Saturday, March 28, 2009
Sony Ericsson C905 Review
Nokia 3610 fold Review
Nokia 3610 fold is a mid-end handset that has almost the same features as the Supernova-series 7210 phone. While the design of these mobile phones is totally different, there are lots of similarities regarding their features: display, internal memory... [read more >>]
Palm Pre – The hottest smartphone of the year featuring the new WebOS
Palm's Pre handset is undoubtedly one of the most expected devices at the moment. Palm's Pre is powered by an ARM Cortex A8 processor (PowerVR SGX 530 GPU + 430MHz C64x+ DSP + ISP) and includes about 8GB of internal flash memory, which is actually reported to float around a 7.4GB point. Although the device will not include a microSD memory card slot (Palm chose not to pack it in for design reasons) we'll still have a microUSB connection slot. The Plam Pre is expected to come to the market with a 3.1-inch touchscreen capable of delivering a 320x480 pixel HVGA resolution, a 3-megapixel camera with LED Flash and extended depth of field, although no zoom, a 3.5mm headset jack, Bluetooth with A2DP and stereo Bluetooth support, WiFi enabled with 802.11 b/g, and support for CDMA EVDO Rev A and GSM 3G (for the European version). Rumours say that the smartphone could be launched on the market in Q2 2009, there are guarantees
9 mega pixels Palm Pre – The hottest smartphone of the year featuring the new WebOS
Palm's Pre handset is undoubtedly one of the most expected devices at the moment. Palm's Pre is powered by an ARM Cortex A8 processor (PowerVR SGX 530 GPU + 430MHz C64x+ DSP + ISP) and includes about 8GB of internal flash memory, which is actually reported to float around a 7.4GB point. Although the device will not include a microSD memory card slot (Palm chose not to pack it in for design reasons) we'll still have a microUSB connection slot. The Plam Pre is expected to come to the market with a 3.1-inch touchscreen capable of delivering a 320x480 pixel HVGA resolution, a 9-megapixel camera with LED Flash and extended depth of field, although no zoom, a 3.5mm headset jack, Bluetooth with A2DP and stereo Bluetooth support, WiFi enabled with 802.11 b/g, and support for CDMA EVDO Rev A and GSM 3G (for the European version). Rumours say that the smartphone could be launched on the market in Q2 2009
Sony Ericsson 12.1 Megapixel camera
 The newly spotted Idou is a device focused mainly on media. It includes a 12.1-megapixel camera with auto focus, xenon flash and a series of advanced camera touch features. The handset is an all-touchscreen solution and goes in line with similar mobile phones, including Apple iPhone and Samsung Omnia, yet its features are meant to place it above currently available solutions. The device includes a 3.5-inch touchscreen that is able to provide a 640x320 pixel (16:9) resolution. The Sony Ericsson Idou will run under Symbian Foundation's Symbian S60 5th Edition operating system. In addition, it will feature PlayNow pre-installed, while allowing users to customize the device to suit them best. The Sony Ericsson Idou is expected to come to the market later on in 2009, but it will sport another name at launch. |
AT&T 8525 with 8 megapixel camera
Display: TFT resistive touchscreen, 65K colorsDate: Jun/2006
Status: Available
Weight: 176g
[ more... ]
AT&T Mustang
AT&T Mustang Display: TFT, 65K colorsDate: Oct/2007 Status: Available Weight: 110g [ more... ] |
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Nokia N95 8 gig US Edition N95-4
As Yogi Berra said, it's deja vu all over again. . . for the 4th time. The Nokia N95 8 gig US edition (known fondly by it's model number, N95-4 by S60 lovers) is indeed the 4th version of Nokia's extremely popular flagship phone. To be fair, there have been two worldwide models, the N95-1 and N95-2, and two US models that mirror these (the N95-3 and now the N95-4). The N95-4 is actually just the N95-2 (N95 8 gig) with US rather than Eurasian 3G bands. The N95 US edition (N95-3) was more than a remake of the original N95 with US 3G, it boasted several improvements that Europeans didn't see until the N95-2 8 gig was released. Follow all that? Hope so. What does all this mean? If you're outside the US, the N95 8 gig (N95-2 being the more logical choice) has significant hardware improvements over the original N95-1, having a larger battery, more memory and a slightly larger display. If you're a US buyer, the N95-3 offered these improvements (except the larger display), so the choice is harder and the difference comes down to two things: storage and newer firmware. The N95-3 (like the original N95-1) has a microSD card slot for storage and the 8 gig model has (surprise) 8 gigs of flash storage built in but no microSD card slot. Though Nokia specs the N95-1 and N95-3 as supporting up to 2 gig microSD cards, we've used a variety of SDHC cards in higher capacities with no problems