WEEKEND REVIEW: Darla Mack says that the Nokia flagship stores in Chicago and New York are about to start selling the much-awaited Nokia N95 phones. The phone, often described by Nokia executives as the ultimate multimedia computer, is being viewed as one of the most important handset releases for the Finnish phone giant.
There is a considerable interest from phone buyers as well, especially GigaOM readers: 48% of our readers who participated in a poll are holding out for this super-phone. (That alone is a good reason to sacrifice my weekend playing with N95. 😉 and writing this well waaaaayyyyyyyy too long review…)
Is it really what the “computers have become?” Nokia might be overstating the case, but they are moving in the right direction. A twin-slider phone, N95 has all the must have and bleeding features you should expect in a modern phone and some more.
A five-mega pixel camera, a video camera and audio features that can be described as luxurious. The web surfing experience is one of the best on any mobile phone, and there is a lot of under the hood improvements that make you believe that one day we will not lug around laptops.
It is the first Nokia phone with an integrated GPS system, which I am having a tough time trying to get working, so for now I am leaving that one out. I won’t bore you with specs – you can read them on Nokia website.
The quad band phone is expensive and will set you back by about $750. You can buy the phone on the Internet for about $850 or so. So before you rush out, you might want to pay attention to twelve things about this phone, after three days of continuous use.
Physical attributes: It is wider than say Nokia N73 and you would think it would be heavier because all those extra features crammed into the phone. It feels surprisingly lighter, and fits in your palm nicely, despite its rectangular, digital camera type design.
That said, I think the design is boxy and doesn’t break any new ground, despite being a twin-slider. What I found disappointing was the chintzy feel to the phone, which I guess is the price of losing some weight.
Screen: The 240 x 320 pixels, 2.6 inch screen is bright and big, and in horizontal format, it can be used to watch video clips, or type out quick memos using the bundled Quick Office and a Nokia Wireless keyboard. The generous screen size is good for catching up on MLB scores, keeping tabs on GigaOM and checking out Digg.
Voice: If your primary concern is voice quality, the quad band phone gets very enthusiastic thumbs up from me, and it manages to pick up signals even in elevators.
Dialpad: The dial-pad is wide and evenly spaced and feels comfortable when thumbing out those text messages.
Navigation & Media Key: The navigation keypad is also pretty easy to use and is clutter free, though “accept call” and “end call” keys are small. The Media key is finally doing what it says, and opens up a lush interface, which basically lets you navigate through most of the important apps – music player, FM radio, photo gallery and so on.
Camera: If you like taking a lot of photos, and don’t want to carry a separate digital camera, then the point-and-shoot features of N95 should suffice. The Carl Zeiss brand doesn’t really mean anything to me – I go by how the photos look to my naked eye. I find the quality of photos stunning. Camera is simple to use, and the built in Lifeblog software can get the photos to your Flickr account in a jiffy.
Video Recorder and Video Playback: I have been using Nokia N73 to do video interviews with Silicon Valley executives, and found that it sufficed my needs. The N95 however is a 2X improvement in video quality with better audio-pick up as well. Nokia has been smart in keeping the user interface consistent so there are no new tricks to learn.
The videos can be played-back on a regular television via a special cable that comes bundled in the box, and the quality of video is adequate, considering the source.
Music Player: This is the single best feature of Nokia N95. The sound quality is stable, smooth and not too loud, yet rich at the same time. Being one of those few who has tried I can safely say that Nokia N95 is their best music phone. Ever!
The big reason for that is the standard headphone jack, which allows me to plug in any one of my Ultimate Ears or Shure headphones/ear plugs. I simply hated the dongle-to-earphone hook-up. With this new standard audio jack, I can plug the headphones right into the phone.
When combined with the wired remote, my Shure SE 310 headphones have a new friend, one that would make me leave the iPod nano at home. The 2GB microSD card holds most of my current favorites, though I had to go through the burn-rip-load process. I will dig into the musical options of N95 later.
WiFi and Networking: N95 is one of the most connected devices on the market at present. It has the usual laundry list of connectivity options including Bluetooth and infrared.
While the HSDPA 3G options are pretty much useless to those of us in the US, we can certainly appreciate the mini USB connector (what took Nokia so long to finally support this?) that makes transferring files from your computer to the device a breeze, especially on a Mac.
WiFi is where N95 shines, thanks in part to new software applications that Nokia is bundling with the phone. The home screen of the phone has a WiFi scan option that allows you to easily find and connect to WiFi networks. No mucking around with the connectivity menu and getting the WiFi to to work. Full marks to Nokia for getting this right.
