Nokia's N95 Dual-sliding Powerhouse Smart Phone

While it shares much with the Nokia N80 in terms of both design and functionality, Nokia's N95, the subject of this review, takes the capabilities of a mobile phone to a new level. On paper, at least, there appears to be little that this Finnish wonder can't do. It has quad-band GSM/EDGE support and 2100MHz UMTS as well as a 5 megapixel auto focus camera, a built-in GPS receiver, Bluetooth stereo support, and 802.11b/g WLAN support.

Considering all the features that are packed into the Nokia N95, you'd think it would be a pretty hefty phone, but not so, my friends. The N95 measures a compact 3.8 inches long by 2.1 inches wide by 0.8 inch thick and weighs only 4.2 ounces. It feels comfortable to hold, and the soft-touch finish on the back of the device makes it easier to grip. That said, we couldn't help but think that the phone felt, well, kind of cheap. In particular, the front cover felt plasticky and rickety (more on this below). From an aesthetic standpoint, the N95 certainly falls more into the short and stocky category rather than svelte and sexy, but we think it's still a good-looking phone with its plum-and-silver color scheme.

The GPS is really GPS, not some assisted-GPS that Sprint and Verizon have in their phones. That means you can really navigate with it, like I did, to streets around SF I wasn't too familiar with. (Specifically, the corner of Washington and Cherry, close to where the Zodiac killer blew away a Cabbie so many years ago.) The point of interest database is sizable and you can search for things by proximity (the nearest ATM or liquor store), and then get the phone dialing right up. Turn by turn is a subscription that'll cost you about $10 a month, and the voice nave won't read street names, but that, and the phone's persistent Lag aside, it rocks.

Other features include finding the nearest location in a certain category from a Point Of Information database (e.g. finding your nearest public transport station), storing landmarks (favourite locations), and switching to night colours. Maps is a very impressive application, which we will be covering in more detail later. In use, I found the GPS took a few minutes to 'lock on' when inside (next to a window) from a cold start; outside it was much quicker, as expected, and soft starts were faster still (a matter of a few seconds). A subjective first impression suggests the N95 has similar capabilities to SIRF II GPS chipsets. As with any GPS, performance will vary on your location and degree of visibility of satellites.

Features of the Nokia N95 include:

* Series 60 Symbian interface (version 3.1)
* 5 megapixel camera (2592 x 1944 pixels) with Carl Zeiss optics, Tessar lens, auto focus, flash (auto redeye reduction), 20x digital zoom
* Video camera: MPEG4/3GP VGA video capture at 640 x 480 pixels and 30 frames/second with digital stereo microphone (AAC format) and 10x digital zoom
* Front camera for video calling: CIF resolution (352 x 288 pixels)
* Video and still image editors
* Display: TFT, 16 million colours, 240 x 320 pixels (2.6 inches)
* Digital music player (supports MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA/M4A formats)
* Stereo FM radio with Visual Radio support
* Built-in GPS navigation
* Speaker independent name dialing
* Voice commands
* Voice recorder
* Integrated hands-free speaker
* Speed dialing
* Java games
* Memory: 160 Mbytes plus microSD memory card slot (4 Gbytes or 8 Gbytes)
* Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, Infrared, TV-Out, WLAN (802.11 b/g), 3.5 mm stereo headphone plug
* Advanced contacts database with support for multiple phone and e-mail details per entry
* Logs: dialed, received, and missed calls
* WAP, EGPRS class B, WCDMA/HSDPA (3.6Mb/s download)
* Size: 99 x 53 x 21 mm
* Weight: 120g
* Battery standby: 215 hours