Mobile phones have gradually transformed to more than just its intended purposes for making calls, to fashionista devices and cameras. With new mobile phones appearing in the market almost every month, the companies make an attempt to innovate with distinctive and attractive form factor designs, as well as an impressive features. Besides Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), you can listen to your favourite songs, take a picture or short video, play games and even surf your favourite websites on them with a few clicks of the button.

The Nokia N78 was announced at the Mobile World Congress in February this year, and looks to be the improved model of its popular N73 sibling with features including built-in GPS, WLAN and 3.2-MP autofocus camera. This quad-band mobile phone with HSDPA connectivity was launched in Singapore just a few weeks ago.

Here’s a look at the technical specifications of the Nokia N78.

Display	2.4-inch QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) TFT color display with
	up to 16 million colors and wide 160° viewing angle
Camera	Up to 3.2 megapixel (2048x1536 pixels) camera, Carl Zeiss
	Optics, Tessar™ lens, MPEG-4 VGA video capture of at 15fps
	Focus range: 10 cm ~ infinity, Macro focus distance: 10 cm - 30 cm
Operating Frequency	Dual mode WCDMA 900/2100 (HSDPA),
	GSM/GPRS/EGPRS 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Memory	Up to 70MB internal memory,
	MicroSD memory card support
Battery	Nokia Battery BL-6F 1200mAh
	Talk time: up to 190 minutes (WCDMA); 260 minutes (GSM)
	Stand-by time: up to 320 hours (WCDMA); 320 hours (GSM)
Operating system	Symbian OS
User Interface	S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2
Navigation	Integrated Assisted Global Positioning System (A-GPS)
	Pre-installed Nokia Maps application and free downloadable maps
Connectivity	WLAN IEEE802.11 b/g with UPnP support
	USB 2.0 high-speed through micro USB connector
	Bluetooth wireless technology 2.0 + EDR
	Nokia AV connector 3.5mm
Dimension / Weight	113 x 49 x 15.1mm (LxWxH) /101.8g

The N78 is a standard-looking candybar phone which sports a glossy black and silver finish that looks appealing. However, that also means that it is a fingerprint magnet. Measuring 113x49x15.1mm, our evaluation unit weighs a mere 101.8g and features a large 2.4-inch QVGA (240x320 pixels) TFT colour display. Below the display is the Navi wheel that allows you to move around the menus and lists. You can move up, down, left and right like most phones' navigation key, but the Navi wheel is unique in the sense that you can scroll by moving your finger gently in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction around the rim.

The primary camera at the rear is equipped with high quality Carl Zeiss lens and LED flash. The back cover comes in two flavours - Lagoon Blue and Cocoa Brown - for your preference.

At the top right corner is the smaller secondary camera with CIF (352x288 pixels) sensor that you can use to take self-portrait image and video recording.

A micro USB port, microSD card slot, charger connector and a stereo speaker are placed conveniently on the left of the N78.

On the right is a 2-stage capture key for auto-focus, still image and video recording, zoom/volume control and another stereo speaker.

The N78 is powered by a high-capacity 1200mAh 3.7V Lithium-ion battery, which according to the manufacturer, has a standby time of up to 320 hours and a talk time of up to 260 minutes (GSM). As seen from above, you need to remove the battery first before you can insert the SIM card.

The accessories include a 2GB Nokia microSD card (already inside the N78), phone charger, USB cable, stereo headset, user manuals (User Guide, Getting Started, Explore and Experience), Nokia software DVD and a limited warranty card.

Pressing down the camera/shutter button on the right of the phone for two seconds activates the camera function and the display also automatically changes to landscape mode for your picture taking convenience.

There are eight scene modes – Auto, User defined, Close-up, Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night and Night Portrait – to cater to your picture-taking situation. You can also select what kind of image quality you want too, from 0.3MP to 3MP. Other settings include switching to video mode, Flash, self-timer, sequence mode, colour tone, show viewfinder grid, white balance, exposure compensation, sharpness, brightness, contrast, ISO light sensitivity and switching to secondary camera.

We tested the camera function by taking scenery picture during the day and one at night, and also a macro shot of a 50 cent coin. The images looked sharp, especially the macro one. Colours looked fairly accurate though the coin had a slight red tinge. If you select Night Scene mode when taking pictures at night, do note to keep your hands extremely steady. The recorded images have resolutions of 2048x1536 at the highest image quality setting, which is more than enough for A4 printing. The file size is also about less than 1MB per picture. In Video mode, the N78 only offers Auto and Night scene modes, white balance and colour tones adjustment. The recorded video is in MPEG-4 file format in 640x480 resolution.

The GPS receiver is located at the top (and rear) of the device and therefore when you are trying to establish a GPS connection, ensure you do not cover the antenna with your hand. The GPS connection may take several minutes depending on your location, weather and in-vehicle or open space. Do note that using the GPS receiver tends to drain the battery faster.

We tried the GPS function in the bus and on the streets and the N78 managed to pinpoint our location in approximately three minutes. (At some places, the time to get the location is longer). Because the N78 comes preinstalled with the Singapore map, you can easily see where you are. Besides the 2D and 3D map feature, you can also find place using keyword, address etc, or zoom in or out using the "*" and "#" key respectively. On top of that, you can also display your current location based on your GPS position by pressing "0".

To use GPS data, the receiver must receive the position information from at least three satellites in order to calculate the coordinates of your current location. In addition, the N78 also supports Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) which retrieves assistance data over a packet data connection to calculate the coordinates of your current location when the phone is receiving signals from the satellites. This helps to obtain the GPS position faster.

On the whole, the N78 is simple to use, performs well and offers excellent features such as A-GPS and WLAN like its older N-series siblings. However like all candybar phones, surfing the Internet with the browser might not be the optimum experience to some users due to the small screen size, using the numeric pad to type rather than a QWERTY keyboard, and also moving the cursor with the Navi wheel.

At press time, the Nokia N78 is currently retailing at S$808 without plan, which is definitely not the cheapest on the block. If you are looking for a candybar phone replacement that has features like a multimedia computer, take decent pictures and a pretty impressive GPS, then the N78 is definitely a phone that you should take into consideration. With carrier subsidies, the phone will definitely be priced more attractively, and thus a push factor for you to get one.