Internet Telephony: I loved the VoIP calling features of N80i, even if I didn’t care for the phone itself. I am glad that the native VoIP support is built into this device. While I have not been able to make it work with my Asterisk set-up just yet, the Truphone app is ready to go on this device.
I got the SIPphone to work as well, by simply copying the set-up from Nokia N80i. My Gizmo account is working, so I guess this feature is getting my personal blessing.
Battery Life: If you are looking for a reason to not spend $750 on a phone, well here is a good reason. The battery on this device simply sucks. It doesn’t even last the whole day, and that is when you are using it in GSM mode, WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS turned off. Nokia needs to fix this as quickly as possible otherwise, N95 could become a PR nightmare for them.
Even light email usage and web surfing starts sucking N95’s battery like Nick Nolte hitting the sauce. If you still insist on buying this phone, then buy a few extra chargers and have them littered around your house, office and car.
No Mail 4 Exchange support: And lastly, what I really hate most about this phone is the terrible email support. I don’t care for Nokia’s internal email client. On my N73, E61 and E70, the Mail 4 Exchange software works flawlessly, syncing over the air with our company Zimbra server. No such luck with N95.
You can install the older version of Mail 4 Exchange client, which can sync your contacts, calendars and email, but when you try and open the email, you get an error message: Feature not supported. Other push email clients like Seven’s AlwaysOnEmail client doesn’t work either with this latest version of Symbian S60 operating system.
Your best option right now is RoadSync by Dataviz, but it is going to set you back by about $99. But hey if you are going to spend $750 on a phone, what’s another $99.
Bottomline: Despite all those fancy features, lack of Mail 4 Exchange support and terrible battery life are reasons enough for me to stay away from this so-called Multimedia Computer. A 2 GB micro SD card, $99 for RoadSync, a couple of extra batteries and chargers – you are looking at $1000 in total spend. A four-figure phone…. That’s too much for a gadget freak like me.
PS: I am working on a post: Pimp your N95. If you are interested in sending me your pimp-tips, please email them using the tips form, and don’t forget to give us your name, location and tips.
Disheartening news about the battery life. I am considering purchasing this handset but if the battery life can’t manage a full day with more than GSM enabled, what’s the point? It’s a trick looking device. I’ll hold off until I hear more news about news on the battery front.
Battery life does seem to be a shame. Then again what would you expect from a device that small that does all that?
Om – How does the N95 OS respond during navigation? I’ve been using an N70 for over a year now, and I can’t stand the super slow Symbian OS. Accessing any function just feels like a long drawn out affair.
Come to think of it, there isn’t really much to like about the N70 – although mine has survived being run over by a BMW! Any chance the N95 could be put through the same test?
My battery like seems OK, but then I’m used to the N80. Last a day for me which is all I need it to do. When you consider what the device can do its mind blowing – nothing comes close.
You mentioned a lack of 3G; or was that a lack of 3G being offered by US providers?
I am using a Cingular 8525 with 3G (UTMS/HSDPA); additionally, I know that the Samsung blackjack also supports the above 3G network. The speeds on the 3G network are awesome (assuming you have 3G coverage). I usually get betweek 300k to 850k (download) and ~110k upload from work using my 3G brick (best way to describe the Cingular 8525).
Ranjeet,
the lack of 3G is for US only. That’s all. I am not saying that is a problem for our international readers (lucky and we are of course jealous.)
the 3G phones in the US have some serious battery issues as well. I had Blackjack for a week – gave it the Austin Powers Karate Chop!
N. Cauldwell,
first of all, BMW test. now I wish I had a BMW to conduct that test. Regardless, the phone is definitely more responsive than most N Series phones I have used so far, though there are some strange quirks in the phone. For instance if you remove an application, a little “poop” is left as the remnant of that application. go figure.
I’m getting an iPhone in June.
I had the chance to hold it in my hands last september and was quite disappointed then. I am not that much into the playing of music and am most disappointed about not having a stylus with it.
Sure for somebody just into shooting pics and videos, and doing some phone calls this is great but to use it extensivly as a smart phone / pda I am used to the benefit of such a stylus.
As for Carl Zeiss – that is a quality sign as they are some of the best lenses around 😉
Please post more information later, because this may be still the best choice around despite other shortcomings ;(
Did the phone charge over miniUSB or was it just used for syncing? Either way, a grand for a phone is kinda tough to swallow.
Nick
the phone doesn’t charge over the miniUSB. It is just good for syncing. yup, i am with you on the $1000 price tag.
