What a let down (previous phone was an N95) (Nokia N96)

Member Name: bikerchris

Product:	Nokia N96
Date:	16/05/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Video, Audio, GPS, Wifi

Disadvantages: Keyboard, navigation, migration, connectivity (cable)

BACKGROUND:

I admit, I was in 'hate mode' when I judged the N95 8GB (direct link at the bottom) on here, mainly because:

- contact groups, faces on contacts and text messages in folders could not be transferred (third party software will let you sort the messages out)

- Calls could not be 'hung up' by sliding the phone closed

- Can be slightly slow processing (prep'ing for a picture, checking messages, etc.)

However, after living with it for nearly a year and a half and once the teething problems were gone, it was a pretty good phone. Excellent picture/video quality (Sony eric are better though), Mapping software was great, personalisation was good too as well as the added features; such as wifi, gps, music player, etc.

VODAFONE RANT:

I received the phone last night, I had requested the phone was delivered to my work address because I would be there to sign for it. Despite this it was sent to my home address, luckily someone was in. But how rubbish is that?

ON TO THE N96

There have been more than enough reviews on here already, so really this is just my point of view - an N95 user that upgraded.

IMMEDIATE VIEWS:

Taking the phone out the box, the first let down was the change of cable connector. No longer can you go round any friends house and use their mini-USB cable, Nokia have decided that being universal was boring and a Nokia Specific cable is included in the pack.

NAVIGATION

Others that have commented on the flat keyboard being difficult to navigate on are correct. Because of the lack of definition between one button and the next, you could easily select the C button which deletes highlight entries - when you actually wanted to press the red hang up button to return to the main screen. The numerical keys suffer the same fate and don't feel very responsive - this could be because it's brand new.

ANNOYANCE RE TEXT MESSAGE TRANSFER

Now my previous issues with transferring text messages from my previous 6288 to the N95 are back again. Even though I am now trying to transfer messages from one N series phone to another, yet again you need third party software to do this. So to save yourself bother, I suggest you don't bother creating folders to file your text messages, even though the function has been provided. Also, pictures messages lose their date markers, so appear at the top of the inbox.

On the plus side, contact groups and pictures associated with contacts are successfully transferred, as are notes and calendar items (using Nokia PC Suite).

An odd design change is the keylock function. In the past Nokia's have used a software based keylock, i.e. navigate the settings menu and you have an option to lock phone after x seconds or in certain situations. This was not good enough for some reason, as so now it's all controlled with a switch at the top of the phone, the kind of switch you'd think was associated with the release of the rear panel to gain access to the battery/SIM.

ON THE PLUS SIDE

Video quality is amazing, audio is equally so, a 3.5mm jack is still included thankfully and really it's just an N95 that a small child has changed the design of. It's about the same bulk as the N95 and the screen size is the same, although I suspect the resolution has increased. Speaker location is now on the corners and an integrated stand has been added.

CONCLUSION

All in all I'm quite let down and have decided to leave Nokia after 8'ish years of use. They seem incredibly narrow minded and thoughtless in their innovations. Only a few moments ago I rang Vodafone to arrange the delivery of an HTC Magic in exchange of the N96 (free provided I extended my contract to 24 months, from 18). I've never been that bold with a tech product before, but I'm convinced straight away that it's time to leave the Nokia camp. I think part of the reason for the poor, desperate design is because of the new fad of touchscreen. Someone in the Nokia design dept has tried their best to compensate for the lack of use by making it swish in it's use.

I hope this review is helpful to someone!

LINK TO MY N95 8GB REVIEW: http://members.dooyoo.co.uk/mobile-phone/nokia-n95 -8gb/1066597/

Summary: Time to leave Nokia, I won't miss them!

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