so you can in fact have an "8 gig N95" just by inserting an 8 gig SDHC microSD card. Since the first release of the N95-1 and N95-2, there have been firmware improvements to the camera, GPS, and updated software (N-Gage support, Flash Lite 3, demand paging memory management). Any N95 model variant owner can enjoy these via a firmware update using Nokia's updater in Windows, except N95-3 owners. Nokia has yet to release a major firmware upgrade for the N95-3, so the N95-4 is the only way to get these improvements in a US 3G model right now. We assume Nokia will release a serious firmware upgrade for the N95-3 (it's been months since the N95-1 got a major firmware revamp). Currently, the N95-4 has the latest, greatest firmware since it's the new kid on the block and you'll enjoy all these improvements out of the box. For those who are new to Nokia and S60, firmware updates are free downloads and are quite easy to install. Like the US N95-3, the Nokia N95-4 comes with a US warranty from Nokia, so there's no need to send it overseas for repair should it need work. Features at a Glance The N95 is a well-known commodity, having first released in April 2007, so we won't do a detailed re-review here. But for those new to the N95, we'll give a run-down of the N95-4's many features. The N95-4 is an unlocked quad band GSM world phone that will work anywhere GSM service is available (and will accept any GSM carrier's SIM). It supports the 850/1900MHz US 3G and 3.5G bands (UMTS and HSDPA) but not the 2100MHz 3G band used in Europe and Asia (the original N95 and the N-95-2 have only the 2100MHz band). The phone has a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss autofocus lens and an LED flash. The N95 family leads all phones (with the possible exception of the Nokia N82) with its imaging capabilities which also include shooting incredibly good VGA video at 30fps. The smartphone runs Symbian S60 3.1 (3rd Edition feature pack 1), and can sync to Mac and Windows computers. Windows syncing software is on the companion CD and you can download an iSync plugin for the Mac from Nokia's web site here (be sure to download the N95 8 gig version of the plugin and not the N95 plugin). S60 3rd Edition offers full PIM applications (contacts, calendar, tasks and notes), as well as email and one of the best full HTML web browsers on a mobile phone (the iPhone is the only one that can compete). The N95 8 gig has a music player, FM radio with RDS, video player and a streaming Internet player that handles Nokia's free programming (Sony Pictures trailers, Reuters News, RocketBoom, YouTube mobile and more). Slide the display up to reveal a numeric keypad, and slide it down to reveal the multimedia playback controls. The smartphone comes only in black and has a soft touch finish. It has a 3.5mm stereo headset jack and a stereo headset is included in the box. Alternatively, you can use your favorite headphones for music playback. You must use a headset or headphones to use the FM radio since it uses the headset as an antenna. The N95-4 weighs 8 grams (.28 ounces) more than the N95-1 and N95-3. The N95 also features WiFi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR with Bluetooth stereo A2DP and an internal GPS with aGPS support. It comes with Nokia Maps software with nearly world-wide map coverage and our review unit had the latest 2.0 beta maps which adds some very cool features (maps 2.0 beta is a free download from Nokia's web site for N95 owners and the N95-4 currently ships with the older Maps 1.2). The QVGA 240 x 320 16 million color display measures 2.8 inches, and it's got an light sensor with automatic brightness control. The N95-4's display isn't as deeply inset as the N95-3's, though it's not flush with the casing either. The display is very bright and sharp, though it's a tiny bit less bright than the N95-3's display and has slightly reduced outdoor visibility. |
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In the Box
The Nokia comes with a mini USB to USB sync cable, compact world travel charger with US prongs (AC-5U),
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Phone Features and Data
All Nokia N95 models are quad band GSM world phones supporting the 850/900/1800/1900MHz bands. The US versions (N95-3 and N95-4) are unlocked for use with any GSM carrier. The biggie here is US 3G support, which is useful for AT&T customers (there's EDGE for non-3G carriers and regions). Other than US 3G, there is no difference between the N95-2 that came out a few months ago for the European/Asian market and the N95-4. The UMTS/HSDPA radio works on the US 850/1900MHz bands and has an indicator for UMTS under the signal strength bars ("3G") and one for HSDPA ("3.5G"). When not connected for data, the phone merely shows "3G", but it changes to "3.5G" when a data connection is active. It does not have the 2100MHz 3G band used in Europe.