I don’t know why people go ga-ga over carl zeiss lenses on the nokia. Having tested the n9x series and sony ericsson’s firsthand, also take a look at their respective reviews at mobile-review, the sonys’ beat nokia in image quality.
Ab… good point and I totally agree with you. I find the photo quality is that what matters, not the lens brand etc.
For the last 4-5 years, I’ve had the oppinion that mobile devices will not be limited by features such as screen size, range of radios, do-it-all operating systems, and so on, but by battery life. You simply -cannot- run such as screen, processor, radios, camera, etc. on the sort of battery provided with the phone. It’s doubtful any firmware fix from Nokia can fix this, it may improve a little, but the laws of physics cannot be broken.
A couple of tips. Firstly, to increase battery life set the radio mode to GSM only, I believe it ships as dual mode as default which means, even if you’re in a territory that doesn’t support UMTS it will still constantly try and find it. Secondly, make sure wifi scanning is off, turn the back-light time right down and avoid GPS.
The biggest tip I have though, get the Map Loader software off either the smart2go website or the nokia website and then load up GPS maps that way. By doing this is prevents the phone from constantly using your network connection to get the maps for your area. This saves battery life and your data charges. Only problem is, its PC only, so OSX users will have to fire up parallels or Boot Camp (Alternatively, I brought my old Vaio out of retirement temporarily).
Om, how soon will it become paper weight? Expensive one.
I don’t understand Nokia. Battery life is the most important feature.
Great writeup, but there’s other factors to look at, as well. Here’s why I’m passing on the N95:
http://symbianguru.typepad.com/welcome/2007/04/why_im_passing_.html
There’s just too much not known this year or already announced and yet to be seen to spill your piggy bank this early, imo.
The battery is good for a day’s use (probably 2 days, once it’s settled down), the sound quality is good enough for 95% of users . . . so that leaves to 2 groups of people who will not be happy with their N95 – People who never sleep, and people who never actually listen to music because they’re too busy listening to the sound of the music! Oh well – it takes all sorts I guess!
Simon,
I have been running the radios in pretty much the same setting as you had suggested.
Unfortunately it is not good enough – lets just say, if you have to use one of the features, like voip-calls, that is the only time i have been turning on the radios.
The photos/videos part of the phone also drains the battery as well.
Ahas
For nearly four days now, the battery peters out in about 12 hours at the most tops, though if i don’t use the super-features which one is likely to pay for, the battery gets a little longer life.
The first thing I’d look for is charging over USB. I figure my BB 8700 and my T-Mobile MDA do it, so why can’t this? It’s a handy feature to have when you’re charging up your devices while at work.
The price – I can’t swallow it. Sorry. Maybe for $400, but not at that price.
I got here to tell you the same as Simon… but if you were using it on that “radio mode” i´ll be pretty dissapointed with this
I spent my internship with the phone giant around the end of 2006 in their engineering division working on N95.
Back then, they were still trying to fix the battery. I guess they haven’t really found out of how fix it eh.
On the other hand, my E61 battery could only last 1.5 days top if I didn’t use it at all (probably just one or two smss), but I guess that’s because of the big screen display.
I think Nokia has always had battery problem since ages, can’t say for other mobile giants because I’ve never used them.
Sounds interesting, and being outside the US where (1) my product of choice is not available, and (2) we have great 3G / HSDPA availability, I will probably get the N95 to use until (1) becomes true.
And what is that (1) I speak of? Well the iPhone of course, which unlike Nokias phone will sadly come to the US first.
Gizmodo have a set of 50 pictures of the N95’s UI. It looks adequate and moderately appealing, in a bank check number font kind of way (Nokia’s fonts have always struck me as oddly formed).
But comparing it to the pics and videos of the iPhone’s interface over at apple.com/iphone is like comparing chalk and cheese.
If the iPhone is just half as good as its previews suggest, my N95 will be on eBay within a week of it coming to my country.
Just a quick note on the Exchange support: The price for RoadSync was reduced from $99 to $49. Might help make the N-Series phones a more reasonable option for those who need support for Exchange.
That’s weird, I have never had a problem with battery on my N95. Maybe the one you got is a lemon?
Loved the review, helped me a lot – especially since this device has SO much stuff on it it’s hard to keep it all straight in my mind.
i want to see a picture of Om doing his OmKarateChop™
SE phones are way better in terms of photos and sound quality of speakers. Nokia’s speakers suck and so does the camera. My K750i shoots much better pictures at a 2MP resolution than the N95 does at 5MP resolution. More megapixels does not always mean better quality of shots. And the battery of my K750i lasts me about 3 days with some camera usage and about 1 hour of mp3 playback (using HPM-70 headphones) every day along with a about 20 mins Bluetooth usage also.
