Nokia N79 - knowledge is almost changeable

Introduction

Nokia’s profit has decreased, oh my God, what will happen? Well, what would happen? Nothing special. We have to note that the others are improving (Samsung, LG, HTC, Apple, just to mention the most successful ones), there are more phones on the market than ever and even though there are brands disappearing (Sagem, or Siemens earlier), the number of choices wasn’t such high ever before.

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We’re not saying this at a random. We have so many phones to test in the coming weeks that we might even have reviews on Sundays (if we’ll have the time to write them). As for me I should finish with five handsets by tomorrow, but Bocha’s not sitting on his ass either, not mentioning my other colleagues. End of the year is coming up, just like the Christmas season, dumping and we can already feel this.

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We don’t have to be worried about Nokia. E and N series phones are quite good nowadays, they had only one boner recently, and this has been N96. The guys at XXL GSM have told us (this is where we have the phone from) that N79 and N85 have extremely good sale figures. Who buys them? Those who have been disappointed by N96. I can understand them, I would also choose between these two, our current review is about the first one.

Exterior and smart cover

Let’s start by getting to know the world’s most useless technology, which is the “smart cover”. This “smart” cover is a simple back cover. We get three with the phone; those in our box were colored white, brown and red: yeah, we can already see how smart all three of them are.

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The point is that on the interior of this smart cover there is a connector, which has – at least I think – the color-code of the piece of plastic, and as we put the cover on the phone the theme switches to the color of the cover. Well, I really don’t know how we were able to merely stay alive until now without such great, practical and indispensable functions, but now Nokia has solved this problem that kept scientists thinking for years. Of course the whole feature can be turned off for good and the software won’t deny us anyway to use a red theme with a brown smart cover for example, but I think in such a case the smart cover (since it’s so smart!) feels excruciating pain, grins its teeth and curses that dumb user who is not as smart as he is.

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Putting this aside (and I think it won’t be hard to put it aside), N79 is a smartphone with a classic, modern, pleasant design. Its size is just ideal and it provides a feel of seriousness and quality. The design is spiced up with small features, like the lump on the right of the screen, where the logo is imprinted, and there is another lump on the left of the navigation keys where we have the multimedia button.

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The numeric keys also look great, in spite of having a shiny, mirror-like surface they are clearly visible and they don’t hurt our fingers like the controls on N82 that looked like some large grains of rice. A 100% winner of the “where the hell did they put the memory card” competition is N79 with the elegant solution that Nokia has placed the memory card slot and the microUSB connector behind the same cover. This means one less part of the handset that can be broken and there isn’t really anything else left to be broken, as besides this we can only see the volume control keys and the camera’s hotkey. On top, near the power button we can see the 3.5 mm jack connector and the kelyock slider – that can be familiar from N81 – is also here.

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The back cover (with added smartness) is rather simple, and in spite of being replaceable it still massively fits its place. The 5 megapixel camera is protected by a small slider from dust and moist, above it there is a double LED flash, unfortunately there is no Xenon. What else can we find in the box? A white stereo headset that can be taken apart (no, it doesn’t have a microUSB plug, but the usual one) and a data cable.

Menu, hardware

Thank the gods Nokia didn’t want to stick to the Dual ARM CPU from N96 that had quite a weak performance. Instead N79 also has the 369 MHz processor that has no problems providing some real speed. Nokia has been using this module since 6290 and we were always satisfied with it. This time it has 128 MB RAM and 256 MB ROM as companions (and there is a 4 GB microSD card inside the phone). Let’s see the usual benchmarks:

Let’s see what’s already evident: N79 doesn’t have a 3D accelerator. In other benchmarks it had a so-so result, but received great marks in the user interface test, which means that we’ll feel the menu system’s speed rather good during everyday use, and this turns out to be true. (A short note on why Samsung Innov8 isn’t included in the 3D benchmarks: JBenchmark 3D didn’t run on this phone.)

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There are a couple of features where one can really feel the performance of the phone. On one hand screen rotation on N79 (via gyroscope) is appropriately fast and there’s even a nice animation. We can see other animations in the menu; let’s see a short video of these:

Hirdetés

Still, there are two negative aspects too. One of them is the navi-wheel (this is the same thing that we have seen in N78), which means that we can’t only get around the menu by pressing the d-pad, but also by stroking in a circular motion. This, however, sometimes works and sometimes it doesn’t, it’s sometimes perfect and sometimes it’s too sensitive, it’s a rather annoying features instead of being useful. The other problem is with themes, as due to the smart cover there are all kinds of color themes on the phone, but all of them are completely boring, for example the red doesn’t mean anything else than just a bunch of red backgrounds and this is true for all colors. There are no nice, elegant themes with a cool design, if we want something special we have to download it for ourselves.

