The Nokia Phone Blog » n96

The Nokia N96 NAM Gets Unattractively Priced

ang — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:24:11 +0000

Preorder the Nokia N96 for $842.40.

If you’re looking for Nokia’s hottest smartphone right now, this ain’t it. That distinction goes to the N85, a device that looks and feels like a winner. But if you’re yearning for the plasticness that is the N96, you may be pleased to know that you can now preorder the North American version for $842.40 – that’s a savings of 5% off the retail price!

While NokiaUSA lists the preorder price for the N96 at $895, simply add it to your cart and you’ll see the new price. Whether this is a price mistake or some kind of preorder bonus recession discount is currently unknown.

The real question is if the $842.40/$895 is worth it for a phone of this caliber. Personally, I’m leaning on no – the first reason being that I just don’t see anything groundbreaking enough to justify the price tag. The second reason: it feels like plastic.

Nokia N96 @ NokiaUSA

A New Round of Nokia Firmware Updates: N82, N96

ang — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 04:21:26 +0000

Well, that was quick. The Nokia N96, fresh from being released mere (days? weeks?) ago, already has its own firmware update. While no one’s sure on what the firmware actually fixed, what’s more important is what the update actually broke: earpiece volume. Ouch.

Meanwhile, owners of the N82 candy bar get a nice, smooth ride to version 30, with updates that include better performance and battery life, Flash Lite 3, Maps 2.0, Share Online, Music player visualizations, and a lot of other sweet fixes.

As usual, get the latest firmware with the Nokia Software Updater PC application.

The Nokia N82 gets v30 too!
Nokia N96 already nabs a firmware update, problems afoot?

Probably Not a Deal: N96 at Best Buy For $799 in Oct

ang — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 04:16:49 +0000

Get the Nokia N96 at Best Buy for $799.99.

Best Buy has been going crazy today. First, they inadvertently announced three HTC phones (Touch Dual, Touch Pro, Touch Diamond) slated to be released before carrier Telus themselves even announced them. Then, what looks to be a BB employee managed to grab this shot of the Nokia N96 tucked away in the retail chain’s computer system – showing an October 26th release date. And if the wait doesn’t bother you, then maybe the price will: $799.99 big ones for what should’ve been Nokia’s latest and greatest. Personally, I’d say wait for the N85.

Best Buy Mobile to carry Nokia N96 next month? – Engadget Mobile

The Nokia N85, N79, N96 In Pictures (An Evening With S60)

ang — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 04:59:03 +0000

N85: Taking the title of Flagship Phone away from the N96...I hope.

As expected, the Evening With S60 event was a blast even though I didn’t take home one of the two N95-3′s that were given away. There was the accelerometer-controlled RC truck, booths set up with Reset Generation and Maps 2.0, waiters serving up the hors d’oeuvres, and of course, phones.

And I got a very up-close-and-personal look with three of Nokia’s newest – the N79, N85, and N96. Here’s what I thought after giving each a nice little run-through.

Nokia N79

It’s slick. Light, thin, and a definite winner in the candy bar department. The 5 megapixel camera has a classy looking sliding lens cover. The accelerometer works fairly well (but only when turned 90 degree CCW and back again), and depending on what theme you choose, the portrait->landscape screen transitions can range from the rather elegant (the fade in/outs are impressive) to the just plain nasty (a flash of pink every time the screen rotates). One neat feature: when you swap out the N79-specific Xpress-on covers, the phone will automatically change the theme to match. Useless, but sometimes it’s the little things that count. Caveats: I had an issue with the Send/End/Soft Keys. They’re way too tiny and a little annoying to press.

2 pictures taken with the N79:

Closer look at the N79 (thanks to a lack of pictures):

Nokia N85

Wow, wow, and wow. Definitely the crowd-pleaser of the night. The OLED is, in the words of acertain Nokia employee, “sexy hot hot,” or in my own words simply incredible. We watched a clip from the movie Monsters Inc, and it was akin to watching a movie in HD for the very first time. It was that impressive. Add in the tri-band WCDMA and the solid “feel” of the phone (and the dual slide mechanism), and it just makes for a really, really desirable smartphone. I will say, however, I’m still not sold on the dedicated music/gaming buttons. They seemed rather mushy, and combined with a directional key very reminiscent of the N81 (aka hard to press), it doesn’t seem like it makes for a pleasant gaming experience.

Sorry, the N85 video is causing Nokia’s Share on Ovi to break right now (it’s THAT awesome), so no video today.

Nokia N96

Nokia’s flagship monster phone lost a couple points this round. Truth be told, the N96 actually felt a little on the cheap side, and I came away a little disappointed. It’s not as thick, nor as heavy as originally thought, although the phone is a little large (length x width). The 2.8″ screen is fairly sizable but the contrast ratio is nowhere near as crazy as the N85′s. Not much else to say.

The N96 Gets Reviewed

ang — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 04:35:24 +0000

The Nokia N96 Gets Reviewed: Fo' Real.

A user over at All About Symbian posted the first unofficial review of the Nokia N96 MonsterPhone, and it’s looking pretty good: other than a stiff camera shutter key and a couple of minor S60 app glitches, there’s a lot to like. Of interest might be the better-than-expected battery life (“the N96 lasted a full day of me fiddling around with power hungry activities”), louder-than-expected speakers, good build quality, and some impressive looking shots from the 5 megapixel cam.

Nokia N96 Review @ All About Symbian

…And the Nokia N96 Starts Shipping

ang — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:53:33 +0000

The Nokia N96: Now Shipping with Batman?

