CNET Editor's rating: 7.0 out of 10
Reviewed by
Bonnie Cha
Review date: 04/10/07
The good: The Nokia N95 cell phone boasts a 5-megapixel camera that produces good-quality photos and videos. It comes with advanced multimedia capabilities and has a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Symbian smart phone also features integrated GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, and an innovative two-way slider design.
The bad: The N95 lacks support for U.S. 3G networks; standby battery life is poor; and performance is somewhat sluggish. The hardware feels a bit cheap, and the sliding mechanism could be more secure. It's also very expensive.
The bottom line: With a 5-megapixel camera, advanced multimedia capabilities, and GPS, there's no doubt that the Nokia N95 is one of the most feature-packed smart phones to date, but poor battery life and sluggish performance make it hard to justify the high price tag.
Ever since the Nokia N95 first debuted back in September 2006, it's been one of the most anticipated and highly coveted smart phones. In fact, Nokia didn't even have plans to bring the N95 to the United States, but after the high number of requests from U.S. customers, the company finally decided to ship the hot smart phone across the pond. What's all the hubbub about, you ask? Well, let's see: it boasts a 5-megapixel camera that can also record VGA-quality video, a robust media player with a 3.5mm headphone jack, a dual-slider design, and integrated GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Not to mention, it's a Symbian smart phone as well.
Unfortunately, when you've got an overhyped phone like this, there's bound to be some disappointments. First, the N95 does not work on the United States' 3G network (namely, Cingular/AT&T's HSDPA network) for high-speed Web browsing and data transfer, which is a major disappointment. Also, all of the phone's features take a toll on the device's battery and processor, as standby battery life was pretty sad and performance was somewhat sluggish. But do the pros outweigh the cons? Is it worth paying the $750 for the phone? Well, we're not 100 percent sold.
We so desperately wanted to like this phone, but for that money, we want a device that can keep up with our demands and not require us to go running to the outlet to constantly recharge. Plus, we'd also like the see the inclusion of 3G.
Still, we know there are the gadget lovers and tech enthusiasts out there that will plunk down the Benjamins for this high-end phone, and we can't deny that you'll get your fill of features. The Nokia N95 is available now unlocked (for use with Cingular and T-Mobile SIM cards) through Nokia's flagship stores, select wireless retailers, and online.
Design
Considering all the features that are packed into the Nokia N95, you'd think it would be a pretty hefty phone, but not so, my friends. The N95 measures a compact 3.8 inches long by 2.1 inches wide by 0.8 inch thick and weighs only 4.2 ounces. It feels comfortable to hold, and the soft-touch finish on the back of the device makes it easier to grip. That said, we couldn't help but think that the phone felt, well, kind of cheap. In particular, the front cover felt plasticky and rickety (more on this below). From an aesthetic standpoint, the N95 certainly falls more into the short and stocky category rather than svelte and sexy, but we think it's still a good-looking phone with its plum-and-silver color scheme.
Despite all the features that are packed into the device, the Nokia N95 is a compact and an attractive phone.
Of course, another attraction of the N95 is its innovative two-way slider design. Not only can you slide the front cover up to reveal the alphanumeric keypad, you can also slide it down to expose the media player controls. The dual functionality is nice, but we had a couple of concerns. First, the cover, which houses the screen and navigation buttons, felt loose and rattled around a bit. It just didn't feel like it was securely locked into place, thus leading to our next complaint. When putting the phone into a pants pocket or even when thrown into a bag, it was too easy to slide open the phone. There is a keypad lock, but we would prefer that the N95 just had a stronger mechanism for locking the position of the front flap.
