One of the most eagerly-anticipated phones of 2008 is finally here – but it isn't anything we haven't seen before.
The iPhone 3G was always going to be a tough act to follow, but considering the first iPhone was released well over a year ago, you would think that Nokia of all companies – being ‘only’ the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer – would’ve had enough time to come up with something pretty darn extraordinary as a competitor.
Sadly, the N96 isn’t it.
Available from selected retail outlets as of today, the N96 is Nokia’s follow up to the successful N95, and by the numbers, there’s a lot to be impressed with. A 16GB flash drive, microSD expansion, five-meg camera with Carl Zeiss optics, 3.6Mbps HSDPA, A-GPS, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR and 802.11b/g WLAN are some of its key highlights, and like the N95, it has a dual-slider design that reveals a numeric keypad at one end and media playback buttons at the other end.
Yet, there’s nothing exceptionally exciting or sexy about the N96. Nor does it offer anything that we haven’t seen before. Sure, Nokia has rejigged the hardware design, giving it a flatter, more streamlined face, a glossy finish on the front and back, and rounded corners, along with a cheapish-looking matte silver trim around the middle. But it’s only a fraction thinner and slightly taller than its predecessor, so it’s still quite a chunky handset.
Those hoping for a touchscreen or at the very least a higher display resolution will be disappointed – it’s the same 2.8-inch QVGA number that was on the N95. Likewise, it’s run by the same Series 60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 operating system found on other N and E series Nokia phones, so there’s no surprises when you dig through the icon-driven menu system.
We haven’t had a chance to test the N96’s battery life yet, but with phones like the BlackBerry Bold and Palm Treo Pro boasting capacious batteries of 1400mAh and above, the puny 950mAh battery on the N96 seems sadly lacking in comparison. The advertised run-times are just as underwhelming: 2.6 hours of talk time and 200 hours of standby time. In contrast, the BlackBerry Bold offers four hours of talk time and 252 hours standby.
Our first take on the N96 is that it’s simply a repackaged N95 8GB with a slightly tweaked design, larger flash drive, and microSD expansion, offered up for a wallet-whopping $1349 outright. When you compare the N96 to the current staunch competition like the iPhone 3G, BlackBerry Bold, Samsung Omnia and HTC Touch Pro, we think that Nokia really needs to be trying harder. Stay tuned for our full hands-on review.