Nokia N95 Review
By Mike Kobrin
April 7th, 2008
Summary
We got our hands on an unlocked Nokia N95, and we're impressed with many things about it. This Symbian-based multimedia phone lacks a touchscreen or QWERTY keyboard, focusing more on music, video, and photos. It's also a wireless Swiss Army knife, with 3G (HSDPA) support, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, infrared, and an FM radio. Some of the on-board software is trialware, but uploaders for Flickr, YouTube, and Atom-enabled blogs make the N95 a multimedia blogging powerhouse. And you can download lots more apps and games over the air. Although the N95 can be a satisfying phone, its hefty $699 USD list price and lack of a full keyboard may turn off PDA/smartphone seekers.
(Note that this is not the version with 8GB of built-in memory; it has a microSDHC slot instead.)
Full Review
Features and Design
The N95 is built around a 2.6-inch 240 x 320-pixel LCD and a unique bidirectional slider that exposes an alphanumeric keypad if you slide up or multimedia playback controls if you slide down. The slider seems sturdy enough, though the phone's light weight (4.2 ounces) makes it feel a bit plasticky and cheap, despite the sky-high price. The most conspicuous things missing are a touchscreen and a QWERTY keyboard, at least one of which will disappoint smartphone fans.
Set into the nonslip-coated back (available in black, red, or bronze) are a Carl Zeiss camera lens and flash hooked up to a very un-phone-like 5-megapixel sensor. Above the screen next to the earpiece is a secondary camera and light sensor for self-portraits, though it's limited to 352 x 288 resolution. Buttons beneath the screen include a D-pad, send/end, clear, and two virtual keys, as well as shortcuts to New Text Message, the applications menu, and the main menu. On the left side are a speaker, an infrared sensor (for IR "beaming" from PDAs), a microSDHC slot, and our favorite feature: a standard 1/8th-inch headphone jack that doubles as a TV output. Another speaker, a photo review button, volume controls (which are a bit too small), and a camera shutter button are on the other side.
The internal specs include a 332MHz TI OMAP2420 processor, 160MB of internal storage memory, and 64MB of RAM. Wireless goodies are as follows: an FM tuner (!), 802.11b/g wireless LAN, UPnP (for streaming phone content to compatible devices), stereo Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, and a Texas Instruments NaviLink GPS chip.
The N95 works with GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and WCDMA (850/1900 MHz) networks.(Sorry, Verizon customers--no CDMA). Although the N95 didn't support 3G networks in the US when it came out, the current version does. That's good news for Web browsing, blogging, and many other features that previously relied on the slower EDGE network.
Software
Aside from the Symbian 9.2 operating system, the N95 has on-board utilities like QuickOffice (an MS Office document reader; upgrade required for editing), a PDF reader, a voice recorder, a file-zipper, and a barcode reader. The phone also comes with a Web browser, Nokia Maps (for the GPS feature), RealPlayer, and Adobe Flash player, as well as players for music, photos, and videos. You get a handful of games, too, including Snakes, Pool, and Sudoku.
Nokia's software suite includes a Lifeblog app that lets you post directly to Atom-enabled blogging tools like LiveJournal and TypePad from the N95. For a complete list of compatible blogging tools and services, click here. From within the camera's photo review app, you can access uploaders for Flickr and Vox, which comes in extremely handy for photo-sharing enthusiasts.
Nokia also included applets for direct access to YouTube, Reuters, and Jamster videos. You can also download widgets for tons more services and like Amazon, a YouTube uploader, Yahoo Go, and Nokia Mail for Exchange, as well as alternative GPS software.
Accessories
The package includes an AV cable (RCA audio, composite video), a USB 2.0 cable, earbuds, carrying pouch, and an AC charger. It also comes with an inline wired remote, which has a call send/end button, play/pause and track skip controls, and volume buttons, as well as a hold switch, integrated shirt clip, and microphone. Nokia even throws in a 1GB microSD card and SD adapter.