Nokia’s quality really sucks on these N-series phones. I had actually used an N93 and was exceptionally disappointed with the picture quality considering the 3.2 MP and carl-zeiss lens.
i was planning on waiting for the iphone but then i remembered:-
Apple have never released a mobile phone why will this one work?
All apple products tend to break easily ive had 2 ipods both broken, one mac pc which is broken and an ibook which is also broken
Apple aslo have bad batterys which was proved in the ipods
So at the end of the day i decided to stick with the only mobile phone providers which are tried and tested
Just bought a N95. Like to use free VOIP. Dont know how to get it working. Is there any help available?
I totally agree with Om Malik. I was utterly shocked at the battery life! Couldn’t even last half a day although the phone is impressive! If only Nokia could improve on the battery, it will be fantastic!
It’s true, the battery life is too short. I’m used to Nokia 3230 and it has even shorter battery life. In practise I have got used to charging my phone almost every night and that doesn’t bother me at all any more. I also learned to use the GPS (external GPS receiver + Navocore maps) with power saving mode (the display is active only when needed). I don’t know about N95, but it seems the display (at least if in brightest mode) is draining the battery very fast if used actively. I guess the battery life will be a problem in iPhone too…
I worked for Nokia for 6years in Helsinki, Finland and learned some really good tips about how to get the most out of your multimedia device.
1st: when you get the phone for the first time, DONT START ITUP AND USE IT. place the battery in the device, and with it turned off, plug it in the charger and charge for at least a minimum of 16 hours.. so if you get home in the afternoon from the store, leave it in plugged in till the next morning.
2nd: if you are not using bluetooth connection, leave it off.
3rd: if you are in the USA, dont use DUAL MODE connection type to your network. rather use GSM only. I have visited my family / friends in the San Francisco Bay area with Nokia Test devices several times in the past 3 years using dual mode and 3g does not exist. its always on gsm.
4th: while useing the device, you can set the timeout period where the device shuts off the power to the main screen. by default its 1 minute. you can set it to 30 seconds. that does help a lot in the long run.. trust me on this..
5th: when your using a smart phone (multimedia device) such as a series 60 device, you have to think of it as a mini computer.. like you have a windows based computer in your hand. if you have MS PPT, EXCEL, WORD, and OUTLOOK running the same time, then you decide to start up IE Explorer or Firfox to surf the web, the resources are running constantly and drain the battery life. on the mobile platform its similiar in which you may have running applications in the background that you did not realize you had running. to find out if you have applications running in the background, simply select the MENU button and continue to hold it down until you see a sub menu on the top left hand side that runs vertical down. by default you have the main option of STANDBY always running. if you see other application names there, that could be one issue of why your battery life is not lasting longer than you think.
6th: I used the email client on the s60 3rd edition devices made by nokia and to be honest, if I need to send an email, i will always use a pc connected to a fast internet connection first before using a mobile device. simply put, if i need to send an email on a mobile device, i would rather make the voice phone call to that person first. it would be faster and possibly cheapier than sending it over a traditional gsm (EGPRS / GPRS connection). Though GMAIL client available from GOOGLE works nicely on the s60 3rd edition and using the gmail account via the web works just as nice. 😉
I use my test device every single day during the testing phases (usually 3 to 6 months) and the battery life, using the suggested steps above will improve your opionion on any nokia s60 device as well as make you a bit happier that you made a sound decsion to purchase a Nokia device.
hope this helps a bit an improves your thought about the battery life. =)
Rob from Finland
got this N95 phone unable to connect to home network. my old N80 connects just fine.
so must be the phone problem as the menu are very similar.
Had it for a week now and never got GPS signal not happy at all with this phone.
not exactly in sync with Om’s mood but N95 is already hated even by UK operators – Vodafone and Orange made them disabled on VoIP http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58179
though, business is business, nothing personal
Thanks for the review. Some good tips. My major headache is the GPS. It defaults to either Berlin or a place outside Rome! I am in the UK!! I purchased the “extra” Navigation software at the princely sum of £65 ($130) – and have found absolutely no difference to the already installed maps software! Don’t know if I am doing something wrong? Tried Nokia and the software provider, but for some wonderful reason – they have not replied!!