Moving onto the display, the Nokia N95 features a gorgeous 2.6-inch QVGA TFT screen with a 16 million-color output and 320x240 pixel resolution. Be aware, however, that it isn't a touch screen. Images and text looked great, with deep color saturation and sharp definition. You can change the theme of the home screen, backlighting time, and font size. There's also an ambient light detector to adjust the backlighting depending on your environment, which helped keep the display readable in various lighting conditions. However, we noticed the N95's screen had a nasty habit of holding fingerprints and smudges, so keep some kind of wipe cloth close by. We should also note that when you slide open the phone to access the media player controls, the screen automatically switches to Landscape mode but once you close the phone, it doesn't automatically switch back. You have to open the dial pad to get back to portrait mode, which is annoying.
While the alphanumeric keypad is spacious, the navigation controls above it are slightly cramped and slick.
Beneath the display are the N95's navigation controls, which consist of two soft keys, the Talk and End buttons, shortcuts to the main menu and the multimedia menu, a Clear key, an Edit key that lets you choose the text input type, and a four-way toggle with a center select button. For the most part, the controls are easy to use, though they're a bit slick and the toggle and outer ring of buttons (see image above) could have been bigger. Still, it's an improvement over the Nokia E65's miniscule keys. The N95's numeric keypad features large, tactile buttons with bright backlighting, and they're raised above the phone's surface so it's easier to dial by feel. Unfortunately, the media player controls are less tactile and require a bit more pressure to register the command.
The dedicated media controls are a nice touch, but they're hard to press.
Since the N95 is a multimedia-centric device, Nokia smartly equipped the phone with a 3.5mm headset jack so you can plug in your favorite pair of earbuds or headphones for a better listening experience. It's located on the left side, in addition to an infrared port and the microSD expansion slot. On the right side, you will find the volume rocker, a shortcut to your photo gallery, and the camera activation button. The latter is in a position so that when you're holding the phone horizontally, it actually mimics the look and feel of a digital camera. The N95's camera lens itself (and flash) is located on the back and is guarded by a protective cover. Finally, there's a power connector and mini USB port on the bottom, and the power button on top of the handset.
Thankfully, Nokia put the microSD slot on the left spine of the N95 instead of behind the battery cover.
The U.S. version of the Nokia N95 comes packaged with an AC adapter, a USB cable, a TV-out cable, a 1GB microSD card with adapter for SD drives, a pair of earbud headphones, a headphone adapter with antenna and audio playback controls, a desktop software CD (which includes Nokia PC Suite), and reference material.
Features
It's hard to decide where to begin with the feature-packed Nokia N95, but since imaging is one of its biggest draws, we'll start there. The N95 is equipped with an impressive 5-megapixel camera--unheard of in the cell phone and smart phone world--with a Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar lens. (Carl Zeiss was an optician who first started manufacturing lenses for microscopes and then used his expertise for camera lenses.) The breadth of customization and editing options available on this phone is astounding--almost like an actual digital camera. You can choose from seven shooting modes, ranging from close-up to sports to night portrait, and five quality settings. You can adjust the brightness, contrast, white balance, color tone, ISO light sensitivity, and exposure value to get the best picture possible. The flash even has a red-eye reduction option. Plus, there's also a self-timer and a sequence mode for multiple shots.
The Nokia N95 is equipped with an impressive 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and flash.
The N95 can record video at a maximum VGA resolution (640x480) at 30 frames per second, though you also have a choice of four other quality settings. The N95 can record video with sound in MP4 or 3GP (for multimedia messages) format, and length is only limited by the available memory. There's a handy timer that shows you how much video time you have based on the memory and the quality setting (this feature is available in camera mode as well). Editing options are a little more limited in video mode; you only get two shooting modes (automatic and night) and white balance and color tone settings. In addition, there's a video stabilization feature to help reduce camera shake as you're recording video.
The N95's camera produced some impressive photos with rich colors and sharp definition.
