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Nokia N96 Reviews - It’s A Speed Demon

antantnz — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:42:41 +0000

If you’ve ever tried to transfer data onto or off of your Nokia N95 via the USB cable you’ll know that it’s a very slow process … and by slow, we mean sloooooooooooowwwwwwwwww.

So it’s refreshing to see that one of the lesser reported aspects on the Nokia N96 is that finally this issue has been resolved and the Nokia N96 is much much quicker at transferring data over USB.

How much quicker? Over at The Nokia Guide they’ve done a really interesting test of the Nokia N96’s transfer speeds.

The old Nokia N95 had a transfer speed of a staggering 0.8MB/s … by contrast, the Nokia N96 has an average transfer speed of 8.5MB/s … now that is one amazing improvement!!

This is fantastic use for anyone seriously considering using the Nokia N96 as part of their multimedia world … transferring those latest tv episodes or movies has just become a whole lot quicker and easier.

Heard over to TheNokiaGuide to read the full article.

Nokia N96 Camera Review - Fast Focus

antantnz — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:17:47 +0000

N96 Camera

The Nokia’s N96 Camera is one of the more important factors in a person’s decision to buy or not buy. When the Nokia N95 first came out it was almost unheard of to have a 5MP camera on a phone.

Yet, 18 or so months later when the Nokia N96 was released with … well, a 5MP camera, there were already phones here or soon to be here with 8MP cameras - take for example the Sony Ericsson C905 or the Samsung i8510. And if you’ve read other articles on this blog, you’ll know not to get me started talking about the lack of a Xenon flash.

So what can we say about the camera on the Nokia N96. Well, essentially it’s much the same as that on the Nokia N95s. Of course, it comes with a dual LED flash and is lacking the lens cover of the original N95. So in many ways it is essentially the same but just with a few subtle differences.

One thing I’ve always found tricky with my N95 is the focus … at times you get perfectly focused photos … and other times you don’t. And it could be a photo you’ve taken just 10 seconds after you took the first one.

Is the Nokia N96 any better? Well, it appears that it is faster at focusing, but that the focusing can still be a little bit random.

CJ over at http://zomgitscj.blogspot.com/ has posted a really good article in which he took lots of photos with the Nokia N96. His overall conclusion is :

Personally I love that the camera focuses alot faster than my N82 and my previous N95-1. However, the results dont “Wow” me. I’d say the daytime picture capabilities of the N96 are on par, if not a little worse, than the N95-1 and N95-8GB models. Somehow, I have the feeling that my N82 would have taken much better pictures under similar conditions. Maybe its a better image processing algorithm compared to the N96. I’ll save that verdict for my upcoming N82 vs N96 camera comparison.

Now from what I can see he hasn’t done his N82 vs N96 comparison yet, and I’ll be sure to let you know when he does.

The article has a lot, and I do mean a lot! of photos taken with the Nokia N96. If you’ve used a Nokia N95 then there won’t be too many surprises in what you see, but it’s definitely worth a look.

I think the best news is that it focuses faster … but clearly, there is still some room for improvement.

Nokia N96 Reviews - Battery Life

antantnz — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:32:47 +0000

As promised, in Day 4 of our Nokia N96 Reviews series we will look at battery life.

Firstly, apologies, I know Day 3 was a rather long time ago … nevermind, we’re back and able to carry on with our series!

So then, battery life … when the Nokia N96 specs were first released there was a lot of debate over battery life. Many people struggled with the battery life of the original Nokia N95. Personally, I never found it tooooo bad for normal everyday use (i.e. using it as a phone) … but if you ever wanted to make use of the full features of the phone (watch videos, take photos, listen to music and make calls) it could quite easily drain through the battery quite quickly.

My personal belief is that the many firmware upgrades available for the Nokia N95-1 since release have served to better battery life. But you know, it’s the age of old issue of if you have a high tech phone you want to use it to its full advantage - not say “well I can’t do that it might kill the battery”.

So then, we’ve looked at some speculation, now, what is the real deal on battery life on the Nokia N96.

