Nokia N96 - anyone got one yet?
Discussion
I'm still a few weeks away from being able to upgrade my contract handset. I'll be keeping a close eye on any N96 problems as this is the natural upgrade from my N95..
Please let us all know if those of you with them are encountering any issues - can you also let us know what network you're on as well if you do run into problems as they all use their own tweaked software updates and it may be that one network's firmware isn't quite right..!
Please let us all know if those of you with them are encountering any issues - can you also let us know what network you're on as well if you do run into problems as they all use their own tweaked software updates and it may be that one network's firmware isn't quite right..!
Edited by Funk on Thursday 16th October 18:18
I've had mine since they came out - a few frozen screens and the odd crash - biggest issue though is that I'm only getting about 8 hrs from the battery!! - it's only a 950 MAh battery - and I only seem to be getting half of the usage as on my N95 8Gb -...soooo I've decided to send it back and stick with the N95 8Gb until the new Nokia N85 coems out (with a 1330 MAh battery and low energy usage screen etc)
I picked one up last week & purchased outright as I prefer the flexibility of swapping sims.
Overall I am very pleased as I cant find many things to find fault with & believe me, I try..
About the only gripe is with the software. Somehow the 200MB CD takes about an hour to load onto my PC.
You also have to load the music manager from the PC suite & not the task bar as the later seems to miss off the N96 tab in the settings. Once on the N96, breaks are inserted between tracks even if its a mix CD, I haven't found an option to disable this.
The headphone jack is at the top of the mobile with the keyboard sliding out at the opposite end. If your using headphones with a chunky lead at the end of the headphone jack, then this may prevent the slider from opening & so you cannot access the key pad. I only had this problem with proper headphones, using in-ear phones or phones with a smaller wire coming out of the jack plug is ok.
Ripped music is about the same quality as on the ipod. On the ipod I rip in Apple Lossless & on the N96 in AAC 160kbps and listen with Shure se530. Im partial to a bit of D&B and the bass is sweet with both the N96 & the ipods and nice & loud with the 530s. Headphone volume isnt so good with either Sony or Sennheiser phones although thats par for the course with ipods as well
Battery life isnt so good. If your listening to music for a couple of hours, it will kill the battery's & so ill be keeping a separate mp3 player for listening to music.
Downloading pics from the N96 to your PC will stop the music player, just connecting it to a PC will stop the music playing (not good) and if you use the cable, then it needs to be connected according to the exact procedure otherwise it wont connect to the PC but it will still stop the music playing. This for me is rubbish, nothing should stop the tunes in my opinion, thus the ipod will still get used.
Picture quality is ok but cant expect to much from a tiny fixed focus lens even if it is a Carl Zeiss, i grabbed this on sunday:
http://s408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/ands8/?ac...
its ok but i like my depth of field & as with most mobile cameras, thats a non starter
Wifi works a treat & video quality from the bbc iplayer is very good.
The Ngage games are quire basic but ok, I haven't really had a play with the GPS/maps yet but they seem quite good.
The in built web browser is quite good, very quick with wifi. 3G isnt so fast, I havent managed to get a 3.5G signal yet & so cannot comment on hsdpa speeds. I downloaded the Opera mini browser & that doesnt appear to be as fast as the in built web browser.
As with most if not all mobiles in this category, there a jack of all trades & master of none but in saying that, considering the size, it packs in a lot of features and with it being an S60, is probably one of the better solutions.
Overall I am very pleased as I cant find many things to find fault with & believe me, I try..
About the only gripe is with the software. Somehow the 200MB CD takes about an hour to load onto my PC.
You also have to load the music manager from the PC suite & not the task bar as the later seems to miss off the N96 tab in the settings. Once on the N96, breaks are inserted between tracks even if its a mix CD, I haven't found an option to disable this.
The headphone jack is at the top of the mobile with the keyboard sliding out at the opposite end. If your using headphones with a chunky lead at the end of the headphone jack, then this may prevent the slider from opening & so you cannot access the key pad. I only had this problem with proper headphones, using in-ear phones or phones with a smaller wire coming out of the jack plug is ok.
Ripped music is about the same quality as on the ipod. On the ipod I rip in Apple Lossless & on the N96 in AAC 160kbps and listen with Shure se530. Im partial to a bit of D&B and the bass is sweet with both the N96 & the ipods and nice & loud with the 530s. Headphone volume isnt so good with either Sony or Sennheiser phones although thats par for the course with ipods as well
Battery life isnt so good. If your listening to music for a couple of hours, it will kill the battery's & so ill be keeping a separate mp3 player for listening to music.
Downloading pics from the N96 to your PC will stop the music player, just connecting it to a PC will stop the music playing (not good) and if you use the cable, then it needs to be connected according to the exact procedure otherwise it wont connect to the PC but it will still stop the music playing. This for me is rubbish, nothing should stop the tunes in my opinion, thus the ipod will still get used.
