Nokia N95 8GB

...a nasty experience with a Nokia phone two years ago, I was reluctant to return to the brand feeling more encouraged to stick with my Sony Ericsson phone which for a year had been 100% reliable and faithful (with the odd silly glitch) the trouble being in the year since I got my last phone Sony Ericsson a company that in recent years have been at the forefront of mobile technology have not moved on, while bizarrely the rest of the networks have. Nokia ...
...more, that phone was the Nokia N95 8GB version in black (black is the new silver you know?)

I was fully aware of all the funky things that the N95 8GB provided, and as possible as it is to get aroused by a mobile phone believe me I was there. I'm a bit of a gadget boy; actually sadly I'm a gadget man now having passed the middle stages of my 30's. As a result this vice requires that I have all the funky gadgets I can, having raised ... more

Christmas this year was kind of tarnished by the fact that I worked most of the Christmas period including the actual day, on the plus side Christmas came early with a renewal of my contract with the 3 mobile phone network, which of course means a brand spanking new phone. After a nasty experience with a Nokia phone two years ago, I was reluctant to return to the brand feeling more encouraged to stick with my Sony Ericsson phone which for a year had been 100% reliable and faithful (with the odd silly glitch) the trouble being in the year since I got my last phone Sony Ericsson a company that in recent years have been at the forefront of mobile technology have not moved on, while bizarrely the rest of the networks have. Nokia offered a phone that had all the things I needed plus more, that phone was the Nokia N95 8GB version in black (black is the new silver you know?)

I was fully aware of all the funky things that the N95 8GB provided, and as possible as it is to get aroused by a mobile phone believe me I was there. I'm a bit of a gadget boy; actually sadly I'm a gadget man now having passed the middle stages of my 30's. As a result this vice requires that I have all the funky gadgets I can, having raised all my kids I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford all these little vices, but nothing comes sweeter than the vice that includes something for nothing, the N95 8GB on contract comes absolutely free, on Pay As You Go or "Sim Free" it would cost over £300. I contacted 3 and arranged my upgrade and the following day it arrived. Sadly in between ordering and the arrival of my phone a couple of reviews on techno geek boy or girl websites started to ring alarm bells. I should add that the alarm bells a month on are not something that is ringing, and seems to be a compatibility with the phone and two large mobile provider s O2 and Vodafone to be specific, the fact that one should not be operating with the phone (obviously purchased sim free) and some subsequent knowledge makes me realise why, quite simply the phone is designed with the 3 network in mind as a result some of the facilities don't work on other networks. I am happy to report that on 3 I am having great fun with the phone; it's also currently the only network offering the phone for free.

Ok so forget my wobble let's get on with the phone review:

The Nokia N95 is a bit larger than the average phone on the market marginally shorter in height than a can of fizzy drink, and slightly narrower (and of course obviously thinner), you get to appreciate the size when you get to grips with exactly what the phone does. As I mentioned earlier the phone is only available in black (well at the time of writing at least). The phone carefully comes with something great, and that is a sunken screen; my last two mobiles have come with a screen that sits prominently at the front the result of this being that within 48 hours I already had scratches on the screen. A month in and I'm happy to report not a single scratch, that being said I'll probably fall over and smash it later.

The Nokia N95 is designed with entertainment in mind so the first thing to address is the video player. The phone comes equipped with flash player, windows media player, and real player. In reality the video option is the reason for the 8GB built in memory , which already comes installed with Spiderman 3 (not just a clip) the whole movie which takes just over half a gigabyte of the memory. If you're in the know how to download and convert movies into AVI format and put them on the phone you can add more movies to the phone (sadly I'm not, but I don't like to watch films on mobiles either). The picture quality of the Spiderman 3 movie is just as good as a DVD, and if like me you don't like to watch films on a mobile with the included cables you can connect your phone to your TV, and watch it there in DVD quality.

Of course you can also watch downloadable content too streamed via 3's network. For example news reports, weather forecasts, music video's etc. Also 3 users have access to a series of TV channels BBC One, ITV, FHM, BBC Three, Nickelodeon, Kiss, BBC News24, Paramount, GEEK TV, National Geographic, MTV, Kerrang, VidZone, & MTV Tracks, all of which you can watch on any 3 mobile, but in fairness they were all a bit grotty with glitches and crashes the N95 offers really smooth streaming and because the phone is powered by the X-Series option (more on this later) the streaming is near broadband quality.

When it comes to music you have the fairly standard MP3 player, which most phones have nowadays. But with 8GB of memory and the ability to add a further 2GB by means of micro SD card, you can easily get 1400 tracks on your mobile, for the first time a mobile phone has high spec memory that allows the phone to sit rival to any major MP3 Player.

