Make Sisters happy with the Nokia N76!

What was the first Things i had in Mind when the Nokia N76 appeared? This Thing can be Nokia's next Bestseller! The stylish and slim Body, the mirrored Finish .. I actually thought that this Device can bring the Symbian OS closer to normal Users, not only Addicts like i am. For a Power User it may be a good all-in-one Device, sporting double as much RAM as the Nokia N95 "Classic" has after Startup, and one of the first to feature mini-USB and 3,5mm Audio Jack .. The N76 is no Feature-Bomber like the N95 but it sure attracts some Users!

My Sister Julia always had a jealous Look when i played around with the N76 in Front of her. It was Love at first Sight, when i unpacked it in Front of her. And that jealous Look continued whenever i put it out of my Pocket and she was around. She even said once: "Maaan, i wish i had such a cool Phone like you" .. And she didn't mean the N95 .. ;) So since i had the N76 for a few Weeks (Thanks to WOM World) and there was already sooooooo much Coverage around the www, i've decided to make something new: I gave my Sister the N76 to play around for a few Days - I have something different to write about the N76 and she is just happy! Wanna know what a Symbian-First-Timer-non-Techie thinks about? Read on my Friends ..

So i packed the Phone in the Package, Data-Cable, Headset, Charger and handed it out .. You wouldn't believe the Grin she had on her Face. Her Eyes started to gleam - it was like a Kid in Front of the Christmas Tree! She unpacked it carefully and then something came, where even i struggled at first: How to open that Thing? I gave her some Time but she gave up ... She didn't want to break, until i showed her that it needs a bit more Aggression to open the Device. A strange Expression appeared on her Face when she realized that the SIM Card Holder is nothing more than a cheap Plastic Layer. I think no one expected that on a N-Series Device, nor does she. But Things were sorted out finally and she went to her Room to play around with the Phone. And guess what: It didn't take her more than 1 Hour to set up her Ringtones, change the External Wallpaper to a Picture of her favourite Pop-Singer and even rename her Bluetooth Profile. I was stunned completely! She asked me for the Menu Button, i first thought: Oh Man .. She won't understand a Thing on the Device...

My Sister is 15 Years old at the Moment, a typical Teenager. Sparetime means spending Time with her Friends, riding around on her Motor Scooter, watching Movies, listen to Boybands and all that Stuff Teenager usually do. You all know that i missed a Things Teenies like to do: Doing hourlong Phone Calls and write Tons of Short Messages.. and yes, my Sister Julia is no different - She LOVES that! I mentioned above that her first Phone has been the Nokia 3310 with changed Keypad Lights and inverted Display. Next up was the Nokia 3220, again with changed Keypad Lights, this Time Blue and Orange, looked great, she didn't gave a Damn about what her Phone can do, as long as she can take Calls, write SMSs and and it looks good. But after that, she decided to get a new Phone and this Time she had clear Imaginations about how her new Phone should look like. It MUST be a Flip-Phone (Why she loves Flip-Phones that much? She doesn't even know herself!), it has to have a decent Camera and she wants to be able to store and listen to some Music. Voila, there was the Motorola V3x, 2nd hand in perfect Condition, for only 100 Euro, 1 GB Memory Card inside and a nice 2 Megapixel Camera! Cause of a broken Display she decided to move forward from Prepaid to a Contract Phone and got herself the Sony Ericsson V630i, which she's pretty satisfied with it .. But she SO wants to have a Flip-Phone once again!

She had the Phone then for 3 full Days, left on her own and something inside told me, that she fell in Love with the Device completely: Why? Cause i often saw her dancing around, holding the N76 in her Hands with the Headset in her Ears although she has a nice Stereo System in her Room. Nice eh? .. So we sat down and talked about the Device and here are some of the Facts she told me:

Design/Build Quality: Although the Device is very slim, she finds it too big. She's right in some Point it's really not a small Device in my Opinion and the Pictures i've made showing that clearly. The Memory Card Cover is also very bad Quality, cause it doesn't close plaine to the Rest of the Phone. The Flip Part has a slight Space, which irritated her when doing Pictures with the closed Phones. I've never realized that, but maybe Girls are more sensitive in such Things ;)

