Nokia N95 Review

We review the N95 from Nokia, a beast of a phone with a wealth of cutting edge features

Everyone was very excited about getting the N95 in the office. Oooh, it’s got GPS, a 5-megapixel camera, a Video Centre, Lifeblog access, Wi-Fi connectivity and every other kind of application you could possibly wish for on your mobile phone, as well as some you’d never even dreamt of. But despite all the bells and whistles, I had my doubts about whether it would live up to the hype.

The N95 is a phone that aims to deliver a fantastic multimedia experience, and the innovative double-slide action is testament to this. Sliding the phone’s front panel upwards gives the user access to the conventional and easy-to-use keypad; sliding the phone downwards reveals controls for the Multimedia player and immediately rotates the phone’s screen to a landscape view.

The Multimedia section of the phone’s menu also has its very own special button located to the right of the directional keys. Whereas the Main Menu’s interface is set out in the Series 60’s usual tabbed manner, the multimedia section is set on a 3D wheel that spins round as you tab up/down or left/right to access different options - very swish.

With such a large screen, the N95 lets users enjoy a great Internet experience. Wi-Fi capabilities make getting online simple and much more cheaply than going via your network provider. Applications like Maps, Video Centre and the Lifeblog add new dimensions to the mobile web experience, ensuring that the N95 is up there with the more complicated smart phones in terms of Internet usability.

Sound on the speakerphone is clear, but unless you really want to annoy your fellow bus passengers you are best off investing in some decent headphones as the bundled set are pretty poor and fail to do justice to the Music Player. You may not want to be listening to tunes on the N95 too much either, as its battery life is not great. The wealth of applications suck all power out of the device, and if you are using the Maps application or Music player regularly, you will need to recharge almost every day.

The camera does take excellent images thanks to all those megapixels and the quality is reflected in the amazing 2.6-inch colour screen. All the usual camera effects are in place, and the N95 also features a secondary camera on the front of the phone for video calling. Pictures in natural light came out looking spectacular and when viewed on a larger screen still looked fantastic. Saved images and videos are also viewed on a 3D wheel-style gallery, adding to the overall slickness of the N95.

As with all modern mobile phones there are a number of applications that are particularly difficult to use. It took a good while to get to grips with the Video Centre application and after a long hard slog, it is still unclear who would use this feature on an everyday or even a weekly basis.

A number of applications available on the N95 are rendered redundant by a lack of support from UK networks. The Visual Radio function which enable users to access an interactive element to their radio experience can only be used with one network provider in the UK (O2) and group calling is also a no-no at present. This makes the N95 a real beast of technology unable to fulfill its potential as of yet.

As the mobile phone market moves faster chances are, if and when these applications are ever supported, a bigger and better phone will have left the N95 languishing in the bottom drawer. Nevertheless it’s a powerful and stylish phone that lays down a marker for future models in the forthcoming Nokia portfolio.

Nokia N95 technical specifications.

 

 

User's Comments

Re: Nokia N95 Review Posted by mobilephones on Jun 6, 2008 Got great functions, a little big but every 3G smart phone is. Also mine was a bit buggy, used to freeze if I pushed it too hard, it couldn't keep up with my fingers! Defo gonna get the Nokia N96 though

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