Hold tight - It's the very first video review of the ultra-converged Nokia N95. Rafe Blandford delivers almost ten minutes of detailed demos, opinions and screenshots in AllAboutSymbian video podcast number 8. Warning: probably a good idea to get someone else to hide your credit card before you watch...
Read on in the full article.
thanks alot, very well done review!:icon14:
😮 WOW! OMG! 😊 :icon14: :icon4: What else can I say? Psion's vision from as early as 1999 unfolds
only one mistake in your video review: HSDPA is only an enhancement for download speed, not for upload
but anyway, great video
Thanks for the feedback.
Good catch on HSDPA. For those that don't know HSUPA is the upload bit of 3.5G and is generally being rolled out 12 months to 18 months after HSDPA (according to most operator roadmaps). I'm not sure whether the N95 supports HSUPA or not.
Hi Rafe,
Nice Review, I wanted to ask more about battery life.
You mentioned that a power user will need to charge daily...
What type of usage would you define the 'power user'?
I've heard from SymbianFreak, that Apoc he charges twice a day.
Battery life - well I would say once a day should be OK. However if you spend 4+ hours using the device non-stop then yes it probably will need charging. Thats no different to making 2 hours of phone calls on say a N73. The thing is about the N95 is it has more things that run its battery down.
This is still proto software, a recent upgrade seem to have improved battery life.
Hi rafe, i would like to ask you if the gps device will show any information (at least positioning) if the map is not available. I am from Malta and 99.99% no maps will be available for here.
Thanks in advance.
about battery life: put it that way:
rafe is an expert user, and needs to charge it daily
apoc is a geek, he needs to charge twice a day
so if you still have other problems than your cellphone, you'll probably be ok with n95
Put it that way: Nokia hasn't learned from the N80, they put a crap battery into their most feature packed phone. This phone is not for grandmas for just call and some texting, GPS/3G/WiFI/music will eat the battery in no time.
they put a crap battery into their most feature packed phone
I wonder if this is the same problem as the lack of free memory (RAM) in these things. Inevitably Nokia are not going to make the phone cost more money simply to keep us happy. They are only going to put more memory and more battery power in them it they think they can get a return on their investment.
I don't know if the batteries they put in the phones could be made higher capacity for the same volume. If it's possible the best we could hope for is for Nokia to start making a higher capacity (but more expensive) battery for people who need more battery life. In other words they could give us the option of having a standard battery or a long-life battery. Of course, if this isn't possible the only solution might simply be to buy more batteries and carry them around with you. Unless you are actually asking them to make a bigger and heavier phone (not for me thanks).
I don't actually think they put crap batteries in their phones. I thought these Lithium-ion things were state of the art technolgy, unless you know where to get hold of Dilithium crystals that is 😉
This is technically an amazing phone - and with all of these features, I wouldn't expect it to last MORE than a day running GPRS / Wifi / GPS / Games / Recording videos etc..
It's funny how many of you forget how long your average laptop lasts without a power supply.
To be honest, when I read about this device lasting just over 2hrs with EDGE grabbing Maps and GPS running full time - it didn't surprise me. Especially taking into consideration how many applications this device serves now.
Take into consideration that the machine itself is no longer touted as a phone.
I personally love the SIP concept behind this device.
I'll be purchasing it plus a spare battery.
Would love more information from the team at AllAbout Symbian on:
1. Software interface and its responsiveness. Does it slow down? ie. if you receive a txt, what is the average wait time for you to access that text message and read it. I suffer extremely long waits on my N93 sometimes!
2. Video quality - can you take some videos with the camera during the night in lit, well lit, fluorescent... bar environments too if possible.
3. Are you able to confirm if the final version will have stereo recording? I thought that feature was absolutely STUPID to leave out with such a decent recording facility.
if crap battery then it should come standard with 2 batterys like the crappy 8800.
Also with a desktop charger...
when is the review,
im dying to see some reviews....
The short battery life while annoying is something you get used to.
I've had an N80 for 6 months and hardly ever run out of juice anymore, mainly due to having a charger at work and a spare battery.
The main thing that I wish nokia would now do is add a camera flash accessory. The camera on the N95 looks great but if it's anything like the other N phones I've used it will be next to useless in low light. I think if it had this one accessory we would really start to see people leaving their compact digital cameras at home permanently.
fig7, on crap battery of course I mean too small capacity for the phone's services and functionality. Nothing wrong with the battery itself, just wrong decision to put this one into a feature packed phone like the N95.
About the GPS. I'm still a little confused as to what kind of GPS this phone has. I know that as standard you download maps etc. (fine if you live somewhere with all you can eat data charges). However, for the rest of us (i.e. anyone in the UK not on TMobile) how does it work?
Can you install TomTom and use the built-in GPS receiver as normal without relying on data use?
I suppose I'm asking, does it really have a proper GPS receiver?
It has a proper, real GPS satellite signal receiver inside.
This isn't the first phone to have a GPS receiver built-in, for example the rather oddly named Twig phone from Benefon (the other Finnish phone maker) is built entirely around its GPS features:
And the first one from the same company was the Benefon ESC! (came out in 2000 or 2001).