The iPhone and the N95 8 gig.
Data speeds on AT&T's HSDPA network were very good in our tests, with an average download speed of 700k on DSL Reports mobile speed test. Nokia's best-in-the-business web browser downloads and renders web pages more quickly than Windows Mobile's IE and Palm's web browser, with greater desktop fidelity. It's topped only by the iPhone's web browser, which also uses Safari technology. For web browsing, HSDPA isn't as fast as WiFi 802.11g, but it is hugely faster than EDGE. Nokia includes their usual email client, unchanged from the original N95 that handles POP3 and IMAP email. Nokia offers Mail for Exchange as a free download for those who wish to use the N95 with an MS Exchange server. There is no BlackBerry Connect software for the N95.
As with most Nokia S60 phones, call quality is excellent, and the phone sounds very good with a wide variety of Bluetooth headsets. We did find the N95-4 a tad quieter than our N95-3 through the built-in earpiece, and it's not loud enough for rowdy venues like ball games or busy malls (turn on the excellent speakerphone or use a headset to overcome this).
Camera One of the N95's top features is its 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss autofocus lens. Indeed, the camera takes excellent shots, and even low light shots are decent, despite the LED flash, though there is noticeable noise in indoor shots. Since the N95 8 gig US model has the latest firmware, the camera is faster to launch and save high resolution images. The N95 family of phones are among the best, if not the best camera phones on the market. The images are better than the 3MP point-and-shoot cameras of old, though still not as good as today's 5MP dedicated camera. They're good enough for high quality printing at 4x6 and 5x7 resolution, and well-lit photos even make for decent 8x10 prints. The camera offers a wealth of settings, which you can read about in detail in our N95-1 review. Maximum photo resolution is 2592 x 1944 and these images range from 1 to 1.5 megs. The N95-4 tends to oversharpen images, just as do other N95 variants. Video is still simply superb, and this is where the N95 beats the pants off of the Sony Ericsson K850i 5MP camera phone. The N95 family can shoot video in VGA resolution at 30fps-- considerably better than most youtube video and it looks great when played back on a computer. |  |
These sample photos were taken at the highest resolution at the mid sharpening level. Unedited other than resizing for use here. Click on a photo to see a much larger version in a new window.
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GPS and Maps 2.0
The N95 family of devices have come a long way in the past year when it comes to GPS performance thanks to a series of firmware and software upgrades. The latest software, Maps 2.0 is the fastest yet at getting a GPS fix (generally within 30 seconds for a cold fix outdoors and under 10 seconds for a warm fix) and routing has significantly improved. While our friends in Europe generally got good navigation advice, those of us in the US often took the long way home. Happily, the N95-4 (and N95-3 when fitted with the Maps 2.0 update downloadable from Nokia) get logical and expedient routing. Maps gives you maps, routing and POIs (points of interest) for free but you must pay for turn-by-turn navigation which includes spoken directions. The fees are $12.69/month, $98.78/year or the bargain-priced 3 years for $112.89. If you switch phones, you'll need to contact Nokia to activate the service on your new phone. The male voice is the clearest we've heard on a mobile GPS and the stereo speakers are loud enough to be heard in a noisy pickup or sports car.
New for 2.0 is walking mode and traffic. Walking routes are optimized for-- you guessed it, walking and as such it won't send you on highways or worry about one-way streets.