Picture quality is ok but cant expect to much from a tiny fixed focus lens even if it is a Carl Zeiss, i grabbed this on sunday:
http://s408.photobucket.com/albums/pp164/ands8/?ac...
its ok but i like my depth of field & as with most mobile cameras, thats a non starter
Wifi works a treat & video quality from the bbc iplayer is very good.
The Ngage games are quire basic but ok, I haven't really had a play with the GPS/maps yet but they seem quite good.
The in built web browser is quite good, very quick with wifi. 3G isnt so fast, I havent managed to get a 3.5G signal yet & so cannot comment on hsdpa speeds. I downloaded the Opera mini browser & that doesnt appear to be as fast as the in built web browser.
As with most if not all mobiles in this category, there a jack of all trades & master of none but in saying that, considering the size, it packs in a lot of features and with it being an S60, is probably one of the better solutions.
I work for Nokia. Ive had a N96 for about three months now. excellent phone. Its got 16GB on board memory and a card slot for cards. Ive shoved an 8 GB unit in and it working fine.
Got hold of some compression SW and shrunk some DVDs down, ive got 4 full length feature films on it and the memory is still only 20% full.
The N86 is a different beast. The N96 is a bit geeky and the N86 a bit more street.
HTH.
Rav
Got hold of some compression SW and shrunk some DVDs down, ive got 4 full length feature films on it and the memory is still only 20% full.
The N86 is a different beast. The N96 is a bit geeky and the N86 a bit more street.
HTH.
Rav
Rav said:
I work for Nokia. Ive had a N96 for about three months now. excellent phone. Its got 16GB on board memory and a card slot for cards. Ive shoved an 8 GB unit in and it working fine.
Got hold of some compression SW and shrunk some DVDs down, ive got 4 full length feature films on it and the memory is still only 20% full.
The N86 is a different beast. The N96 is a bit geeky and the N86 a bit more street.
HTH.
Rav
Hi Rav,Got hold of some compression SW and shrunk some DVDs down, ive got 4 full length feature films on it and the memory is still only 20% full.
The N86 is a different beast. The N96 is a bit geeky and the N86 a bit more street.
HTH.
Rav
Can you congratulate Nokia for releasing a phone with a tv tuner that doesnt work in the UK - stroke of genius.
Likewise can you sort the gallery so it doesnt chug when you have a couple of thousand images. N95 8GIG latest firmware here btw.
Cheers!
No, you shouldn't congratulate Nokia for producing a phone with TV that works everywhere else except the short sighted good ol' UK that hasn't installed any DVB-H infrastructure.
Some trials have been installed, but there is no plan for a roll-out by any network.
The N96 has some nice improvements over the N95, including the more positive slide, which means that it's less likely to open in your pocket and start phoning people.
I have a 8Gb N95, and have handled/played with the N96 pre-launch. It's got a lot of nice features.
Someone said "with the iPhone 3G - who needs it..." or something like that...
Anyone who receives the odd joke or text here and there and likes to forward it to someone else. The iPhone cannot forward SMS's!!!!
Some trials have been installed, but there is no plan for a roll-out by any network.
The N96 has some nice improvements over the N95, including the more positive slide, which means that it's less likely to open in your pocket and start phoning people.
I have a 8Gb N95, and have handled/played with the N96 pre-launch. It's got a lot of nice features.
Someone said "with the iPhone 3G - who needs it..." or something like that...
Anyone who receives the odd joke or text here and there and likes to forward it to someone else. The iPhone cannot forward SMS's!!!!
Hmm. The battery life could be an issue. Given that stuff like the TV tuner doesn't work here, is there much point in getting the N96 over the N95 8Gb? Yes, I know the N96 has more memory, but what use is oodles of memory if the phone's conked out because it's chewed through the battery? Does the N96 feel like it's going to be robust? A friend of mine pissed on my chips about it, telling me it's horrible and plasticky..
Maybe I need to look a little further afield than Nokia.
BTW, my N95 broke last weekend - the volume 'up' button has come away from the solder on the PCB. I'm sure that I've heard Nokias come with a 2 year warranty - is that true?
Maybe I need to look a little further afield than Nokia.
BTW, my N95 broke last weekend - the volume 'up' button has come away from the solder on the PCB. I'm sure that I've heard Nokias come with a 2 year warranty - is that true?
dealmaker said:
I've had mine since they came out - a few frozen screens and the odd crash - biggest issue though is that I'm only getting about 8 hrs from the battery!! - it's only a 950 MAh battery - and I only seem to be getting half of the usage as on my N95 8Gb -...soooo I've decided to send it back and stick with the N95 8Gb until the new Nokia N85 coems out (with a 1330 MAh battery and low energy usage screen etc)
May not help but when I first got my LG Viewty last year I also bought a phone case with a magnetic catch. It was absolutely killing the battery (it would last about 8hrs). Dicthed the case and now it lasts 3 days.
Witchfinder said:
Beed said:
Thanks for the replies, I've just ordered one and got it free on a sub £30pm contract
Not bad, who's that with? Or did you get a loyalty discount?It was upgrade time. It seemed much harder to drive a bargain than last year. I spent 40 mins on the phone to a call centre discussing a "very special price sir"
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