We were impressed by the quality of photos and videos the N95 produced, as one would hope with a 5-megapixel lens. Pictures boasted vibrant colors and sharp lines and edges, and unlike some smart phones, the N95 didn't require you to have a super steady hand to get a clear shot. The camera phone also did a decent job with nighttime pictures, though they were still pretty dim. Video quality was also good. There wasn't any of that graininess that sometimes plagues videos shot by camera phones. We also wanted to mention the camera's interface, as we found it extremely easy to use and change camera settings, which can sometimes be challenging when you don't have a touch screen.
Once you're done, you can touch up your videos and photos with the included image editors. For example, you can add clip art and reduce red eye on still images, or cut audio for videos. There's about 150MB of internal memory for saving your photos and videos to the phone, but we recommend saving them onto a microSD card, especially since the N95 can support up to 2GB expandable media. And sharing your memories is also easy with the ability to view them as a slide show, print them via Nokia's Xpress Solutions, upload them to the Web or Nokia's Lifeblog app, or transfer them to other devices. Also, Nokia includes video-out cables so you can hook up your N95 to your TV to view all your media on the big screen.
As a multimedia computer, the Nokia N95 isn't limited to just pictures and video. There's also an integrated music player that supports MP3, WMA, W4A, AAC, AAC+, and eAAC+ files, as well as OMA DRM 2.0- and WMDRM-protected songs. The music library categorizes tracks by artists, albums, genres, and composers; you can also create playlists right on the phone and adjust the sound with the built-in equalizer. The N95 also has an FM radio, though you'll have to use the included headset to access the radio, since it acts as the tuner. RealPlayer is also onboard with 3GPP and MPEG-4 video streaming support. Again, we applaud the decision to incorporate a 3.5mm headphone jack, which goes a long way in making the multimedia experience that much better.
The Nokia N95 has a 3.5mm headset jack that accepts Walkman-style headphones for a better listening experience.
On top of all that, Nokia has also packed a GPS receiver into the N95, along with a mapping application. With it, you can get color maps, route planning, and a healthy points-of- interest database. There's also a trip computer that shows you information about the total distance, time, average speed, and so forth. However, to get any kind of turn-by-turn directions, you'll have to download an upgrade to the device that costs an additional $91.93 for a one-year license or $11.81 for a month. The N95's GPS performance was satisfactory, although it took quite a while for the unit to get a satellite fix. Once connected though, it did a good job of tracking our position and gave accurate route calculations.
Aside from the GPS radio, other wireless options on the Nokia N95 include integrated Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi, and an infrared port. The smart phone supports a number of Bluetooth profiles, including wireless headsets, hands-free kits, wireless keyboards, and A2DP for Bluetooth stereo headsets. As far as Wi-Fi, the N95 is compatible with 802.11b/g standards; in addition, there's support for Universal Plug and Play, which lets you use a Wi-Fi connection to hook up with a compatible PC, printer, or home entertainment system, but the number of UPnP devices is limited at the moment. The N95 was able to find and connect to our test access point, and we were able to surf the Net within minutes, using Nokia's excellent Web browser. Now, here's the bad news: the N95 does not work on the U.S. 3G networks. There's support for Europe's HSDPA/WCDMA 2100 band, but not for the U.S. HSDPA bands, so we're left with just regular 'ol EDGE speeds. Granted, we've been a bit spoiled after getting a taste for 3G, but for such a high-end and advanced phone as the N95, 3G support would have been huge.
While all the aforementioned features are great, you can't forget that the Nokia N95 is, first and foremost, a phone. The N95 includes a speakerphone, speed dial, conference calling, voice-command support, a vibrate mode, and text and multimedia messaging. Unfortunately, the video calling feature found on the European version of the N95 is not supported here in the United States. The phone's address book is only limited by the available memory, and the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts. There's room in each entry for multiple phone numbers, work and home addresses, e-mail addresses, birthday, and more vitals. For caller ID purposes, you can assign each contact a photo, one of 44 ringtones, or a group ID.