Nokia’s managed to spice up an otherwise uneventful day with some interesting news: the Nokia N96 has started shipping. To where, I have absolutely no idea. However, I DO know that for a mere 550 euros ($796 USD at last count), you too can feel the power of Nokia’s latest and greatest* device.

In a nutshell, the N96 includes nearly every feature previously implemented in an Nseries phone: GPS, DVB-H, 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, dual LED flash, 2.8″ display, dual slide, stereo speakers, etc. But you also get a hell of a lot of memory (16 gb internal, microSD expandable up to a total of 24 gigs), an undefined “blockbuster title” movie (um, Batman?) and the oft-mentioned Kick Stand.

The tradeoff for this virtual boatload of stuff is, of course, sheer size, and the N96 measures a mean 103 x 55 x 18 mm. And weighs 125 grams / 4.41 ounces.

* just kidding.

Nokia N96 To Hit North America in Q4

ang — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:19:27 +0000

While the Nokia N96 is nothing new, its release in the USA and beyond certainly is. And it’s coming all right – sometime in the fourth quarter of 2008, and bringing with it support for North American 3G bands. That’s the good news.

And now the bad news: the N96 is going to cost a whopper of a lot of money. Like $895 bucks.

Is it worth it? Tough call. With yesterday’s announcement of the N85, the N96 is Nokia’s most powerful slider by only a slight margin, which includes a .2″ bigger screen, 16 gigabytes of internal memory (+external), US 3G, and the infamous kick stand.

It also has to compete against some other very high-powered smartphones – Samsung Omnia, SE Xperia X1, LG KC910 to name a few.

On a side note, it’s interesting to see how smartphone prices have increased dramatically over the past year as phone makers continue to churn out fully-featured models with touch-screens, kick stands, and other fun stuff.

Nokia N96 Gets FCC Update

ang — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:29:21 +0000

Nope, it’s not out yet, but the Nokia N96 MegaPhone has undergone a very pretty teardown at the FCC. Check the link for more of the gory details.

The N96 is still slated for a Q3 2008 release.

The FCC

First Hands-On Review of the Nokia N96 Phone Released!

ang — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 02:45:10 +0000

Talk about ridiculousness. Mobile-Review managed to get hold of a prototype Nokia N96 (due out in Q3 2008) a couple of months early.

What happens when you get a phone months ahead of release? A huge freakin’ review, that’s what.

Don’t want to read Mobile-Review’s super-duper N96 phone review? Here’s a short summary of their findings:

Big, wide, and heavy (sounds meaty) (“its pocket-stretching casing won’t fit just about any jacket or trousers”)
Attracts grease, dirt, fingerprints and other fun gunk on your fingers
Kick-stand is pretty sturdy and quite handy a la N810 (“at least, I pressed, pushed and abused the N96 in all possible ways when the stand was out and still couldn’t break it”)
Good quality mobile TV viewing
Navi-wheel is a failure – again
Decent battery life considering that it’s a 950 mAh, same as the original N95 (“In Moscow, the N96 stayed online for around 2 days when we were heavy on its features”)
No substantial improvement for sound quality with the 24-bit DSP

Keep in mind that this was a prototype model, and the build quality wasn’t exactly up to final product standards. The camera wasn’t working either, so it looks like that one’s still up in the air.

Pricing: The Nokia N96 phone will retail for 550 Euro (currently $868 USD). This is a serious phone for some serious cash.

Hands-on with Nokia N96 Giganto Review – Mobile-Review

More on the Nokia N96 Phone

ang — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 02:46:38 +0000

It’s been a good week since the official announcement of the Nokia N96, and I didn’t have much to say about it considering Nokia.de’s little boo-boo/information leak pretty much cleared up most of the questions. But I’ll throw out some thoughts on it anyway…

Nokia N96: A powerhouse of a phone.

So the first thing I found interesting was this press picture:

Those A + B dedicated gaming buttons have now been fully assimilated into Nokia’s media playback keypad and it’s nice to see that they’re no longer an afterthought. (as in, “oh yeah, and by the way, the dedicated music keys also double as game buttons” kind of thing) While the slide-out gaming keys solve the problem of having buttons way too close to the display (N81 style), it now presents a different problem, which is: it’s weird. It doesn’t really feel right because your hands are essentially on two different levels – not to mention that you’re also putting pressure over an area that has no support under it (see N96 directional keys).

Okay, now let’s talk battery life. Nokia’s German specs said that the N96 would have a 950 mAh battery, and the official data sheet confirms this. On one hand, it’s not so bad because that 950 mAh-er translates into *almost* 4 hours of battery life (220 min). But on the other hand, it’s 4 hours of battery life. That’s not a whole lot. Music playback is rated at 14 hours in offline mode, which honestly is cheaping out like crazy because no one’s seriously going to go offline and listen to some tunes.

Other than that, the N96 is looking to be the powerhouse of Nokia’s 2008 line. You get a large, 2.8″ screen, a whopping 16 gigabytes of internal memory (and support for expandable memory on top of that), a nice camera (Carl Zeiss, 5 megapixels, dual LED flash, the whole nine yards), A-GPS + location tagger, HSDPA (WCDMA 900/2100), and of course, the kick-stand, in a package that’s slightly thinner than the original N95.

Alas, the N96 won’t start shipping until the third quarter of 2008, a time that seems light-years away. And the price is sure to break some hearts/wallets: the Nokia N96 will retail for 550 euros = a little over 800 US dollars.

Nokia N96 Data Sheet