AAS's Ewan Spence only bought his Nokia N95 a week ago, but he's packed an awful lot into seven days. Here he reports back on what works well on the N95 and what.... works even better. The highlight seems to have been using it to film and then edit videos and photos from Yahoo Hackday... on the spot.
Read on in the full article.
While reading numerous rosy reviews of N95, I do not understand one thing:
N95 is a heavy, bulky, ridiculously overpriced brick with rather low-resolution screen (QVGA), substandard camera (by photographic standards), and no keyboard. Why is there so much hype about it?
LUARVIQUE: while some reviewers may have rose-tinted, over-zealous reviews of the N95 (Ewan certainly NOT being one of them), you need to wipe the muck of your glasses and take a better look.
"Heavy bulky brick"? Get real, buddy.
Well, the answer is simple: It is THE bleeding edge smartphone:
it has a superb camera (for smartphone standards), many communication interfaces (Bluetooth 2.0, WIFI, GSM/W-CDMA with EDGE and HSDPA), it is rather small and lightweight (120g, just 10 more than a Moto Razr), a brilliant, 24bit color depth (more than the average competitor) QVGA screen (standard for European phones, at the moment), GPS navigation, a 3D capable graphics accelaretor (supporting OpenGL ES standards) and it supports all the software that is available for S60 3rd ed.
I think it is very expensive, but you get a very high value.
So the real question is: If you don't need such a extreme convergence smartphone, what are you doing on a smartphone fansite?
Unregistered wrote:Well, the answer is simple: It is THE bleeding edge smartphone:
it has a superb camera (for smartphone standards),
many communication interfaces (Bluetooth 2.0, WIFI, GSM/W-CDMA with EDGE and HSDPA),
it is rather small and lightweight (120g, just 10 more than a Moto Razr),
a brilliant, 24bit color depth (more than the average competitor) QVGA screen (standard for European phones, at the moment),
GPS navigation,
a 3D capable graphics accelaretor (supporting OpenGL ES standards)
and it supports all the software that is available for S60 3rd ed.
So the real question is: If you don't need such a extreme convergence smartphone, what are you doing on a smartphone fansite?
Look, if you keep insisting that the N95 is definitely a heavy, bulky, ridiculously overpriced brick with low-res screen and substandard camera, what kind of answer does that leave at all? That people are stupid? That everything is hype and hype only?
This does not strike me as very helpful.
@luarvique
Sorry but of lot of you are saying is just your opinion and by the sales so far obviously not every one agrees with you.
It is a Multimedia smart phone it is also far from being a brick it is a good size solid and tactile and does everything very well and other things even better 16m colour screens are not as commonly used as you say either on all S60 smart phones and the same goes for the OMAP 2420 chip and is what gives it the ability for VGA Video recording which may not be important to you but obviously it is for others. It's music player and Video playback are also excellent and replace the need for a dedicated Music player and PMP. As is HSDPA for super fast Web browsing when away from WiFi on a great screen with possibly the best mobile Web Browser on any device and again HSDPA is not found on that many S60 devices yet either. Plus you also have the ability to customise by adding from a huge catalogue of apps including VOIP, Skype, MSN, Google, etc IM clients, Weather, push e-mail solutions and the list just goes on and on. The camera may not be as good as a dedicated camera but then what can a dedicated camera do besides pictures and video and are you always going to want to carry an camera with you. Where as your N95 is all of these replacements and always with you.
If you don't like it want it or need it fair enough but unless you have had one and seen just what it can do i don't really see while you feel you have to knock.
Marc
rbrunner wrote:what kind of answer does that leave at all? That people are stupid? That everything is hype and hype only?
This does not strike me as very helpful.
