Techcraver.com | Craving tech, craving life!

The Nokia N95

Introduction

To the person in the elevator, I’d describe the Nokia N95 Multimedia computer as a Swiss army knife of personal entertainment and connectivity. From the college-student to the Internet content creator to the business professional, the Nokia N95 will keep you in touch with your peeps and will entertain you all along the way. The N95 I was able to review (and sadly have to send back) is the North American version. This is an update to the N95-1 that supported the 3G networks in Europe. The new N95 has support for the US 3G network (AT&T HSDPA),more RAM, and a larger battery. The price is steep at around $600. This phone is not subsidized by any carrier, which is a good thing! I’ll post about that on a later blog entry, but basically by not bowing to pressure from US carriers such as AT&T or T-Mobile, Nokia delivers a phone that doesn’t have any features locked out.

At First Glance

Out of the box, you can tell Nokia took a lot of time in designing the N95 to wow the customer. The phone has a dual-sliding action, one side revealing the numeric keypad and the other side featuring the media controls. The gorgeous 2.6″ QVGA display is good but not great, and the screen is easily visible in direct sunlight. The phone is great to handle and has a rubberized back side that makes this phone impossible to slip out of your hand. With so many features loaded into the N95, you’d expect it to be heavy and bulky. But not so, the phone is a little thick but overall feels great in your pocket or in your hand.

The Basics

First and foremost, this is a standard quad-band GSM cellular phone. And as a basic phone, the Nokia N95 is outstanding. Call quality is fabulous both to me and the people I talk to. I used this phone on T-Mobile USA and AT&T and on my end people sounded clear and crisp. When asked how I sounded, callers couldn’t tell I was on a mobile phone. There was a slight high pitched noise for me while on a call, but it didn’t detract from the conversation at all. The address book is logically put together and allows for easy classification of my contacts. This phone had awesome battery life, even when using the advanced features such as GPS, data, and the camera. I was able to go 2-3 days between charges with moderate to heavy use. Minimalist battery life was a major complaint of the original N95.

Features

It might be take less time to describe what the phone can’t do as opposed to what it can do. Lets start with hardware. The N95 features full fledged Bluetooth 2.0 including support for A2DP; meaning it supports full stereo headphones and Bluetooth headset for making calls.

Wi-Fi (802.11G) is built in, allowing for you to easily switch between cellular data and uber-fast wifi for all connectivity. Downloading VoIP clients such as Gizmo Project or fring will allow you to make cheap or free calls when in range of a wi-fi hotspot or on a 3G data connection. I wish the N95 was a little more transparent with it’s ability to use wi-fi or the cellular data connection. The iPhone excels at this, making the hop between the two types of connections.

GPS - this one is huge. The N95 comes with Nokia Maps installed which utilizes the on-board GPS. It downloads the maps as needed and is available for many geographic locations including North America, Europe, and more. It is so great in a pinch to be able to use the GPS to find your way, a nearby restaurant, or other type of business based on where the phone is located. I can’t say how many times I used the GPS to find my way when lost, even in areas where I knew the roads. At times it takes a while for the GPS to lock on to satellites, but once connected it does a great job of staying locked on and tracking my position.

The N95 also features a high quality 5-megapixel digital camera that also shoots VGA quality video at 30 frames per second. As a person who has long had a digital camera built into my mobile phone, I thought I wouldn’t use the camera feature on the N95 very much. However the picture quality is so good; I was constantly reaching for the N95 to take some great quality digital photos and videos. With the capability to add Micro-SD cards, your storage is almost limitless. My main complaint about the camera is that when you zoom in, the picture quality suffers greatly. I’m assuming this is because the zoom is merely a digital one, meaning it only enlarges the existing pixels. Also as expected, video capture when zoomed in to any degree is almost illegible. The N95 can take video at 30 frames per second which is fantastic.

The Nokia N95 shines as a media playback device and supports virtually all audio and video media types. The screen can be viewed either in landscape or portrait mode. In landscape mode, the 2.5 inch widescreen display shows tv and movie media in wide-aspect mode. The screen is a little small, but perfect for one person to view a quick tv show or video podcast. I downloaded some beta software from Nokia to be able to push media from my Mac onto the N95. It wasn’t as seamless as using an iPod with iTunes, but wasn’t too difficult at all. I had podcasts and music from iTunes on the N95 in a snap and was off to the races rocking with my tunes and media.

The N95 can also be used to output video and audio to a TV. An amusing part of my review was when I plugged headphone into the 3.5 mm jack, the N95 asked me if the new device being plugged in was 1) headphones, 2) TV-Out Cable, or 3) a Music Stand. Pretty cool. The speakers that are onboard the N95 sound awesome (for mobile phone speakers) and in a quiet room you can definitely use them to play your podcast or music.

