A BusinessWeek columnist put the N95 through its paces for about 2 months and published his results. Here’s his findings.
Find out how the N95 fared after a BusinessWeek reporter put it to the test.
The Good
- “Outstanding” camera quality
- Excellent onboard camera software
- Ripping and converting CDs was a snap
- Good internet browser
The Bad
- GPS was a disappointment – took too long to lock onto a position
- Certain camera buttons (shutter, zoom) are too small
- Dedicated slide music buttons were “gimmicky”
Most of these are pretty self-explanatory. The camera is a 5 megapixel photo-taker with Carl Zeiss optics, so I’d expect very good photos just based on previous experiences with other Carl Zeiss phone-cams (Nokia N90, for example). Software and UI are standard Symbian 9.2 and usually fairly intuitive – not much else to say on that subject.
The browser has also been redone for Symbian Feature Pack 1 – while I still have yet to actually test out the new software, it’s received a good bit of critical acclaim. It’ll certainly beat out Nokia’s older-school Symbian web browser that has caused (me personally) countless amounts of frustration.
GPS? Considering that’s one of the main draws for the Nokia N95, I’d have to say this is a big let-down. Note that the reporter used the GPS in mostly very urban or rural areas, two places where GPS often has problems. (however, he does note that those two places are also where a GPS would be the most helpful)
The button size comment seems like nitpicking, but to each his/her own.
Finally, I’ve never used the Nokia MP3 player on my mobile phones often enough to warrant dedicated music buttons, especially ones that slide out like those present in the N95. However, those buttons aren’t a complete waste – maybe you could use them as gamepad action buttons?. All you’d have to do is flip the device around, rotate the screen and there you have it: another portable gaming device. N-gage 3.0, anyone?