The battles between Nokia's three Nseries flagships have raged on and off across the Internet for many months. Steve's used each of the N95, the N95 8GB and the N82 as his main device for long stretches of time and here presents a real-world summary of attributes and differences. Is there a winner? Only just. Comments welcome if you've also used all three or just have an opinion!
Read on in the full article.
Thats a pretty fair comparison, although IMHO the screen size on the N82 is less of an issue than your scores suggest.
The N82 can be bought online direct from Nokia for only �315 inc VAT and Delivery and you get a FREE bag, http://shop.nokia.co.uk/nokia-uk/product.aspx?sku=3759722 which has got to be worth an extra point. (N95 8GB is �422 from Nokia)
If you are looking to get an N82 on contract in the UK, forget it, they are are currently not available officially on any network after O2 decided to discontinue it a couple of weeks ago.
All 3 are winners in my book - all are very Imaginative technological products Power VeRy much at the fore.
For me the N82 is the real winner, and it´s enough the vote for camera... the same :con?for N95 and the N82? What about the Flash? It´s there, isn´t it? So the interior photos of N82 is far superior of the same photos of N95.
Ratkat wrote:Thats a pretty fair comparison, although IMHO the screen size on the N82 is less of an issue than your scores suggest.The N82 can be bought online direct from Nokia for only £315 inc VAT and Delivery and you get a FREE bag, http://shop.nokia.co.uk/nokia-uk/product.aspx?sku=3759722 which has got to be worth an extra point. (N95 8GB is £422 from Nokia)
If you are looking to get an N82 on contract in the UK, forget it, they are are currently not available officially on any network after O2 decided to discontinue it a couple of weeks ago.
Although the networks have dropped the N82, (What ARE they playing at??) it is still available through many independent dealers, and that also include the AAS store, where the N82 is available on both O2 and Orange:
http://phoneshop.allaboutsymbian.com/o2-nokia-n82.html
http://phoneshop.allaboutsymbian.com/orange-nokia-n82.html
As for the scoring I may have made a few things different. I've used all three handsets and by far for me the N82 is the best of the bunch.
I've not owned an N82 so I can't really comment other than to say that I don't personally like the look and feel of the keypad, and I do prefer a larger display overall - mainly for video playback. I think the zenon flash is a nice touch though.
I owned the N95 8gb originally which I got - brand new - for £375. This was and still is a pretty good price, but soon the novelty of the shiny back case and slightly bigger screen wore off and after my fiance updated her Classic N95 to version 20 I realised that the advantages of my extra RAM were un-noticeable - she still went about using all the applications she wanted without any problems - and even the battery seemed to make no difference, as both of us invariably had to recharge our respective N95s at the end of each day.
I also preferred the lightness and smaller 'feel' of the classic.
Fortunately my N95 8gb developed a fault whereby a strange fog appeared under the lens. I was able to swap for a new N95 classic silver and kept £175 change to boot. I was also fortunate enough to find an 8GB SDHC inside the phone, so I couldn't be happier - I HATED the slow transfer rate of the 8gb and now I can transfer files at lightning speed. I don't miss the bigger screen, the extra RAM the extended battery or the extra weight and I appreciate that I have enough money left over to buy a Wii.
Based on price - which is surely the most important factor when the differences in spec are so small - I think the N95 is certainly the best of the three smartphones reviewed. Even as an upgrade I'd think twice before going for the 8gb as the slow transfer rate is crippling for someone who is constantly adding and taking away multimedia like myself, though it does look nice.
The N82 will be released on Orange. Its on our systems and will be launched sometime in (mid)May.
O2 dropping the N82 disappoined my wife as she had just decided to upgrade to it when they pulled it by the time she had sorted things out. She has now decided to stick with her N73 on O2 simplicity instead. Oh well O2's loss in revenue is our gain in extra income.
This is all very subjective but here are my ratings!!!
There wasn't infrared mentioned which n82 lacks.(though to me thats a good thing as I don't like legacy functions)
N95 8Gb is now �399 from Phones4U (Sim Free)
I don't like the cheap look of all of them... like plastic toys, but not like a 300 to 500� mobile phone. Hence, I'm really looking forward to the N96 or the N78 and will enjoy my e51 until that becomes affordable 😉
leoni1980 wrote:I've not owned an N82 so I can't really comment other than to say that I don't personally like the look and feel of the keypad, and I do prefer a larger display overall - mainly for video playback. I think the zenon flash is a nice touch though.I owned the N95 8gb originally which I got - brand new - for �375. This was and still is a pretty good price, but soon the novelty of the shiny back case and slightly bigger screen wore off and after my fiance updated her Classic N95 to version 20 I realised that the advantages of my extra RAM were un-noticeable - she still went about using all the applications she wanted without any problems - and even the battery seemed to make no difference, as both of us invariably had to recharge our respective N95s at the end of each day.
