N78 : Where's the memory card?

Quiet some things have changed on S60 FP2, location of the memory card is one such thing.
I wanted to format the memory card but could'nt find its icon in the Tools menu, where its always been since the 2nd Edition.
Its now shifted in the FileManager application, along with its options ;)



Even timed profiles are back with FP2 and Darla is very happy about it.

A little about the N78

Been fiddling with the N78 the whole day and here are my thoughts about the device.



Good:
- It's one of the slimmest N-Series I've handled and its a candy bar.
- NaviWheel : Touch sensitive navigation wheel
- GeoTagging : Location information attached to the photos you take. I tried this out and it works really well. Worked well even from my balcony. A GPS lock is really quick on the N78.
- Really impressive is the Maps application. Although I didn't download the voice module the navigation option was really cool, I searched for a nearby Chinese restaurant and went all the way following the route on Map's.

Rest of the good features are because of Symbian OS 9.3 on it
- *#0000# now opens up Device Manager instead of the standard dialog, showing some more info. The best part is finding new firmware availabiltiy is now just *#0000# ->Options->Check for updates. I did a firmware upgrade OTA in just 3 mins ;)
- The 'Open recent photo/Gallery' key next to the camera key is no more. Wasn't required at all, thanks.
- Access point grouping : Set priorities to access points, cool feature.
- Internet radio now available in Radio application itself.
- More 'Menu View' options, Grid/List/Horse Shoe/V-Shaped
- Standby themes : Horizontal icon bar/ Basic / Vertical Icon bar
- Themes with lots of effects and transitions. Worth mentioning is the Haze theme.
- Bluetooth with option to block specific devices.
- Contacts now has option to show Phone memory/Sim memory/Service numbers.
- Alerts and other messages have been changed , like when switching off the Alert is "Good Bye".
When battery is full , "Battery full. Unplug charger to save energy" etc... have been added.

Lots of such settings and options now available.


Bad:
- As I've already said, the keypad is really bad. Its all cramped up. 5 mins of continuous use will definitely give a painful thumb.
- 3.2 MP camera. With 6220 and N82 having the same price margin I think this phone should have got a 5MP on it.
- As I did with the auto-rotation feature on the N95, I switched off the NaviWheel feature. I feel a lot of work needs to make the NaviWheel operating smoothly.
- When outdoors its really difficult to hear any voice even with the earpiece volume set to full. There's a little improvement after I upgraded the firmware.
- The radio stops taking next/prev button commands from the headset once the radio application goes to the background or the keypad is locked.
- Can't see any screensaver :( , not even the default one. On keypad lock it feels the phone is switched off. This feature (which started with the 6630) , the light sensor, would turn on/off the keypad lights depending upon the surrounding light conditions is of no use on this phone. To see the numbers the lights should remain ON.

N78 Fusions challenge Howto

Just wanted to clarify that you do not need any GPS device to participate in this challenge.
The challenge is open for Indian residents and is pretty simple.
1. Register yourself here.
2. Play a simple flash game - A location related question will be asked and you just have to guess its location on the map. The more accurate you point the more points you score.
3. Once you finish the ten questions you'll have a personal page.
4. Spread this page with your friends and ask them to become your fan. More fans = more chance of getting shortlisted.
5. 10 shortlisted will get a technical lesson on how geotagging works. Depending upon the clues given, geotag places in your city as fast as possible.
6. 2 shortlisted teams from the city race will now compete to become the ultimate winner.

Prizes :
City winners - N78 for the leader and Bluetooth accessories for the team
Final winner - N78 for the team and leader goes to Turkey.

Although the challenge is open to Indian residents while registering choose one of these cities, preferably the one you know well or the one closer to you , Mumbai/Delhi/Bangalore/Pune/Kolkota/Hyderabad/Ahemadabad/Chennai.

N78 Fusion Challenge update

The challenge has started.

Register here.
N78 Fusion Challenge blog here.

Nokia N78 price under 20K

My earlier post stated the N78 price to be around 25K, but according to this article in the economic times the N78 will be priced under Rs 20000 says a Nokia official.
Approximate prices of other NSeries devices :

Nokia N-77 - Rs 15,000/-
Nokia N-95 8 GB - Rs 28,250/-
Nokia N-95 - Rs 21,100/-
Nokia N-81 8GB- Rs 15,700/-
Nokia N-81 - Rs 14,300/-
Nokia N-76- Rs 13,300/-
Nokia N-73 Music Edition - Rs 13,000/-
Nokia N-73 Normal - Rs 11,250/-
Nokia N-70M - Rs 9600/-
Nokia N-72 - Rs 7630/- (source : Techlivez)

Find prices of other phones at Techlivez, which they say they'll keep updating.

N78 Fusion challenge update

The link on the flash is now working on the Nokia India site. Opens up a registration page whose title goes as "Register yourself to MapsPhotOnline". Don't know what that is.
Anyways do register to know more.

N78 : Fusion challenge

Nokia India homepage now flashes some Fusion challenge. But the problem is that the relevant page does not open because of some error. Anyways I'll try some other time to see if it works. Seems to be some contest to promote the N78 and as usual the prize(s) would be the N78 itself.

Nokia N78 India

Nokia N78 support page is now up on the Nokia India page, so expect it in the market soon. The estimated price is around Rs 25000 to be under Rs 20000.


Was lucky enough to get hands on with it some time ago. Look out for the transition effects and the touch sensitive navigation pad. All these additional features are because its on Symbian OS v9.3 with S60 3rd Ed FP2, other features include access point grouping with priority, more menu views etc...

Nice candybar device but didn't like the keypad. I personally feel that the buttons should always be raised and not be a part of the phones body. Even blind people use phones. I have this friend, Priyesh Jain, who is blind from birth who is a Nokia fan too. He currently uses an E60 with the Mobile Speak software. Wonder how he will ever sense these buttons on these upcoming phones like the N96, N78 etc...

See full specifications here.


Looks like I'm not the only one to hate the N78 keypad, check it out.

Nokia N78, first brush with FP2

My first S60 FP2 experience, with the N78. Lots of new features

-UI Effects : Transitions, Slide in etc...
-3 softkeys like the S40 3rd Ed
-Standby Theme : Horizontal Icon bar/Basic/Vertical icon bar
-Menu View : Grid/List/Horseshoe/V-Shaped
-Access point priority
-The N78 has a sensitive navigation dial for menu/list navigation(something like ipod)
-FM Transmitter :Play songs in device through any compatible FM receiver.
-Radio shows 2 options : Visual Radio and Internet Radio
-Themes Icon now present in Tools

Nice features. Didn't get much time to spend with it but I think what they've done is added a lot of personalization. I personally didn't like the keypad. But even with so much of UI enhancements the phone felt quite fast.