Nokia N95 8GB

Clearly hoping to capitalize on the success of the N95, Nokia's upgraded it to 8GB. Frankly there's little sense in reviewing the phone from scratch as it's similar to its predecessor in a lot of ways, and much has been written about the earlier model. Tech2.0 had reviewed it too, so here we shall concentrate on what's new in the 8GB version.
This phone picks up from the original N95 design with dimensions of 99 x 53 x 21 mm; the only difference is that the 8GB has put on some weight. It's gained 8g over its predecessor to tilt the scales at 128g. The form factor is largely unchanged, but the screen has been made fractionally larger.
The screen now also comes with scratch resistance, which really seems to work. You can use the dual slider design of the phone in much the same fashion. Slide down and it will expose the multimedia buttons, while at the same time changing the screen orientation to landscape.

The other design elements have mostly kept true to mirror the original. You will find the usual assortment of buttons below the screen, with the charging and the USB slot at the bottom. The camera, along with the flash (which now appears below the lens, instead of being beside it like in the N95) can be found at the back.

The stereo speakers are placed at either side of the phone, with dedicated camera buttons on the right of the screen along with the volume/zoom keys. The power button is on top, and the secondary camera just above the screen. As I mentioned earlier, it's not very different from the N95.

The phone comes equipped with everything the N95 had. The ARM 11 332 MHz processor remains unchanged, which is a pity – considering all the value additions this should have been spruced up as well. The result is that the phone is a bit sluggish. In any case, Nokia has compensated by powering the 8GB with a 128 MB SDRAM memory, as against 64 MB in the older version.

 

I don't need to mention that the onboard storage capacity has been increased to 8GB – this extra space is the whole reason for the new model's existence! This is the single coolest factor of the phone, but an expandable memory slot would have been even more brilliant.

The 8GB offers the same functionalities as the N95, and then some. While the old phone was equipped with Wi-Fi, GPRS and EDGE too, the 8GB's GPRS transfer rates are a bit faster. It makes use of Class 32, 107 / 64.2 Kbps. It's equipped with Bluetooth and Infrared.

The phone makes use of the Symbian Series 60 9.2 with feature pack 3.1, and although the UI is one of the best in the market, it takes a beating due to the sluggish processor. True, the phone only takes under a second to respond, but the third-party applications take a helluva time to open.

The N95 8GB has all the traits to make it a smartphone. The regular features are intact, including Office applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. You can also view PDF files. Newer apps like the search-based T9 Nav can be easily installed. It's quite useful to drag information out, just like Avafind on the desktop. Only, it's paid!




Browsing is fun with Nokia's proprietary browser, and to a certain extent is preferable over third party browsers like Opera Mini. One problem is that you if you try to access 'heavy' sites, it will show a bad request. Also, the phone will not download any applications or files it does not support.

Like the N95, the 8GB also comes with a built-in GPS receiver that works perfectly well in 8 cities, including Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore. It makes use of the Nokia Maps applications, which will require you to load the maps on to your phone. The maps cover over 100 countries. I think this is brilliant!!

Then there’s Zip for opening zipped files, and a silly application called Barcode that's supposed to read barcodes. But it doesn’t work at all well! Like the older version this too comes with a TV-out, and is something worth trying.

The camera is unchanged – it's a 5 megapixel autofocus job, and is one of the best I've seen in a phone. The largish screen makes for an excellent viewfinder. Apart from the auto mode, you can also access scene modes and control exposure settings, much the same way you would on a budget camera.

The pictures are much sharper than the ones taken by some of the 5MP mobile phone cameras I reviewed lately. Color reproduction is brilliant when compared to what you normally get from mobiles. You can forget packing your camera and rely on the N95 8GB instead. The maximum resolution is 2592 x 1944 pixels. The video recorder needs a special mention – the quality is brilliant, so much so that you can actually use it for web purposes with confidence.


All the pictures clicked were quite good, with vibrant colors. There are plenty of manual settings, should you feel like experimenting.



The music is good enough. The phone plays MP3, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+ and WMA, and though I expected it to be loud, it barely lives up to this expectation. Sound quality is good, nevertheless, and manual EQ settings are offered in addition to presets. The video player supports MP4 and 3GP formats. The phone comes with a 3.5mm jack so that you can use your own headphones.
While we're at it, I'd like to express my dislike for the placement of the earphone jack. If you want to keep the phone propped up on any surface to watch a movie etc, you simply cannot do this while the earphones are connected. Since you can’t turn the screen upside down in landscape mode, this is a serious disadvantage.

The N95 8GB has a better battery life than its predecessor and even heavy usage won't leave you high and dry. The phone costs Rs 28,000 which is about 6K more than the N95 classic, mostly because of the increased storage space and additional RAM. Most other things remain the same, so there's no reason not to pick this up. You'll need to accept that the phone can be a bit sluggish though.

Specs

N95 8GB
Network	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 with HSDPA 2100
Physical	99 x 53 x 21 mm, 128g
Display	2.8 inch TFT, 16million colors, (240 x 320 pixels)
Memory	8GB inbuilt memory, no external memory slot
Camera	5 Megapixel
Connectivity	USB, Bluetooth with A2DP profile, GPRS, 3G, Wi-Fi
Battery	Up to 280 hrs standby, 6 hrs talktime (according to product manual)
Street Price	Approx. Rs 28,000