Basic functions

As for me I’d rather not discuss the basic functions in detail. This is a Symbian 9.3 and Series60 3.2, about which we have been writing a lot, lots of times before, you can read the important stuff for example at the N96 review and additional information is available in our article about Symbian systems. N79 might be successful on the market besides N82, as the keypad is much more comfortable and it has a fresher and more spectacular interface.

I will still mention some things in a nutshell, like the phonebook with an unlimited capacity, where we can enter as much additional information to contacts as we want. If we, for example, can’t find such a field as “wealth”, we can add it to the already long list of information and from then on we can store how much wealth do our contacts have, safe-blowers have an advantage. Another noteworthy thing is that since a while ago Nokia smartphones can display fullscreen images in case of incoming calls, if we have these attached to contacts.

Messaging is flawless, it knows everything we might expect. SMS, MMS, email, all of these at high quality, with all possible features that Nokia knows, so we have copy-paste, attachment support and memory that looks unlimited. In the PIM functions we have a nice calendar and the alarm clock supports repeating alarms, while the list of office features includes a PDF reader, mobile ZIP and QuickOffice, which covers a Word, Excel and PowerPoint viewer. If we might want to edit them we have to buy the full version of the app.

Voice quality during calls is great, it might not be loud enough when on handsfree, but there’s no distortion at all. Voice dialing, voice commands and message reader are all included and we also have an automatic software update feature, which checks for a new software version on the Nokia site and downloads and installs it if exists. Of course this feature requires internet connection.

Multimedia

N79 has almost the same features as N82, from the camera’s point of view; it just lacks the xenon flash. The software, however, is the same, we have the same set of options (different sizes, environmental settings, self-timer, effects, and white balance), we of course have autofocus, the lens is made by Carl-Zeiss, and the software can imprint GPS coordinates on the photos if we enable this feature.

When opening the lens cover the software launches automatically and it has a great feature: focusing and exposure are both surprisingly fast. As soon as we close the cover the viewfinder shuts down and this is how things should be done. N79 can of course record videos too in VGA resolution at 30 fps. Below you can see a couple of test pictures, but unfortunately I haven’t been completely happy about these. The colors seem to have a bit too much contrast, but this is not the main issue: there is a too powerful noise filter and some details get blurred. Still, there is a great amount of noise remaining and that’s the least to say.

The image viewer, however, looks really awesome. There is the standard mode when images are displayed in a circle, but I liked the other version better. This pops up when opening the “Photos” item in the main menu: the images are displayed on a circle again, but if we select one of them that gets zoomed in, and if we click on it again it gets enlarged to full screen and then we can browse to the sides, but if we do this fast the photos get shrunk again back to the circle. All this of course works at a fine speed.

Music is one of the best features of the phone. We have everything our ears might want to hear. The headset is no big deal, but as it can be taken apart near the remote control, we can use any kind of headset here, or insert it directly into the 3.5 mm jack. There is an equalizer, the player can run in the background, it can display album covers, or some other visualization effect and it of course sorts tracks by ID3 tags. N79 has a surprisingly good sound quality via handsfree, but of course bass is missing.

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N79 has an FM transmitter as well. To put it short: there is a small radio transmitter inside the phone and we can set this to any frequency. This starts the broadcast and we can tune in to this on a nearby radio (I estimate this to about 3 meters at max). This can be very handy in a car or in a house party if we are responsible for the music and don’t want to mess with cables. Of course in order to test this feature I had to travel abroad as in some countries (including ours) it’s theoretically forbidden to operate a device on this frequency without permission from the authorities: but it’s legal to sell them. This feature is automatically blocked on Sony Ericsson W980 if it is on the network of such a country, Nokia lets the user to make the choice.

There is an FM radio in the phone as well (meaning a radio receiver), which has RDS support and works quite well if the headset that is used as an antenna is long enough. If we don’t have a headset but we have internet connection then we can listen to web radios.

GPS, games

This phone has Nokia Maps too, we have written quite a lot about it previously. GPS sensitivity is average, it takes some time to connect to the necessary number of satellites, but connection stays stable afterwards. The software is developed by Nokia and uses Navteq’s map database.

The greatest problem with Nokia Maps is that there is a monthly fee to be paid and although the phone comes with 3 moths of free use, after this period we have to pay if we want to keep using it. The estimated costs are 100 Euros per year There are some alternatives, one of the best being GarminXT, which costs almost as much, but we have to pay only once for that.

