N96 - Not all that (Nokia N96)

Member Name: meanca

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

Advantages: BBC iPlayer, GPS receiver, Great camera quality

Disadvantages: Poor reception, slow camera start up, difficult music player interface

I was offered this phone as a free replacement to the N95 8Gb that I kept having problems with and was told that the N96 was the N95's big brother offering the same features but with a more user friendly interface etc. This is my 3rd N Series phone, but I had 2x N85, 5x N95 8Gb and 2x N96, all thanks to various problems/defects with each model.

Let me tell you that the interface is identical to every N Series I have used, which I believe is due to the Symbian OS it uses.

The camera is great, sharp images and great colour balance, but it's slow to start up and slow to take pictures. The moment has pretty much gone by the time the camera is ready to take the picture.

The other issue is this. I use my phone a lot. I send around 100+ texts per day, play games most days and use the phone and music features. Sadly by early afternoon, my battery is dead so I have to keep it on charge at work all day long. Even by bedtime the battery has 1-2 bars!

The music interface is a nightmare. Getting songs on the phone and in playlists is unfathomable. I suppose when you're used to using the Nokia software it becomes easier, but it's not straight forward and takes a lot to figure it all out.

This phone has a uilt in BBC iPlayer feature which works great, but only if connected to a wifi connection and not GPRS or WAP etc. What good is this?

When using the loudspeaker, the other person on the call can never hear me, claiming the microphone is poor quality and quiet. I often lose signal too and compared to the N95 8Gb, the reception is terrible.

What I do like is the look of the phone. The battery life is dismal to say the least, but it's a sturdy N Series phone with all the good and bad points you would expect from the N Series and a Symbian OS. It's nothing special but then again it's nothing bad either.

Summary: Nothing to stand out from the other N Series phones.

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