Customer Reviews

Nokia N79 Unlocked Phone with 5 MP Camera, Wi-Fi, and MicroSD Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty (Silver)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I will try to summarize how excellent this phone is.

I'll begin with the cons
*OS Symbian can be slow sometimes but I think It can be fixed with the Software Updater

Pros
*Excellent call quality and Signal reception
*Nice design(for me it's the best for now for a N Series Phone)
*Camera quality is really good: maybe not the best of NSeries but it is really good for quick shots...As I always say; a camera phone is not a replacement for a real camera(see my customer images. Pics from my city)
*Very good sound quality and Mp3 player
*Easy to customize
*Nokia PC Software is very useful
*At first, keyboard is hard to use but later, You will get used to it and you will see how it's easy to use
*Several useful applications
*Nokia Maps works great
*Comes with a 4GB Memory/can be upgrated up to 8GB
*3.5mm jack, so you can use any head/earphones
*Great Web browser
*WI-FI works excellent and It's very easy to use for people who are not used to that

OVERALL, An EXCELLENT Phone... Pros are more than cons...
I really recommend it!

This is my first Nokia, and my first unlocked phone.

I've had the phone for a little over a week and these are my impressions:

It's built really well. It feels solid and the screen seems pretty scratch resistant so far. The buttons are also really nice and the number keys are god for texting. From my research it seems to be a characteristic of N series phones. The design is clean as well. It seems well thought out and there's not much missing (an external play/pause button would be nice, but it comes with an inline remote to plug your earphones into), but nothing extra that I could do with out either.

It looks great. I got a white version (even thought the product description says grey) which I actually prefer. There is also a black version of the N79 that has been released recently as well. The changeable backs are cool (I received the white, red and brown covers), but I don't know how much I will change them personally.

The features as you've read in the product description are incredible. And honestly it does all of them well. The music player is good. The camera is decent (Not the best 5 mp pics I've ever seen, but for a phone the pics are awesome, and it has an automatic flash). I wasn't expecting a whole lot from the video recorder, but the quality really surprised me, in a good way. The gps is awesome. You get a 90 trial of the turn by turn voice navigation, I'm not sure how much the subscription costs, but if it's not outrageous, I would absolutely spend money for it. The FM transmitter is a really cool feature, I travel a lot and am in a lot of rental cars and it works like a charm. At this point in time this phone seems to have about every feature out there. It's pretty amazing considering it's size.

I've never used a symbian phone before and there is a bit of a learning curve. It took me a few days of moderate use to get comfortable with it. The N79 was a bit buggy out of the box. I was also disappointed with the software support for Macs. You have to buy a plug in for iSync to work (not yet supported) and even then it recognizes it as an N95 8GB, but it does work. I hope there will be more Mac support in the near future. Nokia has recently released a firmware update and with the amount of things that were improved, it makes you think that Nokia kinda rushed this phone out the door a little. After I updated my phone the OS is much more solid and a little faster and more responsive. If you purchase this phone, updating the software should be your first order of business.

I can't think of anything else I could possibly expect a phone to do that this phone doesn't. I chose this phone over the N82 because of the looks and because it supports US 3G unlike the N82. The N82 supposedly has a better camera, but for me I'd rather have the 3G.

*Update*

This phone is on v20 of it's firmware and MUCH more stable. I've used this phone day in and day out for 6 months, and there still isn't a phone this size that can do everything this phone can.

The only negative thing I'll say is that the battery life is not what I'd hoped. It will only last for one day. Granted I do a lot with it in one day. Music, GPS, Internet, some pics all while it keeps 3 email boxes up to date. I guess you can't have everything.

One big bonus I've recently discovered is that this phone supports a 16 gb micro sdhc card! I recently purchased the 16 gb class 6 card made by Trancend Transcend 16 GB microSDHC Class 6 Flash Memory Card TS16GUSDHC6E [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging] (The is one that comes with an SD adapter, not in the Amazon packaging, that's the one I bought) and it works perfectly.

I'm happy with this phone.

Outstanding functions, takes fantastic pictures with great Macro and high-speed capture.

But the keyboard- yikes! No sensory feedback at all; it's actually tiring to use the keyboard. I had this phone for two weeks- the first week I toyed with it until I got an inexpensive case to protect it. The second week it was my full-time carry phone.

I just couldn't live with the keyboard which is a crying shame considering the functionality of the device. I'm not a huge guy, but I just couldn't keep from hitting the wrong keys and it was painful after a while even trying.

Pros-

~ Outstanding photos
~ macro, high-speed modes work great
~ Fast focus, multiple shot modes
~ Typical great Nokia reception, holds 3G really well
~ Big, crisp screen
~ Snappy OS

Cons-

~ Unusable keyboard
~ Navi-wheel is nifty gadget, but is only implemented in a handful of places in the OS and not at all in 3rd party apps. Too sensitive.

I've just bought the phone. I was looking for a phone which I could use for Skype and WLAN. I've upgraded the phone OS as soon as I take it out of box. I've never owned a Nokia before so I hadn't use a Symbian phone. I was using Sony Ericsson phones for ages. But since Nokia is the top seller I was expecting a very good phone.