Last but not least, the N95 runs the third edition of the S60 platform on the Symbian operating system for your productivity needs. An app called QuickOffice lets you view Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents, and it optimizes the pages for the phone's screen, so you don't have to scroll all over the place to read text. There are some nice shortcuts to jump to the top or bottom of the page to reduce the up-and-down scrolling, and there's also a search function. However, if you want any editing capabilities, you'll have to upgrade the preloaded copy of QuickOffice. For messaging, the N95 supports IMAP4, POP3, and SMTP e-mail accounts and comes with a full attachment viewer. The N95 does support a number of push e-mail solutions, as well as Microsoft Exchange Server synchronization, but this is dependent upon your service provider (for example, Cingular offers Cingular Express) and company's e-mail solution, so check with your IT department if you have any questions.
There's a handy wizard when you first power up the device to help you configure your e-mail, and we used it to easily set up our SBC Global account. Other productivity apps and PIM tools include Adobe Reader, a Zip Manager, a calculator, a notepad, a measurement converter, a clock, and a voice recorder.
Performance
We tested the quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE/GPRS) Nokia N95 in San Francisco using T-Mobile and Cingular service, and in general, call quality was good. On our end, there was a slight background hiss but nothing too distracting that we couldn't carry on a conversation. Our friends, on the other hand, reported clear and excellent audio quality and said it sounded like we were on a landline. They were really impressed that such good sound was coming from a cell phone. Call quality didn't diminish when we activated the speakerphone. We also had no problems pairing the N95 with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset.
In terms of general performance, the N95 was fairly sluggish. There was a delay in response time whether we were using the camera, launching the media player, opening documents, or just calling up the multimedia menu. All in all, it's just a matter of a few seconds, but long enough to be noticeable and a bit annoying. The Web browsing experience was good, as pages loaded fairly quickly (faster using Wi-Fi than cellular), and we've always been huge fans of the Nokia Web browser.
Multimedia is the N95's forte, as evidenced by the features and performance. Music playback through the phone's speakers was better than anything we've heard from recent smart phones. It still lacks that deep bass, but we're impressed nonetheless. We also watched a couple of MP4 video clips using RealPlayer, and the video quality was decent with some expected pixilation. However, the playback was smooth and audio and video were always synchronized.
The Nokia N95 is rated for four hours of talk time and up to nine days of standby time. In our battery tests, we were able to get 3.5 hours of talk time on a single charge. While the talk time battery life was impressive, the standby time was not, as all the wireless radios and multimedia features take a toll on the device. After just one day of using the N95 in its various capacities--media player, phone, GPS, mobile Web browser--the battery was drained down to just one bar, so keep your travel charger handy. According to FCC radiation tests, the N95 has a digital SAR rating of 0.38 watts per kilogram.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular 1st Class Phone
Having read the editor's review you'd end up thinking that the phone didn't look that good, have ...
Having read the editor's review you'd end up thinking that the phone didn't look that good, have great build quality or respond well, and possibly also that it wasn't the best thing since sliced bread.
The truth is that this is one of the best looking and feeling handsets out there. The build quality is very solid and it's snappy for all the key phone functions.
Having used every kind of handset ranging from the Palm based Treo to a multitude of Windows and Series 60 phones over the recent years they've all fallen well short of being an ideal phone. This is the first one which genuinely starts to deliver the goods.
The overall feel of using the N95 is that it is simply phenomenal and without doubt is a milestone in mobile phone development. I'm fortunate to be based in London and get to benefit from all the 3G goodness and speed, and have to say that the browsing, navigation (GPS) and multimedia goodies such as playing the games on my wide screen television make this handset an unbelievably useful and fun device.
Other great features are the performance for syncing, it used to take ages to sync a Nokia phone, but this one syncs faster than you realise, so much so, that I've set it to auto sync via Bluetooth whenever it's near my laptop.
The 3G connectivity means that surfing and emailing through the PC or N800 are now a joy on the move as well as in the office.
