Some Interesting Screenshots of the Nokia N78

While the N96 been introduced as "the N95 turbo charged" I honestly feel that the N78 is the more feature packed of the two recently announced devices.

Under strict supervision (I guess they wanted to make sure I didn't walk away with the device) I managed to compile a few interesting screen shots to show off some new features and UI changes of this new model.

One noticeable function is the new 'Open Applications' menu.  The first image is displayed from the main screen by of course pressing 'menu' key.  To me this seems alot clearer and less cluttered, but then of course those who are using Handy Taskman probably wouldn't care.  This new feature is also seen when accessing the options menu while browsing (2nd image).  I didn't select the option, but I'm sure there is a good reason as to why it was placed there.

The third image shows the menu screen which now includes the 'Print Online' feature.  This basically acts the same as the online print feature found in the Gallery.  Note that currently this service only works in the Europe.

Another great enhancement is the built in device manager.  Normally by pressing *#0000# we just get the basic info of our device. 

The new response by pressing the code gives a more detailed summary of the device information including the latest update of fw (when this take place).  Take note that the screenshots taken are from a demo unit and some functions and features might not be the same once the retail model is available.  But if in fact these do prove to be accurate, it seems that its much more informative than what we currently have.

Along with many of the new and enhanced features in the N78 the one that I can relate to the most is the 'FM transmitter'.  There have been several times that I would be in my car where I would just turn the radio off just to hear the playlists on my mobile device. 

Now where this gets interesting (and let me know if I lose you) is that depending on the region you are in different FCC rules apply.  Now since many of us in the US long to be early adopters and can't wait for Nokia to get them in our hands at the same time as the European market, I felt the need to inquire as to how this works.

It's my understanding that the US FCC ruling is the lowest in the targeted markets for the N78.  Now since location is determined by the sim card and the tower its registered on, there really shouldn't be a problem.  The proper tuning will apply.  But what if we decide to use the device without the sim?  After a bit of probing it was stated that since the location of the device could not be recognized, the lowest FCC ruling will apply.

For more information on the Nokia N78, check out the data sheet here.

Comments

[Rita El Khoury]

Hm I understood notin abt the fcc and the fm transmitter thingy, but 1st thank you for the screenshots
and 2nd one more thing you didn't notice: the clock shows up in all menus (yaaaay)

[Simon]

Hey Darla, thanks for that information and those shots. There is some interesting looking stuff there and it shows at least that Nokia are looking to improve the less than perfect UI experience on Nokia phones somewhat.

That said however, I'm curious to know if any of this is going to filter down to previous models like the N95, N93 etc.? These changes seem largely cosmetic (with the exception of things like FM transmitter which requires extra hardware). N-Series phones are not cheap and Nokia seem to be building "new models" on "feature sets" which are often little more than altered or additional software. On a PC, or even a PocketPC you can install things and change the way the machine runs to your liking. On a Nokia, whilst there are some apps that extend the OS, everything is fairly locked down and you're pretty much stuck with what they give you. I have an original N93 which is buggy and problematic and was dropped like a stone by Nokia, never to be supported again from what I can tell. It seemed like my N95-1 was going that way for a while - thank God they updated it!

I understand that there are certain behaviours with phone upgrading and how Nokia makes money, but all of these new features just seem to me like the stuff that should have been on a continual software update roll-out for the N-Series devices already. Xenon flash = new feature, FM transmitter = new feature, more built in memory = new feature. Re-shuffled UI, new menus, new standby-screen layout do not...

If Nokia are not going to provide updates for existing customers to let them take advantage of what is in all fairness virtually the same base hardware level (if the older models can all run N-Gage, they can cope with new menus!!), can they at least unlock the ridiculously tight control over the OS and let the scores of talented coders out there fix and improve on the OS.

Hell, I'd even consider paying a modest price for feature pack updates - but then that would amount to Nokia admitting that there is no reason for the older phones not to have the new features in the first place I suppose...

[tmgp]

Darla,

Could you please talk about the numeric keyboard? Are those soft touch keys? Easy to deal with and to send SMS? Or the keys are the black bars (unlikely)?

I would love to hear your experience regarding this particular subject.

[Fernando]

A great part of those improvements should be in any FP2 phone, nothing (besides the FM transmitter) is exclusive to the N78.

And I sure hope Share Online's icon stays this way, unlike the ugly version in the 6220 classic. But the 6220 one is probably the latest version that will be included in the final product.