First of all the screen design is not impressive and very classical. The SE has nice animated themes for like ages. But Nokia does not have any. The only interesting thing here is the Nokia N79 comes with 3 different clip on back covers with a sensor at the back so that the phone can understand what color back cover you are currently using and can adapt screen background color according to cover color.

My first experience with Symbian was not so promising. First of all anything you launch be it Phonebook, SMS box etc are actually small applets and takes up some memory and if you don't quit it explicitly using Exit from the menu it just goes to background when you switch to menu. In time applications take up so much memory and the phone menu handling starts to slow down and even after some point some applications especially GPS tends to lock-up easily when lots of applications are running. In all menu system is complex and an application could be launched from different menus and there's not a single key which could terminate an application when hit (like Sony Ericsson's back key). There's not a built-in facility to display how much memory an application currently occupies or some way to kill an unresponsive applet). In all Symbian is similar to your average windowing OS but not having adequate functionality to support running applications like your OS does.

GPS software have always locked up whe I tried voice navigation and I've tried it like 10 times. The only thing good about it is the cold-boot time for the GPS receiver is extremely short when compared to a pocket GPS device like Garmin etc.

The design is impressive and with the silver bright frame it reminds the older generation iPOD. Screen is just plastic which could easily scratch. My older SE k790i had a mineral screen which is hard to scratch. Keypad is consisted of strips of single plastic stripes containing three numbers in a line which makes tapping extremely hard. It is not easy to switch between typing modes like caps, small, numeric and extremely hard to add a new word to T9 dictionary. With the SE there was a dedicated soft key for adding to the dictionary.

I've really surprised to see that there's no numeric charge level indication that comes with the phone. With the SE phone status info includes the battery charge level as numeric percentage. But I've even could not find an external application which would display charge level in numeric. But the battery life is acceptable and it can survive up to 2-3 days when WLAN is enabled.

The picture quality of the 5.0MP cam is similar to my SE 3.2MP cam and it would be impossible for me to understand which pic was taken with which phone. In fact the problem with built-in cameras in phones is not the the capacity of the sensor but the optic lenses or better the lacking of them due to size limitations. Night shots are very noisy like most phone cameras. I don't think they could replace point and shoots at any time soon. Also I could not find an easy way to turn on cam light to use as a torch in the night. Thanks to incompatibility among different patch levels of the Symbian. The ones I could find did not work on S60 Patch 2.

The screen is full of very small icons and it is not easy to understand the status it indicates easily. The screen is not very bright in the sunlight and it is very hard to read the screen under the sunlight. The back is covered with reflective paper it improves visibility to some degree but my SE was again better in visibility under daylight.

The phone has some burrowed parts from iPod. There's this position sensor and it changes the screen orientation automatically when you hold it in horizontal or vertical. But the sensitivity is not so good. It sometimes switch the screen when tilted slightly or might not turn back to portrait mode again when turned slowly. The same goes with dial wheel. When enabled the wheel does not operate on the initial screen and works only when you launch the menu. then it works erratically when you launch the phonebook in that it sometimes works when you first launch or sometimes it won't work before you tap a key. Then again it is not compatible with every application that comes with the phone or later you download.

Speakers for music playback is loud enough but not very high. The music output is stereo with some useful wide stereo effect. I think the sound quality is acceptable for a phone. The radio applet is well organized and it comes with RDS which is new for Nokia. I'd never understood why Nokia refrained from using RDS for such a long time. The phone has also a phone transmitter with RDS output. It displays "Nokia" on RDS when tuned. But it would be nice if it had broadcast the song id instead. Transmitter eases stereo streaming from your phone wireless without using Bluetooth A2DP which N79 supports but most car stereo equipments are currently lacking.

The built in browser is good and it supports Adobe Flash which iPhone lacks for copyright considerations. So it is very easy to browse any web site using the phone. Somehow it is not possible to understand at any time whether it is connected through WAP/GPS/3G or WLAN. There's no icon for it on the immediate display. You need to browse to connection settings from the menu to check the current connection. It is true for all the other applications that comes default apart from GPS. It indicates the connection type.

In all, though Nokia tried some new features on it it seems that they are not tightly integrated with the OS. Smybian is not mature enough to be the OS of choice for smart phones. So I want to replace my phone with a SE G705 as soon as possible though it lacks some of the functionality of N79 like dial button, and FM transmitter.

I got this phone as a present from my brother and I have to say, im pretty impressed with this phone. it has a lot of cool features and has two cameras with 5 mega pixels and autofocus. since when did the iPhone had auto focus on its camera, maybe in 5 years but nokia n79 brings tomorrows technology today. love this phone its the best and nokia is the best.

I bought the N79 11 days ago. Thus far, I'm very satisfied with this phone. The reception is great and crystal clear wherever I've been. Battery life is fine. One of the first things I did was upgrade the firmware over the air via Wifi. I have software version 20.175 now. I've used the music player and Internet radio a lot and I'm impressed. I get a lot of great music and sports radio stations over the Internet. I just use my old 4GB San Disk Micro SD card for my 60's music and it plays extremely well. Operamini is my default web browser and works great over Wifi. Moreover, YouTube videos play great straight from the Operamini browser or Nokia's native browser. I just had to change a few settings in Operamini and realplayer first, giving it privileges. I haven't tried my unlimited AT&T Media net plan on the N79 because I use that feature on my N78 and I didn't feel like exchanging sim cards.