The other thing to note is that the connectivity in general and especially the Wifi works extremely well. The phone seems to instantly detect wireless networks, at least three or four times faster than Windows and allows easy switching between the wifi and 3G connections allowing you to save on your bandwidth bill.
What is clear though is that some of the functionality is in effect 'back-up' to dedicated devices. I'd always prefer to take photos with a dedicated digital camera although the camera works very well in good light (although it is slow).
The GPS (Maps) application is great and the ability to drill down into street level in villages in Hungary (where my wife is from and currently visiting) is something I've never found before in a GPS device. I would still use my Nuvi though to navigate around most of Europe since it does a great job and has a bigger screen.
This is also the first Nokia which is 'standard' in that it has standard headphone jack and USB connectors. It means it actually starts to feel like a tiny computer rather than simply a phone. If you compare the performance of this device with PCs it comes on top in all kinds of scenarios.
The multi-tasking nature of the N95 is also great. It allows you to flick through songs using the dedicated keys, whilst reading a travel guide and plotting your route to the next destination, all to be gently interrupted by an incoming call with a 3D ringtone which zooms from one side to the other.
Having looked at some of the reviews and my own experience, and compared them with the editor's review it's clear that the editor has got this one seriously wrong. I can appreciate that there's a couple of disadvantages in using the handset in the US but even then the general performance should simply blow you away.
There's no device that comes close to this phone as an all-round handy device which really works. It certainly means I'll be carrying a lot fewer devices on a day-to-day basis
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by serendipidy (see profile) -
April 12, 2007
10 out of 10 - Perfect Best new Phone in the market.
This phones talks about gps which alot of phones have had in the past, but there is a difference that ...
This phones talks about gps which alot of phones have had in the past, but there is a difference that you have to understand. That difference is that all other phones in the past with gps was network related gps. They used your cell towers to triangulate your location while this phone actually connects to the gps satellites and gets your location what that means is if you are in an area with no coverage your "nextel, cingular, sprint, verizon or any other companies" phone will not be able to get your location. Like in the middle of the woods, or much of the highways of the US. This phone will play movies in addition to mp3. Also stream your favorite realplayer videos off the air. The list goes on...
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by eyyubi83 (see profile) -
November 7, 2006
7 out of 10 - Very good One phone to suit all your needs
I eagerly awaited the launch of this phone and got it on the first day of launch. It was great ...
I eagerly awaited the launch of this phone and got it on the first day of launch. It was great in terms of design. Although in many ways it looks like a brick, compared to the N80, the N95 is slimmer and lighter and packs more features.
The best part was the wifi connectivity it offered. Although in terms of battery life, you may not be able to sustain the handphone while surfing wirelessly all day, it did change the way i used the internet. Booking tickets online was a breeze (i could just connect in a hotspot at starbucks). I could still be on MSN while away from my computer. I used the VoIP whenever i could find a hotspot, thus saving on hefty phone bills through free calls. There were many.
Surely the E65 would have offered me the same wifi advantages plus a longer battery life, but this was running on Symbian OS 9.2 and had a larger and clearer display.
The 2-way slider was great when it came to viewing videos. Having such a large screen and speakers that could go real loud, it was almost an ipod video by itself. I rarely used the music player buttons however and the only reason i found myself sliding the other way often is to rotate the display view.
The 5 megapixel camera is a godsend. Although i could not really take clear pictures compared to a normal 7megapix camera, it was great for a camera phone. The bigger deal was the video. Videos have never been this clear on a camera phone before.
I didn't try using the visual radio service as i wanted to avoid any GPRS charges so as to keep my bill as low as possible. So far my bill dropped by about 30% with VoIP calls and wifi surfing instead of GPRS.
Here comes the sad news - This phone can be equally as bad.
