The Color-Friendly Nseries Smartphone: Nokia N79

Together with the N85 dual-slider, Nokia has also presented today the N79, its other new Nseries smartphone. This one comes in a candybar form factor, looking like a mix between the N78 and N82 models (which are both available for purchase).

While the N85 will be available in only one color version (black), Nokia wants the N79 to be more "color friendly." More exactly, the Finnish company will ship the candybar in two versions, white and silver, each of them coming with 3 Xpress-on smart covers that can be red, brown, green, blue or white.

"The Nokia N79 packs cutting-edge technology into a compact design - a characteristic of the iconic Nseries - that allows people to discover, create and share their passions with others. It has been designed for those who want a device that is as appealing as it is powerful," stated Juha Kokkonen, director, Nokia Nseries.

Feature-wise, the N79 is not too different from the N85. The candybar brings the following: a 2.4 inch TFT display with 16 million colors and 240 x 320 pixels, a 5 Megapixel camera with all the characteristics of the one included in the N85, GSM and HSDPA connectivity, GPS and A-GPS, Nokia Maps, Wi-Fi, Music and Video players, a 3.5mm audio jack, stereo Bluetooth, TV-out, pre-installed Nseries games and 50MB of built-in memory, "helped" by a 4GB card.

The N79 measures 110 x 49 x 15 millimeters and weighs 97 grams. Although the phone's battery is similar to the one packed in the N85 (a 1200 mAh one), its performance is lower. Thus, the N79 can provide only up to 5.5 hours of GSM talk-time, 3.5 hours of 3G talk-time or up to 24 hours of music playback.

Like the N85, Nokia N79 will hit the market starting October, but for a lower retail price: 350 Euros ($514).