8 Gigs Good?
Sure it's both cool and useful to have 8 gigs of flash storage built into a smartphone. This actually formats to just under 7.5 gigs and shows up as "Mass Storage", "E" drive. There's approximately 100 megs of traditional storage as well, and that's where you want to install programs since many apps run slowly from Mass Storage. At maximum high quality TV resolution, the N95 8 gig can shoot and store an hour of video, or alternatively quite a large library of MP3s and photos taken with the camera. The drawback is the missing expansion slot. If you have 3 gigs of music on the phone, you'll only have room for 35 or 40 minutes of HQ video. If you shoot tons of photos, there's even less space for video. With the N95-3 I can bring along an extra 4 or 8 gig card on a trip when I know I want to shoot lots of video-- at 30 fps VGA, it's hard to resist using the N95 as a high quality trip camcorder. If I'm taking a long flight, I can carry an extra card loaded with enough tunes to last me round trip and some saved YouTube or other video to pass the time. You get the point-- there's a loss of flexibility once storage is fixed. But not everyone needs more than 8 gigs, so you be the judge.
Transfer over USB 2.0 isn't super-fast, but then neither is transferring lots of songs and images to and from a card reader. Bluetooth works fine and is similar in speed to other N95 phones when using a computer that has Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR.
Battery Life
The 1200 mAh battery managed to get us through a day of fairly heavy use. This included a half hour of navigation using the GPS, checking email every 30 minutes, surfing the web over HSDPA, using WiFi to download software (15 megs worth, 30 minutes spend perusing and downloading), talking for 30 minutes via Bluetooth headset, taking 20 photos, shooting 10 minutes of high quality video, and playing music over the wired headset for an hour. The N95-4 outlasts the N95-3 by just a bit, though they have the same battery and hardware-- this is likely due to the efficiencies of demand paging (only the parts of application that are needed at the moment are copied from ROM to RAM). In general, the N95 8 gig is a phone you'll charge nightly with moderate to heavy use. With light use it can go 3 days on a charge.
Conclusion
As ever, Nokia's flagship phone is a top pick, even though the N95 family is now 1 year old. Nokia keeps tweaking a good thing and the new kid on the block N95-4 model is still rife with cutting edge technology. When the N95 models first came out prices were approaching $1,000 for import models and the US version sold for near $750. Now that prices have settled down, you can get the N95-4 model with a US warranty and no cell contract for $580 to $625 from US online retailers which makes it even easier to recommend. It averages $100 more than the N95-3, for those who are price conscious (and the list price difference is even greater).
If you own the N95-3 is it worth it to move to the N95-4? If you're suffering phone boredom, perhaps. The larger display is nice-- it's amazing how 0.2 inches can make a difference. Getting the latest firmware now if you've been impatiently waiting for an update for your -3 is a perk. But overall, the N95-4 makes more sense if you're new to the N95 or have a non-US model and want US HSDPA.
List price: $750
Web site: www.nokiausa.com, www.nseries.com
Warranty: US 1 year
Specs:
Display and Graphics: 16 million color TFT color LCD. Screen size diagonally: 2.8 ". Resolution: 240 x 320, supports both portrait and landscape modes. 3D graphics accelerator hardware.
Battery: Nokia BL-6F Lithium Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. 1200 mA. Claimed GSM talk time: 5 hours (3G talk time will be shorter). Claimed standby: 11.6 days.
Performance: Texas Instruments OMAP ARM 11 processor running at 332 MHz. 128 MB built-in RAM and 256 megs flash ROM. 8 gigs of flash storage (appears as the "E" drive") that formats to approx. 7.4 gigs. Approximately 80 to 90 megs free RAM at boot to run programs.
Size: 99 x 53 x 21mm (3.9 x 2.09 x .83 inches). Weight: 128 grams (4.55 ounces).
GPS: Internal GPS. Comes with Nokia Maps software (works worldwide). Mapping and location info is free, turn-by-turn voice navigation requires a fee.
Phone: GSM quad band 850/900/1800/1900 MHz unlocked world phone. Has GPRS, EDGE and US 3G/3.5G UMTS and HSDPA on the 850/1900MHz bands.
Camera: 5 MP with digital zoom, CMOS sensor and LED flash. Carl Zeiss autofocus lens.
Photo: 2592 x 1944 pixels max resolution with several smaller sizes available including MMS-friendly. Images are saved in JPEG format with EXIF data. Focus range: 10cm to infinity (10-50 cm in macro mode). 20x digital zoom (6x in 5MP mode). Mechanical shutter, speeds from 1/3s to 1/1000. Has several scene settings including auto, center weight metering, adjustable EV, sharpening, color balance.
