When the Nokia N95 was released it took the world by storm as it managed to pack pretty much everything the hardened gadgeteer could need into a pocket-friendly device. Since then it's been joined by other do-it-all phones such as the iPhone 3G and T-mobile G1. The N96 signals the start of Nokia's fight back as it promises smoother video playback and some other neat extras. But has Nokia done enough to make the N96, which is available for around £500 SIM-free, an attractive upgrade for the owners of the N95?
Positives
Looks-wise, the N96 isn't a radical departure from previous designs. The handset still has quite a bulky frame, but instead of the matte finish, it comes with an altogether more stylish-looking high-gloss exterior.
The slide mechanism has also been tweaked and now feels much smoother and sturdier, but the unique dual keypad arrangement has been retained. If you slide the screen upwards you're met by the standard numerical keypad, but when you slide it downwards a column of four media playback controls (play, stop, fast-forward and rewind) are revealed.
Nokia has paid close attention to video with the N96. In order to add support for the DVB-H standard (more on that later) Nokia has had to kit the phone out with new video acceleration. This speeds up decoding of video formats like h.264, the most common standard for video on mobiles.
The advantages this brings are clear when you download the iPlayer application from the BBC's Web site. It works like a dream -- the streamed video looks incredibly smooth and artefact-free on the N96's excellent screen. Nokia has even added a kick-stand to the rear of the phone so you can easily rest it on a desk when you want to watch a few episodes of your favourite programmes or a couple of music videos.
Up until now, the N81 was the king of the nGage gaming handsets. But that's all changed with the N96's arrival -- sliding down the screen when an nGage game is loaded transforms the media controls into additional gaming buttons for two-handed control. It helps game-playing immensely and makes the phone feel like a real portable games machine.
The camera is pretty much a direct carry-over from the N95, but as it takes such good shots that's no bad thing. The five-megapixel sensor captures plenty of detail and the Carl Zeiss optics make sure that everything remains pin sharp. Although there's still no Xenon flash, you do get dual LED photo lights to help in dim conditions.
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User reviews9
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gopikrsna925 26 November 2010
Good: Good camera and some cool features
Bad: Mobile freezes a lot. Camera is bad during night, music player is not great.
Comment: Good mobile nothing special.
406hdi110 3 October 2010
Good: Feature Packed, Tonnes of Memory, Camera
Bad: Battery life, slow, it just gets worse and worse
Comment: Ok when i got my phone i had abandoned nokia for some time after using slicker sony ericssons i loved their smooth user interface and great build quality. When i got the nokia new it just didnt feel as well made. Initially i was impressed with the many features and the 32gb of memory i got with both the phones memory and sd card, i could put all my music on the phone and i suppose thats one thing it can do well is play music but its that slow to search for songs i just used shuffle, its camera was great but again too slow to really bother using, the interent explorer was rubbish full stop and even with opera there was never a good enough connection to make it worthwile, it would crash plenty of times when on the internet, and as for the gps the phone could never connect in time, if it did it would munch through the battery in about an hour, when it sat on standby the phone struggled to do a day. It didnt transfer its contacts to my cars bluetooth. The kickstand broke off, as did the whole battery cover, the slider got dirt in easily and got hard to move. But generally the n96s biggest flaw is that it has too many features and not enough processing power to deal with even a single application running, £100 is the max i would pay for one now, i wont buy a nokia again
Maggie09 16 February 2010
Good: Lots of gadgets and things to keep you occupied
Bad: Slow, too delicate over complicated
Comment: I always reserch my next mobile (I'm to have it for the next 18 months after all!!) this wasn't my first choice but when I saw what it could do I changed from O2 (who I'd been with for years) to 3 as they did not have it at the time. It look good in writing.
My 18 months is nearly up and I can't wait to get shot of it!! It's frustratingly slow at even the basics like opening a txt message, whether that be a new one to send or opening a recieved one. If I had money to burn I'd have taken great pleasure in destroying it...very slowly!
That said the camera is pretty decent, at 5mp (top notch at the time of purchase!) they are very clear and the settings are easy to use. The only drawback is when you zoom in the 5mp drop to 2.5 and the pictures start to become grainy.
Had I wanted a 2.5mp camera I could have saved myself a lot of money an stuck with my old phone!
It has been dropped on a few occasions but so have all my other phones, but they managed to survive (once they were gathered up and put back together!!). The N96 generally stays intact but the battery and SIM become dislogded inside and I have to dismantle it anyway.
From time to time (both before and after dropping it) when placed on a hard surface it throws itself off line and I have to take it apart and put it together again.
Sadly it didn't come with a memory card but it has never refused anything I have tried to download onto it so far. I don't have hundreds of songs on it but I do have hundreds of pictures and I got to over 1000 messages before I deleted any - and it wasn't full!!
The key pad and navigation buttons can be fiddly and hard to press when you've got cold hands and the camera button is small and takes some effort to press down and again even more so if your hands are cold.
The slide function isn't the greatest I've experienced, it feels a little cheap and flimsy after a while. When slid down, the buttons to control the music player and iplayer are no better.
I've hardly used the headphones but one no longer works. I don't know if they have had a knock or they are just rubbish.
I'm not really into games but it seems to be very slow at loading. I've installed 3 of the 5 games available but they are all trials. What a swizz!!!
Overall, If your into your gadgets and can be bothered to take the time to back it up and install upgrades, wait for it to respond when you press a button and be there for it when it has a panic attack because you put it down on the coffee. If you can put all that aside, its not a half bad phone.
Unfortunately, I won't be looking into and more of the Nseries as I find it just that bit to much hassle.
See all 9 user reviews