Mirrored Chrome Finish: Oh yes, this is where there Girls are separated from the Boys. I caught her, having a Quick Look on her Eyes and Hair, using the N76 Mirror Screen on the Front as Mirror. I thought: This is the Way i expected it!! :D A shy Smile, opened the Phone and a soft-spoken "I was about to write a Message" and away she was - This left me with a big Smile in my Face!
But i had to slow her a bit down and showed her the horrible Peeling Pictures from my Friend Teo, and i don't know why but that didn't impress her a single Second. All she said was something like "they will have to change it over and over again!" I wish i could think like that .. :( Fingeprints didn't attract her that much, same like me, she often cleaned the Phone, Julia said that was one Thing that pretty much pissed her off..

Keypad: Unlike me, my Sister loved the Keypad. I mean it's a great Keypad for larger male Thumbs, but i think it doesn't support fast Typing. My Sister was used to it from the first Moment, typed faster than i do on my N95 and i'm a Hell of a Typer! .. But for her as a Symbian Beginner, it was pretty hard to figure out all the Features of the Buttons. She didn't know what to do the Pencil Button at the Beginning until i told her. Also she thought that the Active Standby is the Menu - until i told her to hit the Menu Button as well!

Display's: The N76 Main Display is average in Size, compared to other Phones, but it's still a lot bigger than the Sony Ericsson .. And she loved that! After some Time she also got used to the great external Display she started to use it over and over, for shooting Pictures, reading her incoming Text Messages etc etc ..

PC Suite: Julia didn't like the PC Suite from the Beginning .. She found it waaay to complicated, the Nokia Music Manager for Example - it IS kinda irritating until everything is set up and ready to transfer to the Phone. Speaking about transfering the Music: I can remember one Day when my Sister came into my Room and said, she had transfered the same Song about 4 or 5 Times and it didn't appear in the Music Library. Having to refresh it after the Transfer is a bit confusing ..

Camera: My Sis loves to shoot Pictures whereever she goes, even the Picture is completely useless! ;) .. And she did use the Camera! Although she said the Video Recording isn't so impressive, the Camera does not a bad Job after all.  (Make sure to check out the upcoming Shootout between the 2 MP Devices Nokia N76, E70 and Sony Ericsson V630i!) What she liked as well was the Possibility to start the Camera with a Hit on the Camera Button and use the external Screen as Viewer!

Symbian S60 OS: Multitasking - One of the Things Julia can't do on the Sony Ericsson. Switching between opened Stuff .. I loved it when she said: "I just found out that i can listen to Music, write a Text Message and surf through my Contacts AND switch between everything! You never told me that!" :-D .. Again a big Grin in my Face .. But overall she said that you have to take some Time to discover the whole Menu Structure and the Possibilites, but she stated that it is indeed very usefull ..

Conclusion: Not worried about the Chrome Peeling a Bit, my Sister Julia said she would take the N76 within the Blink of an Eye, the only Things that really disappointed her, was the complicated Nokia PC Suite and the Fingerprints on the Phone! She loved to listen to Music on the Device, using the external dedicated Music Keys and the clear crisp Screens. The Chrome Finish attracted her very much, just to have a quick Look if the Hair is in the right Direction etc LOL .. She thinks the Phone is attractive but S60 can make it a bit complicated for average Users.

Comments

[Stefan Constantinescu]

The latest SE's do multitask. Pics of sister? ;-)

[Michael aka BeerBong]

yeah i know but i'm not sure about the V630i ;) ..

pics of my sister? dude she's 15 lol .. Thanks for commenting stefan!

[Rita El Khoury]

Lol, nice nice post Michael. I love these "newcomer" looks at symbian and Nokias. My friend actually got an N76 and she said that the chrome peeling didn't bother her the least, she also got quite used to the useful mirror feature (no more separate mirror in the bag). She also got quite used to the keypad.
Fingerprints don't annoy her since we're classmates so every now and then (read: every hour) I take the phone, wipe it, so it's bright and shining.
She also loved the fact that the flip can be set to open on a 110 degrees to be used very conveniently on desks.
PC suite wasn't such a hassle, neither different keys since she's pretty much a tech geek and was used to s60, having owned a 6630 :)

[hakeemm]

I'm 16 years old and I have a nokia n93. hehe.. Nice review from your sister.. hehe