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Nokia N96
The introduction of the Nokia N96 marked a two-year gap on its predecessor, the Nokia N95. While it’s normal that anticipations surfaced on N96′s possible fresh offerings to users, it showed otherwise because many were alarmed on its high price despite being almost identical with the N95, on design and on features. Does such reaction from critics justifiable?
As stated above, the Nokia N96 is very much comparable with the N95; however the N96 features a more streamlined design. Nokia N96 has smooth edges and round corners. Sleek black is the color of the N96 while N95 is matt and silver. It has a dimension of 4.05 x 2.16 x by 0.71 inches and weight of 4.41 ounces. N96 boasts a 16 million-color display on its 2.8-inch QVGA resolution screen.
N96 projects a bright and colorful display which automatically adjusts according to environmental conditions. In addition, the N96, with a thickness of 8mm, is slimmer than the N95, making it more comfortable to the pocket. The N96 shares the dual-slide design of the N95. Sliding the phone forward shows the numeric keypad, sliding it backward reveals a small selection of music player control keys.
The latter option also automatically sets the screen to widescreen. Some are complaining with the keypad. The N96′s keypad is entirely flat and without significant definition at all. The back of the handset is where the 5-megapixel camera is located while the top is where the 3.5mm headphone jack is situated. It can also be transformed in to a mini TV set by flipping the stand out, meaning users can watch videos without the assistance of a desk.
However, the features division of the N96 makes it a copycat of the N95. It boasts the trio of the best features: HSDPA, Wi-Fi and GPS, very impressive for a smartphone. It also includes A-GPS, a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and A2DP stereo Bluetooth. Here’s the problem if the predecessor already has the best add-ons, surpassing is almost next to impossible. A big improvement with the N96 is the inclusion of the 16GB of internal storage, in addition to a microSD expansion slot, a feature that is comparable with the Apple iPhone. N96 also included a built-in DVB-H TV tuner, which received DVB-H broadcast signals for mobile TV channels.
N96 runs on Symbian OS version 9.3 S60, with the productivity tools associated with the N95 were just retained. Other features of the N96 are the following: digital music player, FM radio, support for podcasts and Internet radio, e-mail, text and multimedia messaging and USB 2.0. The GPS also includes maps and voice directions. It is also a quadband phone (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) and also supports roaming capabilities. It also supports both the 900 and 2100 3G bands. It also allows instant upload to Flickr, Vox, Yahoo and Google.
To be fair with the N96, it remains to be a good catch for business and casual mobile users alike, as far as feature and design are concerned. However, since it’s still new in the market, the price of $780 still appears to be a burden that users may tend to be practical and choose the older and now cheaper, N95 instead.