| Nokia N96 delivers the goods, Tube 5800 iPhone-clone awaits |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Tuesday, 07 October 2008 | |
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Page 3 of 4 The N96 also has the same battery as the N95, not the 30% longer battery life of the thicker N95 8GB battery. Featured Whitepaper
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At least, unlike the iPhone, the N96 (and all other Nokia phones) has a removable battery, with extra batteries available cheaply enough. On the other hand, you can buy external iPhone battery charges that connect via the iPod dock - I have one and they work a treat, although they're external as opposed to simply popping into the back. So, is the N96 worth upgrading to? Well, given how often Nokia has upgraded the N95’s firmware, it'll be a tough choice for some, especially with the N85 (not due until early 2009) being almost a better N95 upgrade in some ways - same size as the N95 (as opposed to the naturally larger in dimensions N96), an actual lens cover, USB charging and more, with USB charging something the N96 sadly can't do. N95 users can get also get a free upgrade right now just by loading the newest v30 firmware, something that even (finally) delivers the screen auto-rotate through the accelerometer, if desired, while also bringing forth the new Nokia Maps 2.0. The N96 has a fantastic search software, something sorely lacking on the iPhone, and its GPS seems to be the best yet, especially coupled with Nokia Maps 2.0 software that even delivers “Google Maps” style hybrid satellite imagery. But the search, the maps and all kinds of general tweaking is available in the N95 v30 firmware update, and certainly extends the lifespan of this already excellent phone. If you’ve got an older N70 series Nokia, other older Nokia or other brand of phone, and you always liked the look of the N95 or N95-8GB, then the N96 is certainly a worthy phone to upgrade to, and already the price is coming down – before Christmas it will undoubtedly be available for less than AUD $999 to purchase outright. But if you’re already an N95 (any version) user, the compulsion to upgrade isn’t as strong, especially as one of the cool N96 features of the DVB-H TV Tuner doesn’t work in Australia because there are no DVB-H TV broadcasts and won’t be for at least a couple of years. And the fact that the N95 is still a great, full featured phone. What about the 5800 XpressMedia iPhone-clone from Nokia? Please read on to page 4. |
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