On the battery saga, I leave the b/tooth on, and have found no real issues (I just charge every night). But I have noticed if one makes several long (30 mins or so) calls is sucks the juice quite quickly. Mark K
…also, should have said earlier. Nokia need to get their act together and put together a proper software package for Macs. Isync is ok, but no match for a proper platform where you can delve in to the handset memory and transfer the files and pic that you want. MK
Hi,
I had the battery problem for the first few days. After a few discharge / charge cycles it gets better. Also turn off auto WLAN scanning. As default it scans for WLANs every 2min to 30 seconds, this easts the battery. If you turn this off and just scan when you need to the battery lasts for days even with bluetooth left on.
AP
Unlike my N80 if I send myself via b/t an opml file and open it via messaging it doesn’t open in the podcasting application like it did on the N80. It opens in the Notes application and you cannot save it where you can load it via the podcasting application so how to I import my opml file exported from itunes?
Robert,
have you tried saving it in the playlist format. i think it is either m3u or .pls. that seems to the be format the N95 does understand.
Hello! I read this statement from this site stated that “you can buy the nokia n95 phone on the Internet”. But how? What website?
Great review. This is one of the most informative reviews on N95 i have seen till now.
keep it uP!
Lovin’ my N95. The GPS and tracking are awesome, though to start with it took a while to get it set-up. In hindsight though had I just left it to do its scanning it would have connected much earlier.
I have even found that newer housing estates here in Australia are found.
The Flickr and Vox integration are pretty cool features too.
Also find that the Podcast and RSS capabilities are a plus. TWiT is even in the Featured podcasts… sweet (I have noted however that Leo seems to have an N95 now).
Just noticed on one site the “160 Mbytes Memory Plus 128 Mbyte MicroSD™ Memory Card”
Is that true, you guys only got a 128MB card? Here in Australia we received a 1GB card… all that nice memory.
Are you referring to multitasking here. the small circle that is on the top of an application when it is running on the background.
For instance if you remove an application, a little “poop” is left as the remnant of that application. go figure.Om Malik on April 8th, 2007 at 6:53 AM –
Roadysnc has a reduced price of 49 $
The Nokia N95 is one of the best mobiles i have used, Had it for over a month now i like everything about it …
The Battery Life Thingy is a pain sometimes though >.>
Good Thing i have my chargers everywhere lol …
But other then that its a great mobile device
I believe the N-series might be Nokia’s Enron. In South Africa, even simple people (non-computer/gadgets people) all agree that the N-series are pure rubbish. (I believe they’re being unkind… I think that the design team was simply on drugs when they were designing these phones). The N80 must be the worst phone I have ever owned. It periodically loses signal, the WIFI does’nt work, the SMS and general interface font is designed to be read with binoculars, most of all being a mini-computer, the user cannot adjust the font-size (just a few of it’s problems)… you had to be on drugs to not have forre-sight about this all important facet. So, to the N95: it is my belief that what we put out today, will always be reflected in what we put out tomorrow, unless of course we replace every staff member from board members down. Since this is not the case at Nokia, I have to say that while it all sounds good, so it also sounded with the N80… till I bought and had to use it. So N95… no thank you. In fact, no more Nokias of any kind in my life… till they change all the staff members… at least, the whole R & D team.
All the comments on battery life remind me of people who drive a Rolls Royce and then moan about petrol consumption. The best phone I have owned or seen and what’s more every last feature works a treat in the backwater of South Africa. The HSDPA is awesome. The GPS stunning. I will keep it thanks.
Unfortunate about the battery. Hope Nokia solves this problem. I use a Blackberry and it is set for the GPRS to be always on so I can receive my push emails. If messaging is the key factor, the poor email and battery life will be the biggest put off for me. Think I’ll stick to my blackberry for the time being.
Hi I am using N95 for 1 month. It is amazing fone I have been ever used. Battry life is not such bad as mentioned in above reviews. I charge it after 2-3 days without much usage. But If we will use phone whole day like clicking photos, music, gmames then every device needs more battay life. In Short N95 is ultimate device from NOKIA.
to download N95 themes / 3D games and aaplications goto
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/hot_n95
Great phone – if it works in South Africa – it should work anywhere in the world! HaHa Got the GPS, Internet mail – on our own pop3 server, internet, all working within minutes – it even has our street adress! something my BMW X5 with its 2006 maps does not have in! I think you guys are being overly critical about a great phone – please show me a better more functional phone – I use the GPS, Camera, e-mail extensively – on the road all day long – and have a usb power adapter that connects to my laptop… carl zeiss lens – brilliant image quality – 3G superfast at 1.8mbps -and – I’ve connected it to my Linux PC – come on guys! If you want incredible battery life get a motorola F3 it lasts for 5-6 days – but then again it can only make and receive calls! Personally the best phone I’ve ever bought (in SA at a premium of $1100) and I’ve had them all – 9110, 9210, 6680, 8800,p910, 6320, — Oh can it play music? Who cares – my X5 has a Harmon Kardon – why on earth would I listen to my phone?
