I want to thank Nokia and WOM World for  so graciously loaning me a Nokia E71 to review.  Now that they have it back (it’s been a few months now, I’m slow to publish sometimes) I am left without a work horse, everyday device.  I have been using a Nokia N78 but there are vast and meaningful differences between the N series and E series of phones from Nokia.  I would really like to have another E71 and rumor is that AT&T may start selling it, if that’s the case I would purchase one without hesitating.  I know the E71 is for sale on contract with a bunch of carriers around the world and if anybody out there is considering purchasing one I would highly recommend it for most people.  Anyone who does much emailing, Twittering, or sms from their handset would probably like it.  I personally did a great deal of reading email and responding to some of it.  Nokia Email has really made the device even more useful.

I’m not sure where this post is going but I guess I just wanted to share my sadness.  Anyways, go out and purchase an E71 right now, you won’t be sorry.  I hope something comes in the mail soon to fill my void, preferably a Nokia E71NAM (hope my wife reads this).

So I am going away for 3 weeks this winter.  I will  be visiting the beautiful country of Israel.  I am trying to line up my technology in advance for this trip and trying to keep it as light and little as possible.  I will have a handful of phones with me including the Nokia N78, N95, and my trusty yet dated E61i, I have a review netbook at the moment.  It is an Asus Eee PC 901 and I am loving it.  I also have a Proporta battery pack, which will keep my Nokias charged everywhere.  As for connectivity at airports and around the city I have a Boingo account that should keep me connected at the 4 airports I will be visiting and I hope lots of other locations around Israel.  I am concerned though that I will run out of juice on the netbook mid flight.  I am planning on making it a video  player for my daughter and I don’t want her upset the battery died mid Elmo episode.  I wish I could get a tip for my Proporta charger to use with the Asus.  I am considering purchasing a converter for use in cars and on the airplane to plug the Asus into.

I now have to start thinking about my connectivity to the grid.  I already have an Orange Big Talk sim card to use for my voice needs.  I am now looking into data so I can stay connected to email, IM, Jaiku, Twitter, and mobile maps and search.  I count heavily on mobile connectivity and being able to search and look up maps whille I’m mobile.  I am hoping that I can add data onto my Orange sim card but don’t have high expectations.  Last year when I was in Israel I had the sim in a Nokia N95 and it was not able to access the data I paid for.  My contingency plan for data is using United Mobile.  I have to check on the data rates but they usually pretty competitive.

Two of my favorite services I use everyday are GrandCentral and Truphone.  I take all my calls via GrandCentral and forward them to Truphone.  I can either answer the calls via Truphone or forward them to my current GSM #.  When I change sims upon landing in Tel Aviv the Truphone app on my phone will ask me if I want to forward my calls to my Orange sim versus my AT&T sim I use in the US.  This means I can have all my calls forwarded to my Orange sim in  Israel and not pay a penny for the service or to receive calls on the Orange sim.  If this is getting confusing to you imagine how I feel, but it works and it works quite well.  I did the same kind of thing when I was in Barcelona earlier this year using a Yoigo sim card.

I am traveling to Israel in a few weeks mostly for vacation and a little business on the side.  I have a local Orange BigTalk sim card that gives me an Israeli mobile number.  I will likely be using the Nokia N78 that runs S60 Feature Pack 2.  One thing I like about Nokia S60 devices is that they can hold my entire contacts database including notes about many of my contacts.  This is something I rely on heavily and really have a hard time living without.  In years past when I travel abroad I have had to clear my address book because I transfer the local numbers I have on my local sim cards to the device I’m using during that trip. I don’t like to have the 800+ numbers in my address book plus the 20 or 30 numbers on the local sim.

Anyways, to the point of this post, I popped my Orange BigTalk sim into the N78 a few nights ago and went into the contact settings.  I was happy to find that ability to change my view of the contacts from whats on the phone memory, to the sim card memory or to both.  This is fantastic news for me, I won’t have to remove any contacts from my address book, just change the settings.  I can’t tell you how uncomfortable I am without my entire address book at my fingertips.

I have now confirmed that this feature is specific to S60 Feature Pack 2 devices.  It appears obviously on the N78 and thanks to PhoneBoy I now know it also appears on the N96.  These were the first to FP2 devices to appear so I’m venturing to guess this feature will continue to be present in future FP2 handsets.

Now I just need to figure out if my Orange BigTalk sim can handle doing data on the N78 (it couldn’t do it on the N95 last year).  If anyone knows about this or someone can put me in touch with an English speaker from Orange I would be grateful for the help.

