Nokia N80 vs. SE K790a

per fin

New member
Ok, so I currently have a T-Mobile MDA on (surprise) T-Mobile. I'm looking for a new phone now because I don't need a Pocket PC anymore and I want something much smaller. I'm looking for something with a 3MP camera, good battery life, a great screen, quad-band, umts, and an eye-catcher. Obviously looking into unlocked phones, nothing branded because I don't see anything I like. I'm debating between these two phones because they both have the 3MP camera and look amazing. The K790a isn't quad-band and is only edge compatible, but its battery life is incredible or at least from what I've read is. The Nokia N80 is feature packed and looks amazing, but I keep hearing bad things about it. If anyone could really give me a good insight into which one is the better choice (or if there's something else out there) I'd really appreciate it. I don't wanna spend anymore than $600 on a cell phone, because that's ridiculous as it is. THANKS!
 
N80 - Windows, good camera, WIFI, not as good battery life

K790 - large, better battery life, better camera, no WIFI....


uh... depends on what you need to use it for?
 
N80 = Series 60 (Symbian OS) NOT Windows. Big difference. I think alot of what you see written about the N80 is from current S60 power users. However if I had to choose, I'd go with the N80, slideout number pad is great, and the S60 platform will let you do things with your device you never thought possible.
 
Thanks for the info, and I'm just using it mainly for talking (obviously, but very heavy talking I use upwards of 5k minutes/month), texting, and taking pictures. I'd like to be able to do more, which is why it seems that the N80 is a good choice but I keep hearing the battery life is horrible. How true is it? And is the K790a really 7 hours of talk time?
 
Hi there,

I think you should consider the N73 too...
Its same form factor of the K790a but QuadBand. The 3.2Mpix camera has Carl Zeiss lenses (amazing quality) and the screen I thnk its much nicer than the K790a...
of course this is just my opinion.
I have been using a N80 for a couple of weeks, i like it a lot, however the slider thing makes the phone thick and sometimes is not as easy to use because the keypad is tiny. So if you do a lot of email/TXT ... Go for the N73. Better camera, QuadBand
 
If you already have a smartphone/pda phone then I'd opt for the K790a over the N80 because the MDA has a keyboard and Wifi, while the K790a offers a really good 3.2MP camera with autofocus and a real xenon flash, plus it does MP3 music pretty well like the K750/W800/W810. It also has A2DP, which lets you listen to music on wireless stereo headphones, which is one of the coolest options for me.

The only drawback to the K790a is the new M2 memory format which unfortunately is not yet widely available.

Like importcell mentioned above, the N73 is Nokia's camera type phone, which aside from the weaker LED flash, is supposed to have a decent camera as well. The quadband is also a plus.

Pesonally I like the K790a because of the emphasis on the camera.
 
Odd question, can you plug in a charger and regular headset at the same time on either of these phones? When I'm at home I use the plug-in headset a lot and like to charge the phone at the same time.. I had this problem with my RAZR and PEBL and didn't have to worry about it with the MDA. Thanks again everyone's answers have been very helpful I really appreciate it. I just don't want to spend so much money on a frickin cell phone and it ends up not doing what I really want it to.
 
k790 allows you to power-up and listen to music. if you like listening to music, hope 1gb is enough for you because that is the current m2 size cap. as far as apps. there are a lot of java apps that allow you to do a multitude of tasks
 
I think I've decided to move towards the N80, the fact the K790a isn't Quad-band is sort of the deal breaker. Plus I NEED to be able to plug in a headset and charger at the same time. Which I still haven't confirmed for either. The mp3 playing capability isn't really an issue but if I would listen I would definately need more than 1gb and the fact the N80 uses MiniSD (which I already have for my MDA), it's another plus. In regards to the N73, I like the form factor of the N80 much better. Haven't had a slider phone and would love to get one.
 
Yeah, it's unfortunate that the K790a is only triband compared to the W810i which is quad. The W810i is close to perfect, especially with pro duo sticks going up to 4GB, all it really needed was A2DP and a xenon flash. The 3.2 megapixel wouldn't have hurt either.

Maybe Sony Ericsson will eventually come out with the ultimate 3G HSDPA + Quad, music and camera phone, just maybe...
 
I've been eyeing these phones lately. I love my 8700g and had high hopes for the Pearl since I miss having a camera. Based on what I'm seeing and reading, the camera quality on the Pearl is a bit underwhelming. Now - I don't need a pro camera for toting about town, but it's nice to do a quick snap of my son at the park and know I would at least be able to print a decent looking 4x6.

I've looked at the N80, N73, the K790a, and the W810i. Out of those, I think I like the N73 best but those buggers are EXPENSIVE! If I can save a lot of cash, I may try the K790a even though it's only a tri-band. I don't travel internationally so the 900 MHz is not really an issue.

I think I've ruled out the N80 (probably more phone than I need) and the W810i (seems more geared toward music than pictures).
 
told ya .... N73 all the way....

N80 and N73 are actually same price... so its just a personal preference I think.

NOKIA is the way to go i think.
 
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