Messaging

The Nokia N95, because it boasts the Symbian S60 operating system, is stellar at messaging. You can open Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents and the N95 does a great job of formatting these types of documents for the N95’s screen. Also the N95 supports IMAP4, POP2, and SMTP e-mail accounts. Microsoft Exchange users will be happy to know the N95 will support Microsoft Exchange Server synchronization, giving you access to your company’s email system.

Performance

As stated above, call quality was impressive on the Nokia N95 MultiMedia computer. However it should be noted that the device feels a bit sluggish at times. I’m not sure if it is because the N95 lacks in hardware or if Symbian is a sluggish application stack, but there is a noticable lag when you hit a key or especially when trying to launch the camera to take a photo. Also, when loading media there is an annoying lag that can’t be missed.

Conclusion

There are a few caveats (as there are with ANY electronic device), but overall the Nokia N95 is the best mobile phone on the market and the best phone I have ever used. I have tried many different types of phones including Treos, Motorola Windows Smartphones, BlackBerrys and more. I have to say the Nokia N95 packs so many features and ties them all together that it makes my head spin. There are so many uses for this phone that it pains me to have to send the review unit back.

No matter if you are a business user, Internet content creator, or high school student; the N95 is a great platform to stay connected with your friends, co-workers, and family. The openness of the Nokia/Symbian platform means you can do virtually anything with your phone that you want. There are many 3rd party applications for Symbian and the list grows every day.

Apple has drawn criticism because the iPhone is a great piece of hardware and with the right software it is capabale of so much. Imagine being able to use an application like Skype to make VoIP calls or being able to use an IM client on your iPhone. With the N95 you can do this already. Gizmo Project is built into Symbian and there are many IM clients available for free download (not to mention countless other tools). You can take great looking video with the N95 or shoot awesome photos and directly upload them to the web without having to hook up and sync with your PC. This upload can happen either by wi-fi or the cellular network.

I would whole-heartily suggest the N95 to my friends. The steep cost is made up for in features and openness.

What are your thoughts?

TechCraver Tags: fring | gizmo_project | n95 | nokia | review | symbian | voip

Techcraver N800 Review

Overview:

When I think of Nokia, I think cell phones. Which is why I was surprised when I heard about the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet. The N800 is a beautifully designed 3 1/2 inch mobile tablet that allows you to surf the web, chat via Instant Message, and do VoIP calls among many other tasks. The N800 has a lot of onboard hardware including wi-fi (802.11B/G), bluetooth, and a video camera. You can interface with the device using the included stylus, onboard keys, or through its amazing touch screen. The N800 is a follow-up device to the Nokia N770 Internet tablet, which received poor reviews. The N800 has better hardware, fixing a key complaint about the N770 - sluggishness.

Another bonus is the N800 is running a Linux based operating system, meaning external developers can write software for the N800 Tablet. This fact alone makes the N800 a very attractive package. Unlike the new Apple iPod Touch, the Nokia N800 is an ‘open’ device that outsiders can develop software and hardware for. This is very powerful. For example, the N800 came with an FM receiver, but Nokia didn’t ship the N800 with the software to utilize this facility. Someone took it upon themselves to write the software and now you can use the N800 as an FM receiver, adding to its utility.

At First Glance:

The Nokia N800 is a beautiful device. The screen, which is simply stunning at 800×640 dominates the front side of the screen and is surrounded on the sides and bottom by the speakers. On the upper left of the screen are the directional navigation/operation buttons. There is a swing-out stand that allows you to view the N800 on a table when watching media. On the sides of the device you have the pop-out webcam, stylus, headphone jack, power jack, and power/volume buttons. Nokia really took their time to design a functional and eye catching portable computer.

Capabilities:

So you have a mini portable computer, but what can you do with it? The short answer is many, many things, most of which are focused on staying connected. Even though this device isn’t a cell phone, you can make phone calls via VoIP. Out of the box, Nokia has a client called Nokia Internet Call Invitation. In addition to this software, you can install a custom version of Skype and the Gizmo Project has just released a client allowing access to their network. The Skype software integration is of great interest to me and should be to anyone who is a traveler. Think about it. Anywhere you can hop on a wi-fi network, you can have voice calls and instant messaging conversations to anyone on your skype contact list. This ability to add portability to Skype makes the N800 of great interest to me. More on the Skype client below.

Another thing that was really fun to do was to have the N800 be portable with Gizmo Project as well. By pairing Grandcentral and Gizmo Project, I can get phone calls directly to the N800 to my ‘normal’ grandcentral number, allowing me to get regular phone calls at no additional cost. Pretty cool!