The Guru over at Symbian-Guru.Com was lucky enough to spend some time with a Nokia N96. He found that with the updated software you are able to squeeze more out of an N96 battery than you could with the N95-1 … but I think he sums it up quite well when he says this :

It seems to me that Nokia could have avoided the hassle of having to convince people that the power management is there, and could have easily eliminated alot of the negative press going around with the N96, if they’d only used this larger battery.

Please note that I’m not saying it was a tragedy to use this smaller battery, or that I think, for a non-power user, it’s really a complete dealbreaker. I’m only saying that it seems Nokia would have been better off succumbing to the users and putting the bigger battery in there from the get-go.

So then … battery life … where do we stand?

Based on the article, if you are a reasonably normal user then you are going to make it through the day very easily without having to charge your phone. If you’re a power user - i.e. if you’re watching lots of videos or listening to lots of music then, you are probably still going to make it through the day - just. But you are going to be better off if you keep a spare charger at work just in case.

And you will be hoping that Nokia puts more consideration into bigger batteries. Saving power through better software is one thing, but having a bigger battery will always feel like the better option.

Nokia N96 Reviews - Follow Up To Yesterday

antantnz — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:00:29 +0000

In Day 3 of our Nokia N96 Reviews week we post a bit of a followup to yesterday’s article in which we read some unflattering comments in a review of the N96.

The interesting thing is that the followup article (by a different poster on a different site) both agrees and disagrees with the post we discussed yesterday.

Dotsix at Symbian-Guru.Com has written about his Joy and Sorrow of using the Nokia N96. After just one day he was back to using his E71. But why?

Firstly, he did disagree with some of what Whatley had said.

In my opinion, the N96 is very well built. Although not E66-like, the slider is miles ahead of the N95, a bit more solid than the N95 8GB, and also more solid than the 2 N85s I’ve had in my hand so far.

Sounds promising. Some other areas where this reviewer has formed their own thoughts :

He enjoys the D-Pad design and doesn’t have any problem with starting music when you don’t want to.
Battery life seems ok for him … other than one unexpected complete discharge, the battery life appears to be on the same level as the N95 8GB.

However, the plasticy feel of the N96 is again mentioned as a downpoint. And the main bugbear for Dotsisx is the firmware which he is clearly not happy with. The things that bug him most :

the buggy nature of the out-of-the-box software
the lack of a way to tell users to notify that they need to upgrade their firmware
the fact that firmware updates aren’t released for all product codes at the same time

Ok then, so what is Dotsisk’s conclusion :

As a final word, yes, there are some touches of genius in the Nokia N96 … [but] I can’t recommend the N96 to anyone, even my enemies if I had any. I’ll update my thoughts when I update my firmware.

Interesting stuff. So from this person’s point of view it seems hardware ok but software leaves a lot to be desired. It’s worth reading the full article to get the full flow of his thoughts.

Tomorrow … tomorrow I have a feeling we’ll be looking at battery life. Stay tuned.

Nokia N96 Reviews Continue - “Nokia, What ARE You Doing?”

antantnz — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:00:36 +0000

As our Nokia N96 reviews week continues, you’ll remember that yesterday I promised that today we’d be looking at a review that wasn’t so fond of the Nokia N96. Today I deliver as we explore Whatley’s review over at MobileIndustryReview.Com .

Although I haven’t read much of Whatley’s articles before, in the beginning he points that he is a big Nokia fan … however, the Nokia N96 has managed to frustrate him.

Using the Nokia N96 has to be THE MOST challenging experience of my entire life. Forget The Crystal Maze. Cast aside the Krypton Factor. If you want a true test of mental strength and stamina then I urge you to go out and purchase this handset at once.

Yes. It’s actually that bad.

Crikey, this sounds interesting!

Right then, lets look at what Whatley’s pain points are.

