Nokia N79 review – with N-Gage gaming & Nokia Music Store
Thumbs Up:
Slim and attractive smartphone with full multimedia features; 5-megapixel camera with dual LED flash; integrated Wi-Fi, 3G support, A-GPS and Bluetooth
Thumbs Down:
Cramped dial pad and navigation array; mixed call quality
Inside the Trunk:
Technology: WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM
Band: WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Phone Design: Candy Bar
Caller ID: Yes
Other Features: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Inbuilt FM Tuner, Push-To-Talk mode, TV Link
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
The Nokia N79 has 50MB internal memory and micro-SD expansion slot that accepts up to 8GB card slot. The operating system is Symbian OS 9.3/Series 60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2. The N79 supports synchronization with the SyncML and PC.
2.4 inches LCD color display has 320×240 pixels resolution that supports 16.7 million (24-bit) colors. The display illumination color is white. The 5-megapixel camera supports 20x digital zoom, self-timer delay, CMOS optical sensor, dual LED flash/flashlight, image stabilizer, and video recording. The minimum focal length is 5.2mm and the white-balance options are Automatic and Presets. The special effects include Black & White, Negative, Vivid, and Sepia. The supported image formats are JPEG and EXIF.
The additional features are Macromedia Flash Support, Zip Manager, VoIP client, PDF support, VoIP client, Java MIDP 2.0 and CLDC 1.1 platform support, Video call, Class 32 EDGE, Class 11 GPRS, RDS, six-way conference calling, Text-to-speech, inbuilt stereo speakers, Push-To-Talk mode and TV Link. The speech codecs are EFR, AMR, and FR. The supported wireless interfaces are Bluetooth 2.0 EDR and IEEE 802.11b/g.
The Nokia N79 supports video playback formats of RealMedia (RealVideo with Real Audio), H.263 video with AMR audio, MPEG4, H.264, and 3GP. The connector set includes 1×Micro-USB, and 1×3.5mm headset jack – Mini-phone.
The 1200mAH lithium ion battery has a life of 330 minutes talk time. Accessories supplied inside the box are user manual, a software disc, video-out cables, a 4GB micro-SD card, a wired headset, a USB cable, a travel charger, and three back plates.
Razzle Dazzle:
The Nokia N79 is 1.9 inches wide, 4.3 inches tall and 0.5 inch deep and weighs 3.4 ounces. It continues to have traditional candy-bar shape. The chrome edges and white face provides an overall appealing look.
Inside Dope:
Like other N-series smartphone, the Nokia N79 definitely has excellent and advanced multimedia features including 5-megapixel camera with dual LED flash. It uses the Symbian operating system and offers complete wireless options, nice email feature and productivity suite. The N79 comes unlocked and available for $429 from the Nokia store and online retailers. The smartphone ships with three XpressOn covers (back plates) in red, white and brown colors. This gives freedom to personalize the N79’s overall look. However, the Nokia N79 suffers with some drawbacks including non-touch display, cramped dial-pad and navigation controls. It is important to mention here that the both N79 and the N96 shares most of the features. If you can work without a touch-screen, then the N79 is a good smartphone to buy.
2.4 inches display of the Nokia N79 has 320×240 pixels resolution that supports 16 million colors. It features inbuilt accelerometer to rotate the display on tilting the phone. The navigation controls are located underneath the display and includes two soft keys, touch-sensitive toggle with middle select key, Talk button, Menu shortcut, multimedia key, a Back button and the End key. Like Nokia N82, the two soft keys, Talk and End buttons are of tiny silver but not comfortable to press.
The alphanumeric keypad has four rows of keys and provides better experience. There is no spacing between the keys for using the individually by feel. We will prefer to have the keypad of the Nokia N78.
The micro-USB port and micro-SD card slot are protected with attached cover. They are located on the left spine with power connector. You will find the dual speakers, camera activation/capture button, and volume rocker on the right side. The power button, 3.5mm headphone/AV jack, and lock switch are on the top. The camera lens with flash sits on the back and a sliding door covers the lens.
The Nokia N79 offers the similar multimedia features like other N-series smartphones. The inbuilt media player supports WMA, eACC+, eAAC, AAC, and MP3 files. It features on-the-fly play-lists, album art, inbuilt equalizer, pod-cast support, shuffle and repeat modes. The smartphone also has 3D stereo sound speakers and 3.5mm headset jack. There is also a FM radio tuner. You can share the music files via PC suite, media transfer, and USB mass storage. The N79 also supports Nokia Music Store. The supported video formats are H.264, H.263, 3GP and MP4.
The 5-megapixel camera of the Nokia N79 features 20x digital zoom, dual-LED flash, Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens, red-eye reduction mode for flash, multi-shot mode, and self-timer. It is noteworthy that video recording only supports 8x zoom and there are four quality settings for video mode. The N79 records 640×480 pixels VGA quality video at 30fps. It also records 3GP or MP4 videos for MMS with sound. More to like – the smartphone also features video stabilization that helps to reduce the shake while recording video. The still capture options are exposure value, ISO levels, color tone, white balance, contrast, brightness, five quality settings, and eight shooting options.
The overall picture quality was excellent with vibrant colors. The recorded video also looked excellent for a camera phone. You can share the video clips and pictures via MMS, Bluetooth and post to Web through Flickr or Nokia Ovi service.
The basic feature set of the Nokia N79 includes text and multimedia messages, a vibrate mode, voice commands, conference calling, speed dial, a speakerphone, and quad-band world roaming. It can store the contacts in its phonebook limited to available memory and SIM card can hold additional 250 entries. Each contact can save multiple phone numbers, a birthday, multiple email addresses, home address, work address, and more. You can organize the contacts into caller groups and pair them with group ID, ring-tone and a photo for caller ID.
The advanced highlights are 3G support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS/A-GPS support. The Nokia N79 supports 850/1900 MHz HSDPA bands to support 3/3.5G for AT&T SIM. However, it supports 3G only for T-Mobile 1700/2100 MHz bands. The smartphone uses cellular and satellites triangulation to locate your position. It comes with preinstalled Nokia Maps app that offers points of interest (POI), route planning, and color maps.
The QuickOffice application is also there for viewing the PowerPoint, Excel and Word documents. The Nokia N79 supports the POP3/IMAP4/SMTP accounts and a good range of push email services including Microsoft Exchange Server synchronization. It also comes with full attachment viewer for the emails.
The productivity applications include a message reader, a calculator, a clock, a calendar, a PDF reader, a measurement converter, and a ZIP Manager. You can also access the N-Gage gaming platform to download the games, install them, and interact with other members.
We made few calls through the quad-band based Nokia N79 via AT&T service for testing. The overall call quality was average. We received loud sound even at our end, but with a bit background noise. The callers received mediocre sound at their end. The speakerphone call quality was good with loud volume. We paired the Bluetooth headsets without any problem and their calls were of good quality.
The accelerometer was quick to rotate the display while tilting the display. There was a bit delay while opening the multimedia applications. The music playback on the speakers was good with more bass. You can use the stereo headset for better performance. The video playback was completely synchronized with the audio.
The Nokia N79 runs on 1200mAH lithium ion battery that has a life of 5.5 hours talk time and 3.5 hours in 3G. The idle standby time is 15.5 days and 16.5 days in 3G. The digital SAR of the N79 is 1.4 watts per kilogram in accordance with the FCC radiation tests.
Nitty Gritty:
It may not be the star in the N-series smartphones; still the Nokia N79 remains an excellent smartphone with fast performance and a lot of features.