I dropped my N95 from the bed 20″ or 50 cm to the floor where the charger was, the screen got crushed / broken. Nokia says not covered by warranty. This will cost me 1750 swedish crowns ca 250 us$ to get fixed. I paid 7700 SEK for the phone including a 1 GB memory card.
Not very happy and wonder, was I very unlucky?
To the BMW with Harmon Cardon.Some would like to listen to music on the phone,because not every one has X5 and Harmon cardon,you moron!!!
The Nokia N95 is coming out within the next 2 months, and is going to be carried by Cingular Wireless/AT&T. No details on pircing as of yet.
GOT MY N95 FOR ONE WEEK NOW. DON`T KNOW HOW TO SETUP THE GPS.BATTERY LAST FOR THREE DAYS WITHOUT MUCH USE.
Om: will the N95 support a Blackberry service from T-Mobile and deliver push email?
Thanks, Karthik
Om, excellent review. Thanks. Bought a US phone from a Toronto dealer two weeks ago and I’m blown away by what I can do with just one tiny device!
Yes, with all these functions, the battery does not last long. It’s NOT something Nokia can fix, it is physics. If you’re waiting to buy an N95 until after this issue is ‘fixed’, don’t look to Nokia, but to a new generation of battery development.
Do what I do and you’ll have few issues: buy a second battery, charge the fully discharged battery overnight and then put the partially discharged battery from the day before back in until it is FULLY discharged and repeat the next day.
I bought an oversized mobile belt pouch that fits the second battery alongside and my Bluetooth earpiece in the space at the end. Problem solved, no wait for new generation battery breakthrough required.
Re: “I can’t get things to work” — read the manual or call your carrier for support. It’s not brain surgery.
Bad luck Tyroga I have got a 2GB micro SD with my N95
Very poor battery
Just got the N95 and it will not work with my 2007 BMW 330i. something to do with the profile and ver of bluetooth.
That’s a bummer, I guess that I have to get an iphone. is a shame though i really liked the n95.
doug
Played with the N95 late May and was given one 5th August. Battery life is really bad and I know all the tricks to decreasing it too, still, it compares ridiculously to my other phones. For instance, my “overclocked” SPV C500 with everything I could possibly need (but multimedia excellence) lasts 9.5 days on average standby with a little usage here and there. I’ve made plus 6-7 hour phone calls on it very regularly since nearly 3 years now.
The N95 lasted 4 hours (fully 13 hour charged) with a 20 minute phone call and some menu navigation! PLEASE Nokia, get a fix for this, something that at least lasts 2-3 days in standby!
That said, I was surprised; I tried playing back movies in Real Player and DivX Player and it had 50% battery left after 1hr10min playback usage, which lasted me 4 more hours before it was empty. That’s pretty good considering that I loaded it, although I didn’t have anything running in the background.
Everything else seems fine so far. I would’ve liked SD card slot personally, as I have so many older PDAs and phones which accepted them with an abundance of information on them.
I have all my own folders created aswell as menus. Software I’ve added is fring, Lifeblog, Hand Go Clock, DivX Player, Theme DIY, MobiGene, Spodtronic, Widsets, Ybrowser, Sports Tracker, Calcium, and a few others I don’t recall accurately. Check these out, you’ll like ’em. 😉
Does anyone know of any way to get AM radio on N95?
Thanks.
got my N95 a week back. using most of the features. few of them stand apart: video quality, TV out, 3mm audio pin, built-in browser, GPS (using MGMaps apps with GoogleMaps).
You need to have a USB based charger (CA-70). By this i am able to solve the battery problem as i am with my laptop or car most of the time and both has USB slots
It is a dream device to have.
-Deva
How isit that the US doesn
t have 3G/HSDPA yet? Weve had it in South-Africa form 2002.Very weird..
i wanna know can we put memory card in it and how is camera result
I love the N95. The battery is a dissapointment but I have surfed virtually all day and the battery has lasted till around 9 in the evening. It has to be said that the battery needs so many charges before it reaches optimum charge level so three days is not enough to judge completely. I have 3G on this phone and I am currently recieving a 1.8
Mb connection which for a mobile phone means no waiting for pages to load they just come straight up. The quality is out of this world. The phone rocks……..!!!!!
