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Nokia N96 Review
PA rating
Nokia N96 Review
Published on: 19 September, 2008 by PhoneArena Team
Performance:
The N96 retains the same 128MB RAM/256MB ROM found on the N95 8GB, but upgrades the processor from the 332MHz ARM 11 found on the original to Dual CPU ARM 9 running at just 2x264MHz.
We got rave reviews about how clear we were, with our typical test caller saying we sounded the best we ever had.
Our end was not nearly as good, however. We’re not quite sure how to describe it, because we had no issues understanding the caller and his voice tone was normal, but he sounded distant and for lack of a better word muddled, like there was a handkerchief over the earpiece. Speakerphone performance was admirable as well. Our caller said we sounded more tinny and hollow, but he could still hear us well enough and on our end it was clear and coherent. It’s plenty loud for most settings.
We were not able to run our own tests, but according to Nokia the battery life is actually decreased from 5 hours of talk time on the N95 8GB down to a mere 3.66 hours on the N96. It is listed at 14 hours of music playback or 5 hours of video (4 hours of DVB-H TV.)
Conclusion:
On the whole we are impressed with the N96. It offers noteworthy upgrades to its forerunner, such as the DVB-H tuner (not usable in the States) and 16GB of internal memory with further expansion, and the design is also greatly refined. Running S60 Feature Pack 3 gives the N96 the flexibility to handle most anything the user throws at it. With an overall capacity of 28GB of memory (and theoretical capacity for 48GB) and a large screen it serves as a worthy PMP replacement. The camera and camcorder on the whole was very good, and would do as an everyday point and shoot.
Our real gripe is with the fit and finish of the phone. Though it is improved over the N95, the key layout is still cramped and we’re not a fan of the materials used. The white backlighting seeps out of cracks on the front cluster so much that it resembles a cheap knockoff in the dark. No matter how you spin it the N96 is fat; it’s too wide in our hands and too thick in our pocket and the simple way to remedy this is to remove the slider and keypad.
Nokia is definitely moving in the right design direction and as far as function goes the N96 still on the short list of premium devices, but we’d recommend US users wait until the North American version is released, which will support 3G on this side of the pond. With the likes of Samsung, Apple and HTC nipping at their heels with converged devices that take form just as seriously as function, Nokia seems to have taken more of a lateral step than pushing forward with innovation. Of course, the same could be said of Apple.
We got rave reviews about how clear we were, with our typical test caller saying we sounded the best we ever had.
Our end was not nearly as good, however. We’re not quite sure how to describe it, because we had no issues understanding the caller and his voice tone was normal, but he sounded distant and for lack of a better word muddled, like there was a handkerchief over the earpiece. Speakerphone performance was admirable as well. Our caller said we sounded more tinny and hollow, but he could still hear us well enough and on our end it was clear and coherent. It’s plenty loud for most settings.
We were not able to run our own tests, but according to Nokia the battery life is actually decreased from 5 hours of talk time on the N95 8GB down to a mere 3.66 hours on the N96. It is listed at 14 hours of music playback or 5 hours of video (4 hours of DVB-H TV.)
Conclusion:
On the whole we are impressed with the N96. It offers noteworthy upgrades to its forerunner, such as the DVB-H tuner (not usable in the States) and 16GB of internal memory with further expansion, and the design is also greatly refined. Running S60 Feature Pack 3 gives the N96 the flexibility to handle most anything the user throws at it. With an overall capacity of 28GB of memory (and theoretical capacity for 48GB) and a large screen it serves as a worthy PMP replacement. The camera and camcorder on the whole was very good, and would do as an everyday point and shoot.
Our real gripe is with the fit and finish of the phone. Though it is improved over the N95, the key layout is still cramped and we’re not a fan of the materials used. The white backlighting seeps out of cracks on the front cluster so much that it resembles a cheap knockoff in the dark. No matter how you spin it the N96 is fat; it’s too wide in our hands and too thick in our pocket and the simple way to remedy this is to remove the slider and keypad.
Nokia is definitely moving in the right design direction and as far as function goes the N96 still on the short list of premium devices, but we’d recommend US users wait until the North American version is released, which will support 3G on this side of the pond. With the likes of Samsung, Apple and HTC nipping at their heels with converged devices that take form just as seriously as function, Nokia seems to have taken more of a lateral step than pushing forward with innovation. Of course, the same could be said of Apple.
Pros
- One of the best converged devices on the market
- Music player is well laid out and sounds great
- Camera and especially video are very good
- Outgoing sound quality was top notch
Cons
- Its design is blah; the device is big and the materials are only ok
- Keypad is pretty lousy
- Side buttons can be hard to operate
PA rating 
- Excellent
- out of 10
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