• PHONES
• BLOG

RATING:

Pay Monthly

	DEAL	PRICE
	Nokia N96 quartz (Orange) Carphone Warehouse	£35.00
	Nokia N96 quartz (T-Mobile) Carphone Warehouse	£75.00
	Nokia N96 quartz (O2) Carphone Warehouse	£45.00
	Nokia N96 black (O2) Carphone Warehouse	£45.00
	Nokia N96 black (Orange) Carphone Warehouse	£255.30
	Nokia N96 quartz (Orange) Carphone Warehouse	£45.00
	Nokia N96 black (O2) Carphone Warehouse	£167.86
	Nokia N96 quartz (T-Mobile) Carphone Warehouse	£337.96
	Nokia N96 black (T-Mobile) Carphone Warehouse	£289.23
	Nokia N96 black (Orange) Carphone Warehouse	£127.86
	Nokia N96 (Vodafone) Vodafone UK	£55.00
	Nokia N96 black (O2) Carphone Warehouse	£132.86
	Nokia N96 quartz (T-Mobile) Carphone Warehouse	£318.60
	Nokia N96 black (T-Mobile) Carphone Warehouse	£211.15
	Nokia N96 quartz (T-Mobile) Carphone Warehouse	£294.02
	Nokia N96 quartz (Orange) Carphone Warehouse	£260.09
	Nokia N96 black (3) Carphone Warehouse	£35.00
	Nokia N96 black (T-Mobile) Carphone Warehouse	£281.95
	Nokia N96 quartz (Orange) Carphone Warehouse	£347.74
	Nokia N96 black (Orange) Carphone Warehouse	£255.30

Pay As You Go

	DEAL	PRICE
	Nokia N96 (THREE) 3 Mobile - PAYG	£459.99
	Nokia N96 black (O2) Carphone Warehouse	£509.95

SUMMARY:

Nokia N96 Review

Release Date: October 1st 2008.

Nokia N96 multimedia computer - Nokia's latest feature-laden NSeries phone. Key features include EDGE, 3G, HSDPA, music player, video player, dual-slide design with media controls, assisted GPS and Nokia Maps, Wi-Fi, S60 Web browser, 16 GB flash memory and microSDHC memory card slot (8 GB cards are currently available - expect 16 GB and 32 GB cards at some stage), TV-out, 5 MP camera (has a geotagging feature - auto inserts capture location), dual-LED flash, DVB-H receiver (get digital TV and radio), FM radio with RDS and Visual Radio.

Nokia N96 vs Nokia N95 8GB

The N96 has superior storage capacity - 16 GB + microSDHC card. Currently, you can buy an 8 GB SDHC card at Amazon.co.uk for just £16. That's 24 GB - Nokia say that can store 18000 music tracks or 60 hours of video. 16 GB SDHC cards are also now available - Google it. Offtek.co.uk offer these. Combined with a 16 GB SDHC card (£34 - £40) you get a whopping 80 hours of video storage or 24000 music tracks. Not sure if there would be any performance issues with a 32 GB card (reading it etc).

The N96 has a DVB-H receiver, although many parts of the country won't be able to get DVB-H coverage until 2012 - see the links section: Digital Switchover.

The N96 also has dual-LED flash (vs the N95 8 GB's single LED flash). There's no gallery key on the N96.

The N96 only has a 950 mAh battery vs the N95 8GB's 1200 mAh. Could Nokia not fit a 1200 mAh battery in? Guess not. The DVB-H receiver possibly took priority.

The N96 is 4 mm taller, 2mm narrower and 3mm thinner than the N95 and N95 8 GB. The 3.5 mm jack is on the top of the N96.

Nokia N96 32 GB

There may well be a Nokia N96 32 GB version released in 2009. Combine with a 32 GB microSDHC card (1st quarter 2009) and you have an impressive 72 GB of storage. Hubba yubba.

Nokia N96 vs Apple iPhone 3G

The Apple iPhone 3G has a bigger screen (3.5-inches) and better battery life, with considerably better music and video playback times. The iPhone 3G is better for texting - the QWERTY software is better than the N96's keypad.

N96 wins on storage - 16 GB + SDHC card and it also has a far superior camera (5 MP with dual-LED flash). The Nokia N96 is DVB-H capable - but many places don't switchover to digital until 2012 - that's quite a wait. Good screen, but we still prefer the larger 3.5-inch iPhone screen. Both phones have 3G, HSDPA, GPS and Wi-Fi - iPhone wins due to its bigger screen and superior text input.

The N96 has a kickstand for hands-free viewing. Lots of people call it a "kickstand" - a metal rod you kick to open on a bike to keep the bike upright. There'll be no kicking of this stand. "Flipstand" is a more appropriate name - flip it open with your pinky.

The iPhone's large 3.5-inch touch-screen is more enjoyable to use and is much better for browsing the Web.

Nokia TouchScreen Phone?

