Nokia N95 8GB Review

Introduction:

Following the market success of Nokia N95, which became a hit with its combined all-in-one functionality, the Finnish company has launched N95 US and N95 8GB, the former model being intended above all to fill the market niche, that was created due to the lack of 3G capabilities in N95 in the USA. The latter model comes as an upgrade of N95, sporting, as its name suggests, an 8 GB in-built memory. Unfortunately, its 3G functionality is still not applicable in the USA, and it can only be used in Europe. Therefore, many of the Nokia fans in America will be let down again by the impossibility to benefit from the phone’s complete functionality.



The set contains:

Design:

One look at the phone is enough to make us realize that its colorscheme has been changed from grey to classic black. Another novelty themanufacturer deserves credit for is the expanded display from 2.6” inN95 to 2.8” in this model. On top of that, the display boasts increasedsharpness and contrast, compared to that of the original.




The expanded display has resulted in decreasing the size of the keys of the navigation keypad, which are also less spaced out. Although they are soft to press and give good tactile feedback, it sometimes happens that you press the wrong key.


Compared to N95, the multimedia keys that you see when you open the slide downwards, have good relief and give better tactile feedback. The backlight is changed, too – it’s white, rather than blue as in the original model. The keys of the numeric keypad, as well as those located on the right-hand side of the phone, are also backlit in white.

When we look at N95 8GB from its left-hand side, we see that it’s an exact replica of the original, save for the absence of a memory card slot. The phone’s right, upper and lower part have not undergone any change and the arrangement of the keys and the connectors is identical with that of N95.

The positioning of the camera has not changed, either: it is in the upper part of the phone’s back. The difference, however, is that the flash is under the lens and not on the right-hand side, like in N95. Another feature that is easy to notice is the lack of lens cover, which is probably due to the fact that Nokia have replaced the former 940 mAh battery with a new and thicker 1200 mAh one.


A lot of consumers weren’t keen on the make of the original N95 because of the materials it is made of, creating a feeling of a toy phone. In the 8GB version this is replaced by a rubber back and sides, which feel better to touch and also have an anti-slippery effect.

Interface:

N95 8GB uses Symbian 9.2 OS with S60 3rd edition feature pack 1, which is the same software version, used in the original. The variation here is the possibility to change the view of the icons in the main menu and the opportunity to set it in animated mode.



Phonebook, Organizer, & Messaging:

The Phonebook and Messaging menus have not been changed, only the Organizer has the additional function Share Online, which allows you to share your pictures or to write in a blog system via the websites Flickr and VOX.

Camera interface

Camera:

The camera is the one we are familiar with from N95: it’s 5-megapixel, with a LED flash and autofocus. The interface is identical with that of N95.

Although Nokia N95 8GB upgrades the N95 in some aspects, it has almost the same quality of the camera. Its images are very similar to those of the original one, with similar colors and detail. Also like the N95, here the pictures quality suffers from unrealistic color representations; the colors are unsaturated, grayish and with affinity to yellow and purple, which are marked stronger than the others. The detail and noise amount of two phones is almost identical and there isn’t clear winner also in this aspect. When it comes to shooting in darker environment (indoors for example) the results are also identical. If there is not enough light, there is lots of noise and the detail is blurred by the noise-reduction system. The flash isn’t improved which is a pity, considering the much more powerful Xenon one of the rival Sony Ericsson K850.



Music:

The sound volume of N95 8GB is the same as in the original model, which is not bad, keeping in mind that the original is one of the best-sounding phones (through its loudspeakers). Concerning the interface of the musical player, the only differences are, first, the play/pause key of the music player is activated though the D-Pad’s central position and not through the ‘up’ direction, as in N95; secondly, another visualization skin has been added, called Circles. Just like other recent models, Nokia N95 8GB features the function Music Store, enabling you to purchase your favorite tracks from the company’s music website.



Software:

Nokia N95 8GB comes with an built in N-Gage games platform which means, that you’ll no longer have to have a Nokia N-gage, in order to play such games. The platform itself offers a much better graphics compared to the regular mobile games that we are used to seeing, you’ll have the chance to enjoy the 3D mode, a better music background and a large number of the computer games producers, e.g. EA sports, shall be among the developers of the games from the N-gage platform. The games are characterized by good graphics, and the level of the gameplay is also high. Another possibility that the phone offers is to play online with your friends, no matter where in the world they are.

Performance:

Just like N95, N95 8GB also uses AMR 11 332 MHz processor, but its RАМ memory has been increased to 128 MB, compared to the 64 MB of N95. In spite of that, while we were using the device, we noticed frequent lag when we were scrolling the menus and unfortunately it wasn't rare when the phone was stuck or restarted on its own without any real reason. We hope those problems will be improved with newer firmware version.

One of the main complaints of the N95-owners was about the phone's battery live. According to Nokia, the N95 8GB's bigger battery improves the talk and standby times by 25%. The GPS performance remains unchanged and is similar to all other Nokia phones, due to the same chipset. It is highly desirable to use internet connection, so this way the GPS will be Assisted (AGPS) and will act faster.

As always, one of the most important things for a phone is the sound it delivers during a call. We are rather disappointed that the incoming sound is muffled, which makes the voices artificial, and that there is a background noise. While it is not very strong, it is still annoying. On the other side, the voices sound in similar way (slightly muffled) but without additional noise.

Conclusion:

N95 8GB is a really incredible device, combining all kinds of different functions. Compared to N95, this model has 8GB of memory and a 2.8-inch display. Being an all in one device, it is targeted at the high-tech consumers, who would like to have a smartphone with all extras and to people who need a powerful multimedia cameraphone. Obviously, apart from the pros, related to the large built-in memory, there are also cons, i.e. due to the unavailability of a memory card slot, the users of this phone would not be able to expand it in the future. This wouldn’t be a problem with the regular N95, equipped with a microSDHC slot, allowing for memory cards that can even exceed 8GB. It’s up to you whether you’d opt for a phone with a bigger display and bigger built-in memory or one with a microSDHC slot.