I have to say I'm with Luarvique on this one.
the one upside could/would/should be the 3D graph accel, but he phone is out for quite some time now, the developers knew about this feature for even longer but noone seems to care about it, noone seems to want to use it.
games developed exclusively for one phone are hardly profitable - ngage with its short life comes to mind although games for that phone were working on half a dozen other s60 phones too and it still died an early death. oh and it is much MUCH more convenient to play on an ngage than on the N95.
developing games for phones is nowhere near as popular as it was 2-3 years ago, those few who do it will not spend extra time and effort to make prettier/faster/3D-er on 1 phone.
as I see it N95 is what the 7650 was in its time. ye it's new, ye it has a few extra bits and pieces but it will be very outdated very soon especially if ngage2-as-platform-and-not-phone plan works well and plenty of new devices will pop in a very short period of time trying to take advantage of it. those phones will most certainly make the N95 look like what it really is.
The N95 is the same turd as the N80 was, weak battery, pathetic RAM amount, loosy slider.
oh yes. don't even get me started on RAM issues...
E90 should be available 16 July at O2 - the date is already in my E70 😊
It is a Multimedia smart phone
it is also far from being a brick it is a good size solid and tactile and does everything very well and other things even better
16m colour screens are not as commonly used as you say either on all S60 smart phones
and the same goes for the OMAP 2420 chip
and is what gives it the ability for VGA Video recording which may not be important to you but obviously it is for others.
It's music player and Video playback are also excellent and replace the need for a dedicated Music player and PMP.
As is HSDPA for super fast Web browsing when away from WiFi
on a great screen
with possibly the best mobile Web Browser on any device
[quote[Plus you also have the ability to customise by adding from a huge catalogue of apps including VOIP, Skype, MSN, Google, etc IM clients, Weather, push e-mail solutions and the list just goes on and on.[/quote]
You can customize any S60 or UIQ or WinMobile phone this way. Sorry, no doughnut here.
The camera may not be as good as a dedicated camera but then what can a dedicated camera do besides pictures and video and are you always going to want to carry an camera with you.
Where as your N95 is all of these replacements and always with you.
If you don't like it want it or need it fair enough but unless you have had one and seen just what it can do i don't really see while you feel you have to knock.
luarvique wrote:Most smartphones are multimedia. They make pictures and videos. They play mp3s.So are dozens other phones, and some of them are not bricks.
Actually, they are, unless I am missing something important. Almost N-series and E-series phones have them.
This is simply a question of time, really. All new phones will use it.
N93, N93i, 6280 all can do it. Phones from other manufacturers can do it as well.
Just about any other S60 phone can play music and video.
Ok, another +1 for N95: not every phone has HSDPA yet.
320x240 is a regular screen nowadays, not a great one.
The browser is basically the same as on other S60e3 phones, sorry.
[quote[Plus you also have the ability to customise by adding from a huge catalogue of apps including VOIP, Skype, MSN, Google, etc IM clients, Weather, push e-mail solutions and the list just goes on and on.
Yes, I am always going to carry a dedicated camera if I intend to shoot pictures. Cell phone cameras, and this includes N95, do not cut it, sorry.
Unfortunately, N95 does not replace a dedicated photo camera. It may replace a dedicated video camera though, I am not familiar with shooting video enough to judge this.
Yes, I have seen one and seen what it can do. It is a regular, albeit expensive, S60 phone with a slightly better camera and a GPS.[/QUOTE]
Your views on the N95 only seem to hint towards one thing, that's the fact you probably haven't actually used one. Especially the comments with regards to the camera. Yes, at 5mp it's not that good, knock it down to 3 though and it's easily a replacement to an average digital camera. It's no DLSR but then again it's not meant to be. Most people don't have room to carry a bigger camera with them at all times, it's just not practical. How many times do you go out to a pub with your camera as well as your phone? That's just stupid.
I agree, the N95 is crap, it's much better carrying around a laptop, GPS module, MP3 player, digital camera, that's a far more practical solution 🙄
I think his (our) point was that the N95 is not a great replacement for many other phones out there...
Your views on the N95 only seem to hint towards one thing, that's the fact you probably haven't actually used one.
