Design
The N70 is the baby of Nokia's "Next Generation" N series phones that also includes the N90 camera phone, N91 music phone and N92 video phone. It's in the very familiar candybar design shape, although the screen is somewhat larger than most candybar phones. It measures in at 108.8x53x24mm with a total weight of 126g, making it a relatively light 3G camera phone.
The front display of the N70 is dominated by the large and clear 176x208 pixel display, underneath which sit the dialling and soft keys. From a buttons and switches perspective, there's really not much to see on the N70's front facing, but the rear of the phone hides more enticing functionality.
The rear of the N70 consists of a large sliding panel that moves downwards to reveal the camera lens and integrated flash. Moving the slider down automatically launches the camera application from wherever you are in the phone's operating system, making it a (groan) snap to take simple digital pictures.
Features
The N70 unit we tested with was supplied to us by Vodafone, and naturally enough, it works on Vodafone's 3G network under the Vodafone Live! banner. Outside 3G coverage areas, that'll drop down to standard GSM coverage and a limited subset of the Vodafone Live! offerings. From a technical perspective, it's a GSM 900/1800/1900 phone. The N70 also comes with integrated Bluetooth and supports Pictbridge printing for ease of photo printing.
On the software side, the N70 supports visual radio applications, comes with RealPlayer installed as well as a small suite of business-type applications. Of all the N series mobiles, this is the one that you're most likely to convince your boss to buy you for the office, if only because the leisure applications are better hidden than with the clearly musical or photo aspirations of the other N series mobiles. Connectivity is once again provided by Nokia's PC Suite Software.
Like the N90, the N70 features a 2.0 Megapixel camera with a suprising amount of clarity for a mobile phone camera. If you're very keen on mobile phone photography, we'd still recommend the N90 over the N70, but if you want happy snaps that you might actually want to keep for later, the N70's a good choice.
The N70 offers up to 22MB of internal memory for storage. With the quantity of downloadable 3G data out there, not to mention the phone's inbuilt music and photo offerings, that's likely to be gobbled up rather quickly. For additional storage the N70 uses RS-MMC (reduced size MultiMedia Card). The slot for these is on the right hand side of the phone, and our test sample came with a 128MB RS-MMC card.
Performance
As either a 3G or GSM phone, the N70 performs quite well. We tested just outside Vodafone's 3G coverage area -- in fact, we continually dropped in and out of coverage within the one household, which made for some interesting download experiences. The N70's dialling pad is quite small, and those who like larger buttons to jab at while calling might find it a touch irksome.
As with the N90, the N70's 2 megapixel camera provides good visuals for many shots, although as previously stated the N90's definitely the model to go for if you want a small pocket camera phone. One big plus in the N70's design is the drop-down shutter, as it's quite quick to react and launch the camera application.
The N70's display is good and clear in both bright and dark conditions. The inclusion of Realplayer, combined with 3G downloads allowed us to test video quality on the display as well. While it's not quite up there with the Sony PSP or Apple iPod Video (and that's partly to do with the Realplayer codec as much as anything else) video trailers and music clips were clear to view, albeit a little noisy at full volume.
Nokia rates the N70's 970mAh Lithium Ion battery as being good for up to 3.5 hours talk time and up to 11 days standby. In our testing we averaged around 7 days inbetween recharges with a moderate level of usage, although that's a figure that could vary quite widely depending on how much use you made of battery sapping features such as Bluetooth.
Those on a very tight budget could consider other 3G capable mobiles -- Vodafone themselves have the Motorola V1050 at a cheaper price at the time of writing -- but for the features it offers and the overall quality of the phone and camera, it's hard to fault the Nokia N70.
Raj
23/06/2008, 05:07 PM
rating
6/10
Can any one please help me regarding phone memory.As i'm deleting messages from my inbox, in phone memory it is consuming some memory for deletion. Hope it is maintaing BACK UP. How to delete this stored information?
Pros: Battery is OK. Functioning is good.
Cons: ->We need to protect from VIRUS.
->Bit pain to store songs via bluetooth. -->Weight is more.
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Aussie Pete
10/06/2008, 11:48 AM
rating
5/10
Always had Nokia phones and can't remember one of them that had so many problems. The on-off switch is painful to access without a pen and has required repair recently (again) at AUD67 ($67). The software died multiple times and phone could not be recovered so it has spent a lot of time in the Nokia Care Centres. Menus are slow to load, email is slow, web is slower (all running on Telstra 3G), and overall user friendliness is poor. Car kit via Nokia CK7W and customised Accessory Warehouse cradle is available but phone treats it as a headset. One positive is the ease of Nokia PC Suite which is a life saver. Overall this is a very average product and is thankfully in my old phone drawer where it belongs. I recently upgraded to an E61i and my faith in Nokia is restored. Only positive on the N70 is it is way better than the Motorola L7 I had previously!
Pros: Not many if any at all
Cons: Slow, slow, slow and umm slow
Unreliable
Numerous software bugs and failings in the life of the product (later loads much better)
Size and weight
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nokia 6680
13/05/2008, 05:00 PM
rating
9/10
N70 is great for me. Its music experience is good than sony erricson. I think this nseries mobile have only good sound features.
Pros: Amuse with its great quality of sound.
Stylish body.
Double camera.
Cons: Nothing
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totti50009
10/05/2008, 12:09 AM
rating
5/10
good good
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JAYMIe
19/04/2008, 02:43 PM
rating
9/10
I love this phone- it was second hand, nearly 2 years old, and I've owned it for 3 weeks.
Pros: -It's been crushed by cattle, stood on, hit, dropped- and not a mark on it.
-I get full reception on it all the time, except for going around the Toc. bends.
-Gotta love the screen size!
Cons: -The paint on the camera slider flakes off easily
-Heavy compared to other phones
The Alarm isn't loud enough.
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timpiny
09/04/2008, 09:39 PM
rating
6/10
the cam can't display letters on the page, no image rotation function.
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canberraguy
21/03/2008, 09:27 PM
rating
2/10
Very average phone
Pros: Cheap
Cons: *Joystick is almost impossible to use.
* One week out of warranty my phone switched off, whilst I was using it, it just died. It would not switch back on and I was quoted over $500 to fix it. I am using my old phone at the moment.
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noon_nour
05/03/2008, 03:13 AM
rating
10/10
really good
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A
04/03/2008, 12:29 PM
rating
9/10
forgot to add
Pros: - video quality (when set on high) is EXCELLENT
Cons: - paint on the back peels VERY easily
- somewhat buggy.. plays up occasionally, but not a major issue
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A
04/03/2008, 12:25 PM
rating
9/10
i've owned this phone for roughly 2 years now. i'd say it's the best i've had so far (previous phones: panasonic gd75, samsung e700). It's a fantastic phone and I'm having trouble choosing a replacement on the market that can beat it
Pros: - nice photos
- dual cameras very handy
- cool photo and video editing application, including clipart etc
Cons: - battery life is okay, but could be improved (lasts 2-3 days)
- it's quite slow, particularly on startup
- can't set more than one alarm
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