Is there a way to power this phone from a cigar lighter in a car if you are navigating with the gps?
lack of Mail 4 Exchange support – you can use webmail as far as blackberry support there is the client that you can use and get BB email
i got this phone amaing bit of kit,,
i got the battery 2 3 days now
as i turned off 3g,,bluetooth,,and gprs
i sugest u dnt use it unless u need it
and the battery will last days instead of hours
comment me back
everything is appreciated except the the battery.It needs to be charged even twice a day when listened to the musics more or less.
How to test if the Nokia N95 is orginal, and made from Nokia, and not from China
Poor Baterry!!! Features are very nice!!! Pictures and video are excellent!!! Nokia, wake up!!! Need to come up with a battery that will last at least 3-4 days with much usage…
Battery life is good for a day with the latest firmware updates. Phone replaced three things for me flawlessly and all it asked in return was to be charged every night.
New 8GB model promises even better battery life.
do the GPS maps of n95 available here in the philippines???? does it locate the Philippines and every region on it???? thanx…. need your replies coz’ i’m planning to buy one for myself…. whew… but it cost P32,900.00….
is US 3g version equipped with 1200mah battery? I keep running into conflicting info. If it is true, did it improve the battery life considerably?
on what service will the nokia n 95 work best on i have to know
i dont know what the reviewer says. My N95 DOES SUPPORT MAIL 4 EXCHANGE.
now i am confuse
can i buy this phone or not?
what you think?
hey i want 2 upgrade my n95 storage….will it support a micro sd card with a capacity larger than 2GBs?
It seems like a pretty nice phone, despite all its setbacks. Still, an iPhone looks much more appealing at the moment.
The N95 will support SD cards larger than 2GB. I am currently using a 6GB SD card and there are now 8GB cards on the market. I look forward to 16GB and 32GB cards to be available next year.
N95 battery life. There are loads of tweaks that can be done to the settings that extend battery life tremendously. I can get a week out of my N95 after doing these very easy tweaks.
i got n95 8gb its fantastic phone. All the features work really well i dont know about other phones but nokia is nokia
i have a n95 8g and it has a mini card which says 256 on it but it only has 60 in reality. I am trying to find the drivers for it as the cd that came with it for pc suite wont recognize or suppoert my phone??? can anyone help? gccoop05@att.net
thanks
sorry that is gccoop05@att.net
hello to nokia lovers,
i have seen and heard,but also read alot about the nokia n95 but i would really like to get my hand on one for my next web blog.i have been fascinated with this multitasking device.any way i can get one for my reviews?greetings from orlando!!
Dude; try formattin the memory card using the phones formatter not on the pc
And you may use Wavelog to post text, photos, audio and video directly from N95 to your WordPress blog! http://www.telewaving.com
i got n95 8gb its super phone!
I’m disgusted with the N95.
i got one for xmas and it’s already screwing up every 5minutes. The gallery won’t load once you have a number of photos in it, an when it does load it takes way to long. It feels like a lump of plastic junk to hold and the slider is flimsy. Biggest disappointment ever! Not to mention sometimes it just decides it might turn off for a little while!
I’m really sad i got rid of my sony ericcsson W880i now, was so much better in every way, and the battery lasted days, not just one! I’ve turned off every extra feature i can to try an save power, but still around the same time every day at work, it goes dead. I only use my phone for photos and sms an the N95 can’t even seem to handle that.
I’m glad to say i grabbed an iphone off ebay to replace it, hopefully i have more luck there. I’ve hated nokia for a long time, but thought i’d give this “powerhouse” a go, but it’s got the same problems nokia always has, will not be getting one ever again.
Its a completely awesome phone Which ranked as the best phone by CNET and PC review. I dont understand why people with low level of knowledge are commenting on this.
If someone really wants sleek phone go for the ultra slim from Samsung..
Regarding battery life, again, if you are spending the whole day playing with the phone,, battery life is going to short and you would need repeated chargings. For your information, If at all nokia is known for anything,,its the awesome battery the produce. lets not forget its not a PDA. Rather carrying batteries carry a CHARGER.
People should understand that battery life would depend on the power saver settings also.
And yes, N95 DOES SUPPORT MAIL 4 EXCHANGE,,,if you are not confident talk to the nokia customer care..please dont show your ignorance.
iPhone is no where even close to N95 performance.
