In part 3 of his Nokia N96 review Steve covers the multimedia capabilities of the phone. After comprehensive testing he delivers his verdict on the still photography, video recording, music playback and video playback capabilities of the N96 before coming to some overall conclusions about the multimedia functionality. Part 3 follows on from the general overview in part 1 and application walk through in part 2.
Read on in the full article.
I have observed that the n96 does seem to struggle if you load it to capacity with music (30gb for example). Mostly it's fine but ocassionally a track becomes distorted. My theory is that the memory required for this size of music library becomes a problem at this level. If this is the case it should just need a f/w update to fix, but if the handset is aimed at being a true multimedia device, it should be able to easily support libraries upto the theoretical maximum of 48gb (32gb micro sd cards are not far away I believe).
ILG
Nice review, thanks. I have comments and questions.
Video DRM scares and annoys the hell out of me. I had a nightmare with Nokia Music Store with expiring licences, and ended up losing some stuff completely. Never again, as they say. Given that, if video is to be DRM'd too, I'll be avoiding any forthcoming Nokia Video Store like the plague. So what does that leave me to watch apart from the usual Video Centre stuff (BTW, AAS videocast feed is still throwing up errors on my N95-1) like Reuters, Sky News, and the occasional Ricky Gervais videocast? If I have a DVD then I can mess about with DVD Decoder and Super for hours on end, but what options are there right now (apart from iPlayer) for Joe Public to download or rip video content for later viewing on a long-haul flight or train journey?
My other question is about uPnP. I looked back at Rafe's N78 review and he appears to be saying that all content on the phone (including video, presumeably) can be "shown" via Simple Center on the PC. Could you or anybody else confirm that this is the case on newer N-series phones? It's something that's never worked for me with the N95-1 and, judging from posts on the Simple Center forums, I'm not the only one. Music and still images work OK, but not video, even with the premium version of Simple Center. To reiterate, can you, with Simple Center running on the PC, select "show via home network" (or whatever FP2 equivalent) on the phone and it streams to the PC?
I have seen in the nokia n96 reviews that the dual LED can be used as a sort of a torch light, I was wondering whether that is possible with the Nokia n78?
UPnP video - I have had this working, but I was using a home console at a friends house not simple center.
I just tried it in simple center and it didn't work (got stuck on buffering). As you sau oher things work fine. I've also used UPnP to copy specific videos off the device too. So yes you are correct, I'll make a note to try and find out more.
Thanks, Rafe, that answers the question. I'm just about to try out Twonky, to see if that's any better. It does seem, though, that Simple Center is the only software solution that's a player as well as a server, albeit only partially successful.
Being a Brit here, in good company I think, I've noticed that the BBC iPlayer 'download' option has completely disappeared. Live Streaming or nothing seems to be the new order of the day. I'm investigating as it seems that if one downloads the WMV file via a desktop PC it can be copied across and played but just a few days ago, this could be done in-N96.
Tim
I have been playing around with Simple Center with my N82 for a while now and can make video play on the computer no problem. The problem I've had is rather slow and buggy and most of the time has my computer slowing down to a snails pace, if not actually freezing up solid
great review steve!
however i have some question...
do u think it is worth to change the once nokia's flagship, N95 8GB to N96? so far i've seen dissapointment from the N96..
although 1 think i like from N96 is that there is no more wobble on the slider, unlike the N95 8GB...can it be fix on the N95 8GB? thanks
hi can some1 give me a UK sim free product code please i asked in forums but no reply yet
i'm fed up of using v10 and waiting for v11 on 0573063
any help will be appreciated ty
being 1 of very first owner of n96 & still having n95-1 in hand i'm quite dissapointed with the way nokia made n96. The photo and video works a lot worse than n95-1 in term of quality and causes annoyance as the shutter is placed too deep too hard to press that you have to have long firm nail to get it clicked. The mobile tv doesnt work in the uk. The all-plastic casing feels cheap as if the phone is fake made-in-china product. After few days u see scratches every where. Very dissapointed.
I have made a few videos on the Nokia N96 - does anyone know how I can edit the videos??
Hi, just had a look at was said about the N96, yes on paper its the the one to have, but as soon as you have walked out of the shop the bets are down for how long it will take you to come back. Dont get me wrong, i had a N95. A A1 phone and went to a N96 it had some bad reviews but you must try these things, so i did. Big mistake,had a upgrade two weeks ago and i am on my 3rd N96 now, Done all the up dates talk to alot off people why it was going wrong and it all seems to be software issue. But why haven't nokia put it right yet ? is it the same resin Microsoft never sorted out the X Box over heating and the ring of death problem ?. I love Nokia phones and i would love N96 just to work. I am on software version 12.043. If there is a fix out there let me Know.......Will not be sell my N95 just in case..
Nice media review. I've recently done one of my own. Though this focused on playback only, no camera usage (I intend to post separately on that). I was very disappointed with the noise you mention when recording video. I'm running a 12.x firmware version and even after so many major and minor updates the gain hiss is so bad it essentially renders the N96's video camera functionality useless to me.