I also preferred the lightness and smaller 'feel' of the classic.
Fortunately my N95 8gb developed a fault whereby a strange fog appeared under the lens. I was able to swap for a new N95 classic silver and kept �175 change to boot. I was also fortunate enough to find an 8GB SDHC inside the phone, so I couldn't be happier - I HATED the slow transfer rate of the 8gb and now I can transfer files at lightning speed. I don't miss the bigger screen, the extra RAM the extended battery or the extra weight and I appreciate that I have enough money left over to buy a Wii.
Based on price - which is surely the most important factor when the differences in spec are so small - I think the N95 is certainly the best of the three smartphones reviewed. Even as an upgrade I'd think twice before going for the 8gb as the slow transfer rate is crippling for someone who is constantly adding and taking away multimedia like myself, though it does look nice.
Hmm.. WOW ! Really ? Does anybody else feel the same way about the 2 N95's ??
on looks alone, a plum n95 rocks all over the n82 which looks like a sony reject. really ugly and horrible keys too. still not certain about the n95 8gb - black is classy, but so are the brass speaker fittings on the n95 - they have an pre-mobile old school look about them which i love - remind me of an old mic i've got from the 70s! each to their own i guess.
having come from a slow, slow n70 which lost most of its silvery paint to my ears and hair over 18 months (was wondering why my wife was accusing me of jiggerypokery with girls wearing glitter when i got back from a night-out - only twigged after a year or so - d'oh!) I guess any of the 3 phones would seem amazing! The N95 has completely integrated itself into my life - phone, web, camera and 8gb of tunes and videos wherever I want - I can even work from home using it's SSH client!
battery life is the main reason i would advise friends to go for something other than an n95 classic. i'm only a moderate user and it has to be charged daily, even on v20 firmware... my missus still uses my old 6230i which can last almost a week without charging! makes a rubbish light sabre though.
I was under the impression that the N95 8GB GPS receiver was better placed than on the Classic, leading to faster and more stable locks? I had an N95 Classic since April last year (always on the latest firmware), and having recently gone to an 8GB after my other phone was stolen I can honestly say the 8GB has much faster lock times for me. I've yet to have it take longer than 10 seconds from a cold start, and thats been in cloudy conditions and near tall buildings. Non-cold locks are near-instantaneous.
I can't follow the comments suggesting some model is *the* best one.
It's all depending heavily on the importance of features to oneself. To me the camera was top priority and I traded that in for a slightly smaller screen and lacking infraread (both which I could make good use of) in the N82. Someone else might not care much about a camera and is willing to pay more for the biggest screen. Then the scale will most likely tip to the side of the N95 8GB.
So, the table with points makes much sense. Multiply the entries by the importance of the feature for the person asking for advice (or yourself, of course), leave out the things your don't care about because all phones are good enough and sum that up.
My conclusion: Good article and very helpful when deciding which phone to buy. If it only were appearing two months earlier I wouldn't have had to think that long about which model to choose ...
The n95 8gb manual suggest the gps antenna is still in the same spot as the original.
I have to agree with the previous poster - There is no 'best' N-Series model for everyone, when choosing a phone model it all comes down to which features an individual requires.
A journalist may love the N82 purely for its video recording capabilities whereas a young, gadget loving guy could just want the same phone because he doesn't like phones with a sliding mechanism but wants a 5.0 megapixel camera.
Surely its all down to the individual to answer this question?
Very useful comparison, I am about to buy one of these babies right now to replace my N73. At first glance the N82 seemed the obvious choice as I value photography and navigation above all. But your chart (and comparison in smartphones show 58) have pointed me out that maybe the N82 isn't that far ahead the others.
I assume the original N95 tested by you is the european N95-1, with 64MB RAM and 950 mAh battery. I wonder how well would the N95-3 (available in the americas, heavily subsidized here in Brazil) score in that table.
the rating for cost seems a bit arbitrary though:
the price difference between the N95 and N82 is 65 UKP, and your point difference is 3 points
the price difference between the N82 and N95 8GB is 100 UKP and your point difference is 1 point!
this seems illogical.
Otherwise, I found it very interesting that the audio quality on recorded videos is so much worse on the N82.
Also, the xenon flash would probably be a drawback for video, since you can't use it for video at all, while you can use LED's also to record video...?
I'd tend get the N95 if it wasn't for the battery life... the way it is, I'm not too happy with either choice - waiting for May 2009 for the fabled N97