N95 8gb review, the continued review, finally
Posted on March 1, 2008
Filed Under Nokia, Nokia N95 8gb review, Pictures, Symbian, Videos
Another day and some final thoughts on the N95 8gb.
A little history. I bought the first generation N95 when it first hit the Nokia store here in Chicago. That phone rocked but had it shortcomings. First off no 3g. At that point I was addicted to 3g, but the N95 was super hot and I had to have it. I figure I would just score a 3g card for my notebook, since I really hate to tether my phone anyway. I had that N95 for about 3 months, and loved it, but the 3g just killed my everyday use for it.
Now almost a year later, I am reviewing another N95, but this had 8gb of storage. Of course, this does not have 3g here in the US, but Nokia did release a N95 with 3g in the US, so there is always hope.
Now, what do I think of the N95 8gb. First off, I still love the form. I love sliders. The N95 8gb has all the usual pieces in place for a smart phone.
1. Smart phone os. Symbian S60 3rd. IMHO, by far the best smart phone os out there. Beats Windows mobile hands down. Yes even 6.1. Now that the N95 8gb has more memory, 100mb and 8gb for storage just make the phone operations so much smoother.
2. Phone operations. Nokia plain and simple makes great phones. I don’t want to turn this into a love fest, but HTC and others should continue to take notes from Nokia of how to build and configure phone operations. The N95 8gb is just a great sounding phone, either ear piece or speaker phone.
3. What does phone this not have. Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS, Microsoft Active Sync, via Mail for Exchange, Fm radio, 5mp camera w/ flash. I mean not many devices out there can list those credentials. Oh how about a tilt senor. Check out RotateMe. Sorry Iphone, your not the only one.
What about day to day usability you ask?
I used my N95 8gb for two weeks. I published some videos and pictures of the N95 8gb.
I have access to a few different phones at any time throughout the day. My first pick was the N95 8gb. Even though no 3g for me, I still found it very usable. From web browsing, even over edge, was quite tolerable, because of the great browser in the Symbian S60 platform. I used Mail for Exchange provided by Nokia, which connected fine to my Exchange server at work. Not as great as Microsoft Active Sync on a Windows Mobile, but does get the job done, and pretty slick running on a non Windows Mobile platform. I also tested Road Sync for Exchange synchronization. Thank you Microsoft the the Active Sync protocol.
What I really enjoyed was the great integration with the camera and Flikr. This allows me to take a picture and immediately upload it to my Flikr account. Yes, I am aware of other applications out there, but Nokia, make is just so simple. There a button right on the preview window after you take picture to publish. It all happens in the background, so I can continue, to work, and even over edge speed, about 30 to 60 seconds and its up on Flikr.
How about a few pictures of my dog.
One of the plasma. With some GH action.
I did not have a chance to use the Gps, but check out the newest version of Nokia mapping application, Maps 2.0. I prefer TomTom.
Of course what kind of review would it be unless there was some counter options?
Some low points are.
1. Charging over usb. Why have a standard min usb port and not design it for charging. This has been the same issue since the first N95 came out. Nokia, why be difficult, when these days, air port security doesn’t like cables?
2. Weird operation system quirks. I have been using the Symbian os for a few years, so I am used to it. but way to many prompts, when using the phone. Some operations should just complete and not beep and tell me there complete.
So, should this phone be yours? If you big into pictures, music and having a gps in you pocket. Then hell yes.
I would like to thank Nseries WOM World for sending me this review device.
