Nokia N76

LOCAL DISTRIBUTOR:
Nokia (M) Sdn Bhd / Avaxx

Contact Number:
1-300-88-1600

Build quality: 7/10
Applications: 9/10
Interface: 8/10
Value-for-money: 7/10
Overall rating: 8/10

Protected Micro SD Slot
3G Capable
2.0 MP Camera
Rigid Folder
Paint jobs problem

In the Box

Handset

Charger

Micro-USB data cable

Nokia PC Suite CD

User Guide

The N76 is a sleek, clam-shelled multimedia phone with 3G

and great connectivity and music options.

Design

The Nokia N76 starts off with a plate glass cover for its secondary screen. The glass smudges and soils easily and if you want to show off to your friends, you might have to pass it around as quickly as possible. What¡¦s worst it is also highly reflective, and you can barely read the screen¡¦s content under direct sunlight.

Nokia has placed emphasis on the N76¡¦s multimedia function ¡V as right beneath the secondary screen is the radio, media player and play list quick key.

The clam-shell design is rigid, and folder spring is wound tight, which makes it quite difficult to open the clam with one hand- most users have ended up using both hands, which might be a hassle when I¡¦m chewing on a burger while trying to receive my calls. Additionally, the N76 share some genetic traits with Motorola¡¦s RAZR series.

The phone we have on hand is a two-tone black and sliver finish. Much of the phone is covered in plastics which increase durability, instead of the fancy paint jobs. However, we couldn¡¦t grasp the design concept of the sliver band snaking across the back of the phone.

However, there seem to some problems in the paint job details of the N76, the slivery insides have been torn off and forums are loaded with discussions about the N76¡¦s problems with their peeling paints. Apparently, the N76 paint job problems have affected most of their stock.

Let¡¦s move on the ports and button of the N76, on the top lies the headphones jack, the micro-USB port and on/off button. Located on the right spine of the N76 is the camera and video button. On the left, we have the charger port and the micro-SD port, which has a snugly fit pop-flap. On the rear sits the camera and the LED flash, an odd design concept given the placement of the camera lens which usually lies on the front flip.

Despite all the talk about the sunken keypad

being unreliable, the N76 has much larger buttons for texting. The keypad is fully etched metal and the backlighting for the keypad works well under dark conditions.

The back cover slides off for the battery and SIM slot. What caught our attention was the placement of the SIM card which is sandwiched between the components, making it hard to remove the SIM once it¡s slotted-in.

The dedicated camera button sits on the right, as well as gallery shortcut key, similar to those found on preceding Nseries models. The volume rocker switch, doubling as zoom in/out button while shooting, goes together with the above controls on the right side.

Features
The N76 features the S60 Symbian OS. Its office software has a PDF reader, a recorder, notes, converter and wireless keyboard. However, it curiously doesn¡¦t have word processing software. The N76 also has a stereo FM radio, PIM devices, such as a calendar, to-do list and printing. Additionally, there is a world clock and alarm clock.

The main 2.4 inch display is great. It's a 16M colour TFT one with a QVGA resolution (240 x 320 pixels). The brightness of the display image can be adjusted from the menu. The secondary screen has 256K colors display (160 x 128 pixels).

The internal memory is a tiny 16MB, which is quite surprising for modern phones. Luckily, it comes with a 512MB micro-SD card, and this can be easily upgraded to larger storage space. The N76¡s music player allows filtering tracks by author, album, genre or you can choose to play either the tracks you've recently listened to, or the ones that you've played the most. If that¡s not enough, you can even create your own custom playlist.

The speakers are crisp and clear, at maximum volume the speakers have performed quite well, and even though it was as loud as some competing phones, the speakers did not suffer from blaring and was more subtle. We however did not get why the media player was constantly running in the background.

When managing music files, users have to access the file manager, where the phone¡¦s memory and the MicroSD memory is retain in similar menus. The phone by default retains new data in the memory card, and the music player will refresh your playlist whenever new music comes in.

Camera
The N76 has a 2.0 mega-pixel VGA camera. You can take pictures with the phone both open and closed, but always in a landscape mode - this is also the specific reason for the placement of the camera lens.

Furthermore, the fingers of your right hand will lie perfectly on the side release button. The display will offer an extensive camera menu with numerous setup options including exposure compensation, self-timer, white balance, colour effects, 6 light modes, and even ISO sensitivity setup.

Meanwhile, image size, release sound and other details are set up from deeper menu levels. The digital zoom reaches up to 20x. However, the more you zoom in the individual object, the worse the picture quality is.

One qualm about the camera however, is the misty effect on picture when shooting in light conditions under default settings. The camera seems to absorb all light from the environment then dumps it onto the picture.

The video recording is somewhat decent and so far there is only slight choppiness when viewing recorded videos.

Additionally, there is a secondary CIF camera up-front for self-portraits and video calls.

Connectivity
The N76 has 3G which provide high-speed connectivity, Class 32 EDGE and GPRS and also Bluetooth, HSCSD and mini-USB data cable transfer.

Games
There is only one game in the phone - 3D snake, which is self-explanatory at this point. There is also a mini-game section with five Java Games in the applications section- Nicomon, which gives player control of a bug-eating monster.

Additionally there are Hakotsumi Plus- Tetris played horizontally, ColorCrois- pattern matching with coloured balls The last two are Le Car Jenne 2- which has players do a parking stunt by judging the car¡¦s speed and Nuripa- which is a memory challenge puzzle.

These five games aren¡¦t exactly for button-mashing but are a great distraction and is surprisingly addictive as you try to constantly beat your previous high score.