Nokia N78 Review
The Nokia N78 is a good looking phone in comparison to the
earlier N-series, but it is far from the best phone on the
market, it has a few good gimicks like the scroll function
previously mentioned and for someone who doesn't use there phone
for all the functions this would be a cheap alternative.
I have to say that my initial good first impressions of the new
Nokia N78 handset are starting to turn to frustration. I have
been using the handset in anger for the last few days.. and I am
getting so annoyed with the keypad design.
As you can see from the photos below, the keypad is ridiculously
small on the Nokia N78. If you thought that the keys on the N82
were tiny you haven’t seen anything till you try the N78!
The Nokia N78 sports a new keypad design, joining the 4
traditional rows of buttons into just 4 ridged keys - pressing
the left, middle or right of the ridge for the appropriate key
is a neat concept, and I think that it works well. My concern is
that the buttons are just far too cramped together to be usable.
Can you believe that the distance between the start of ‘1′ and
the end of ‘3′ is just 2.8cm!! Get a ruler out and see just how
small that is! In contrast the width of the keypad on a Nokia
N95 is 4cm.
I think that I am pretty fast texter and can bang out a message
in seconds using two thumbs with predictive text on. Not so on
the N78 - My thumbs just keep getting in the way of each other.
I have quite skinny fingers/thumbs, and even I struggled to
two-thumb text, what I can do perfectly well on an N80, N95, N73
and even the relatively small keys of N82. Somebody with fat
fingers, really won’t like this handset at all!
Unfortunately it’s not just the main keypad that I have been
having issues with..
The rest of the keys (pickup/hang-up/Applications/Left & Right
Soft Keys & C) on the N78 are flush with the plastic case, which
on first impression looks really neat, but I have problems here
too.
1. When you read a text message and hit the left soft key for
Options, to then click reply, your thumb covers both the white
key and green pickup.. quite often when I press the handset
here, I inadvertently push the green pick-up which starts to
call the person that sent you the text!
2. Because the numeric/alpha keypad is so small, I am forever
making mistakes when typing.. On previous Nseries handsets, I
could easily just move my right thumb up and hit the ‘C’ button
to correct. But for some reason, they have decided to relocate
the ‘C’ button to the bottom right of the handset. (see the top
image to see where the ‘C’ button is located on the N78 & N82).
It’s just not easy to get to, as you have to awkwardly pull you
thumb back, and down. I actually find it quite uncomfortable to
use.
3. I have had issues, when pressing some of these flush keys, in
them not being responsive.. and have had to re-press it 2 or 3
times to get it to carry out the appropriate action.
It would see that looks are not everything, when it comes to a
handset. I love the look of the Nokia N78, more so over the
similarly looking N82, but when it comes to being functional -
thats another matter.
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