Filed under: Cellphones

When the N95 was released, it was all but universally adored. Even today, nearly two full years after it was first revealed, it’s still one of the most respected in Nokia’s lineup. From the get-go, we knew the N96 was more evolutionary and less revolutionary; after all, the two handsets even look alike. The general consensus this time around is about what we expected: the N96 is a fine phone, and a worthy successor, but probably not worth the high price it’s currently demanding. Oh sure, the call quality was stupendous, battery life was satisfactory and the multimedia playback was superb, but some critics were a bit displeased with the fit and finish given the premium price tag. All in all, don’t go into the links below expecting any huge surprises — the N96 is a nicely revamped, high-priced N95, and if that’s what you’re looking for, there doesn’t seem to be any underlying issues that should hold you back from indulging.

Read - PhoneArena (”Nokia seems to have taken more of a lateral step than pushing forward with innovation.”)
Read - MobileArsenal (”…doesn’t have anything we didn’t see before…”)
Read - LordPercy (”…an improved, quality phone…”)
Read - Mobile88 (4 out of 5 stars)

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Filed under: Cellphones

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Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Hey, it’s not September 15th yet! Nevertheless, Nokia’s flagship N96 is now shipping in Europe for €550 before taxes and subsidies. Yes, the very same 5 megapixel, dual-sliding media powerhouse with 16GB of storage spotted all the way back in December of last year. By now you should be familiar with the specs, hands-ons, tear-downs, and reviews. Unless, perhaps, you stumbled upon us while looking for Ms Trudy’s Crochet and Needlepoint, we know that Engadget Mobile’s Magenta colors can be confusing.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Well, they’re here. Nokia’s latest and greatest N-series devices just hit the market like a trio of well-aimed bricks — or at least that’s what Nokia’s hoping. We got to spend a little bit of hands-on time with prototypes of the new devices, and while we came away slightly impressed, we were nowhere near E-series impressed. Here’s our biggest problem with the lineup: the only one worth talking about is the N85. Other than minor screen size disparities, the 16GB built-in memory of the N96 and the fresh candybar form of the N79, these three phones are pretty much exactly identical on specs, and yet the N96 manages to be inexcusably bulky, while the N79 sports an inexcusably terrible screen — we’re hoping that was just the prototype being funky, but we saw two versions with the same problem. The N85 isn’t exactly the pinnacle of thinphoneness, but its amazing OLED screen and more refined design make the N96 look like more of a rough draft than a sibling. On the interface side, the phones are much more responsive to S60’s new motion and transitions, but Nokia has oddly chosen to disable the Navi Wheel scrolling in all three phones — a weird move, but we can’t say we blame them, we haven’t had a single good experience with Navi Wheel since Nokia introduced it. In all, we’re not exactly thrilled about Nokia’s prospects for winning over the masses with this new series of devices. Sure, Nokia will protest that it’s going after the high-end users, but 5 megapixel cameras, GPS and WiFi are no longer the differentiators they once were, and users have begun to expect thinner, sexier devices at prices far below the N96’s gargantuan $895 pricetag.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video

You’ve seen the review, now get ready as Nokia just announced a Q4, North American release for its high-end, N96. That means localized 850/1900 HSDPA radios to go along with its GSM quad-band set, 2.8-inch QVGA display, 16GB of storage, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss optics, WiFi, and assisted GPS. Interestingly, there’s no mention of mobile TV which makes it seem that they’ve scrapped DVB-H entirely without a mediaFLO replacement. How much? $895, that’s how much — sorry you asked?

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Filed under: Cellphones

Sure, we’ve already gotten a chance to play with the Nokia N96 — and even seen a couple reviews — but you know Uncle Sam’s got to get his taste before this thing gets its rumored launch later this month. Yep, nothing spectacular in the test reports, but if you’ve got a thing for industrial photography of circuit boards under florescent lights, you might want to hit the read link while you’re alone.

[Via Cellphone Signal]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Digital Cameras

Nokia’s always coming up with some new harebrained scheme for cramming a gargantuan camera lens into one of its new phones — trust us, if the Finnish phone giant could accomplish this task by breaking into Fort Knox or compromising your precious bodily fluids, it would. The latest effort by Nokia comes in the form of a patent that might point the way to an upcoming video phone, possibly the N85, which could give current compact shooters a run for their money. Current thinking on that device is that it’ll be a video-oriented successor to the N96, with a WQVGA screen and a 5 (or maybe even megapixel camera. It’s mostly conjecture at this point, but we hope Nokia accomplishes it with a thinner device than we’re looking at in this patent.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Mere mortals will need to wait until the third quarter of the year — if not longer, depend on their region and tolerance for some probable price gouging in the early going — to get their hands on the mighty Nokia N96. On the other hand, Mobile-review apparently knows the right hands to shake and eyes to wink to get hold of a prototype unit extraordinarily early, and they’re taking full advantage of the opportunity. A few hours of your time devoted to the novella of a review will net you a deep understanding and appreciation for the N96’s strengths and follies, but in a nutshell, the site seems to come away with a pretty ambivalent opinion of a device that should be knocking everyone’s socks off — especially for a sticker price that’ll hover in the $800 arena. Problems included a penchant for picking up dirt and fingerprints (the price you pay for a beautiful glossy face, we suppose), a cramped nav key layout with the tricky touch-sensitive Navi Wheel front and center, audio performance that wasn’t bad but was expected to be far better in light of the dedicated DSP, and a “shovel”-like feel in the hand, a symptom of the phone’s generous dimensions. Everyone owes the production version of the N96 a chance to show its true form when it’s released later this year — and hey, at least Nokia’s got a checklist of things that need improvement in the prototype now — so we’re keeping our chins up that this’ll still make the N95 8GB a proud daddy when it comes time to hand over the crown to the Nseries kingdom.

[Via Tech Digest and NokNok]

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Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

Rumored for a few weeks now as the N95’s successor in waiting, the mighty N96 dual slider has gone all official on us at Mobile World Congress today. Though the phone it replaces is still a beast by any measure, the N96 pushes the envelope further by packing a solid 16GB of storage internally in addition to a microSD slot, something the N95 8GB lacks. The 5 megapixel autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss Tessar lens carries over, but there are now two LEDs doing flash and video light duty. The 2.8 inch QVGA display will come in handy for the integrated DVB-H mobile TV tuner, while a 3.5mm headphone jack, A2DP, and integrated stereo speakers should handle audio with aplomb. Other features include WiFi, AGPS, and morphing lights on the smaller second slide that hook the user up with game controls when it’s time to relax with a little N-Gage action. Unfortunately, the first version of the N96 (and the only version announced thus far) supports HSDPA only on the 900 and 2100MHz bands, but we imagine the strength of the spec sheet should still be enough to sell a few of these stateside when it launches in the third quarter for €550 (about $797).

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Filed under: Cellphones

That, friends, is an N96. Or, at least we’re led to believe so. Judging by five mysterious images that surfaced over at Mobile-Review, it appears that Nokia’s N96 (which looks like a jazzed-up version of the N81, actually) has leaked out, and while no specifications are available, it looks as if this thing is packing a 5-megapixel camera (with the obligatory Carl Zeiss lens), a dual LED flash and a sexy black motif. Check out one more look after the jump.

[Via IntoMobile]

Continue reading Nokia’s N96 spotted in the wild?

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