The new software for the n95 fixes the battery life. I am now getting 2-3 days out of the phone whilst in 3g mode, connected to WIFI networks, taking pictures, and watching an hour worth of movies. So those who are still 50/50 on getting this phone. Don’t worry! THE BATTERY LIFE IS FIXED!!!
Great phone, i use most of the features daily. Especially love the WIFI, video quality is IMPROVED and DVD QUALITY!!!
10/10 best phone on the market hands down. Price drop too. Buy one now.
Email for Exchange works on the N95 if you have reduced security on your Exchange server, because the N95 doesn’t have the same cryptographic processing power as the E Series.
From Nokia documentation
“Nseries devices do not support the security features that many network administrators enforce. This can prevent MfE from synchronizing data to your Nseries device. If you think you may be experiencing this problem look in File manager > MailForExchange > admin_log.txt for the text, “This device is unable to implement all requested password policies.” Currently the only solution for this is to reduce the server security requirements. “
There is so much software available for this phone that can make your exchange work flawlessly. 3D gaming quality is excellent. The 8gig US version looks lovely with the bigger sized screen but id probably still go with the n95-3 usa version with a 12gb sd card ive read that they work and the us version has 1200mah battery so its like 25% better than the original version. if you want really cool phones though just wait until US version of n96 and e90 come out wow
using 3g here in Oz I get 4-5 days of medium to light use and 2 days of heavy use out of the battery (phone only use, -turned on over 14hr period)
great volume for loud ring tones… my #1 priority (work in a noisy factory)
Ezeoku patience; a blue chip like Nokia doesn’t depreciate; it shifts; last oil barrel inside 115.
How many of us have seen part of a commercial that says the Hydrogen cell car is on the market; I saw the whole commercial yesterday.
Battery life has been greatly increased with new updates, phone now rocks and lasts for 2 days with 3g and wifi on
i want a n95 to buy i love it with my heart n soul
nokia n95 is a phone that is really worthwhile.think of a phone multimedia beast n95 answres that name.the phone is about the best you can find in the world.so stylish and tempting.i dreamt of the phone in the year 2006 when i saw the poster in nigeria.the slogan keeps ringing in my mind ‘it is what computer has become’ i got the phone in may 2008.what a great asset to have!i have become incredibly versatile with my nokia n95beast.good work by nokia company.keep it up
Nokia n95 is great i just got one. (8g too) juwsut want to say that if your going on vacation to asia????…..and want the phone dont buy it in n.america. i got my n95 8g for 640 USD (converted) here in indonesia. ive been to a lot of nokia stores here and the average price is about 6,6 million indonesian (that converted to be lil more than 660 USD) but u can haggel a little here, not like take 100 off or anything just maybe 20, 30, 40, or more dollars (if lucky).
oh and if ur wondering 1 USD = 9,XXX thousand Rupias (indo money)
hey all… wel i hav a N70… n0t the best but its nokia! ! !
i wil buy my n95 when i finish my studies and head off 2 new zealand.(great friendly place)
cant wait 2 start taking videos and pics when i get the n95… i already hav 2 batteries f0r my n70… what can i say… 1 is f0r mxit and the 0ther f0r back up.,. my friend is geting her n95 s0on.. im jeal0us! haha…
I have a N95, but key “2” doesn`t work. Someone had the same problem, please, send me some tips to repair the problem
hi! I’m not a high tech person but i’m wanting to buy myself this N95 that I’v heard so much about. I’m just surprised at how much people will can say about such a device. Anyway, I’m curious about the difference between N958GBNAM & N95NAMRD. Is it just the memory? Coz there’s a big price difference. I tried to have the features compared but they almost have the same specs, they did not mention about the memory though. I just took it for granted that the latter has lower memory coz of the price difference.
Anyway, hope to hear from you soon. Ciao! sangli
Sangli,
It is the memory cuz i had both of of them and turned out to be the memory. It won’t effect u by any means exept if you like to download lots of stuff on your n95
Hi , I recently acquired a n85 8gb & am generally happy with it’s performance.Battery life seems OK now(have Nokia uprated?)However my main moan is that it doesn’t hang-up on slide closure-a couple of times Ive neglected to hit the hang-up button & it-s cost me!!Ive tried to install free software from “slidehelp” &c but not been able to overcome the “signature” prob. I called Nokia head office & the receptionist did not believe me until thier technical department said that this facility was not (yet) available, although it seems a pretty basic requirement to me (& to her!). Apparently they are working on some software-I’m still awaiting thier email.
Correction–to my previous comment posted 2:15 am today,phone typeshould read Nokia N95 8gb my apologies
Chris Burgess