The N79 is a little lighter than the N78 and the OS is just as snappy if not snappier. I haven't used the camera yet so I cannot really comment on that. I never had an issue with the keyboard on the N78 (which I've owned for 8 months now) and don't have any issues with the keyboard on the N79. I don't find the N79 keyboard stiff.

This phone has everything I need (and more) and does it extremely well. I'm happy I bought the N79 (US Version).

Definitely, my best SmartPhone choice!

Being a smartphone users from several years ago (i started with a Motorola MPx 200), I switched to Nokia years ago, with this roadmap (N75 3G US -> N95 8GB -> N78 3G US -> HTC Diamond 3G US -> HP iPaq 614c 3G US-> Nokia N79 3G US)
(Yes, there are a couple of WinMo, but i liked the idea to show you my last choices)

My new Nokia N79 3G US covers all my needs.

I prefer a Candy Bar phone, because there are no moving parts, so less chance to send it to Nokia for repair.
Keyboard is excellent, with more confort than N78.
Screen ? 2.4", i feel confortable with this size, perhaps 2.6" OLED could be better -like N85 Slider- but as i said, i prefer Candy Bar so i got used to this size of screen.

Good point for Nokia to include a 4GB memory card, so, there's no need to buy an other asap.

GPS ? Is the fastest i tried up to now! Garmin Mobile XT runs smoothly.

Camera ? Really good! I still see differences with pictures taken by a Nokia N95, but camera is really good!

As i said, the best smartphone i used, with a great size that fits perfectly in your pocket with the power of a high end smartphone.

And the best companion for your car... Search for ProClip mounting solutions here in Amazon, and your car will have a professional looking holder for your best smartphone!

Regards,
Gustavo

Well-rounded is best label I can think of for this phone. It has a very full feature set, and comes in a small and light form factor. It is not overly ornate or dull, and comes packaged with swappable backplates ("Style-Up" covers?). I got this for my wife and have been setting it up for her and find it truely pleasant to use.
Number of key points:
- Sybian S60 3.2 UI a breeze to use - I have been a long-time Sony Ericsson user and using S60 for the first time did not present a huge learning curve.
- Loaded with features, and all works well and integrated together nicely.
- Call quality/handling, phonebook, logs, etc. works as expected.
- Call/SMS/MMS setup simple (seems automatic)
- Data handling problem-free - 3G/EDGE/GPRS switches seemlessly. Did not notice hiccups. Streaming video works smoothly.
- Wi-Fi works well, and setup is easy. Options to filter out ones you don't use (neighbors')
- Very good Web browser. Handling of connections, bookmarks, loading, are also very non-intrusive.
- Good 5MP camera - responsive, decent flash, sufficient options, good album/viewing.
- Good video recording.
- Excellent music and video playback - RealPlayer works well; the TV Out is particularly impressive quality-wise
- Application handling is good - standard S60 v3 affair
- GPS works fine, though I have not tested that extensively yet; audible turn-by-turn available (at cost)
- PC software - great support and tons of choices. The new Ovi suite does everything possible. Lots of other Nokia services available (e.g. SportsTracker, share.Ovi)

All in all, there are other handsets that may do one or two particular areas better, (e.g. higher MP cameras, 120fps video recording, etc.) but the N79's full set of functions all seems very well implemented and cohesive. As for ease-of-use, nothing has been a struggle on this phone. All of this comes in a very simple and pocketable package. While media fans may prefer the larger OLED on the N85, or a 8MP in the SE C905, I would highly recommend the N79 for the large mainstream audience.

I got this phone and unlike the product description, the color is NOT silver, but white. Supposedly the only color available for this phone as of today is only in white for the US version. The bundled firmware is very buggy so I had to update it to version 11.049. There are still some bugs, but many are fixed. Phone has a great camera which replaced my old point and shoot. It has great reception and call quality is good. I like the deign of the phone in general, however there are trade-offs for great design. The keypad is very crammed, which is often hard to use. The phone is made almost entirely of plastic, which is light in weight but creaks like there is no tomorrow. Anywhere you touch on the phone is where it will creak. The screen is nice but not very bright, but has a reflective screen on the back which helps usability under direct sunlight. The screen on my unit is not centered correctly so it's slanted to the left very slightly. It also came with one dead pixel. Battery life improves over a couple of charges, and I find the battery life about average. The speaker is not terribly loud, but usable. Overall the best part I like about this phone is the camera, and the area of most improvement is build quality. I would say this phone is not of a good value for the money, so I would not recommend this phone for any average person.

The Nokia N79 is an excellent phone, especially for people who like multimedia. Sorry iPhone, this phone has two cameras, video conference capability, lots of editing options, amazing battery life, wi-fi and more, all of these hidden behind a humble form factor. Nice price if you want to avoid those expensive data plans. The keyboard is not it's forte, but other than that, this phone is a must have.