I used it almost as i would use PC. Although i cannot view videos on youtube, i was able to download some and view on the realplayer. While i was at it, once i stumbled upon some 50mb video. Halfway through the download i was worried if the phone could support such a large file and cancelled the download. My web became inaccessible. Everytime i clicked on web, it would auto-close application. Even after a few restarts the phone was still the same. I then had to install a browser software to clear the cache (the root of the problem).
Another major problem is that the N95 auto-closes applications when they are not in use for a small period of time. Supposing you were in the middle of a game and had to attend a 2 minute call. Once you're done, your game has already been closed.
I also had some embarrassing moments with the Music player. I'm happy that it came with the headphone jack. However, when i accidentally loosened the connection between the jack and the phone, the music player automatically switched to speakers and started blasting my music in public. Another problem was that when using the provided earphones with the music control, the music is momentarily played on the speaker for a second or two when you're switching tracks while playing the music. Yet another embarrassing moment.
The 2 way slider is another big problem. So much for advertising "What's in your pocket?" when the phone is so pocket unfriendly. Imagine this, when the phone is put inside the jeans pocket, it tends to slide upwards to reveal the keypad since the slider is that smooth. It slides the other way when it is removed from the pocket. So usually when i take it out, the display is in landscape mode and that makes me look unprofessional sliding my phone all the time.
My 1.5 month old N95 recently went for repairs after the display light died. The phone was still perfectly working. Just the display backlight. It was a slow death from the heavy usage from someone like me. Thankfully there's a firmware upgrade for this phone and i hope it will solve some of the many problems for the N95.
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by mahindrajith (see profile) -
May 30, 2007
10 out of 10 users found this user opinion helpful.
Camera: 5MP is phenomenal for ...
This phone does everything imaginable. It's pretty much a full computer in your pocket.
Camera: 5MP is phenomenal for a cell phone. It also has many advanced functions such as aperture settings, exposure compensation, white balance, self timer, and red-eye flash settings. On top of that, the video camera is very very good but not DVD quality as Nokia says. It even has image stabilization built in. In other reviews, you may have read that the "camera was slow" or something along those lines. The truth is that the shutter itself is not slow, but the response time between pushing the button and the clicking of the shutter is long.
GPS: Really useful and neat feature to have. Be sure to clear all maps first using the PC map loader (if it was not bought in the US--mine was an Asian model) Then load your US maps into the memory card. The map goes down to street level and is fairly up-to-date. The accuracy of the GPS is around 150 feet. It even indicates altitude and speed of your vehicle.
Video/Music Playback: The media centre of this phone has some impressive animation, and plays videos and songs in stereo sound with impressive quality. Plus, it can be hooked up to any TV so you can blow it up on a larger screen.
WiFi: Fairly good. Regular sites don't load as fast as a normal comp, but that's because of the overall processing power/RAM of the unit. WiFi also saves you on expensive data costs that you would prob encounter with your wireless carrier. It's really useful for checking email and browsing your favorite sites.
Bluetooth: The EDR really helps when you sync your media files from your computer. It also helps increase the range between your computer and the N95.
User interface: The Symbian OS is very intuitive and clean. Occasionally, it lags but this wasn't a big issue for me. Even more complex apps like the Map application loads and quits efficiently without hanging up. The unit only freezes after applying a more complex setting such as changing the system theme or something. It can be fixed by a simple restart of the device. However, this should've been fixed by Nokia through a simple message telling you to restart your device the way you'd restart your computer after installing an update or program.
Battery: This seems to be a big point of critisism for the editors and other users of this phone. The honest bottom line is this: it doesn't go about 14 hrs without a recharge. (that is w/ use of WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth). If you use the phone just for talking w/ idling, the battery lasts a comfortable 21 hrs. The best thing to do is to probably charge it overnight daily. Then you'll be fine.
PDA functionality: The address book, calandar, and document viewers are excellent. Multiple numbers per contact w/ room for email addresses, home addresses etc. The calandar has many options for appts, meetings, and alarms. The document viewer not only opens regular text docs, but also spreadsheets and some kind of file that resembles PowerPoint. Checking email is also easy as setting up your account with the wizard is a snap. It works of WiFi or through your wireless carrier.