The long length of time (8 months) between announcement and release, seemingly without many (any) changes being made to the phone while Nokia released arguably more modern phones in the form of the N85, N79, N81 and the touch-screen 5800.
The fact that it already needed a firmware update right out of the box. [Personally, I think it is good that updates are already available, it shows that they are trying to make the experience better ... but does Joe Public actually make use of them?].
Look and feel of the handset - plasticy and badly placed buttons … also the flush buttons.
Of course, the battery.

Overall his opinion is that at this point in time the Nokia N95 8GB is still a better phone, and he doesn’t recommend buying a Nokia N96. Although, he does like the screen - it’s not all bad!

If this is the only review you’ve read of the Nokia N96, well, it might put you off the phone. However, we strongly suggest you read the other reviews which you can find in our Nokia N96 reviews category. Here at N96Blogs we believe in presenting all opinions - both good and bad.

Tomorrow we’ll look at what is a bit of a second opinion on Whatley’s comments.

Nokia N96 Reviews - N96 Reviews Everywhere

antantnz — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:00:27 +0000

I thought it was only a matter of time and I was right, the Nokia N96 reviews have started rolling thick and fast. On the Nokia N96 blogs that I monitor there’s been a number of reviews posted lately. Some in favour of the N96, and some perhaps a little harsh. But the great thing about the blogging world is that everybody is free to share their opinions and we are left free to make up our own mind on whether we agree or disagree.

So over the coming days (possibly weeks) I will be highlighting what I believe to be the most interesting of these reviews.

The first review that we be looking at comes from Steve over at AllAboutSymbian.Com . Steve is a well respected writer in the Nokia blog world and indeed I’ve referenced some of his articles before.

So what does Steve have to say in his Nokia N96 Review?

His “20 second summary” is as follows :

In case you’re in a hurry, I can summarise my entire Nokia N96 review in two one word answers.

Q. Is the N96 as bad as some critics have made it out to be? No.

Q. So is the N96 as good as Nokia’s mammoth marketing push would have you believe? No.

So it’s clear from that the the Nokia is a good phone, just perhaps not quite as good as the hype would have had us believe. Lets look into this a bit further.

Like myself, Steve is based in the UK and so for him one of the best features in the fact that BBC iPlayer is incorporated in the package. Steve believe’s that this is perhaps the biggest difference between the Nokia N96 and the Nokia N95 8GB - tv on demand. That’s great if like us you’re based in the UK, but if you’re not, and you don’t live somewhere with the DVB-H tv broadcast, the reasons for upgrading are perhaps a little less compelling.

Other good points that Steve is keen on :

the extra memory
hardware based video audio decoders using less battery power
lock / unlock key on top of the phone

Things that he’s not so keen on :

small battery
lack of Xenon flash
crowded key area on the front of the phone

Overall his conclusion is that its a good phone, and although not perfect yet, he has no doubt that upcoming firmware upgrades will help remove a lot of the troublesome issues experienced so far. However, he believes that Nokia could have done more to help it earn the flagship status that Nokia hype would have us believe.

Head on over to read his full review with lots of awesome pictures.

Meanwhile on N96Blogs.Com, our next review will be one of the ones that is slightly more critical of the Nokia N96 … stay tuned!

Nokia N96 NAM USA Pricing & Release Update

antantnz — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:13:47 +0000

As election day in America begins, just a quick update on yesterday’s article about the Nokia N96 now being available in America.

Thanks to Symbian-Guru we are happy to report that there are a couple of more confirmed options for those in the USA wanting to purchase the N96.

According to the article :

As stated yesterday, Nokia flagship stores are selling the phone for $842.
Best Buy stores are stocking the phone for $799.99.
Amazon is listing a pre-order price of $705.99 … although there may be a wait involved with this.

And that’s all for today folks … if you’re voting, hope it goes well!

And if you’re off to buy a Nokia N96, well, something tells me you’ll never forget what day you brought it on.

Nokia N96 Released In America

antantnz — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:52:59 +0000

As most of America (and the world) waits to see who will win the election on Tuesday, Nokia lovers are already enjoying a changed world with the news that the Nokia N96 is now available in America.

