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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 5,067
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First thoughts of the Nokia N95 & I�ll, in the future, publish a lot of Symbian info
Now that the HTC folks have announced they will not release the HTC Omni in the next three months, that is, there is no real successor of the HTC Universal (my current workhorse and main Pocket PC) and, frankly, none of the current Pocket PC�s (or Smartphones) appeal to me (I already have several previous-generation PPC�s and SP�s and the current HTC models don�t offer significantly more than, say, my Universal or Vox), but I�m (still) severely addicted to electronic toys & gadgets like smart phones, I�ve decided to get the Nokia N95. After all, I needed a new toy  (Yes, it�s certainly HTC to blame for my decision � why on earth did they have left us high and dry on the upgrade path?)
I received it about a week ago and now I understand why a lot of, otherwise, Windows Mobile freaks (for example, the folks over at MobilitySite) publish so many news items / articles on it. Despite it being over half a year old, the Nokia folks have managed to pack in a lot of functionality into this phone. Frankly, my HTC Vox (s710) MS Smartphone (which was released about the same time as the N95), hardware-wise, seems still to be in the stone ages compared to this beauty (much heavier, much worse camera, no GPS, no 3G (let alone 3.5G), no 3D hardware acceleration, no TV out, no FM radio, impossible to set the brightness level (the Vox is far too bright in a completely dark room), no call recording / answering machine support etc.) � except for, of course, the QWERTY keyboard.
Unfortunately, there are some problems with the N95. The battery life is pretty bad, for one. While, sometimes, I only charge my TI OMAP-based (and, therefore, non-3G) phones (OK, I don�t use them much for for example Web browsing and such � I mostly use my Universal for that because of the VGA screen) once a week, the N95 requires far more frequent recharges � at least a daily one.
The size of the RAM memory is another question. While the 22-23M RAM available after boot is enough for a LOT of things under Windows Mobile, multitasking in Symbian seems to be much more memory-hungry, particularly if you use the built-in, indeed excellent Web browser. If you open some (not very big) no more than two or three pages in the factory browser, the background tasks (for example, media player) inevitably shut down. In addition (still speaking of the browser), you can�t keep more than 3-4 pages in memory; they will need to be reloaded if you go back to them. Even the pretty much memory-hungry Internet Explorer Mobile behaves better and uses less memory on Windows Mobile, let alone other browsers (for example, the at least twice more memory-friendly Opera Mobile; and I haven�t even mentioned Opera Mini, which has at least two orders of magnitude less memory usage). Fortunately, both Opera Mobile 8.65 and Opera Mini work in a far more memory-friendly way. That is, if you do plan to multitask (a lot), never ever think of getting the N95.
Speaking of the built-in browser, it indeed rocks. It�s using a narrow character set like Thunderhawk and is really able to crunch a lot of text into the visible screen estate without the need for horizontal scrolling. Also, as opposed to almost all Windows Mobile browsers (except for the slow & memory hog Minimo, the, currently, unavailable NetFront, the still slow and buggy jb5 and the unofficial and the somewhat outdated (no full page view), Russian Opera Mini 2 Mod), it allows for in-page text searching � a feature REALLY missing from mainstream Windows Mobile(-compliant), recommended browsers (Opera Mobile, IEM and the official version of Opera Mini). Also, it has really good standards compliance. While the results it presented in the Acid2 (CSS2) test were a bit worse than those of Opera Mobile or Minimo, it, otherwise, turned out to be pretty cool � for example, it has passed all my AJAX (and also the CSS1) tests.
The A2DP support, while it certainly had no quality problems with any stereo headphones (as opposed to the Microsoft BT stack on Windows Mobile) I�ve ever tested it with, has severe AVRCP problems with the Plantronics Pulsar stereo headphones: you can�t just restart playing a title from the 590A. This seems to be an issue with Nokia�s A2DP-enabled products in general: the 5300 also had, albeit different, AVRCP issues with my Plantronics 590A (but, of course, not with Nokia�s own headphones). That is, it�s still pretty sad to see neither the MS BT stack-based Windows Mobile (sometimes severe sound quality problems) nor the Nokia / Symbian platform (AVRCP problems and, after a while, drop-outs) support Plantronics� products well.
The (stereo) speakers are of very good quality and are VERY loud. Much better than on my HTC Wizard, HTC Universal, HTC Vox, Oxygen, x51v and even the Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox 718 / 720, which, so far, had the best, loudest speaker.
The (Java) MIDlet support is excellent (much better than under Windows Mobile) and is hardware 3D accelerated. While there�re few real MIDlets making use of the hardware 3D acceleration support, it�s still nice to have a device around that does support MIDlet acceleration. (More on this in my forthcoming MIDlet Bible.)
As far as the generic (non-A2DP) Bluetooth support is concerned, it, unfortunately, lacks advanced features; for example, it doesn�t support BT PAN at all (not that the MS BT stack would on Windows Mobile � actually, it was only some weeks ago that one-direction (PAN server) support was, finally, added by some XDA-Dev hackers). It can�t use other computers in DUN mode and, as it seems, it can�t connect them via a wireless serial connection either. Note that I had no file exchange problems with neither Widcomm- nor MS BT stack-based Pocket PC�s, which is certainly good news if you take into account that this isn�t necessarily the case, not even on the Windows Mobile platform.
Wi-Fi-wise, p2p connections work, should you really need something like BT PAN. Otherwise, it isn�t as good, compatibility-wise, as that of Windows Mobile. I�ve encountered far more situations where it either didn�t connect or just disconnected after 10-20 seconds than with my Vox (the Vox having the best Wi-Fi support so far). The rumored 2.x ROM update, which should be released next month, is stated to fix this problem.