Since the N95 supports Bluetooth, you can purchase an optional wireless keyboard as a workaround for the phone's lack of QWERTY keyboard.
Interface
The main screen has network, service, and battery indicators plus time and date info along the top. Below that is a shortcut bar for quick access to contacts, messaging, date/time, Web, multimedia gallery, and Nokia Maps (a GPS navigator). The rest of the screen is for reminders for calendar entries and email, as well as WLAN status. One thing we like is that the screen re-orients itself to landscape mode when you slide open the multimedia controls.
The multimedia and main menu buttons are labeled with incomprehensible symbols, but the menus themselves are clear and easy to navigate. The alphanumeric keypad feels excellent under our thumb, but the buttons on the front have a bit too much play, and we occasionally pushed the multimedia or main menu buttons while operating the directional pad. One thing to be aware of when typing in text on the keypad: "0" is the space bar, not "#" as it is on many other models.
The overall speed of the interface is satisfyingly quick, though we did experience lags while the screen reoriented itself after sliding it.
Phone Functions
We tested the N95 with a SIM card from AT&T in New York, Las Vegas, and New Orleans. On our end, call quality was very good, despite occasional gaps in AT&T's coverage. The people we talked to reported excellent clarity even when we were walking the noisy streets of Manhattan in windy weather. The speakerphone worked exceptionally well, thanks to the phone's powerful and clear built-in speakers and sensitive microphone. When we used the wired remote as a mic, our friends reported good if slightly distant-sounding audio.
SMS messaging works very well (albeit with a conventional keypad) and is accessible via a shortcut from the main screen or the button on front with a pencil icon. We also had no trouble sending MMS video messages, though the phone's video call feature doesn't work in the U.S. The email client handles IMAP4 and POP3 mail very well, including our Yahoo Mail Plus, though it's not a "push" system like Blackberry mail, and you can't search mail.
AV Playback
The N95's music player supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, and WMA files, as well as Real's OM-DRM and Microsoft's WM DRM 10. We had no problems loading music onto the device via an 8GB microSD card, and the music player found our files quickly. The audio quality is good, though the bass output could be stronger. We're extremely happy that the phone has a standard 3.5-mm jack, and the built-in speakers are surprisingly loud and clear even at max volume. The FM tuner's sensitivity is excellent: We picked up even fringe stations like 88.3 (WBGO) in New York City -- as long as we had the headphones plugged in, since they act as the antenna.
The video player supports MPEG-4, H.264/AVC, H.263/3GPP, RealVideo 8/9/10 formats. We loaded videos we converted using Nokia's Video Converter, including a clip from the beginning of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Everything played back smoothly, albeit visibly pixilated, but with good color and well-synced audio. TV output (via the headphone jack) is at 640 x 480, which looks fine on a CRT TV, but not so hot on an HDTV.
Image Courtesy of Nokia
Camera
The integrated Carl Zeiss lens has a fixed focal length of 5.6 mm (zoom is digital only) and takes excellent JPEGs at up to 5 megapixels (2592 x 1944 pixels), with very little noise and good sharpness. The flash is just an LED, but it has a decent usable range for indoor close-ups at around 10 feet. The autofocus is fairly quick, though the shutter click comes well before the flash goes off and the image is captured, causing us to miss many candid moments. A handful of on-board editing and slide show options, and direct links to Flickr and Vox make sharing your photos a breeze.
The video camera captures 30 frames per second in MP4 (default) or 3GPP format (for MMS) at 640 by 480 pixels. We love the smoothness of the tracking thanks to the stabilization feature, especially compared with that of the AT&T Tilt's camcorder, and the white balance adjusted reasonably quickly for different lighting. Our test videos were surprisingly clear and free of excessive noise. Audio recording in stereo AAC format is very clear as well, and you can edit your movies right on the phone and upload them to YouTube or your Atom-compatible blog.