I've had a love-hate relationship with my N80 (now ie) ever since I purchased it about 5 months ago due to the battery life. It needs charging once a day. However I recently had to downgrade to an old sony ericsson p900 for a week or so after an incident with the n80 (that occured whilst hammering it in to an ie). It was only after this, that I realised how dependent I had become on the 2gb music player, videos, 3G web browsing, wi-fi access. Now with the voip and the podcasting application it occured to me that the device has grown on me in a way that only ipod zealots will probably understand.
Believe me, these devices represent real progression and are changing the way we interact with the world (if indeed more subtly that the 1st voice-only mobile phone). I'll probably skip the N95 for now, but expect to dial back in for the next-gen version...
Windows vista is not the "WoW", N95 its the true "WOW", I WANT ONE RIGHT NOW. Rafe nice review congrats!!!
The review of the NOKIA N95 was excellent. Based on that review, I have made up my mind to purchase the phone.
Thank Ypu George C
The review of the NOKIA N95 was excellent. Based on that review, I have made up my mind to purchase the phone.
Thank You George C
KrisHyman wrote:
Would love more information from the team at AllAbout Symbian on:1. Software interface and its responsiveness. Does it slow down? ie. if you receive a txt, what is the average wait time for you to access that text message and read it. I suffer extremely long waits on my N93 sometimes!
2. Video quality - can you take some videos with the camera during the night in lit, well lit, fluorescent... bar environments too if possible.
3. Are you able to confirm if the final version will have stereo recording? I thought that feature was absolutely STUPID to leave out with such a decent recording facility.
1. I haven't used it for that long. I find the phones do tend to get slower as time goes buy (mainly as I add new software / store more stuff on it). I never found the N93 too bad, but then I dont have may sms in my inbox at one time.
2. There some videos here - http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/images/features/N95/video/ I'll try and add some more.
3. I can confirm the final version will be mono only.
Unregistered wrote:if crap battery then it should come standard with 2 batterys like the crappy 8800.
Also with a desktop charger...
I think this is the sort of thing that up to the user. Personally I'd give this serious consideration.
Unregistered wrote:when is the review,im dying to see some reviews....
The review may take a little longer. However I hope to look at some on the new stuff in FP 1.
Bassey wrote:About the GPS. I'm still a little confused as to what kind of GPS this phone has. I know that as standard you download maps etc. (fine if you live somewhere with all you can eat data charges). However, for the rest of us (i.e. anyone in the UK not on TMobile) how does it work?Can you install TomTom and use the built-in GPS receiver as normal without relying on data use?
I suppose I'm asking, does it really have a proper GPS receiver?
Bassey - its a normal GPS. You can use it with third party software. However the thid party software needs to use S60 Location API. Currently TomTom does not so it will need changing before its compatible. Its also worth noting that maps are cached and it should be possible (at least this was touted at the launch) that you may be able to downloads maps via a PC.
Unregistered wrote:I've had a love-hate relationship with my N80 (now ie) ever since I purchased it about 5 months ago due to the battery life. It needs charging once a day. However I recently had to downgrade to an old sony ericsson p900 for a week or so after an incident with the n80 (that occured whilst hammering it in to an ie). It was only after this, that I realised how dependent I had become on the 2gb music player, videos, 3G web browsing, wi-fi access. Now with the voip and the podcasting application it occured to me that the device has grown on me in a way that only ipod zealots will probably understand.Believe me, these devices represent real progression and are changing the way we interact with the world (if indeed more subtly that the 1st voice-only mobile phone). I'll probably skip the N95 for now, but expect to dial back in for the next-gen version...
I agree - its quite amazing to look back to the first S60 device - the 7650 - which in some ways is reminiscent on the N95. I'm sure in tme GPS will become an essential feature for some.
First, thanks for some great hands-on impressions 😊
Besides the questions already asked, I would like to know a couple of things.
1) I know this is an almost impossible question to answer, but... How is the general build quality and assembly (I know it's a proto you have, though)? Can you compare it to other devices?
2) How thick is the device not counting the protrusion of the camera? (I believe the official 21 mm is with the camera protrusion). How big does it feel in use? E.g. like the N73 or bigger?
3) Is the double-slide mechanism annoying in daily use when you take it in and out of e.g. a jeans pocket? It doesn't slide up one way or the other every time you take it out your pocket?
Thanks again, Martin.
When the media clip first loaded up- the video review looked like an amateur, unprofessional and ill-prepared production comprising of a man having a ramble about his new flashy phone in front a home video camera.
However this impression would turn out to be unfounded.
As the review progressed, it was obvious that a lot of time had been devoted to creating an informative, comprehensive and succinct script; which was achieved. The editing in of professional screenshots of the phone that coincided with the reviewer�s narrative was impressive and puts it well above other videos reviews found on video hosting sites like YouTube.
The information and analysis was well ordered and extensive however it didn�t prolong the duration to an intolerable level for the viewer.
So thank you very much for the fantastic review!
As a gps phone but it does not have full gps feature. Users are charged with data transferred when using GPS. Thats no good at all...i was thinking of getting one but when i found out about this fact. I decided not to buy...wat a waste of time to wait for it....