The web browser available on the N800 is Opera. This browser is fully functional and allows to display webpages as they are meant to be seen, not scaled down as normal on cell phones or other mobile devices. The N800’s Opera 8 client allows you to zoom in and out on webpages and supports Javascript and plug-ins. It’s pretty cool to be able to watch youtube videos right out of the box with no add-ons! Sure any smartphone can surf the web - but the N800 has Flash built in and a full browser so surfing the web is beautiful on this device.

Nokia also included a fully functional RSS reader and e-mail client which supports POP3 and IMAP4. In addition to email, the N800 supports Instant Messaging via Google Talk, Jabber, Yahoo!, MSN, and Gizmo Project. It should be noted that Yahoo! and MSN access are a feature of the Gizmo Project N800 software.

Aside from Internet connectivity, the N800 offers many multi-media features. It can take 2 SD cards (the same ones that go into your digital camera or PDA) so you can import and play media. The built-in kick stand allows you to put the N800 on a tabletop and comfortably watch a movie, video podcast, or other video without having to hold it in your hand. Also you can play mp3s or virtually any music file. I have read that some people were unhappy with the N800’s video playback, but I found the video to be smooth and high-quality. The speakers are a little tinny and not loud enough, but this would be expected of tiny portable speakers on any electronic device.

Skype on the Nokia N800

One of the main reasons I wanted to evaluate the N800 was it’s special Skype client. Shortly after the N800s release earlier this year, Skype was fast to develop a customized client specially designed for the Nokia N800. Downloading and installing the application is quick and easy. I fired up Skype and was happy to have my skype contact list with me as I walked around my home office. I fired up a chat window and used the N800’s touch screen to type out IM’s. I found this to be a little clunky, but I immediately became comfortable typing and was doing so pretty quickly.

Next up was testing voice quality. There are two ways to make voice calls on the Skype/N800 package - using the onboard mic and speakers and with a special pair of headphones with an onboard mic on the headsets. I called a skype contact using the onboard mic and speakers. The caller said I sounded great, however the tinny speakers on the N800 didn’t relay his voice very well. The caller, to my surprise, said there was no feedback on his end. When I make calls on my MacBook with onboard mic and speakers, people always complain that they can hear their voice and quickly become annoyed with the feedback. Also, skype calls with the included headphones/headset sounded great both for the caller and myself. So, overall the N800 is a fabulous platform for running Skype on the go.

I have two main complaints of Skype on the N800. First, you can’t currently make voice calls using a Bluetooth headset. Knowing the N800 had onboard Bluetooth, I tried to sync it to my Motorola Bluetooth headset to no avail. Through conversations with Nokia and Skype, I found that the Bluetooth onboard is currently only used to pair with a mobile phone for access to mobile data networks. So unfortunately if you want to make a skype call on the N800, you’re bound to being physically hooked up with a standard pair of headphones.

Secondly, even though there is an onboard webcam, Skype currently does not take advantage of this capability for skype video calls. You can do webcam calls with a proprietary Nokia software package, but I’d like to see Skype embrace the webcam on the N800 so make awesome video calls wherever you can get a wi-fi signal.

Conclusion:

I have throughouly enjoyed the N800 in the time I’ve had it. It’s great to be able to get access to the web or IM networks without having to lug around my laptop. Should you buy the Nokia N800 Internet Tablet? Well that depends on what you need in a portable device. If you mainly want a media player and you think it’d be cool to be able to routinely surf the web, then I’d recommend you buy the iPod touch. Especially considering you can use iTunes to keep the iPod Touch and your media in sync between your computer and the portable device.

However if you consider yourself a technophile, the N800 is the device for you. If you are in support of open standards and expandability, the N800 is for you. As of the time of this writing, the iPod Touch does not have the ability to have 3rd party applications added to it. The N800 is built on linux and new apps are being continually being released for it.

The N800 is currently aroud $350 so I think it’s main target audience is geeks who constantly want to be in touch and who are in environments where they are constantly around a Wi-Fi device or have a smartphone that they can get online with.

What are your thoughts? Please leave a comment or call me and let me know!

-Jason

Random thought: I wish there was a synchronization utility for keeping this in sync with a PC, namely my MacBook.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

TechCraver Tags: cell phons | n800 | nokia | review | skype | voip

Overview:
Verizon Wireless recently updated their very popular Q mobile phone lineup with the eagerly awaited Motorola Q9m. The wireless service provider was the exclusive carrier of the Motorola Q9 when it debuted early last year. Now Motorola has updated the line with Q9s all across the GSM and CDMA markets. The “m” Verizon’s Q9m stands for music. Even though the Q was originally aimed at the business professional market, they are trying to pitch the Q9m at the consumer market, and the music piece centers on trying to get users to pay $1.99 forVCast Music, an exclusive to Verizon Wireless. One other advantage to the Q9m is that it is rocking the latest Windows Mobile 6.