Nokia, you know I’m a fan boy, but I have a question for you.  Where is Sync with Ovi?  I have been waiting for months and months now and I’m getting inpatient.  I now have an N78 that I can’t sync with my MacBook because no plug in exists yet, or that I have seen.  So now I’m waiting for Sync with Ovi and I’m wondering when we might see it.  Nokia/Ovi, if your listening I need this now because otherwise how am I supposed to sync my N78.

Nokia is getting better at launching phones.  It was only a few weeks ago the N78 became available world wide and today it became available here in the US.  This is much better then the months and months we used to have to wait for US editions.  Anyways back to the announcement.  With the launch of the N78 NAM (North American Model) I think Nokia is working on taking a foot hold back in the US.  This is well needed if they intend to meet their goals.

Directly from the Nokia Press Release:

Starting today, convergence craving consumers across the United States can set their sights on the newest Nokia Nseries
device to hit American store shelves, the Nokia N78. Combining advanced mobile features such as integrated A-GPS, a
3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and high-speed HSDPA connectivity on North American 850/1900 MHz
networks, the Nokia N78 is perfect for enjoying new Nokia services such as Nokia Maps and Share on Ovi. Along with
this full suite of data features, the Nokia N78 has also been engineered for maximum voice and messaging performance
as well. Now available through select consumer electronics and wireless retailers, online retailers including the
www.nseries.com site and at the Nokia Flagship Stores in Chicago and New York, the Nokia N78 retails for
approximately $560.

I have been using the European version N78 and must say, I am really really enjoying it.  This is my favorite phone in a very long time.  I didn’t think I would like it this much but I really do.  If it has the feature set you are looking for I highly recommend it.  Just make sure to the the correct version to your location.

I have been evaluating the Nokia N78 for a few days now and have been really enjoying this device. It has everything I really want besides US 3G. It really is a great device. It has taken some time to get used to the keypad but it’s not bad at all.

My big issue with device itself is what I believe is a bug in the software. Periodically the left soft key and the end button stop working all together usually followed by a frozen phone. It has only happened a few times so I have not been able to figure out a pattern yet.

Has anybody else had these problems? Also who should I notify about this? I hope this can be fixed with a firmware update.

One thing that I did notice that I really like is that when you input a URL into the device you can now use T9.  This is a huge advantage and I really like that.  One last new feature is that the time and some other info is at the top of the screen when you navigate around the phones and in some of the programs.  This is fantastic.

Next I will hopefully cover the remote disk feature of the N78.

The S60 Ambassador program threw a party called An Evening with S60 Boston this evening and rumor from my friends is that it should have been a rockin party. I hope everybody had a good time and maybe just maybe someone grabbed a goodie bag for me (I won’t hold my breath). Now for me the big question is, HOW CAN WE GET S60 TO HAVE A PARTY IN LA? And can I help you guys? I plan events for a living. Hint hint hint!!! Let’s have an event here.

Anyways, I think at the last S60 party they gave away bluetooth headsets so hopefully some people got some good swag tonight. There was also supposed to be a brand spankin new Nokia N78 US 3G version given away tonight. I’ve been playing with the Euro version and it’s a great device.

I hope everybody who attended had a good time… Let’s see some pictures.

I have had the Nokia N78 in my hands for about 24 hours now. WOW, I’m so happy I’m reviewing this device. Initially I didn’t have high expectations for the N78 but I’m very happily surprised. This is the first S60 v2 I have used and I’m really enjoying it for the most part.

First off the UI is so much faster and sleeker. The menu fades as you surf around the device. It also has a spinning circle to show it’s thinking and an icon showing there’s a memory card inserted. The first thing that comes to mind when you see the phone is “what was Nokia thinking fusing the buttons together?”. I was really concerned that it would ruin the experience but it really doesn’t. I haven’t typed any SMS on it yet and I don’t think it will be a good experience but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.

The 2 big negatives that stick out in my mind like a big red oozing sore thumb are no US 3G (which is a problem for me running Truphone) and taking the back cover off is almost as hard as opening a can of beans without a can opener.

I am running the N78 on AT&T and have had no problems using the internet on it.

All in all up to this point I am pretty satisfied with the phone the way it is. 3G and a better key pad would make a world of difference.

If you have any questions feel free to comment here and ask away.

UPDATE:

1. June 4 I forgot to mention that when I use Gmail on the N78 that each and every time I try to open an email or go into another filtered box I am asked if it’s ok to use the internet. Very annoying.

2. June 5 I turned off the touch wheel almost as soon as I got the phone. It’s overly sensitive and almost useless to me.

I am undecided on how you now see the “Open Applications”. It’s now across the bottom and fills up the  screen as more and more apps are open and fills horizontally.