Zach from Symbian In Motion got his hands on a Nokia N78 and has posted a few video reviews. I always love his reviews cuz they are up front and honest.
The first video is a basic overview of the phone where he covers everything from the form factor to the UI which of course has Symbian S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2. Zach seems a little unimpressed with the Nokia N78. The navi-wheel doesn't work the way he likes and he mentions the keypad will take some getting used to. One thing that stands out to me is he thinks the N78 is lacking IMAP Idle, which will obviously be a catastrophe. Hopefully he digs around and can find it somewhere in the settings, I don't believe Nokia is that dumb to leave it out. When I asked him about this, here's the reply.
Yes, the phone supports IMAP protocol. The problem is that it doesn't support IMAP idle. In other words, rather than maintaining an active connection to the mailbox and updating in near-real time (IMAP idle) with headers, the email app will poll every XX minutes as it does with POP. This means that when new mail arrives the email app will download the header and then disconnect. If you want to read it you click on it and then wait for the email app to connect to the mailbox (again), wait for it to download the email and wait for it to open the message. No good.
I agree with Zach, no bueno.
I also agree with him that there should be a News Ticker from the Web applications RSS Feeds that can be embedded on the standby screen. Simple things like this can make the experience of the N78 so much better. Sure they added the vertical standby menu, but it doesn't seem like they went above and beyond like they could have and should have. Snippets of emails and text messages should be added to the standby screen, along with more customization.
Click here to check out the detailed 16 minute video review by Zach from SIMO.
The second video Zach shot is embedded below. It shows off a pre-installed theme on the N78 thats gives different and better looking transitions than the one he used in his full video review. This discovering leaves me wondering if 3rd party developers will have the option to create their own transitions and effects for their custom themes. Who knows what the minds of Pizero and Babi theme makers can come up with for transitions.
Check out the video below showing off the transitions in Feature Pack 2...
Hands on with the Nokia N78, Again from Zach Epstein on Vimeo.
Overall I think the N78 is a great phone. The form factor is great and I'm sure I can get used to the keys. I don't think it's worthy of upgraded from my N82 though, I am to spoiled with the xenon flash. Feature Pack 2 does look pretty, but not enough for me to upgrade.
Has anyone seen any retailers selling the North American 3g version of this phone yet? I read a rumor today that Nokia is still in negotiations with AT&T to pick up this phone. If this happens I may think about buying one at a cheaper price and unlocking it so it's just like I bought it from Nokia unlocked. I'll keep you guys updated.
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