As for games N-Gage is the protagonist again, we can access applications necessary for entertainment via this software. There are quite a lot of such apps on the phone, like: System Rush, Space Impact, Creatures Of The Deep, Snakes Subsonic, Mile High Pinball (I’ve tried this one, the ball never falls of, or I’m an expert), Bounce, Reset Generation, World Series of Poker, FIFA08 (hey, this has been a top hit a year ago!), Tetris, Sims2, Asphlat 3D, Block Breaker Deluxe, Midnight Pool and Brain Challenge. Phew, that’s quite a lot. Then it turns out that all of them are demos, we can play around a bit with them and then we can buy them if we need such things.

The N-Gage interface doesn’t only collect our games, but keeps some statistics about our results and we can even create our own profile and compare our performance with others’ via the Internet, we can add friends and exchange messages with them. Of course this has some meaning if we have an internet subscription, buy lots of games and have at least one friend who plays on another N-Gage-capable Nokia phone.

Data transfer, battery

N79 is perfect in data transfer. Should I enlist it? GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA – these are the supported mobile network technologies, there is WLAN, stereo Bluetooth and microUSB 2.0, although the handset still can’t be charged on this interface. Something was wrong with the phone I was testing as although I could choose between Mass Storage mode and the one that connects with PC Suite, but my phone wanted both of them at the same time, which disabled the connection, then phone connected and disconnected several times and finally everything worked fine.

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The built-in browser is the usual Minimap, here automatic screen rotation is great again and there’s still not much to complain about. We have an RSS reader too. There is quite a massive battery under the cover; it has a performance of 1200 mAh, which kept the phone online for only two days in my case. Okay, we know that a Philips is much better, but compared to previous Nokia smartphones this is an average result.

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Summary. Nokia N79 is good. Moreover: it’s very good. There is no perfect phone, so this isn’t one either, the photos are quite poor for now, the navi-wheel is annoying, this smart-cover thing is completely useless, it won’t charge via microUSB, but my greatest problem is that it’s not made of metal. The plastic is high quality, but… others can do such a thing, even the Finnish guys have made a 6500 Slide or an N91 earlier. Of course I would never want to discourage anyone, if its price will shape as in the case of N82, it will be a great buy.

I didn’t give it a Highly recommended award only because I have seen the display of N85. So it’s:

Nokia N79

Bog

Translated by Szaszati

Nokia N79 has been provided byXXL GSM.
The handset can be purchased at:
Budapest VI. Jókai tér 6.

Specifications

Nokia N78
	General
	Technology	GSM, UMTS, HSDPA
	Size	110 x 49 x 15 mm
	Weight	97 grams
	Available colors	gray, black, and the covers
	Display
	Display diagonal	2.4”
	Display resolution	240 x 320 pixels
	Display type	TFT
	Number of colors	16.7 million
	Memory
	Phonebook capacity	dynamic
	SMS memory / max. MMS size	dynamic / 300KB
	Internal memory	50 MB
	Memory expandability	microSD (in package: 4GB)
	Data transfer
	Frequency bands	850/900/1800/1900 MHz
	GPRS / EDGE	Class 10 (4+1/3+2) / Class 10 (236.8 kbps)
	UMTS / HSDPA	present (384 kbps) / present (3.6 Mbps)
	IrDA / Bluetooth	none / 2.0 (A2DP too)
	WiFi	802.11 b/g
	USB	microUSB 2.0
	Push-to-talk / RSS	present / present
	GPS receiver	present
	Basic functions
	Profiles	present
	Vibra function	present
	Built-in handsfree	present
	Voice dialing / voice commands	present / present
	Sound recorder	present (max. 1 hour)
	Alarm clock	present, also when turned off
	Predictive text entry	T9
	Software
	Platform	Symbian OS 9.3 Series 60 v3.2 Feature Pack 2
	WAP / HTML browser	present / present
	E-mail client	present (POP3, IMAP4, authenticated)
	Java	present, MIDP 2.0
	Games	N-Gage
	Currency converter	present
	Extra software	QuickOffice, Adobe PDF, Zip, Nokia Maps
	Multimedia
	Main camera	5 megapixels, autofocus, flash
	Secondary camera	present, CIF resolution
	Video recording	present, VGA, 30fps
	Music player	present, can run in background
	Equalizer	present
	FM radio	present - RDS
	Battery
	Main battery	1200 mAh Li-Ion
	Standby time	372 hours
	Talk time	330 minutes
	Other
	Internet radio, naviwheel, FM-transmitter, smart covers, TV-out