Especially the comments with regards to the camera. Yes, at 5mp it's not that good, knock it down to 3 though and it's easily a replacement to an average digital camera.
It's no DLSR but then again it's not meant to be. Most people don't have room to carry a bigger camera with them at all times, it's just not practical.
I agree, the N95 is crap, it's much better carrying around a laptop, GPS module, MP3 player, digital camera, that's a far more practical solution
I have to agree that some of what is being pushed on the N95 is a bit Hype. In that it has all been done before.
But it is probably the first unit to include a very good (for a phone and always with you) camera/camcorder, GPS, MP3 with dedicated controls and enough pwer for video playbck all into one device and a proper OS (able to run a range of 3rd party apps).
Also, in the smartphone arena, alot of devices tend to have 64k or 262k colours. So 16 mill. is good.
Biggest gripe for me with BT GPS, is that it is one more thing to carry/charge. Number of times I wanted to use it and found I had left it at home or in the other car etc. is countless. I like the one thing to charge and that is it. But the battery life seams a little too limited on the N95.
Personally, I won't be getting one. More likely will be getting an E90 (Though I may still be tempted by a WM6 unit. Kaiser with VGA might have done it).
Oh and how can you call this hype given what has been spewed out of the Apple camp lately.
Zuber
Unregistered wrote:Biggest gripe for me with BT GPS, is that it is one more thing to carry/charge.
Oh and how can you call this hype given what has been spewed out of the Apple camp lately.
luarvique wrote:Holux makes GPS units about the size of a small lighter. They are not difficult to carry.
Yes, but you still have to take it out and put it down. So you can still forget it. It is a particular problem for me, because I use 2 cars. Also, the Bluetooth unit may be small to carry, but I bet the charger isn't.
And of course, you can't ring it to to try and find it after you put it down somewhere.
Maybe I'm particularly useless at looking after things, and this is not normal. But it is one of the reasons I want an all in one device.
Before leaving a location (Car, Office, etc.) Engage brain cell. What have I forgotten ? Ansewer Phone. disengage brain cell.
As opposed to :
Did I bring my camera with me when I came ?
Did I bring my BT GPS or leave it in the car ?
Where is the MP3 player.
Damn I forgot to swap charger and now xxx is flat.
etc.
Bottom line, it is just less agro if it's all in one. Worth the compromises to some, not to others. But as mentioned before, only if the battery does not go flat.
Zuber
Unregistered wrote:Did I bring my camera with me when I came ?
Did I bring my BT GPS or leave it in the car ?
Where is the MP3 player.
Damn I forgot to swap charger and now xxx is flat.
luarvique, get a life.
The N95 does not claim to do anything new, just to do the same things as other smartphones, but to do it slighter better in all regards. To have a decent camera (with LED flash), perfectly capable of taking holiday snaps or pictures on a night out, plus an MP3 player with dedicated hardware buttons and a clear, physically large and easy to read screen and with built-in mapping and GPS, plus a fast CPU and a handy form factor is very convenient for many people. The N95 proves that the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts.
RE: 1. Every smartphone has an mp3 player now.
Yes, but most are still a pain to use. I have a WM5 device. And I simply don't bother trying to use it as a regular MP3 player. The point was that the N95 has specific MP3 player oriented hardware buttons (and I assume software carefully mapped to it) that make it more like a dedicated MP3.
I'm probably looking at getting an E90. And 2 things I don't like are the camera button not activating the camera and the lack of MP3 specific controls.
RE: 2. N95 is no match for a real camera, so you will need to bring it anyway.
I used to have a real camera ( SLR Canon E10 I think it was). Found I never had it with me when I wanted to take shot (only took it to specific events).
Got a smaller compact digital. Again, found I did not have it with me half the time. The other half, I wanted to take it in a hurry but battery was flat.