The Q9m comes at a lower price, currently $199 after a $50 rebate and a 2-year service agreement.

At First Glance:

The Q9m at first glance is a very attractive phone as it’s aesthetics are improved over those the original Moto Q. It’s primarily black with red accents on the side. You can definitely tell Verizon is pushing their own branding and color scheme in this device. The keyboard is a big improvement as well (more on the keyboard below). The screen is big and bright, taking up about 50% of the face of this device and is easily visible even in bright daylight. One new feature with the Q9m is the screen has an adaptive technology that turns the screen brightness up and down based on how much light isexistent . Even though the Q9m has a native resolution of 240×320, I believe the resolution should be increased to allow more content to be displayed on the screen.

The Q9m, like the original Q, features a very slim design that is attractive and fits into a pocket very easily. I like the directional controls and soft keys, along with the jog dial on the side to allow for easy one-handed operation. Even though there is no stylus or other pointing device, Motorola made the Q9m pretty easy to work with.

The User Experience:

I was very anxious to try Windows Mobile 6 as my experience with Windows Mobile 5 was mixed. Windows Mobile 5 on my Treo 700W was slow and needed to be restarted multiple times per week as the phone OS would constantly lockup. I wasn’t sure if this bad experience was because of the hardware or Windows Mobile itself.

Windows Mobile 6 is a mostly enjoyable mobile computing experience. However, after using an iPhone, Motorola and the Windows Mobile Platform have a LONG way to go to match theiPhone’s user experience and ease of use.

In my trials with Windows Mobile 6 I found it to be very reliable. I never experienced missed calls (that I know of), text messages or had any of the other issues that Windows Mobile 5 presented. A few times I had to restart the Q9m because mobile Internet Explorer became unresponsive and would not loadwebpages.

My main complaint about the software on the device is Internet Explorer mobile edition. This is a bare-bones browser that is clunky to use. I have tried other mobileInternet browsers including Palm’s Blazer and Opera Mini edition. I tried to end my IE misery by installing Opera Mini, but for some reason I could not download the install package.

Syncing to my employer’s Exchange email system was a pretty easy experience, except for one caveat. I had a co-worker connect to his email and while this happened successfully, when I tried to change theusername and password to my own, I couldn’t find a way to change the username without having to do a Master Reset on the Q9m. I could change the password, but the username was grayed out and could not be changed under any circumstance. Very frustrating.

Motorola included Documents to Go to allow users to create and edit Office-compatible documents. I found using Documents to Go to edit word documents attached to emails to be easy and very useful.

Performance:

The Q9m feels very underpowered. There is a very noticeable lag when you hit buttons and you see an on-screen response in Windows Mobile 6. Applications load slowly and even making preference changes such as background images or themes seem like they take a long time to load. After doing some research online, I don’t feel the Q9m is the culprit, instead I think Windows Mobile 6 is a bit bloated. Hopefully a software update can give some much needed zip to this device.

My Motorola bluetooth headset synced flawlessly with the Q9m, allowing me to do hands free calling. I understand the Q9m has A2DP which allows for the use of stereoBluetooth headphones and headsets, but i wasn’t able to test this feature.

Text messaging is easy on the Q9m. I found the keyboard to be great to type on, much better than the Treo 700W and 600 I’ve tried in the past. The rubberized keyboard makes typing easy and fast.

I found call quality to be mixed. Overall I could easily hear the remote party and they could hear me just fine, but about 40% of the time I could hear an annoying buzzing hissing sound in the Q9m. People I called could never hear the sound and I never did hear it while making a call with theBluetooth headset.

Doing anything with data including downloading emails and surfing the web is a breeze on this device. Using Verizon’s fast EV-DO service, the bits fly quickly and without much lag. The connectivity piece of this phone is a major offering. I also downloaded and installed Google Maps, and using EV-DO this combination is a killer app.

Battery life is my main performance complaint. I had to charge the Q9m every day after moderate voice and data usage. This is common withsmartphones (especially 3G ones), but the complaint still needs to be registered.

Conclusion:

The new Motorola Q9m improved on it’s predecessor in many ways. However, I don’t like Verizon’s multi-media push. The Q was just fine as asmartphone that could browse the web and integrate the user into the Windows Mobile experience. $1.99 is way too much to charge anyone for a song that can only play on one mobile device.

Aside from my objections to Verizon’s multi-media services, I feel the Motorola Q9m is a great phone, especially at it’s $199 price. It’s a solid device that feels good to use and still gets looks when I’m in public. If you’re looking for a Windows Mobile 6 device and can handle a little operational lag, the Q9m is a solid choice.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

TechCraver Tags: cdma | gsm | motorola | product reviews | Q9m | review | tech news/notes | verizon | verizon_wireless