Screen: The size is really nice and the important info such as time, date, etc show up nice and large so it's easy to read. For videos and the GPS, it's perfect. The ambient light sensor works well.
Physical feel: The phone has a solid feel. It's also slimmer than it looks. When I saw the pics on the Nokia site, it def looked thicker than when I actually had the unit in my hand. The fact that the sliding mechanism isn't assisted isn't a big deal for me. The two-way slider is also pretty neat. However, the slider, when open, has a slight flimsy feel to it. It's also made of plastic, and not anodized aluminum like a lot of new electronics (eg. iPod) which is surprising for such a high-tech device. The plastic is wrapped tightly and solidly around the device though and doesn't "squeak" or "creak" when being handled.
Overall, this phone is really THE THING as it surpasses the typical smartphone. Despite a few minor faults, it is an amazing device with tremendous functionality.
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by sb12345 (see profile) -
May 19, 2007
10 out of 10 - Perfect Would proberly the best phone around for the next 1/2 year
would be perfect, if it wasn't for no touch screen option, n lol Err545 is so funny, no vga ...
would be perfect, if it wasn't for no touch screen option, n lol Err545 is so funny, no vga screen, what do you think man, its a slider phone not flip-phone, y would it need a vga screen...
Updated how can c'net give this phone a 7/10.
i bet they gave it 2 less marks because there is not HDSPA in the US. I just got this phone, i live in AUS, n there is 3.5g services here. That is no reason to give it such a low score. There was no mention of GPS, the screen is extremley sharp and colourful. The slider is top notch, and they are crying about the multimedia buttons being too hard 2 press... Mate do you know any other phone that has a two-way slider... Those buttons are convienitaley placed and i have no trouble working them. The phone is extemley light, easy too hold and not too big in your pocket. All the features you need are there, and ive seen much worse phones get alot higher than 7/10...
Sure the battery life ain't that great, but it will be interesting to see how Nokia responds - eg, firmware upgrade or sending out some new batteries, which will make the phone heavier but in th end will be worth it.
Regarding the perfromance being sluggish, mate just look at the n73. What did that score - higher than the n95, but i have got both phones with me, and the n95 is tones faster - plus it has 10 times more the features.
If you give this a 7, how can u give the n80 a higher score... This is just an upgrade of that model, and the design on the n95, is 10 times better of that on the n80..
I am extremeley dissapointed with c'net for their score on the n95, in comparision with other phones and not even bothering to mention the n95 features, that either push up or bring down the score...
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Simply Amazing
I bought the phone a week ago, and I have to say, one of the most impressive phones I have ...
I bought the phone a week ago, and I have to say, one of the most impressive phones I have ever bought. The phone has everything you need that is in most of the Nokia N Series Phones: Bluetooth, WiFi, TV, Mobile Internet, 5.0 Megapixel Camera w/ Extended Zoom, Music Player, Expandable Memory and Internal Memory, Some Good Games + Much More. The feel is great. At first, I thought the phone was going to be huge, now that I have the phone in hand, its lightweighted, and at a good size, and its slidable in 2 sides (one for the keypad, one for music/videos!). This is a must have phone. Top-notch guaranteed!
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by ixreviews (see profile) -
April 9, 2007
6 out of 7 users found this user opinion helpful.
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Nokia N95.. better then Apple the upcoming IPHONE!!
I love this phone, so far I don't have problem with battery juice eating up. Why? I don't ...
I love this phone, so far I don't have problem with battery juice eating up. Why? I don't turn on the blutooth or GPS until needed! The camera takes great quality picture..finally on the phone! Sound Quality.. WOW... LOUD without the headset and Strong excellent sound. Even Announce the name on my phone book. The only problem I got was deleting old Nokia PCsuite on my PC, but I got the answer from others on PCSUITE CLEANER! It will beat Apple Iphone quality style. It does hold 2GB external. LOVE IT!!!
