Nokia new N96 launches – is it the iPhone’s biggest threat?

by Alex Zaharov-Reutt

Saturday, 27 September 2008

Page 1 of 5 ! Nokia’s long-awaited successor to the N95 series has arrived: the N96. Coming after the iPhone 3G, Google Android phone and the HTC Touch, the N96 aims to deliver the most complete mobile experience and compete fiercely for market and mind-share. Not just built to consume digital content and enable communication, the N96 is also being positioned as the ultimate handheld content creator for digital media and the web. On first inspection, does it deliver? Nokia’s high-end N-Series has a new flagship model, and it comes as no surprise to discover that it’s called the Nokia N96, a clear successor to the still-popular N95 and N95 8GB, both of which will continue being manufactured. Calling its new N96 the “icon of convergence”, its “flagship multimedia computer”, heralder of a “new dawn in convergence” and deliverer of an “unparalleled mobile experience”, Nokia has its guns firmly set on blowing away the competition. These naturally include the Apple iPhone 3G, the HTC Touch and its new and upcoming variants, Sony Ericsson’s 8 megapixel Cybershot phone, the Blackberry Bold, the US-only (for now) Google Android G1 “gPhone” and any other contenders from the other phone manufacturers. Nokia isn’t just relying on its feature set, mature multi-tasking operating system or easy to use button-based UI (user interface) either, but is tying in a range of services that deliver a more complete “experience” for media consumption and creation, as well as including access to some music, video and other services in-the-box for each new owner. Of course competitors are tying in services to their devices, too - Apple has iTunes and MobileMe, and Windows Media Devices will shortly have access to Windows Live Mesh technology, so while all of the mobile OS owners work along different paths to the same or similar goals, Nokia’s offering with the N96 is its strongest ever. When it comes to features, and their resulting benefits, the N96 delivers in spades, while still leaving gaps that will surely be filled in future versions, partly because of the higher cost and/or the simple difficulty of implementing and including them now, and partly because of the need to encourage users to upgrade to even more jam-packed models in the future The feature list is long, taking the N95 8GB package, giving it a smoother body and design, flat keys that work better than the raised ones from the N95, and a very welcome 16GB of built-in storage and a separate microSD socket for even more space. There’s also a cleverly built-in “kick stand” on the back of the phone so you never need to find something to lean your phone against, making for desktop usage and video viewing easier, and without needing a separate case with that capability. The 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss Optics with “glass lens” for photos and “DVD-quality” video is back, slightly surprisingly not updated with more megapixels, supplemented by a new dual-LED flash, and an accelerometer which can automatically rotate into “widescreen” and back depending on how you’re holding the N96, whether vertically or horizontally. So, what else did I learn about the N96 at the Australian launch? There were interesting stats, more hardware revelations, intriguing and cool digital media inclusions with every phone, and more. TV commercials are on page 5, but before that, please read on to page 2! << First page <   1 2 3 4 5 Next page > Last page - Post your comment >>

 

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