Nokia n96

Posted on 11. Feb, 2009 by IBM in Reviews.

Every time Nokia Nseries numbering goes up a notch geeks are holding their breath. Well, geeks – including us – are no ordinary human beings, but in the case of Nokia N96 they’d been holding their breath since February. The time this multimedia monster picked to actually hit the shelves must have made quite a few people fear it being already outdated.

Being a successor of the Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N96 has some king-size spec sheet to top and it can’t be accused of not trying. There’s FP2, double the built-in storage and DVB-H. The bloodline is strong but the crown is heavy and ancestral sins will be held against the heir twofold. The modest battery capacity and the downgraded CPU do raise some questions that need their answers. Join us for an out-and-out review of Nokia’s latest top-of-the-shelf offer. Let’s see if it has got the performance to walk in them shoes size N95.

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Key features:

2.8″ 16M-color TFT LCD display of QVGA resolution
5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash and AF assist light
Built-in DVB-H TV tuner
Symbian OS 9.3 with S60 3.2 UI
Dual ARM 9 264 MHz CPU and 128 MB of RAM
3G with HSDPA support
Quad-band GSM support
Wi-Fi with UPnP technology
Built-in GPS with A-GPS functionality and 3 months of free voice-guided navigation
Dual slide design with dedicated gaming/audio keys
Massive 16GB onboard storage
microSD card slot with microSDHC support
Built-in accelerometer for UI auto-rotation
3.5 mm audio jack
TV out
Stereo FM Radio with RDS
Car charger in the retail package
VGA video recording at 30fps
USB and Bluetooth v2.0
One free N-gage game and Transformers movie preloaded
Keypad locking slide key

Main disadvantages:

Inadequate battery life
No camera lens protection
The @$$#% N81-inspired design
No office document editing out of the box
Doesn’t charge via the USB port
Dreadful camera key
Cheap looking keypad
Unreasonably hefty price tag

Final words:

Maybe Nokia N96 wasn’t really intended to take the market by storm and turn the world around. Maybe it was meant to quietly update the top multimedia gadget of the house and continue to cash in.

It just seems Nokia won’t put all eggs in the same basket. And that makes us wondering. More high-end stuff will be available in affordable handsets, Arte will continue to define exquisite splendor, Eseries will go on blending exceptional skill with refined elegance and Touch UI will slowly be conquering the company portfolio. If all those assumptions are true, shall we fear the Nseries packed with features beyond belief but only getting uglier?

Tempted though we are to say that failure is looming over Nokia N96, we know better than that. There will be quite a lot of diehard Symbian fans (and even a few individuals that do actually need DVB-H support) that will go against their aesthetic sense and get the N96. And no, we don’t think they will be disappointed or eager to agree with most of the things we said in this review.

As for the rest of the potential buyers – Nokia N96 is a great software package that comes in an utterly user-unfriendly shell. The ergonomics of the device are so poor (except for video watching) that operating it is a chore, rather than fun. Not to mention looks that are….oh well, controversial will have to do. It’s just that when you dish out a healthy sum it’s only fair to expect style and finesse. For all we know, style and finesse may have different meaning in the geek world and that’s where the name of Nokia N96 sure rings a special bell.