The Nokia N96 Tried & Tested

Once again and thanks to womworld for the trial supply i have another nokia on test - the n96, or as i like to call it (in homage to the amiga 500 chipset) fat agnus. You see i never really wanted to trial the n96 but rather the n85 as that might become my next videoblogger streaming camera purchase as my nokia n95 is getting a little clunky and the lack of hspda has always caused me pain.

I really wanted to sidestep the nokia n96 but in doing this review i am actually glad i got to have a little hands on with it before i make my decision about the nokia n85. What makes it really interesting to me is that i would have probably dived straight in for the nokia n85 purely based on two factors - the oled display (which btw on the nokia n96 is fab) and the 3.5g or hspda as we call it in europe.

The nokia n96 seemed like an exercise from nokia in showing what it was capable of with cramming in yet more bits of nosebleed technology (that the average user would not want) mainly to send a message to other companies. The one main reason i got really turned off about the n96 was because of the inclusion of dvb. I really really do not want to watch digital satellite tv on my mobile phone on a screen of that size. I wish mobile phone companies would spend time on improving the battery life on these devices and concentrate on making an effort about the eco concerns and footprint of the mobile device - nokia was such a leader in power when they first started. Admittedly with 3g/hsdpa taking a drain and the colour screen (oled is helping now) it is a problem. I do applaud nokia for using the same battery in the n96 thou as some previous models instead of creating yet another type.

If there is one thing i have learned from my nokia n95 is that less is more. The very first nokia n95 i had was an absolute failure and it was the first time i saw weakness with nokia. The firmware was untested and unfinished and symbian os was starting to look very slow as the mobile brain. Just recently with their entry into the touchscreen market with lots of other phone providers symbian os started to look very flaky to me. The only saving grace that the symbian os has (it still does it poorly) is the ability to have resident apps something that the apple iphone has to have in the next six months to a year really - the ability to update you easily from the very frontscreen regarding system features. I do like the ability to have qik running in the background on the nokia and have easy access to it.

So, just as a few bulletpoint areas of the nokia n96 that sprung out at me.

screen
i love the new screen on the n96 and presume this will be the standard from now on - the oled is sharp and crisp and looks good in daylight and presume this new screen saves a ton on power compared to the last one. that is why i think they kept the bl5f battery.

cosmetics
the actual look of the camera was a little bulky than i expect but still feels fairly solid, i actually like what they are trying to do with making it look/use more quality materials - the speakers are ok, tinny but look the part and sound crisp. You also find a dedicated button on the top to lock the phone - a little flick rocker that locks or unlocks it. they have re-positioned the line in mic to the top middle, makes sense to have it there rather than on the side.

Imagine this better for the external mic hack - not tested if this still works on the n96 but imagine it still does. Going around to the back i did not like the way the back came of, it was very awkward and the back plate seemed very flimsy. getting the sim in and out seemed to be a bit of a pain as well. The slide motion has a very definate clunk into position.

Nokia have really tried hard on the styling and the all in one black utilizing the transparent plastic strips almost works. i say almost because while they look good they feel cheap and sometimes awkward to press. Maybe a cost saving to try and make it one piece but i find the green and red buttons small and awkward to press in a hurry. the keypad however does feel it would be ok after a time. the quick jump menu button shoehorned between the cancel and red button could cause problems.

I do like how the big master button in the middle soft fades in and out. nice touch.

hspda and data
felt snappy and worked really well. i was impressed by the speed of finding the network over my n95 - feel like work has been done in this area.

camera and video
i really would have expected nokia to have pushed out some better software for the camera or even a new module for the camera - with other makers making some great lenses on mobiles now they really should be playing in that arena. the nokia family is very well used in videoblogging circles they really should be playing to their strengths in this arena. i'm not asking for 8 megapixels - i just want framerate, colours and taking a shot to be very fast and quick to load. taking a picture still feels like a chore.

conclusion
the nokia n96 was everything i expected it to be really, an experimental phone for a market that seems to be driven these days on specs and fashion items rather than feature set finely honed and battery concerns. Nokia cannot keep pumping out fashion phones stacked with features to make them stand out when the features do not perform as advertised. The iphone has major faults but the ease of use and swish and quicker os compared to the symbian in practice makes it a joy to use. I always feel these days with a nokia that i need my iphone backup.

It feels like a machine running windows. You never know if it will do what you hope it to do. Random rebooting and locking up in applications might not be the problem of nokia but they should have been developer routes into nokia. It is no longer about being a provider of phones - the experience needs to be reliable. the apps need to be testing and the os needs constant tweaking based on community feedback.

Will i buy another nokia? - i thought about the n85 and i have even thought about the new n97 with the 16:9 video support. Sounds wonderful but will i ever really be happy with another nokia until they change the os? - i personally think that symbian has seen better days and they are going to have to do a serious rewrite and include a better touchscreen experience to future models of phone to keep their position as one of the biggest shippers of mobile phones.