N96 and N78 first impression hands on

As you may or may not know, WOM had a “meet up” in London yesterday. It took place at The Old Crown on New Oxford Street. It was a really nice little old pub in the middle of London. There was about 20 or so people there, including the WOM team which was nice, and it was really nice to meet the faces behind the names at WOM world, as well as some old faces ive met before and completely new people. Thanks WOM, was a really good night.
Now, towards the end of the night, Tim (Sorry I didnt catch his second name), who was the Product manager for the N78 showed up unexpectedly which was a nice surprise. I always like talking to the Product managers, as they are always really down to earth and it gives a much more personal aspect to the phone that your holding in your hand. He had both the N96 and the N78 on him at the time, which he kindly gave me for a few minutes to play around on and take some photos with. Now, you must note that both of these were pre-release phones, and the Software side of the phone wasn’t 100% yet.

Lets start with the N96: 

I was really surprised at the weight and feel of the handset. It was extremely light and the screen was nice. Now I only had 10 minutes or so to play on it, and there was one thing I really wanted to try and that was the flash. I was pleasantly surprised with the flash on the phone. Im used to the xenon flash on the N82, which I couldn’t be happier with, but this was the closest LED ive seen to the xenon. Although the flash was very bright, it didnt seem to make any difference to the image which remained dark and pretty poor, however this is probably due to the fact that it was a pre-release handset and the software wasnt that stable (it crashed 2 or 3 times in the 10 minutes I was playing with it).

The small flip down “lip” was a bit fiddly, however once it was down and the N96 was sitting on the table, it was a perfect viewing position to watch movies, videos, or even TV.Now thats the N96. The most surprising thing of the night was the N78, which, despite my negative comments before, I was VERY impressed with.

When I first held the N78 the first thing Tim (The N78 Product manager) said to me was “Try typing a text and see how easy it is). Now one thing I complained about in the previous post was how small they keypad looked. Oh how wrong I was. The N78 actually had a very very nice keypad which was surprisingly easy to use, much easier then the N82.One thing that I was also impressed with was the camera. I saw the pictures taken on it and they were very bright and vivid, and to be honest, what a 3.2mp camera should have been like in the first place.Now, the last thing I was the most impressed with was the Naviwheel. I had the N81 from WOM for about 2 weeks, and for the life of me I just couldn’t get the Naviwheel working properly. However, on the N78, it just worked as soon as I picked it up! It was very impressive and its the first time ive actually managed to get it working, ever. Its definitely something I can see myself using as well which is good.Now for the confessions. I completely retract everything I said about the N78. I love it. Infact, I can even see myself using one. The N78 definitely felt alot more finished then the N96, but then I suppose thats reflected in the release dates. Like I said, I only had 10 minutes or so to have a play around on them, but I was quite chuffed that I could actually get my hands on them so close after the launch. Ill leave you with some pics of both phones.

Chaslam