The camera � particularly when taken into account it�s a phone camera � is very good, particularly when used as a video camera. I especially like the fact that, in video mode, it uses the really advanced and great H-264 (a.k.a. MPEG-4) coding, as opposed to the M-JPEG most even high-end (Canon's expensive SD/IXUS range etc.) point-and-shoot digital cameras. For example, even the latest Canon 870 IS camera (the one I�ll purchase as it has far better optics than its predecessor and has wide angle � see the just-published DPReview HERE) burns around 1.7MB every second at the best quality setting (640x480 / 30fps). The N95 burns about 20 Mbytes every minute � that is, about five times less than M-JPEG encoders � using the same VGA resolution and 30 fps, with compression artifacts not really visible during regular playback. Another comparison: low-end digicameras like the HP R717 burn 13 Mbyte a minute with QVGA (320*240), 30 fps, pretty low-quality videos. The lack of stereo (or even better) microphones is really a shame, though (not that any point-and-shoot, "real" digicams had stereo mikes � you need to use a �real� videocamera for that).
The screen is equally bad outdoors and/or in direct sunlight than those of the current Windows Mobile phones. Quite a letdown after the bright, old 176*208 Nokia screens like that of the Nokia N-Gage, which were perfectly visible / usable outdoors and even in direct sunlight. Instead of pumping out 16 million colors, Nokia should pay attention to making their screens more usable outdoors. Fortunately, the AllAboutSymbian folks declared this problem has also been fixed in the successor, the N95 8GB.
Fortunately, the screen doesn�t have polarization problems in Landscape, unlike many Pocket PC�s (all Casio transmissive color screens; the Dell Axim x50v / x51v etc.). This, and the fact that the minimal backlight level you can set is pretty low make the N95 a great bedtime device � very few gadgets are better in these two respects (the HP iPAQ hx4700 being one of them � it has even lower minimal backlight level and the same lack of polarization issues in Landscape).
Gaming-wise (let�s not forget: the N95 will be compatible with all N-Gage platform games from next month, meaning a lot of high-quality games), the hardware has both pros and cons. First, the pro: it has is excellent 3D accelerator and, again, it�s officially part of the new N-Gage platform. Then, the cons: it has pretty bad controls. Even worse, I�d say, than on most Pocket PC�s (OK, I admit the Pocket Loox 720, the HP iPAQ 2210, 38xx, 39xx, 5450 and 5550 are even worse, D-pad-wise). The sole reason for this is as follows:- it�s very easy for your thumb to accidentally press the two Menu buttons, located to the left / right of the D-pad. There isn�t anything worse than accidentally pressing them during playing a game. Fortunately, games, in general, pause themselves in these cases, so, you can still return to playing them.
- if you prefer playing in Landscape (fortunately, the built-in games all support this orientation; so do some MIDlets), the multimedia buttons on the left won�t be of real help: they are very hard to press. According to the latest reviews, the latter problem, to some extent, have been fixed in the N95 8GB.
- the Action button isn�t very easy to press either.
I can�t comment on the phone part (particularly recording phone calls and/or using answering machines � the biggest problem with most Windows Mobile phones) as yet as I�m still awaiting T-Mobile UK�s official unlock code so that I can use the phone outside of the UK. This is why I�ll only elaborate on the data capabilities later; most importantly, how the HSDPA support really fares, compared to my Windows Mobile devices. And, of course, I�ll also comment on the call recording capabilities.
All in all, so far, the N95 has turned out to be a VERY positive surprise and, if it records my phone calls without problems, I�ll give my HTC Oxygen to my wife and promote the N95 to be my main phone.
BTW, All About Symbian has just published a quick review of the Nokia N95 8GB, the enhanced version of the N95, which will hit the shelves REALLY soon - certainly worth reading.
Finally, an important announcement
I�ll continue publishing a LOT of information on the N95, particularly software-wise (the above is almost exclusively hardware-related) � that is, Symbian-related stuff. That is, in my future roundups, I�ll also elaborate on the comparable / related Symbian s60 products as well, starting with my MIDlet Bible, which will be published, hopefully, tomorrow. Note that the charts (main chart; 3D games Compatibily Chart and JBenchmark Chart) of it already have excessive information on the MIDlet support of Symbian. This will help - both Windows Mobile and Symbian software developers in learning how the software titles on the other platform behave, what functionality has been implemented etc. Currently, my full software roundups and Bibles are, for Windows Mobile developers, probably the number one source of information on what they should implement / work further on (at least this is what I�ve been told by most Windows Mobile top developers and I, knowing the detail of the information contained in these articles, I don�t think they�re just flattering me ). Adding multiplatform coverage will further help developers on adding features they may have not been aware of because they may not have the necessary means / time to know what a completely different, alternative mobile platform offers. This applies to developers of both platforms, of course.
- originally Symbian (or, WM) users learning the new / other platform and finding software titles that offer the same (or similar) functionalities they got used to on their old (other) platform
- users that have devices from both platforms will find these tests useful. As has already pointed out, the N95 beats most (if not all) Windows Mobile devices in many respects � and, of course, vice versa (for example, the GPS locking speed of natively SiRFIII-based devices, the AVRCP compliance with my Plantronics 590A A2DP headphones or the, in general, better software availability on Windows Mobile); hence, I think in the future the N95 will be always in one of my pockets (along with some of my Pocket PC�s and MS Smartphones, of course). This will greatly help them in deciding what platform / device to use for a given task.
Recommended reviews
MobileBurn
My-Symbian
Gizmodo
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