Nokia N93i is a fold-and-twist smartphone, a slimmed-down but pumped up spin-off of Nokia N93. Most people would argue though that like its forerunner, it is more of a camcorder phone than a smartphone.

Nokia N93i is still bulky at 2.2 in x 4.6 in x 1.1 in and 163 g; however, it is already a good 5mm thinner and 17g less than its predecessor. It looks strikingly attractive with its large, shiny mirror-backed screen and two-toned silver/black exterior.

Nokia used an Organic Light-emitting Diode (OLED) for the phone’s 2.4-inch screen, helping it to extend battery life as OLEDs do not require backlight to function. With a large 240 x 320 pixel display, message sending, web browsing and personal information managing is easier and enjoyable.

The screen gives an impressive view of your applications with its vivid and vibrant colors. Its 16 million color display makes your pictures come alive! However, you might find it disappointing as the outer layer of the screen is too reflective when used outdoors. Especially with sunlight, the contrast is compromised, giving out a glare and blurring the icons on the screen.

One cool thing about this Transformers look-alike phone is that it twists and rearranges in your hand to form a gun-like video camcorder, positioning your thumb rightly on the big record button with an intuitive zoom rocker around it. Video recording from a phone has never been this fun and classy. Its screen is also built to flip around and sit like a laptop, serving as a portable media viewer. It also has a TV out that allows straight connection to a V or monitor, so you can watch your recorded video on TV monitor and even create and manage slideshows with music. How cool is that?

As for connectivity, which is what makes a phone a smartphone, N93i is included in the top list of excellent Web browser with its user friendly Wi-Fi set up connection. It has GPRS data connection and wireless access via 802.11b and Bluetooth 2.0.

Sure, there are 5 mega pixel cameras around now, making N93i’s 3.2 mega pixel Carl Zeiss lens seem less impressive. However, its hinge-mounted 3.0 x optical zoom camera compensates for this. It even allows you to go further to a 20 x digital zoom. So your photos appear as crisp and vivid, if not more, as they would in a 5 mega pixel camera. Also, it has a tiny LED light under the lens for close-up photos in the dark.

Video shooting in this phone is not only flashy but also easy to master as it only has limited features, which include auto and night scene modes. Nokia’s promise is that this phone would give you DVD quality video. Critics on the other hand, beg to differ, saying that its quality is no different from a webcam output. Although it is a full 30 frames per second, the resolution is very low.

The major failing of this smartphone is in its battery. From N93’s 1100mAh, it is now a 950mAh BL-5F, which has reduced capacity. Nokia claims that battery life could last 11 days. However, tests proved that moderate calls and Bluetooth use drain the battery in four days. Media player can also drain it in six hours. And for a full Wi-Fi and camcorder use, N93i could only last 3.5 hours.

This time when touchscreens were way overrated, an ordinary looking candy bar mobile phone with the usual-looking keypad is a sigh of relief. An addition to Nokia’s N-series, the N79 a mid-range phone that are sensible enough for the common user.

Laden with a very pleasing external and offering a comfortable grip, the Nokia N79 measures 110mm x 49mm x 15mm and weighs 97 grams. It features a flat number pad to give space to 2.4-in screen with clear and bright 320 x 240 pixels resolution. The screen is good enough to make us appreciate its multimedia offerings. The screen is also equipped with an accelerometer that responds accordingly to every turn of the hand.

Shortcut buttons are situated between the screen and the number pad. A Nokia Multimedia Key is located on the far left, just like the other N-series phones, which will takes its users to a revolving menu of multimedia offerings like Internet, music, photos, and gaming. The Navi wheel is reminiscent of the iPod’s scrolling capability, but not as responsive yet still works well, and you can enable/disable this function. There is also a slider on the top edge of the handset that locks and unlocks the phone.

Customize N97′s shell among three Xpress-on back plates choices (brown, lime green and blue), although you can only replace the back, with the front portion remains at white. No problems with this though, because the front and back’s theme will definitely match.

Connectivity options in the N79 include 3G with HSDPA with download speeds to 3.6Mbps and Wi-Fi. It supports quad-band GSM, GPRS and EDGE. Two-way video calling is possible with the N79, with its front camera and a 5MP main camera equipped with Carl Zeiss lens on the rear. It has a dual LED flash auto focus and a macro mode that helps take the best indoor shoots. Overall image quality is good, although capturing moving images is a little tricky because of high shutter lag.

Music is a high point in the N79. It has stereo speakers located on the upper and lower right edge of the phone that produce nice and loud sounds. A 3.5mm headset jack is located on the top edge of the phone. Listen to music for ten straight hours and the battery can deal with it.

It is equipped with 50MB of internal memory and a microSD card slot that can handle a 4GB card for your files. It has FM radio and an FM transmitter and support for Nokia Music Store. You can also download games with this, being a N-gage phone.

Another wow factor in the N79 is the built-in GPS receiver and pre-installed Nokia Maps that works well with the accelerometer. Other productivity tools include calculator, calendar, PDF reader, unit converter, notes taker and QuickOffice for reading Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.