NOKIA N96

NOKIA N96 

The Nokia N96 is the most anticipated phone since, well, the N95, but despite months of speculation and countless photoshopped mockups on the web, no official release date has been announced. The eagle eyes guys at Reg Hardware however have spotted the advert in the Carphone Warehouse ezine, The Insider, which reveals that the N96 is going to be released next month.

 Ignore everyone who says the Nokia N96 is simply a ‘sister’ phone to the Nokia N95. Although the N96 doesn’t improve on certain key areas enough to make it a genuine replacement, there are plenty of new, exciting features added for it to be labeled an ‘evolution’ of the N95’s ‘multimedia computer’.  Well, if the N95 is a multimedia computer, then it’s looking its age and about to get sand kicked in its face by the new Nokia N96! 

The N96’s improvements are noticeable immediately thanks to the total redesign, which can be viewed as a resounding success.  The piano black casing looks sleek and modern, the keypad is larger and more attractively designed and the D-pad and soft keys have been tweaked.  Nokia have sensibly retained the dual slide function and have added a little stand on the rear which allows the N96 to sit on a desk with the screen angled towards you.  Why would you want to do this?  The N96 has a built-in DVB-H mobile TV tuner, that’s why!

 Yes, the world of mobile TV broadcasts can be yours to view on that massive 2.8” screen with the N96, something which is set to grow over the next years now DVB-H has been set as the UK standard.  Perhaps even more impressively, the N96 can record mobile TV too! It has a massive 16GB of internal memory (good enough for 40 hours of TV) and the option of adding an 8GB MicroSD card too.  You will also find Nokia’s excellent media player for all your music and video, including Internet based video such as YouTube.  Now that’s what we call a multimedia computer! 

The Nokia N96 is a smartphone and uses the Symbian S60 3.2 release with Feature Pack 2, which flattens some of the learning curve previously experienced by new Symbian users by adding more specific shortcuts, clearer menu systems while generally improving speed and responsiveness.  The navigation system has been re-worked too, with the edge of the D-pad becoming a ‘navi-wheel’ which works by running your finger around the touch sensitive chrome edge to move the onscreen cursor.  This type of format works so well on Apple iPod’s, it makes sense to include it on more complicated phones.

 This being a proper high-end Nokia phone, you’ll also find a wealth of other features inside that brand-new casing too.  First you have the Carl Zeiss 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and a dual LED flash, meaning it can be used with the video too, then you have the Assisted GPS receiver and new Nokia Maps software.  The camera and GPS actually work together in an interesting way, with geo-tagging of your pictures.  Say you’re a keen bird-watcher and you snap a rare bird on your travels.  The GPS system will ‘pin’ the location where you took the picture to the file, which can then be accessed and the precise location will appear on the map!  Add to all this WiFi, 3G with HSDPA support, a video call camera lens, an FM RDS radio and a host of other features too! The Nokia N96 is a great looking handset with a huge feature list and plenty of new innovations to make it stand out in the company of the N95 and its rivals.  There is little doubt that the N96 will become the high-end mobile phone to have this year.