Video: VGA 640 x 480 max resolution at 30fps and AAC audio. Zoom up to 10x. H.263, MPEG-4 format and 3GP for MMS.
Secondary front-facing video conferencing camera: 240 x 320 and 176 x 144 pixel resolutions, video frame rate 15 fps, 2x digital zoom, H.263 format (no US Carrier supports the video conferencing feature).
Audio: Built in stereo speakers, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack. Voice recorder, music and video players included. Music player supports MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA/M4A formats and OMA DRM 2.0 and WMDRM. Stereo FM radio included (use earbuds or headphones as the antenna). Includes RCA out cable to plug the N95 into a TV.
Networking: Integrated WiFi 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR. Bluetooth profiles: A2DP, AVRCP, BIP, BPP, DUN, FTP, GAVDP, GOEP, HFP, HSP, OPP, SAP.
Software: Symbian OS 9.2 with S60 3.1. Java MIDP 2.0.
Expansion Slot: None.
Place of Manufacture: South Korea. Nokia RM-421, firmware 1.2.011.
Have a look at Nokia N95-3 (US model with US 3G)
Editor's note, April 2008: Also check out our review of the N95-4 Nokia N95 8 Gig for the US When we reviewed the Nokia N95 back in April 2007, we were mightily impressed. Indeed that N95 went on to be one of the most impressive phones of 2007, high on everyone's wish list. A true US version wasn't to be found-- yes, Nokia sold the N95 in its Flagship stores in NYC and Chicago, but the hardware was no different from those sold in Europe and Asia (the N95's primary markets). Fast forward to October 2007 and the new Nokia N95-3 for the US market. This isn't just a US label or reboxing, the N95-3 deletes the Euro 3G band and replaces it with 850/1900MHz HSDPA 3G for the US. That change alone would make a lot of unlocked GSM phone fans happy, but Nokia tweaked and tuned the original N95, improving on all the nits and shortcomings we mentioned in our original review. When we first heard rumors of this new and improved N95, we thought it was too good to be true-- happily we were wrong! If you're a fan of the N95, you've likely read our first review here. If not, please check out that complete review as we're not going to cover all the unchanged bits here in detail. Instead we'll provide an overview and cover the N95-3's enhancements in detail. And yes, we wish Nokia had come up with a better name than "N95-3"! The N95-3 in Brief The N95-3 is an unlocked quad band GSM world phone that will work anywhere GSM service is available (and will accept any GSM carrier's SIM). It supports the 850/1900MHz US 3G and 3.5G bands (UMTS and HSDPA) but not the 2100MHz 3G band used in Europe and Asia (the original N95 had only the 2100MHz band). Note that in the US, AT&T is the only GSM carrier offering 3G, and when T-Mobile does in the coming years, they will use yet another band. In a phone so chock full of features it's still clear that the 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss autofocus lens is the N95's most impressive feature. The N95 family leads all phones with its imaging capabilities which also include shooting VGA video at 30fps. The smartphone runs Symbian S60 3.1 (a neater way of saying 3rd Edition feature pack 1), and can sync to Mac and Windows computers. S60 3rd Edition offers full PIM applications (contacts, calendar, tasks and notes), as well as email and one of the best full HTML web browsers on a mobile phone (the iPhone is the only one that can compete). The phone comes with PC Suite for syncing under Windows and enhancements to aid in multimedia file transfer. Mac OS X users can download iSync drivers from Nokia's site here. Nokia describes the N95 as a "multimedia computer", and to that end it has a music player, video player and a streaming Internet player that handles Nokia's free programming (Sony Pictures trailers, RoofTop Comedy, FreeBeTV, YouTube mobile and more). Slide the display up to reveal a numeric keypad, and slide it down to reveal the multimedia playback controls. Slider open to reveal the multimedia playback controls. The N95 also features WiFi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR with Bluetooth stereo A2DP and a microSD card compatible with cards up to 2 gigs. The smartphone has an integrated GPS and comes with Nokia Maps software with nearly world-wide map coverage. The QVGA 240 x 320 16 million color display measures 2.6 inches, and it's got an light sensor with automatic brightness control. This is one of the brightest and sharpest displays on a phone. The numeric