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

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 26 September 2008 19:55

Your IT - Mobility

One interesting tid-bit I picked up at the launch is that the video recording is now being called “DVD quality”.

On the N95 video recording was termed as “DVD-like quality”, yet the recording resolution of the N96 remains the same at 640x480 (with true DVD resolution being 720x480 in NTSC and 720x576 in PAL formats). Even so, the language has subtly changed to “DVD-quality”.

Perhaps this is because of the larger screen, but perhaps also because the total “per session” video recording time has been increased from 59 minutes and 59 seconds to 1 hour and 30 minutes in “TV Quality” mode, a 30 minute boost.

Then there’s the presumably even better encoded “TV High Quality” mode which gives you 1 hour and 15 minutes, which is still 15 minutes per recording session longer than previous N-Series devices are capable of. 

And as with previous N-Series devices, if you have enough battery life (or plug in power) and storage space, you can record as many hours of video as you like, broken up into 1h 30m, 1h 15m or shorter sessions.

Once this limit is reached, recording stops but can be immediately started again, with several hours able to be recorded depending on battery life and remaining storage space, although with 16GB it will take a while to fill.

So, what if you’ve got an N95 and still want a bit of extra life from it before springing for a brand new N96?

Interestingly, Nokia says it will continue making N95’s, and while they didn’t say how long N95 production will continue for, Nokia’s regular firmware updates have transformed it into a much better phone than was available at launch.

The original 2100MHz 3.5G N95 has now had at least 6 new firmware revisions and just went up to v30.0.15 earlier this month, with anyone still stuck on v1x.x.xx or even v20 or v21 firmware versions advised to use the freely downloadable Nokia PC Suite software to back up their phones and then upgrade to the latest firmware.

To find out what firmware your N95 is using, type or rather dial *#0000# to find out, after which the firmware version will be displayed on screen.

Install the new firmware, and you’ll discover faster start-up times, much faster camera “shot to shot” speed, longer battery life and proper memory management for much better multitasking and more, making original N95 owners very happy.

The N96 naturally takes advantage of all these previous software enhancements in its shipping firmware, and adds some new ones of its own, as we’ve already discovered, although once I get a longer hands-on experience with the N96, I’m sure there will be more.

So, what does the N96 cost, what free content does it come with, and what does Nokia have to say about its launch? Please read on to page 4, with links to TV commercials and final initial thoughts on page 5.