Nokia will release a touchscreen phone with the S60 Touch UI either late 2008 or in 2009. Stay Tuned. See the links section: S60 Touch UI.

Design

Glossy black plastic, silver plastic sides, patterned-plastic back - we prefer the rubbery back panels as seen on the Nokia N95. Black shiny plastic - many will think it makes the phone feel cheap. Chunky - 103mm x 55mm x 18mm and reasonable weight: 125g. Dual-slide design - slide left or right to reveal media controls.

Quick tour:

Front: 2.8-inch 16 million colour 240 x 320 (QVGA) TFT screen, VGA video call camera.

Navigation keys: A little cramped and the Nokia logo takes up valuable space beneath the screen.

Back: 5 MP camera with dual-LED flash. The ring surrounding the camera flips up - use it as a kickstand to prop the phone up on a flat surface.

Right: Volume rocker, camera button and stereo speakers.

Left: microSD memory card slot.

Top: Power button, audio jack and lock switch (lock and unlock the phone).

Bottom: microUSB port.

Battery Life

Suspect. 950 mAh battery. Not great. Nokia say they have better power management on this phone, but their battery life estimates are still quite poor. 14 hours music playback (iPhone 3G has 24 hours), 5 hours video playback (iPhone has 7 hours), 4 hrs TV playback.

2G network talk-time is 3.6 hours - poor. 3G network talk-time is just 2.5 hours. How quickly the battery drains does of course depend on what features you use. Camcorder, GPS, camera, Wi-Fi, video player etc will drain the battery faster than plain ol' talking on the phone.

Features

5 MP Camera

Excellent. Lots of features. Dual-LED flash - not as good as a Xenon flash, but an improvement. Geotagging - take a photo and co-ordinates can be assigned to the photo location. This can be useful for the "where the heck did I take that photo?" question.

2592 x 1944, f2.8 f-stop, 5.2mm focal length,

Dual-LED flash, macro mode, white balance, auto-focus, photo editor, self-timer, image stabilisation, 4x video zoom, VGA video capture (30 fps), H.263 and MPEG-4 video formats, gallery, exposure compensation, ISO setting and other standard settings. Press the camera button to take a photo.

Bluetooth Profiles

A2DP, AVRCP, BIP, DUN, FTP, GAP, GAVDP, GOEP, HFP, HSP, OPP, SAP, SPP.

2.8-inch Screen

Not a touchscreen. Just a 240 x 320 resolution. The HTC Touch Diamond manages a VGA resolution (480 x 640) - 4 times as many pixels.

3G, HSDPA, Wi-Fi

Good connectivity for Internet browsing. No touch-screen = not a great Internet browsing experience. No QWERTY keyboard = slow URL address input. The N96 uses the S60 browser. Quite good. Mini-maps, visual history, bookmarks...

FM Radio - RDS and Visual Radio

Visual Radio: visual, interactive channel with more information and opportunities to participate and give feedback to the radio channel. Radio Data System (RDS) gives information - song title etc.

Assisted GPS with Nokia Maps

Assisted GPS (A-GPS) is an enhanced version of GPS. A-GPS gets a fix on the satellite quicker and more reliably. Nokia maps are pre-installed - UK and Ireland. Maps are free. If you want voice navigation, you must pay a license fee.

Symbian OS 9.3

Download applications, document viewers, organiser tools and other smartphone applications.

DVB-H Live TV

Many parts of the UK are years away (2012) to getting DVB-H coverage in their area. DVB-H is officially endorsed by the European Union as the "preferred technology for terrestrial mobile broadcasting". DVB-H is being more quickly adopted in many parts of Europe. Why put this feature on now, when most people can't use it? By the time it DVB-H is available to many, you'll likely be on your next phone. Nokia N97? Nokia N98?

You'll be able to get free-to-air digital TV channels and radio channels. FM radio receivers will give way to digital radio on mobile phones, perhaps a reason why some mobile phones don't have FM receivers - DVB-H is the future. Check out the links at the end of this page to see when your area switches over to digital.

Summary

Improved feature set (except the battery) over the Nokia N95 8 GB. Good memory storage, microSDHC card slot and DVB-H receiver are the key differences.

Shame that's it's just a 2.8-inch screen with a feeble 240 x 320 (QVGA) resolution. Battery life isn't great either. If you want lots of storage, the N96 is a winner. If you want more screen real estate (better for videos, Web browsing and other tasks), the Apple iPhone 3G is a winner.

If you're yearning for a Nokia touchscreen phone (an iPhone alternative), you'll have to wait at least until the end of 2008. 2009 is more likely - Nokia are working on the S60 Touch UI interface and there's no mention of a touchscreen phone on their Web site. Top secret. Hush hush.

Nokia N96 Prices

At launch (Oct 2008), it seems about £580 SIM-free.

TAGS: 3g, hsdpa, music, gps, wi-fi, smartphone, 5.0 MP camera, big screen, slider phones

11 Comments  

Share your views on the Nokia N96. Write a review, ask or answer questions.