch it you are leaving fingerprints..
So because it looks awful to you it's a crappy phone every way?