You can listen to/or watch what is on the phone by two methods either with the stereo speakers that come built in (and are pretty loud) or via earphones which also come included. Controls are activated by pushing the phones slider (the front panel that covers the keyboard) the wrong way, where you find the options to play, stop, fast forward, or rewind; volume controls are on the right hand side of the phone. But if using the headphones you have a little remote control device attached which allows you to complete all these tasks.

Of course there is the obvious use for a phone, and that is to make calls. Call clarity is pretty good, but sounds a bit hollow compared to my old phone, but as the month has gone on it sounds more and more like normal. You can talk for about 2 hours continuously before you need to charge the battery (more on this later too).

Text Messaging works like pretty much every other mobile, the dictionary is a little better defined so you get more accurate definitions for lesser used words, of course like most mobiles you can update the dictionary with all new words the first word I have to admit to programming was the all offensive F word, a seemingly important word in my text messaging life. From text messaging option you have the choice to make a multi-media message for example you can attach music or a video. Or you can send an e-mail in the form of a text or multi-media message to an e-mail address rather than a phone.

Other familiar features include a diary (or calendar if you prefer), an alarm clock, and games the phone comes with two games one of which is a full game and that is the Nokia classic Snakes given a 3D twist, the other a 3D Racing game but this is a demo only and not a particularly good one in my view. However you can easily add more games, by downloading them through 2's games download portal which offers games from as little as 99p. And for those even more tight fisted you can even rent games.

Now let's move onto the less normal, and I'll start with a big one:

GPRS or if you prefer satellite navigation, for full service you need to pay a subscription which is a paltry fee. However if you don't want to pay out for this service there is a basic version that allows you to plan routes, or find where you are as well as things in your local area. The version you can access for free you simply put in your destination via postcode or the name of the street in the village, town or city you are in and it will present a map with all the roads etc. Push a button and eateries, shops, churches and places of interest all appear including distances and directions via your location. If you have 3's X-series this comes free, otherwise the information (only the specific info you require) costs about 5p to access. However if you just want to find out the name of a shop, cafe etc it won't cost you a penny. The Nokia GPRS system is as good as any TomTom or similar, insert it in a hands free kit and it will talk you through the directions as you drive obviously this is part of the aforementioned subscription service, although it does talk in free mode you just need to move along the map manually. It's not just the UK over 100 countries are covered so rather whether you're a traveller or just curious you can conjure up a map in seconds.

I keep throwing in the carrot of X-Series so I think before I explain the rest of the services I had better explain about the X-series service and what it costs.

X-Series is a service that allows you to use a variety of special abilities on your phone. Now you can purchase them individually which can be most costly, however if you pay for 3 X-Series service they are all inclusive as part of the package.

First of all for either the silver or gold X-Series service Silver £5 per month or Gold £10 a month you get high speed internet via your mobile the monthly allowance is 1GB per month however if you're not a heavy user you can intermittently go over your limit by up to a gigabyte providing it only happens once in a three month period.. Now this is not just to access the full internet via your mobile, but if you have a desktop or laptop PC you can use your mobile phone to connect to the internet at near broadband speeds. The cable you need to connect with also comes free with your phone, so as you can start to see literally everything is included.

Ebay - Unlimited and instant service regardless of how much you have used your internet service.

Yahoo - Access to Yahoo mail, their homepage, search engine, and messenger. Anything that falls within the boundaries of Yahoo is again free regardless of time you use it.

Windows Live - Again access to messenger, mail, and the homepage all inclusive with no limits.

Skype - Now mobile phones are being fitted with Skype, and the N95 was one of the first. So if you know a Skype user whether it be on a mainline phone or on a mobile regardless of how many inclusive minutes, or how much credit you have on your phone (Pay As You Go) you can ring another Skype user for absolutely free. 3 Skype phones are available on Pay As You Go for £50, although it would obviously be a very basic phone. This is ideal for couples or kids, the knowledge that they will never run out of credit, you can always get hold of them. Obviously both parties need to be in 3G enabled areas 3 now have 83% UK coverage.

Google Maps - Unlimited service to Google Maps, more advanced than GPRS but without the capability, you can produce a map in seconds and take away the roads or for the more demanding produce a satellite photograph of the area you are looking at, anywhere in the world.

Mobilcast - Download unlimited podcasts to your phone, whether it be radio shows, entertainment shows, plays, videos you name it you can get it for nothing. From audio commentaries to go with the most recent episode of Doctor Who, to Chris Moyles, or a how to guide.