keypad's numbers are backlit in white as are the multimedia controls, same as the original N95. The phone is available in two colors: black with a soft-touch finish (which we received) and bronze. The front face is silver, regardless of back cover color. In the Box The Nokia comes with a mini USB to USB sync cable, compact world travel charger with US prongs (AC-5), What's new and improved? We'll cover each of these in detail, but here's the short list: double the memory for running programs, faster camera shots, better photo color balance, soft touch finish on the black model, improved GPS, US 3G and a higher capacity battery. And Sling fans will be happy to hear that Sling Player is available for the N95 now (you can get it for free using the Download application on the phone), and FlashLite 3 will be coming in the next few months for the N95. Physical changes The camera LED flash has moved from the right side of the lens to the bottom of the lens and the lens cover is gone. Nokia revised the back cover to accommodate the larger battery and we assume that required those changes. The black N95-3 has a soft touch texture, similar to the Samsung BlackJack, T-Mobile Wing and T-Mobile Dash (we haven't seen or touched the bronze colored version, so we don't know if that has the soft touch finish). Though this is the US version, the front video conferencing camera is still there, despite the fact no US carrier supports 2-way video conferencing. The slider mechanism is unchanged (no more or less wobbly than the N95-1). We've never had problems with the slider or the little bit a play it has when open, but some folks are bothered by it. Back of the N95-3 |
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Back of the N95-1
Battery
25% more battery power is just what the doc ordered for the power-hungry N95. The N95-3 comes with the 1200 mAh Nokia BL-6F Lithium Ion battery, which is an appropriate capacity for a smartphone with several wireless radios and multimedia features. If you've used the N95-1 on AT&T and upgrade to the N95-3, your battery life will be the same if you're in an HSDPA coverage area. Why? Because 3G uses more power than GSM and EDGE, that 25% additional will merely compensate for 3G. If you're a T-Mobile user on EDGE, you'll definitely notice improved runtimes. AT&T users who want to extend runtimes when not using the data connection can use the phone settings to put the phone in GSM-only mode.
Phone
The biggie here is US 3G support, which is useful for AT&T customers (T-Mobile doesn't yet have a 3G network in the US, and when they do, they'll use yet another band for service not currently supported by any phone). The UMTS/HSDPA radio works on the US 850/1900MHz bands and has an indicator for UMTS under the signal strength bars ("3G") and one for HSDPA ("3.5G"). When not connected for data, the phone merely shows "3G", but it changes to "3.5G" when a data connection is active.
Data speeds on AT&T's HSDPA network are excellent, with an average download speed of 800k on DSL Reports mobile speed test. Nokia's best-in-the-business web browser downloads and renders web pages more quickly than Windows Mobile's IE and Palm's web browser. For web browsing, HSDPA on the N95-3 is quite close in speed to WiFi 802.11g. Excellent! Nokia includes their usual email client, unchanged from the original N95 that handles POP3 and IMAP email. Nokia offers Mail for Exchange as a free download for those who wish to use the N95 with an MS Exchange server. There is no BlackBerry Connect software for the N95.
Software
Nokia has updated the N95-3 with search, both device search and web search (you can select Yahoo or MS Live Search as your defaults). When in contacts, you can search for any name in an entry, e.g.: search for "store" brings up the "Apple Store SF" from contacts (we wish the Nokia 6120 Classic did this). The Search application has options for web search and for searching content on the phone. You search everything, or limit the search to contacts, notes and etcetera. The other new addition is Sling Player which worked well in our tests.
Other than a collection of demo games, little else has changed in the software bundle from the N95-1. There's an FM radio, Gallery, media player, Real Player, LifeBlog, Downloads (download mostly free apps and themes from Nokia's web site directly to the phone), Adobe Reader, QuickOffice (reads MS Office docs), a voice recorder, bar code reader, wireless keyboard driver, file un-zipper, converter, notes and more.
