First of all, I would like to make it clear that I am not a mobile phone techie or an electronics expert. I am just another mobile phone user, who took pains of reading a hundred reviews like this one, before buying his own mobile phone. Sounds like you? Read on:-)
Although Nokia N79 is almost a year old model, its market charm fails to dwindle. At the time of making my decision to buy Nokia N79 last week, I had a budget of Rs. 15k. My phone requirements were:
It should have excellent call quality with small and elegant physical built, need not be too flashy or eye-catching. I wanted a phone that felt firm in hand.
Should be ahead in features list with advanced features like wifi(wireless network) and GPS(the system to track your own location in a map)
It should have reasonably large display screen with decent resolution(ideally 2.4 inch or above)
Should have good multimedia features
All the above should be practically usable.
There were 3 phone models which I had zeroed on: Nokia N79, Samsung Omnia Pro B7320 and Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. All these 3 models fulfilled the above requirements. The XpressMusic was selling for 15k that week under special offer with "HotSpot", the mobile phone retail chain. It usually sells at Rs. 17.5K. Samsung Omnia Pro B7320 is almost same price as N79, around 14.5K
I was little sceptical about XpressMusic because it was the first touchscreen attempt in that version of operating system(version 5). Though it had largest screen in the list(3.2 inch) and shipped with 8 GB card, I was little negative on touchscreen phones from my personal experience(with LG KS20). It looks good, though little thicker, had impeccable screen resolution but had 3 MP camera without lens cover. Overall, its a good phone in my opinion.
Talking of Samsung B7320, its the most elegant looking in the lot, with its blackberry kind of looks with very fashionable shade of dark brown. It has qwerty keyboard, which should make email/sms typing faster once you get used to it. The processor is fastest among the 3 phones I was looking at. It runs on Windows mobile so you have more choice of third party applications. On the cons side, It has slightly slower video recording speed(25 frames per second as opposed to 30 frames in the other 2 models). It has 3 MP camera which is of better quality than Xpressmusic’s camera. Feature wise, it lags a little behind the other 2 models. But the difference is far from being a deal breaker. However, samsung’s screen presentation, fonts and user interface look more stylish than Nokia’s. Overall, this phone is a good package.
Now lets discuss Nokia N79. When I held it in hand, it felt firm and light, looked subtly stylish. I instantly identified it with my subtle sense of style. I liked its built. However, I must point out that it has the worst keypad in the above lot. Keys are small and pressing them is pretty average experience. However, that’s the only con this phone has. On features list, it beats hands down all other phones in its price range. Its the most versatile phone that I have closely seen in sub 20k range. It has a screen of 2.4 inch, same as the Samsung one, with same resolution. It has the best camera in the above lot, 5 MP with lens cover. Video recording is good. You get a 4GB memory card when you buy it. It has been a week since I bought this phone and I will give a detailed experience of its main features that I have used in my first week:
Call quality: Its great. didn’t face any issue. Speaker voice quality is also decent.
Camera is excellent. I must point out that I read reviews on many reputed sites pointing out that N79 camera is just average. But I must say, being a photography enthusiast myself, that the camera is pretty good. Today I took some pictures in Lotus temple, where I went with my 3 year old daughter. She looks great in N79 snaps. Lotus temple looks sharp and crisp. Colours are natural. You are hardly required to do any digital processing after you download photos on your computer.
3.GPS: Today I went to Lotus temple, from my home in Patparganj. I have returned to Delhi after 5 long years and with so many new flyovers, I need lot of help with the roads. N79 has built in GPS feature and comes loaded with Nokia maps. You also have 3 months of voice navigation license. Voice navigation is important because you can’t stare at mobile screen while driving. Not when you are travelling with a 3 year old:-) The N79’s GPS receiver takes maximum 10 seconds to get satellite lock( I read in some reviews that it takes 2-3 minutes which I found wrong). Getting satellite lock means tracking down your physical location. I went to Lotus temple without any deviation except when I was 500 metre from destination. That was my mistake, not the the system’s. For more serious(and difficult navigation), one can buy more detailed maps. I plan to do that shortly.
Wifi(wireless network): I went to Khel Gaon few days ago and decided to test the wifi feature in a mall over there. Its very effective wifi sniffer. Thumbs up!
N79 has loads of miscellaneous features like FM transmitter. Nokia N79 can become an FM radio station within few metre of range ( I tested only in my car). You can transmit FM radio at a frequency of your choice. You can then tune any FM radio to "your" station, it will play. I played few Godfather tracks on my car’s FM as I transmitted the tracks from my N79. It fabulous. If I was not already married, I would be using this to impress upon a girl:-)
GPRS is pretty normal as in other phones these days. It does have broadband capability but alas our country doesn’t have too many commercial internet broadband service providers for mobile phone. I have used broadband on mobile in Singapore and UK, but Indian telecommunications industry has some catching up to do on mobile broadband.
In coming days/weeks, I wish to test its VOIP(internet telephony) client. Its very subjective discussion as it involves the service providers’s technology.
In short, the phone is a gem. I really forget the keypad issue. Afterall, its a matter of getting used to. I am quite comfortable with the keypad after using it for a week. N79 is the best deal that one can get in less than 15K today.