PlanetN96 reports that the phone is now available in America at the Nokia flagship stores. The price they give is $842, which means it is roughly equivalent to the UK price based on the current(ish) exchange rate. (To be honest, the exchange rate has changed so much lately it’s hard to tell!).

With a large proportion of visitors to this blog coming from Amercia I know there will be many people happy that this day has finally arrived, so if you’re in New York or Chicago you’ve probably already popped down to your local store. As described in an earlier post , the phone is not all that different than other worldwide versions apart from the obvious difference is frequency etc..

For those of you not lucky enough to live in New York or Chicago, the normal array of subsidised phones & plans etc are apparently now available from normal stockists.

It always seems such a shame you have to wait longer than those on the European side of the world … I hope you enjoy the phone, and if you have any feedback, let us know!

Nokia N96 : N-Gage Battery Life On The N96 - Help?!

antantnz — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:42:36 +0000

Always one to try and help out readers where I can, I received a comment from Dave from Australia.

Dave quite rightly points out about how fast the battery life goes down on the Nokia N95, especially when playing N-Gage. So he wants to know what the battery consumption is like when playing N-Gage on the Nokia N96.

Do you have any experience of this? Know how long the battery life lasts while playing the Nokia N96, or just how long it lasts in general? Let us know by posting a comment on this article … see below for Dave’s query.

Hey, the names dave and i own a Nokia N95, the first australian version which uses a BL-5F battery. The battery life so shocking when i use my phone. On average days it usually lasts the day, but when music is playing (whether loud-speaker or headphones) or if i’m using the camera, or surfing the net, the battery just dies within the day.

Now that i have N-gage games on my phone, i’m playing it for usually 30 mins to hour, sometime for longer , at which point i’m left with only 1 bar left.

My inquiry is that, you say the battery life is great with music, photos and internet on the N96, but what of the battery consumption of the N-Gage application on the N96?

I’d be very interested on your verdict. You can contact me at my email address which is **removed** .Thank you in advance for you help =]

Nokia N96 Indestructible! Survives Two Storey Fall!

antantnz — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:00:33 +0000

As always seems to be the case when new Nokia’s come there’s always a few questions about build quality and suggestions that it could be better. Actually, i think that’s not just Nokia phones though, that’s everything.

So what would you expect to happen if you dropped your brand new Nokia N96 two storeys? Would your camera / music player / calendar / email device / phone survive the fall? Or would you be left devastated that your brand new item was nothing more than a pile of broken plastic?

Believe it or not, someone has dropped their phone two storeys … although not on purpose! If you’ve ever felt that fear when your phone slides out of your hand accidently, well, that’s exactly what happened to Vaibhav Sharma over at The Symbian Blog.

I was on the second floor of a building, standing at the balcony which overlooked a garden with concrete on its sides. While transferring the phone from my right to the left hand, during a call, I happened to drop the N96. It went plummeting down and with it, my heart ….

Scary stuff indeed! Well, obviously you already know from the title just what the outcome was …

Another screen protector and a nice wipe later, the N96 looked as new as ever with almost no sign of any damage whatsoever.

Good news! Now I wouldn’t recommend that anyone deliberately drop their phone - just because his one survived doesn’t mean yours will. But it’s good to know that if you do accidently drop it a couple of storeys it may just survive. You can read the full article here.

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Nokia N96 Reviews - It’s A Speed Demon

Related Nokia N96 Articles :

Nokia N96 Camera Review - Fast Focus

Related Nokia N96 Articles :

Nokia N96 Reviews - Battery Life

Related Nokia N96 Articles :

Nokia N96 Reviews - Follow Up To Yesterday

Related Nokia N96 Articles :

Nokia N96 Reviews Continue - “Nokia, What ARE You Doing?”

Related Nokia N96 Articles :

Nokia N96 Reviews - N96 Reviews Everywhere

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Nokia N96 NAM USA Pricing & Release Update

Related Nokia N96 Articles :

Nokia N96 Released In America

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Nokia N96 : N-Gage Battery Life On The N96 - Help?!

Related Nokia N96 Articles :

Nokia N96 Indestructible! Survives Two Storey Fall!

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