15 March 2009

Weekend Reading:
...About a Flagship that forgot how to sail...

So here I am, sitting in Front of my PC, Nokia N96, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Sony Ericsson C905 next to me. And honestly I’m about to review the less exciting one.

I had the Nokia N96 for around 3 Weeks now (big Thanks to my Friends over at WOM World and as usual I was using it as my Main Device, to see how I get along with it in Daily Life, Daily Use.

I got a Lot of Impressions of it, good Ones as well as Bad Ones, so if you wanna see how Things worked it, sit back and enjoy my Story about the Flagship, that forgot how to sail!

It was in February 2008, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, when Nokia announced a new Flagship Device, namely the Nokia N96.

"Mobile World Congress 2008, Barcelona, Spain/Espoo, Finland - Nokia today unveiled the Nokia N96, a multimedia computer truly optimized for video and TV. With a large 2.8" screen, 16 gigabytes of internal memory and support for high-quality videos in a wide range of formats, the dual-slide Nokia N96 represents an exciting new chapter in mobile media. The Nokia N96 multimedia computer is expected to begin shipping in the third quarter of 2008..." - Nokia Press Release from February 11th, 2008.

So Nokia made its Intentions clear, aiming on Videos and TV with the N96. But has it been the superior Powerhouse!?

Hardware:

The Nokia N96 turned out to be a real Brick. Man, what a huge Phone. 103x55mm, with a depth of up to 20mm is probably the biggest Dimensions I have ever seen on such Kind of a Phone. Sure there are bigger Ones, but I’m not used to it and that won't change. I don't like tiny Phones all, but the N96 was definitely too much. The whole Phone is made of Plastic, giving a bit of a cheap Feeling, I noticed that the N96's back scratches quite easy A little Problem I immediately noticed: If you slide the Phone open, the Dimensions of the Display Part are taking over, means that the whole Device is very top-heavy, the Phone can easily flip over and fall to the Ground if you don't be careful.

*click to enlarge

This happened 3 Times to me, fortunately every time when I was in Bed, so the Phone just flipped on my Belly, which is greatly cushioned :-p so nothing happened to the Device itself. So basically I think the whole Keypad is too short, but a wider Keypad Part, would make the Phone even bigger than it already is! The Keypad itself is the near exact Copy of the N85 Keypad, a complete Failure of a Keypad in my Opinion.

There is no Space vertically between the Buttons at all, so it takes a long Time until you get something like "used to it", I’d never say that I’m used to it. The Buttons require a rather hard Press until they recognize your Entries and that is something I don't really like too. It could just be me, but I think that the N96 has a gruesome Keypad, only being beaten by the N85, which I consider as Nokia's worst Phone ever.

The Nokia N96 sports a 2,8" LCD TFT Display, with the same old, same crappy QVGA Resolution, stretching the Display to it's Maximum. I like the physical Screen Size, but the Screen looks horrible, in fact you can see every Pixel on the Phone, giving Pictures a different, annoying Look. Of Course my Judgement here is influenced by the Nokia 5800's Display, but you even can see the Difference if you have the N82 next to the N96.

The D-Pad of the Nokia N96 is better than on the N85, the Risk of a Peeling does not exist, as the whole D-Pad and Display Part is bordered from a Metal-Look Piece of Plastic. All the Buttons give a good Feedback and are good to use, although I wished that the Menu- and C-Button are a bit bigger. The Navi-Key is surrounded by Music Player Keys, which are totally useless in that Position, as they are already positioned on the Dual Slider Part on the Opposite Side. In my Opinion, the optimum Solution would be to remove the Player Buttons, instead stretching all the other Buttons over the whole Area. Everything could be more useful then and easier to reach!

*click to enlarge

The Navi-Key also features the Notification Light, which is slowly pulsating in Standby Mode, but blinking faster if something happened, like you received a Text Message/Mail/MMS or missed a Call. I’m happy that Nokia is integrating this in every of the latest Phones as it is a very useful little Gimmick. But I have 2 Improvement Suggestions for this: a) different Colors for different Events: red Light for missed Call, blue Light for Mail, green Mail for SMS etc and b) only activate the Notification Light when something happened but keep it dark when nothing happened. A Lot of Friends complained about this when we, f.e. watched a Movie. It's already changed on the 5800XM, as I said, it's only glowing when an Event occurred!

A big Issue in Nokia's Past has been the Sliders, but I have to admit, that the Slider on the N96 is not so bad at all. It has a slight Space when closed and also a bit Give when opened, but it Miles ahead of a, let's say N85 slider. It opens and closes with a solid Click and, although the Materials looks pretty cheap on the N96, the Slider does not seem to get losen anytime soon. But, on the other Hand, I had the N96 for 3 Weeks only, so I can't do any Longtime Judgement! I have read contrary Reports as well, but I can't really blame the Slider on this particular N96 I have/had!

The whole Front of the N96 comes in the well known black glossy-fingerprint magnetic Looks, which we all know and love/hate. Nothing really spectacular on the Sides of the N96, microSD Slot on the left Side, Charger and microUSB-Connector on the Bottom of the Device (USB-Charging is not supported by the Way), Camera- and Volume-Keys on the Left Side. The Top gives us the On/Off/Profile-Button, the 3,5mm Multi-Connector for TV-Out or your Headphones, and Keylock-Slider. This little Helper seems more and more present on recent Nokia Phones, and I started to love it. Once you're used to it, it's a lot faster than hitting two Keys to lock your Keypad.

Something I’ve never seen before at Nokia are the curved Speakers, which are located on the right Side of the Phone, mainly for a better Performance, when watching Videos using the built-in Stand on the Backside. The Speakers itself have a very average Sound, in my Opinion far away from the excellent Speakers of 5800XM and N81 8GB! This combined with the horribly stretched Screen, is the first Thing that Nokia failed to fulfil, when they promised the ultimate Video Device!!

The Backside of the Nokia N96 gives a Handful of Nothing, the sleek clean Surface is only interrupted by the well known 5 Megapixel Camera, with Carl inside again and Dual LED Flash, AutoFocus and different Scene/Flash/Light Settings. I found the N96's Flash to be a lot weaker than on the Nokia N85, giving a lot less Light when doing Videos in Darkness, or for still Pictures. Pictures on the N96 are average again and can't be compared to Pictures of N82 or N95. Another Downside of the N96 Cam is a missing Protector, a negative Trend that Nokia is going this Way..

*click to enlarge

Opening the N96 gives us a Look at the 950mAh Battery Nokia used in the N96. This may sound insufficient at first, but the Battery performed surprisingly good, which I think has to be traced back to the Addition of the FP2 Features. With Profimail running on IMAP Idle, occasional Internet Browsing, some Calls and around 20-30 SMS every Day, the Battery lasted 2 straight Days, before I had to plug it in the Charger. It might just be me, but I think that the Addition of FP2 definitely tuned the Battery Life for the Better.

SF Review: The Nokia N96 - A Flagship that forgot how to sail!
Originally posted: 10.03.2009
Last Updated: 15.03.2009
Author: Michael Hell (a.k.a MichaelSF)
Copyright: Symbian Freak 2009; all rights reserved