GPS
The N95-1 didn't have the speediest GPS. It often took up to 2 minutes for the GPS to lock on to our location even on a clear day. The N95-3 manages a cold fix in under 30 seconds and a hot fix in 10 seconds or less thanks to assisted GPS which downloads ephemeris data to speed up location acquisition. Nokia Maps isn't our favorite among mobile solutions when it comes to good directions and POIs. For routing there are still 2 options: fastest or shortest, and while generally less roundabout than the N95-1's. We weren't taken on odd paths to our desired destination as we sometimes were with the N95-1, though we still found a few bits of bad map data (an address was shown approximately 1 mile down the road from its correct location). But 95% of the time the map data was correct and the routing was good. Oddly, the POI database seems a bit less extensive than the Nokia E90's, which uses Nokia Maps as well. We didn't purchase the optional city guides (~$11.28), which likely give a better set of POIs.
The HTC Touch Dual and Nokia N95 NAM in red.
One thing that threw us for a loop were discrepancies between what the phone showed us when we selected "show route" or "route simulation" and what we got when we then selected "Start navigation". We'd expect these 2 to be the same, but often the voice guidance told us to take a different route (and a less ideal one). It also occasionally repeated an instruction up to 3x in quick succession for no apparent reason. Routing is free with Nokia Maps, and navigation with voice guidance for the US (including Puerto Rico) requires a fee of $12.69/month, $98.78/year or the bargain-priced 3 years for $112.89. If you switch phones, you'll need to contact Nokia to activate the service on your new phone. The male voice is the clearest we've heard on a mobile GPS and the N95-3's speakers are loud enough to be heard in a noisy pickup or sports car.
Camera Not a lot has changed here from a firmware-updated N95-1. Compared to the original release of the N95-1 the N95-3 has improved color balance, handles low-light shots significantly better (low light shots are usually a weak spot for Nokia camera phones) and image save times are a bit quicker (thought it still takes several seconds to save a max resolution image). The N95 family of phones are among the best, if not these best camera phones on the market. The images are better than the 3MP point-and-shoot cameras of old, though still not as good as today's 5MP dedicated camera. They're good enough for high quality printing at 4x6 and 5x7 resolution, and well-lit photos even make for decent 8x10 prints. The camera offers a wealth of settings, which you can read about in detail in our N95-1 review. Video is still simply superb: the N95 family can shoot video in VGA resolution at 30fps-- considerably better than youtube video and it looks great when played back on a computer. The N95 has a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss autofocus lens and an LED flash. |  |
These sample photos were taken at the highest resolution. Unedited other than resizing for use here. Click on a photo to see the original version (~2592 x 1944pixels, 300k) in a new window.
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More Memory
Sadly, several Nokia NSeries phones have come up a bit short in the memory department. Though these are Nokia's highest-end S60 smartphones, they've averaged only 20 megs free to run programs. The original N95 suffered the same problem, and the OS would shut down apps when too many were taking up memory, but the phone sometimes slowed down or gave out of memory error messages on the route to managing memory for the user. The N95-3, like the recently announced Nokia N95 8 gig smartphone have 128 megs of SDRAM, with ~81 megs available to run programs. To be clear here, we're talking about RAM that's used in the same way as a computer: to run programs, not to store them. Like the Nokia E90, the N95-3 leaps ahead of other Nokia S60 phone and quadruples average free memory. This makes the N95-3 even more responsive, pretty much kills the chance of seeing an out of memory error and reduces chances of slowdowns and crashes. Excellent!
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Flash memory for storage remains the same at 256 megs, with 160 free for your use. The phone has a hot-swappable microSD card slot on the side and Nokia states it accepts cards up to 2 gigs in capacity (though our 4 gig SanDisk SDHC card worked fine).
Conclusion
Wow! Not just a US re-hash, the N95-3 is the phone we wished Nokia had released in April 2007 when the N95-1 came out. Not that the N95 is a bad phone, au contraire, it's very impressive, but the N95-3 tweaks and twiddles the original model to excellence. If you're an AT&T customer, US HSDPA support is wonderful, especially when used with Sling Player and Nokia's recently released free mobile video content, the camera still can't be beat for still shots and video and the GPS is better (though voice navigation could use even further improvement). Truly, one of the best phones of the year.
Price: $699 unlocked for use with any GSM carrier
web site: www.nokia.com, www.nseries.com
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