A Windows Mobile User Gone Symbian... (1/3)
Nokia N95 Smartphone (North America)
INTRODUCTION
I've heard a lot about
the Nokia N95. It seems to be very popular. None of
the carriers in North America have offered it to
their customers, however, Nokia has made a North
American version available which will get you 3G
internet access on the AT&T GSM/UMTS network. I
first got to play with an N95 at the Digital Life
Expo at the Javitt's Center in New York City this
year. One of the employees showed me the basics on
how to use it and showed off some cool features like
the web browser and camera. He asked when I was
going to review an N95, and I thought that would be
an interesting experiment.
(all images link to higher resolution)
Here we are at Digital Life Expo getting a quick demo of the N95.
I've been a Windows Mobile phone user since the GSM/GPRS Expansion pack was available for the iPAQ H3600 in 2002. I know very little about the Symbian S60 OS, so I expected that switching to the Nokia N95 would reveal some frustrations as well as some enjoyable revelations. If 72% of the smart phone market uses Symbian phones, they must be doing something right.
WHAT'S HOT
There's no denying, Nokia phones look
good. The N95 is no exception. While it is as thick
as the TyTN II, it's much shorter and still packs
just as many hardware specifications such as HSDPA,
WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. The N95 also has a
great 5MP camera with flash, but lacks a touch
screen and full Qwerty keyboard. It also includes
160Mb of internal memory and a removable 1Gb Micro
SD card. For a thorough rundown of specifications, check out PDAdb.net.
Device (no cover) |
Size (inches) |
Weight (grams | ounces) |
Nokia N95 |
3.90" x 2.10" x 0.80" |
120 | 4.23 |
4.01" x 1.97" x 0.78" |
110 | 3.88 |
|
4.40" x 2.32" x 0.75" |
190 | 6.70 |
|
4.69" x 2.40" x 0.85" |
196 | 6.91 |
|
4.40" x 2.50" x 0.50" |
120 | 4.23 |
|
4.60" x 2.60" x 0.50"
|
134 | 4.70
|
|
3.93" x 2.28" x 0.54"
|
112 | 3.95
|
|
4.29" x 2.32" x 0.67"
|
168 | 5.92
|
|
3.99" x 1.96" x 0.69"
|
140 | 4.93
|
|
4.96" x 2.65" x 0.57"
|
160 | 6.40
|
|
4.62" x 2.34" x 0.77"
|
165 | 5.82
|
|
4.40" x 2.50" x 0.50"
|
120 | 4.20
|
|
4.37" x 2.28" x 0.87"
|
154 | 5.40
|
|
4.40" x 2.30" x 0.90"
|
180 | 6.40
|
|
4.44" x 2.34" x 0.61"
|
146 | 5.14
|
|
4.33" x 2.52" x 0.45"
|
115 | 4.05
|
|
4.80" x 2.79" x 0.86"
|
160 | 6.40
|
|
4.37" x 2.28" x 0.86"
|
154 | 5.40
|
|
4.18" x 2.31" x 0.68"
|
150 | 5.30
|
|
4.25" x 2.28" x 0.64"
|
127 | 4.48
|
|
4.80" x 2.88" x 0.76"
|
186 | 6.56
|
|
4.60" x 2.79" x 0.82"
|
165 | 5.82 |
|
4.25" x 2.28" x 0.93"
|
160 | 5.64
|
|
4.92" x 2.81" x 0.71"
|
210 | 7.40
|
|
4.18" x 2.31" x 0.68"
|
150 | 5.30 |
|
4.70" x 2.90" x 0.70"
|
175 | 6.20
|
|
4.60" x 3.21" x 0.58"
|
138 | 4.80 |
|
5.17" x 3.03" x 0.59"
|
187 | 6.60
|
|
4.50" x 2.80" x 0.64"
|
158 | 5.57
|
WHAT'S IN
THE BOX
The Nokia N95 comes with a USB sync cable, AC
adapter, 3.5mm stereo headphones, 3.5mm stereo
headphone adapter with talk button/mic/volume
control, RCA video output cable, MicroSD-to-SD card
adapter, 1Gb Micro SD preloaded with sample
music/video content, cloth pouch,
software CD,
extensive
manual, and Getting Started guide.
The N95 comes with some great accessories.
THE DEVICE
The N95 has a VGA front facing camera for use with video phone calls as well as an ambient light sensor for automatically adjusting the screen brightness. You also see the handset speaker grill here.
Sliding the screen down reveals some media player buttons and turns the screen to landscape view orientation. It takes about 1.5 seconds to switch the screen orientation, so it's about the same as the HTC TyTN II in this respect.
Sliding the screen up reveals a numeric keypad for dialing numbers and entering text. You'll also see some hardware buttons on the lower part of the sliding screen piece. The center button and four way directional pad was pretty easy to figure out, but the others have very cryptic icons. The upper left and right buttons access the left and right softkey menus on the screen. The green and red colored buttons are call send and end respectively. The flat button to the left of the center d-pad toggles between the standby screen and programs listing. The flat button to the right of the center D-pad opens an animated U-shaped media menu that gives you access to things like the music player, video player, games, etc. The two buttons on the bottom were a mystery to me for the longest time since they don't do anything in general use. It turns out they only work when you're in a text field. The pencil button brings up a menu about working with the text, and the C button is a backspace key.
Of course it has built in GPS. The N95 also has internet network assisted global positioning which should help speed up the time-to-fix position acquisition time. It does not seem to work quite as quickly as the HTC TyTN II's assisted GPS, though.
On the left side, there's the left side speaker grill, 3.5mm headset/AV out jack, infrared port, and MicroSD slot.
At the bottom, is a charging port, microphone, Mini USB port, and lanyard hole. The Mini USB port unfortunately can not be used for charging the device.
The right side includes a camera button, media gallery button, volume control and the right speaker grill.
The top end only has a power button.
On the back is the 5 Megapixel Autofocus camera, with flash and battery cover.
When you plug a 3.5mm jack into the side, a menu comes up asking you to identify what type of interface is being used. You can choose Headset, Headphones, TV-out cable, or music stand. It would have been nice if it could automatically identify the different types of cables, but it's still pretty impressive that the headset jack can double as a TV-out port.
The microSD card slot is underneath a flap on the side. The N95 includes a 1Gb MicroSD card pre-loaded with some nice music and sample videos. The specifications say that it supports MicroSD cards up to 2Gb, however, I stuck my 6GB MicroSDHC card in there and it played my piles of WMA music synced from Windows Mobile just fine. So don't assume you're limited to 2Gb.
The SIM card slot is underneath the battery. There's a small metal clip that holds it in place. The battery capacity is 1000mAh.
Here you'll see from left to right, the Qtek 8500, Nokia N95, HTC P3300, and HTC TyTN II.
From top to bottom: Qtek 8500, Nokia N95, HTC TyTN II, and HTC P3300.
THE CAMERA
The camera on the N95 is really impressive. While
we're not talking about the quality of a stand alone
digital camera, it's definitely beyond your average
camera phone. At 5MP, the noise you'll get from such
a small sensor is much less noticeable.
Here's a high contrast shot taken during my stay in the Yucatan. There is loss of detail in the blown out highlights and shadows, but plenty of detail in the midtones. Of course you can't expect it to have a great dynamic range.
Outdoors, the camera does quite well. It could use a bit more contrast and the colors still seem a bit camera-phone-flat.
