Nokia N78

Register Hardware have posted a positive review of Nokia's latest high-end candybar. Excerpts follow:

The keypad looks lovely, but takes a bit of getting used to, it is far from the best for rapid or prolonged texting.

The face of the phone oozes minimalist class, but the back feels like it's made from low-grade material and creaks in your hand, which detracts from the cool image.

There’s another surprise hidden in the square navpad. Rubbing your thumb around the edge activates what Nokia calls the 'navi-wheel', which moves the cursor around the screen without the need to press the pad.

Navi-wheel is a small innovation perhaps, but it's one that makes the navpad very intuitive to use and you end up using it without realising what a good job it’s doing.

You can access the menus via the usual Symbian menu button or a dedicated Applications button which stands out asymmetrically next to the navpad. This calls up an iPod touch-style interface that allows you to flick through your applications the way the Touch lets you flick through your album covers.

The 3.2-megapixel camera's pictures are clear and generally sharp, with rich colours and a good sense of scale. It has a proper LED flash too, rather than a photo light, though you’ll still need to be fairly close to your subject for it to be effective.

Tap in an address and the N78 will show it on a clearly laid-out, simplified map that’s ideal for navigating. It can also plot routes between addresses and landmarks, and turn-by-turn voice guidance is available, for a fee.
------------