The Nokia N96 was possibly the most eagerly anticipated phone release of 2008. But that's partly because we'd been anticipating it for so long! Lengthy delays usually mean that the engineers struggled to deliver what the marketing boys promised, and there were plenty of signs of this when the N96 finally appeared in the shops.
But first of all, let's take the phone out of its box and just admire it, because it's a lovely piece of kit. It's big of course - slightly bigger even than the N95, and a touch heavier too - but it's not the heaviest phone ever. But putting that to one side, it's still a really nice phone to look at. It's smoother and curvier than the N95, and the buttons are less confusing.
Now, looking at the specs, it's hard to see why the N96 took such a long time to appear, because on paper it's not very different to the N95 8GB. The only significant differences are the upgrade of the Series 60 user interface from 3.1 to 3.2, the increase in flash memory from 8GB to 16GB, and the addition of Live TV. Yes, with an internal antenna and a DVB-H TV tuner, the Nokia N96 has been designed to let you watch telly on your phone. But unfortunately there is no DVB-H system broadcasting in the UK, so you can't! The good old BBC has made its iPlayer application compatible with the N96 however, so you can at least stream BBC TV and radio content to your phone, which is arguably more useful than watching broadcast TV anyway.
We noted above that the operating system has been upgraded. Well about time too, because we found the N95 to be slow and unreliable. The wholesale nokia n96 seems to be no more stable, and still freezes from time to time. Also, in our reviews of smartphones we always like to point out that if you're not familiar with the Symbian operating system, you'll find using a smartphone like the N96 much more of a challenge than using a mobile phone with a "dumb" OS.
The rest is the same as the N95 8GB:
Built-in GPS navigation with Nokia Maps application
5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss & Tessar optics
Secondary video camera for video calling
Wi-Fi wireless internet connection
2.8 inch display with 16 million colours - one of the largest and best screens available
Ultra-fast HSDPA data transfer (3.6 Mbps)
The camera is one of the best in any mobile phone. With 5 megapixels, autofocus and the Carl-Zeiss optics and Tessar lens, it can match most other phones. But already a new generation of 8 megapixel cameras has appeared (the Samsung i8510 is the first phone with 8 megapixels) and the dual LED flash is now also regarded as second best (the Nokia N82's xenon flash is more powerful), so it looks like Nokia missed a trick here. Still, the N96 has an undeniably good camera and a front-facing video camera too, for making video calls.
We'll also mention that Nokia have improved the built-in GPS navigation system so that you can now download maps for free, instead of having to pay for a licence.
Of course the N96 has almost everything else you could think of: a music player with support for all common music formats, a stereo FM radio with RDS and Visual Radio support, integrated handsfree speaker, speaker independent voice dialling, talking ringtones, HSDPA (enabling fast downloads at up to 3.6 Mbps) and lots more! The N96 has the full range of connectivity possibilities, with support for Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, Wireless LAN, TV-Out and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The memory upgrade to 16GB and support for microSD memory cards is very welcome too, for a device of this power.
There's one area where the N96 actually underperforms its predecessor though: battery life. Anyone who's used an N95 will know that its battery life wasn't fantastic. Well, the N96 is worse. With so many gadgets to power, the battery runs out of juice pretty quickly, and many users are going to find that they have to recharge on a daily basis.
It's hard to say whether the N96 is actually any better than the N95 that it replaced. It certainly hasn't been as successful commercially. Whilst Nokia was busy working on the N96, the market moved on and everyone wanted a touchscreen phone instead.
Features of the discount nokia n96 include:
- Series 60 Symbian interface (version 3.2)
- 5 megapixel camera (2592 x 1944 pixels) with Carl Zeiss optics, Tessar lens, autofocus, dual LED flash (auto redeye reduction), 20x digital zoom
- Video camera: MPEG4/3GP VGA video capture at 640 x 480 pixels and 30 frames/second with digital stereo microphone (AAC format) and 10x digital zoom
- Front camera for video calling: CIF resolution (352 x 288 pixels)
- Video and still image editors
- Display: TFT, 16 million colours, 240 x 320 pixels (2.8 inches)
- Live TV (DVB-H based mobile TV with internal antenna)
- Digital music player (supports MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA/M4A formats) with playlists and equalizer
- Stereo FM radio RDS with Visual Radio support
- Built-in GPS navigation with Nokia Maps application
- Speaker independent name dialing
- Voice commands
- Voice recorder
- Talking ringtone
- Integrated hands-free speaker
- Speed dialing
- Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email (support for attachments)
- Push to talk (PoC)
- Java games
- Advanced contacts database with support for multiple phone and e-mail details per entry
- Memory: 16 Gbytes plus microSD memory card slot
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, TV-Out, WLAN (802.11 b/g), 3.5 mm stereo headphone plug
- WAP, EGPRS class B, WCDMA/HSDPA (3.6Mb/s download)
- Quadband plus 3G
- Size: 103 x 53 x 20 mm
- Weight: 125g
- Talktime: 150 minutes (3G) - 220 minutes (2G)
- Battery standby: 200 hours
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