Symbian OS9.3 with S60 v3.1 Feature Pack 2 reviewed

Rafe over at All About Symbian has reviewed the Nokia N78. The important relation between the N96 and N78 is definitely the Operating System.

I decided to provide the readers with some extracts of the software bits contained in his review. A lot of this is ungrouped, and everything is really Rafe’s words:

The usual standard suite of software is present, including the PIM trio of Contacts, Calendar and Messaging. Web, Search and various office applications are all present. Feature Pack 2 brings a number of minor updates to these applications, but it is usability changes to the user interface that get most of the immediate attention.

The most obvious user interface change is the addition of a central softkey. This, for the most part, explicitly labels functionality that was already there, but should make things clearer to new users. Multi-tasking is made more obvious thanks to a redesigned task-switcher and the addition of an ‘Open applications’ item to the top of all Options menus.

Other changes that should be popular among N78 users include support for progressive downloads (start playing media during download), faster loading Java applications, full-screen picture caller ID for incoming calls, the inclusion of Flash Lite 3 (watch YouTube and other Flash videos in the browser), and inclusion of the WRT runtime (widgets).

The N73’s Gallery application was notorious for being sluggish, especially when viewing carousels of photos (thumbnail drawing rarely kept up with on screen movements). The good news is that the carousel has been re-designed from the ground up for the new Photos application and it also benefits from the faster processor of the N78. The end result is much better performance, with little or no lag time when moving around the carousel or viewing photos. A nice touch is the inclusion of an on-screen indication of where you are on a carousel, making it easy to navigate around large groupings of photos. When viewing an individual photo, you are able to add album and tag information, as well as the usual send, print, edit, slideshow and use image commands.

Share online, which allows the upload of media to online services such as Flickr, Share on Ovi, and Print online, which allows you order prints directly from your phone which are subsequently delivered by post, are all available out of the box and serve as ways of getting photos off the phone. Share online is particularly important here, as it integrates with both the Camera and Photos application, allowing for one click uploads to the web.Photos is a new image and video viewing application, replacing Gallery in this role. Photos and videos can be viewed by a number of pseudo-categories: Captured (recently captured images), Months (by time), Albums (user defined categories), Tags (user defined taxonomy), Downloads and All. Once you drop into one of these top categories and choose a month, album or tag photos are viewed using the familiar photo carousel.

As with the N96, the onboard UPnP software has been upgraded, compared to earlier Nseries devices – there are now extensive sync options, making it easier to copy media off the phone. Practically this means that the UPnP functionality offers a way to automatically sync home and mobile media content. It’s potentially an easy way to show off your captured media on your TV via a DLNA compatible device, such as the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360, and is especially relevant for the N78, given the absence of TV-Out. A copy of SimpleCenter (a Windows PC UPnP media server) will also be included in the box. However, I cannot help but think that Nokia should think about creating their own UPnP software – perhaps something that integrates with Nokia Photos?

Video is played back via the RealPlayer application, which supports various formats including the usual 3GPP formats (including H.263), MPEG-4 and H.264.

The Video Centre application facilitates the downloading of video from a variety of sources. Some sources are preloaded on the device and more are available via an ‘Add videos’ link. Video centre also allows you to add your own sources (as RSS feeds); there are a increasing number of these video podcasts becoming available and they serve as an easy way of getting free video content onto the device.

The N78 has the standard Nseries Music player application, with the music library, album art, visualisation, 6-way equaliser, active idle plug-in and integrated podcasting support. With no music playback controls on the device, you have to access the Music player application itself and use the D-pad to control music playback. Fortunately, the in box headset does include media remote controls, which provide a workable, if less widely applicable, alternative. Format-wise, the N78 supports the usual suspects, including MP3, AAC, AAC+ and WMA; it also includes DRM support for both Windows Media and OMA 2.0.

As we’ve mentioned in previous Nseries reviews, Podcasting, with its on-device subscription and downloading, is a particular highlight. Nokia have continued to embrace web-based media delivery with the inclusion of the Internet Radio application in the N78. This plays audio streams of radio stations delivered over the Internet and uses shoutcast (MP3 and AAC) streams. A large number of radio stations are predefined in the application, but you can always add your own. Support for RealAudio streams (as used by the BBC and some others) is on the product roadmap for Internet Radio, but is unlikely to be in the version that ships with the N78. Internet Radio does require a flat rate data plan and uses more battery than a FM radio, but on the other hand it can access many more stations, does not require you to plug in a headset for use as an aerial and can provide superior quality audio.

Source: All About Symbian

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