Dhadkan of India

 

Nokia N76 is sleek, smart and sexy in a clamshell…..The phone may look really appealing on first glance but the truth is on a closer look you might just feel it’s a lot of plastic which is highly susceptible to fingerprints.I wish the manufacturers had given it a little more steel.

Dimensions and weight

The Nokia N76 is 106.5 x 52 mm in dimension and thickness of 13.7 mm. Incase you think that the phone is very slim, the truth is the size of the phone is compensated in its height which is about a centimeter extra. N76 weighs about 115 grams.

Display

The Nokia N76 has two displays; the EXTERNAL display uses the TFT format with 262K colors and a resolution of 128x160 pixels. Beneath the external display one can find the keys to control the music player and FM Radio. The Screen is protected by a glossy cover and its legibility cannot be called great.

The INTERNAL display is 2.4 inches using TFT format with 16 M color and a resolution of 240x320 pixels (QVGA).

Memory

The Nokia N76 has just 26 MB of internal memory and comes along with a 256 MB memory card. The memory can be extended up to 2 GB with Micro SD memory cards.

Data Transfer

The Nokia N76 transfers data at a maximum speed of 384 kbps; all data transfers are backed up by UTMS. It works in 3G, EDGE and GPRS networks but lacks HSDPA support. The N76 opens WAP pages along with internet pages which can be browsed in landscape mode. Another major drawback of the phone is that is does not even have Wi-Fi. The phone has an EDR-enabled 2.0 Bluetooth and comes along with a data cable.

The N76 is packaged with a CD that includes applications like Nokia PC Suite, Nokia Life blog, and Adobe Photoshop Album, Nokia Multimedia Player and Nokia Music Manager. The phone can be connected to a PC in 4 modes - PC Suite for synchronization, Data transfers for Mass Storage (gives a speed of about 800kb/s), Image print via Picture Bridge and Media player for connection to Windows Media player Application. The Nokia PC suite can also be used to download new applications which can otherwise be downloaded straight via data transfers.

The speed at which the phone works depends upon the number of applications running at a given point of time. Long press on the Symbian key will display the running applications. The red key again in the N76 does not take you a step back instead completely shuts the application except in the case of radio and the music player.

Camera
The Nokia N76 has two cameras. The CMOS camera above the battery is of 2 mega pixels accompanied by a LED flash. The lens of the camera is non-protected and auto focus is also absent. It has a 20x digital zoom, not very nice though. It has a maximum resolution of 1600x1200 pixels and a minimum of 320x240 pixels. The flash offers a number of modes like automatic, always, red eye effect correction and of course can be turned off as well. The flash does not function as a flash light.

The second camera right above the main display works at a CIF+ resolution (384x320 pixels), and its main function it to make video calls within 3G networks, it can be used for self- portraits and video recording as well.

The phone has various camera options such as exposure compensation, white balance, 6 light modes, ISO sensitivity setup and a self –timer among others.

The Nokia N76 is does not have any exceptional qualities when it comes to picture quality. You might just find the pictures a little dull. It fails to deal efficiently with high contrast and macro images. Don’t even think about taking text images!!

The videos can be taken at resolution of 320x240, 176x144 and 128x96 pixels with a speed of 15 frames per second and are saved .3GP format. Length of your videos depends only on the availability of free memory space. Pictures and videos can be taken both while the phone is open or closed.

Battery

A Li-Lon battery (BL-4B) of capacity 700 mAh gives the N76 its life. According to the company the Nokia give about 165 minutes of talk time and 204 hours in stand by mode. The N76 gives an average of 2 to 3 days in case of moderate users. Extensive users will need to charge it once everyday. It takes about 2 hours to recharge completely. The company claims that it will last up to eight hours in playback mode which is a work of fiction because at a maximum the phone will last about 5 hours.

Ringtones

The phone works with MP3, AAC, eAAC, eAAC+ and WMA formats.

Other Features

Now I shall talk about the voice record. The voice recorder of the N76 can record up to 60 minutes!!!! It has a decent voice control where in one can switch between profiles, activate Bluetooth etc.

The phone also features a FM Radio which can store 50 radio stations but it lacks RDS which is a drawback.

Videos are played in the Real Player and the phone also includes flash animations player.

Microsoft office functions are missing but you can still view PDF files through the PDF file Viewer.

Another plus point of this phone is the presence of a 3.5mm jack where in you can plug in a headphone of your choice. The phone features only one game i.e. 3D snake. Incase you want to download other games I suggest you use the Symbian-Based as they are going to be faster than the Java- Based.

Positives

The N76 is sleek and attractive in its make.

Several applications can be run at the same time (although it might just affect the speed of your phone).

Videos are recorded in landscape mode and at QVGA resolution even when the phone is closed due to its strategical placement.

The earphones included in the package are decent and can produce good quality sound as an added bonus you are this time around provided with a 3.5mm jack which enables you to plug in ear phones of your choice.

The alarm clock in the N76 is multi-item repeated and the voice recorder can record up to 60 minutes.

 

Negatives

The phone is highly sensitive to finger prints and requires an amazing amount of cleaning.

The keypad requires getting used to. And the external screen might not be all that readable in sunlight.

The phone has only 26 Mb of internal memory.

The phone does not support Wi-Fi or HSDPA which might be its greatest drawback when it comes to Data Transfers.

The camera is just average.

Battery is not that great either and the phone lasts only up to 4-5 hours in playback mode which is bad considering the phone is characterized as a ‘multi-media computer’.

The phone does not support A2DP profile so you can't the music through wireless head phones.

The FM Radio lacks RDS.

The phone jumps open to a half open position and has to be pushed back manually the rest of the way which may not be so convenient due to the toughness in the joint. Also it wont open completely incase you have plugged in your data cable or ear phones.

 

Conclusion
Finally,If you are looking for a stylish and sleek new toy to play with this might just be the phone for you. I wont say it is extensive in its functioning in its camera The battery life in the play mode is way too less to be able to call it a multi media phone. Even for a stylish toy the phone is extremely sensitive to fingerprints although it definitely is the best looking N series phone. For its high price and not so extensive functionality the phone is just a little too expensive.