Mobile Mail - A full service e-mail, none of this chopping and changing nonsense; open you mail and send replies. Download files (even in Adobe's PDF which is included on your phone) or even upload files. Even videos or photos recorded on your phone. Store your CV on your phone and send it to potential employers while out on the move.

TV - All the TV channels are provided free of charge, the list of channels is above, outside X-Series there is a charge for this service.

Lifeblog - Kind of like Myspace for adults, you can either make your blog private or open to all to see. But this is more than just rambling, this is your own bit of web space to record your life whether it be photos, video's, words, or audio. There is no technical knowledge required just upload from your phone and the rest is done for you.

All the above are available on the Silver or Gold service packages, however for the real techno freaks two services below might be right up your street but are on the gold service only.

Slingbox - Now I have not tried this, because I'm too tight to buy the Slingbox transmitter (About £99); however I can tell you about it. Slingbox allows you to watch on your mobile all the programmes your home TV can get. Or watch DVD's streamed from home, or from your Sky or cable box. And regardless of the type or brand, if you have a Digital TV receiver that can record, you can set your box to record shows while you are out.

Orb - Now this I do use, and this safely and securely pairs your PC and your phone. So if you are out and want to watch video's stored on your PC simply connect and stream. Video too small? If you have a TV near use the cables provided to show what you're streaming on your home TV. It does not have to be video, it could be music, pictures, files or letters. Ever been out and filled your phone memory with video or photo's? Then stream them back to your PC where they will be saved, allowing you to clear your phones memory and record more.

Ok now I can stop mentioning X-Series and get on with the other features of the phone. All these services are available to the handset, no subscription required although some might cost a few pence here or there like the one below (which again you can use if you have X-Series but it comes out of your Gigabyte)

Visual Radio - Listen to the radio while looking at your pictures, now this is free. But some have webcams, allowing you to watch webcam while listening to your favourite radio show.

Premierscore - Keep up to date with the scores of all the big matches when you cant physically watch them.

Quickoffice - Allows you to look at any Microsoft Office product on your phone. This also works with free Microsoft office imitation Open Office (which you can download free from the open office website).

Contacts - Store name, address, e-mail, phone numbers; as many different headings as you need.

Notepad - Make notes on the move

Voice Recorder - Allows you to record memo's for playback later.

Calculator - Self Explanatory

Winzip - Files too big and you can't transmit them anywhere? Then zip them down, compressing them and allowing you to make more use of your phone.

Currency Converter - That can download up to the minute conversions whether it be weights, measures, or currency.

Wi-fi - Bluetooth and Infrared are pretty much standard nowadays. But with the Nokia you can connect to a Wi-Fi network and use the internet to view internet or download (in case you don't want to pay for the priviledge).

Finally in this section a retailers dream, a Barcode reader. Yes with your phone you can scan up to 1000 barcodes and connect your PC to your phone (and appropriate software) and you can get your stock information on your PC without the need to purchase expensive equipment.

You may be thinking I have forgotten something, well if your thinking photographs and video's then you're wrong because I have saved the best for last. The Nokia N95 has a 5 megapixel camera this is better than some digital cameras. You can use the camera to take video or photographs, both have crystal clear clarity, no more hazy foggy images after all its a Carl Zeiss lens. And with the use of the onboard technology the camera automatically focuses and steadies allowing you to get the best you can, no more posting hard to see videos on Youtube. And again use your enclosed leads and you can play your photos or videos straight onto a TV, or connect to a DVD recorder to burn them straight to a disc.

The best thing about the Nokia N95 8GB is that all the functions are so straight forward, you don't need to be a technical whizz because as well as being incredibly straightforward there are guides on how to use each function, you'll be working this pone like an experienced pro in minutes.

This phone is advanced even by the standards of being a PDA (Mini Computer), the only disadvantage aesthetically is that it's difficult to use when writing. Nokia have allowed for this however and you can buy a special Bluetooth keyboard to turn your phone, into a fully functioning and state of the art PC.

There is just one flaw with this phone and that is the battery, it's really not that great when I get home at night my phone needs to be charged; there is none of this leaving the phone for a day it needs to be charged each day. My phone is a fully working phone, I use it for business and pleasure and as a result I had to buy another charger for work. Now don't get me wrong, if you use this just like a phone you're going to get days use from it; but want to use the other things and your talking regular charges, perhaps more regular than you have ever been used to. For now however this is the best phone I have ever owned, and it's hard to remember life before it.

I could be wrong but I think I have covered everything, I'm sorry for the long read; but a short review would never give this phone the justice it deserves. 

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