Got a camera phone. Found the pics were so rubbish I'd never want to keep them. Now getting to the poit where the picks ARE good enough for storing memorable events. Can still take a real camera on the odd occassion. And have a worth while video cam (assuming what I have read is accurate, the samples look good to me).
Not as good as the real thing but now good enough.
RE: 3. You can leave Holux GPS in your pocket
I've got a BT GPS with 20 sats and all that. To get a good consistant signal I put it on the dash near the windscreen. Not in my pocket !!!
I have to remember to charge it. And so forget to collect it. Or fiddle with 2 car chargers 1 for the phone and 1 for the GPS.
As I say, not a fan boy. Will usually buy what I like (Though I have a grudge with Sony). But I still think you are missing the point of what you gain from a well thought out "convergence" device.
By the way, I did not no the internal GPS would present a problem to software providers. Would kind of defeat the object of having it if true.
Zuber
Just tell me something, L: what is your evidence of it being a brick? 😊 Have you held it in your hand, actually? 😉 Seriously, show me a smartphone with the same level of specs AND size of screen in those measurements - just curious to know.
The N95 is only phone out there that kills most add eqipment we tend to use casually. The N95 wont send ur Digi camera to the bin as noted, but it beat the camera when it comes to availability. You only take that when u go events u consider that it ll be required.
GPS well that new to me and i bet to more people it importance in mobile phones that it ll come to a period not too far away that ll be a must in smartphones. N95 if i purchase ll bring me into the SAT NAV world (i know many people in my shoes that dont know much or very little in this regard).
The point about the specs and features on most smartphone is dumb to me. The phones i presume u re referring to re still limited and to some extend in the same price region for those that buy sim free, and one notably far more expensive (E90).
It should be noted that this is a flagish device, the price on such things re normally high at first but knowing Nokia price come down soon due to market forces as well as newer mid to high end phones will be based on the same/nearly identical hardware.
Talking of hype, i have to say it worth it due to the specs sheet. On the same note i know one product dropping in USA on the 29 with lesser specs sheet that gotten the whole hype since January that is now so choking that even competitors fan base site cant help but talk about it.
On issue of specs on the N95 being lacklustre because of the screen and being bulky, i assume u want to have Hvga or VGA screen at the same time be small like a RAZR with a long battery life? then u must be on bad crack(sorry if sounded a little hard but cant help).
Show me a phone that has that many SPECS with being that small accept N95 in the market......there isn't any and u won't be able to find it....N95 is the biggest blast in the cell phone history. I connected it to my projecter and reults are CRYSTAL CLEAR, it's just like going to the theater.
Last fall I got to use my friend�s pre-released N95 all day. It�s light, screen is great and slider basically fine.
Now please don�t slam me on this. We all know smartphones are sensitve to liquid(s)..
So, one day while walking with a bottled beverage and N95 in the same hand a tiny "splat" made it go skitzo! Even when it was closed one little "splat" sank into the outside nav key and drowned it (No, I didn�t do it..). Anyway, different app displays popped-up by themselves etc.
Other less complex phones survive much better. For example, my wife once dropped her 6100 into the toilet! But what made my teenage son and me really laugh was when she told how she Had to wash it off under running water! We asked her if she was making sure it was dead! By the way. After drying-out it was fine again (unlike N95).. except the sim card.
This really happened so I felt I should report it to anyone thinking about buying N95 (like I was up to that point). If you do, keep it out of your "carrying" hand and watch out in the rain!
I�ve put my hope into clamshells (N93) and my wife�s (run-of-the-mill) indestructable.
Ps. I keep a Nokia gps receiver in both cars. The box included a lighter charger which is handy for my phone too.. Too bad auto�s bt hands-free ear piece and gps can�t be used at the same time with N93. In a way the old auto HF saddle system with mic, speaker and built-in charger had its advantages. I had the "old way" all the way up to 9330i. TT mobile5 worked but closed-down when a call came in. Getting it back up wasn�t too bad.