WiFi
Web browsing and is speedy on 3G (HSDPA), though we got noticeably better performance via WiFi and a cable modem connection. Nokia's built-in OSS browser had trouble with some Flash-based sites, though it does do Flash Lite 3.0, and we often ran into Java-related browser compatibility issues when surfing. We were able to upload our videos and photos (all under 10MB each) to our blog with surprising speed over the 3G network. But along with email and text messaging, Web browsing would really benefit from a full keyboard.
You can also connect the N95 to your computer via infrared, Bluetooth, or USB to use it as a cellular modem. Streaming video, photos, and audio on your home network runs over the Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol, which is supported by a handful of devices as well as Windows Media Player 11.
GPS
The built-in GPS receiver easily located us in New York City. The on-screen turn-by-turn directions use Nokia Maps, which provides 2D/3D views and route preview with voice guidance. If you want voice-guided directions in real time, you'll need to fork over $11.81 a month or $91.93 a year on top of your voice and data plan. The points of interest database is fairly large, and you can call up plenty of trip stats. The GPS also works with optional navigation apps like Where, Slifter, CellFire, and Earthcomber.
Bluetooth
We easily paired the N95 with our Etymotic ety8 and JBL Reference 610 Bluetooth headphones or our Samsung Bluetooth speaker, and we didn't hear any flaws other than those inherent in Bluetooth. You can also transfer files and contacts wirelessly and connect wireless keyboards for a much better typing experience.
Battery
With so many wireless features, the N95's battery runs out quickly. You can conserve by shutting off WiFi and Bluetooth when you're not using them. But realistically you'll need to charge the N95 every day to a day and a half if you're using all those features. (We were able to kill the battery in under 5 hours.) For what it's worth, Nokia rates the battery at about 3.5 hours talk time for WCDMA or nearly 7 hours for WCDMA, as well as 250 hours of standby (with wireless features disabled).
Conclusion
It may not have a touchscreen or QWERTY keyboard, but the N95 is well-suited to multimedia lovers who don't want to lug a laptop around. Of course, if you're doing any real text blogging, you'll definitely need a Bluetooth keyboard. The included 1GB microSD card also isn't really enough to hold all your media plus photos and video captured on the phone; we found an 8GB SanDisk microSD card really did the trick.
The N95's $699 list price is intimidating, however, and although the phone sells on the Web for hundreds less, we wish carriers subsidized the price. If you're more into PDA functions and need a full keyboard, check out the AT&T Tilt, which also sports a touchscreen.
Pros:
• 3.5-mm headphone jack
• Built-in WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth
• Excellent still/video camera with flash and autofocus
• Great blogging tools
Cons:
• No QWERTY keyboard or touchscreen
• Slider opens too easily in pocket
• Features drain battery life quickly
Specs
Features Cell Phone Type Camera, Digital Player, FM Radio, GPS, Push to Talk, TV, Bluetooth, MP3, Video
Cell Network Technology WCDMA, GSM
Wireless Technology Infrared, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Supported Memory MicroSD
Megapixels 5.0 Megapixels
Talk Time 6.5 hrs.
Standby Time 9.5 days
Operating System Symbian OS 9.2, Series 60 3.1 Edition
Screen Size 2.6 in.
Supported Media Format WMA, AAC, MP3
Key Functions Digital Camera, Digital Player, Radio
Connector Types Headset jack, Data port, Pop-Port, Mini-phone 3.5 mm
Messaging MMS
Additional Features Push-to-talk Mode, Pictbridge Direct Printing, Tv Link
Antenna Style Integrated
Colors Silver, Deep Plum
Digital Camera Yes
Included Accessories Headset
Included Functions two digital cameras / digital player / FM radio / GPS receiver
Network Technology WCDMA (UMTS), GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Voice Dialing Yes
Vibrating Alert Yes
Digital Camera Features Digital Zoom 10 X
White Balance Automatic, Presets
Display Display Features Wallpaper, Screensaver
Display Type LCD
Display Resolution 240 x 320 Pixels
Display Color(s) White
Display Color Support Color
General Product Info Height 3.9 in
Width 2.1 in
Depth 0.8 in
Weight 4.2 oz