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by Tenichi1 (see profile) -
May 11, 2007
5 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 out of 10 - Excellent The best phone right now
I have Nokia N95 for almost two months now. From my first impression, it is definitely the best phone on ...
I have Nokia N95 for almost two months now. From my first impression, it is definitely the best phone on the market today. It has 5 megapixels camera with auto focus and Carl Zeiss lens, integrated GPS, QVGA Screen, innovative 2 slider design, and many others. From my personal opinion, the best thing that I can get from this phone is the convergence in one device. Now, I don't have to bring my iPod anymore to listen to music, simply just go to the Music Player on the phone. Also, this phone's integrated GPS enables me to find my position on the map.. nice features but still unreliable mainly because of the excessive time required to get a fix position (usually about 2 minutes or sometimes more). Speaking of GPS, the Maps application on the device is nice because of its easy to use menu and navigation system (just like regular GPS), but the only thing that separates the N95's GPS with standalone GPS is the sensitivity of the GPS receiver embedded in the phone. Another feature is the 5 megapixels camera with auto focus. Judging from my experience as a semi-professional photographer, the quality from the camera is "acceptable" and clearly much better from other camera phones. In my opinion the main thing that prevents N95's camera from performing its best it's because of the relatively small CMOS sensor size that makes a lot of noise, so that the software on the phone has to do perform certain post-capturing algorithm to make the pictures look better. Unfortunately, the pictures look "unnatural" because of the post-processing algorithms. Well, another feature is the integrated Wi-Fi which is very useful if you want to surf the internet and make VoIP calls. the quality of the Wi-Fi is excellent with the sensitivity slightly less than a laptop's Wi-Fi. However, there are quite a bit of minor flaws on the N95. First of all, the sliding design is a little bit loose meaning that it would move a little when you press the navigation key with the slider open, for example. Another minor flaw is the firmware that seems "unstable" yet. Currently, my N95 runs on the version 11 firmware, which is quite unstable in my opinion, for example, the phone would freeze after it makes a call (not all the time, maybe once or twice every week). Last but not least, the battery life. My N95 last only a day for a single charge. Well, I use it quite often, in a day I usually take few pictures, talk around 30 mins on the phone, play games, browse the internet, listen to music, use the GPS for a few minutes. By the end of the day, I have to charge the phone, fortunately the charger is quite fast only takes around 1 hour to get a full charge. In conclusion, the N95 is a great phone to have with minor flaws.
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by kevinh07 (see profile) -
June 28, 2007
4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 out of 10 - Abysmal Many promises, few facts
One month ago I purchased a Nokia n95 in Spain (from Movistar). In general, my experience with the phone has ...
One month ago I purchased a Nokia n95 in Spain (from Movistar). In general, my experience with the phone has been very bad, the main reasons for this so desfavorable opinion are: First at all, the Nokia n95 is a very expensive phone with a lot of potential utilities that doesn´t work in the real world. At the beginning the interruptions and blockages were very common, and the change for the new firmware only improves the number of these adverse events, but doesn´t arrange the basic problem. The camera, despite the announced 5 megapixels, is worse than my old nikon with only 4 megap. The reason is that the lens is not equiparable. The maximum size with the nokia is 1MB, a small size nowadays that is worse than the obtained with any cheap digital camera. The GPS is very slow to positionate at first, and really, doesn´t work with the slider closed, that makes impracticable to use frequently. The navigation is not free..... The batteries need to be recharged every 24 hours... Has been impossible to me to connect the WLAN with my router (plug and play????). Finally, the display is fragile, and brokens with a minimal shock. I do not recommend the purchase of this terminal. Probably, there are better phones from Nokia and no so expensive like this is.
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by vacceobikess (see profile) -
June 11, 2007
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