Nokia N96 Prepaid Mobile Phone

Though by now most of you have already known about the latest development from Nokia which is the what-is-so-good-about-mobile computer Nokia N97, it is always good to take a second look at Nokia’s other previous mobile phones. Nokia has made a groundbreaking achievement in the mobile phone industry when it first introduced its N-series smart mobile phones. These series of cell phones are convergence mobile devices supporting digital multimedia services such as music playback, video capture, photography, mobile gaming and Internet services. Just for your information, all N-series prepaid mobile phones support at least one high-speed wireless technology, such as 3G, or wireless local area network.

The Nokia Nseries is aimed at users looking to pack as many features as possible into one device. The better-than-average cameras often found on Nseries devices are one such example, as are the video and music playback and photo viewing capabilities of these devices, which resemble those of standalone portable media devices. Later in the future we will take some time to review Nokia’s new touch prepaid mobile phone called Nokia 5800 XpressMusic which is packed with “Comes with Music”, the Nokia’s fabulous service which offers one year of unlimited access to the entire Nokia Music Store catalogue. Mind you though that this Nokia 5800 is not part of N-series mobile phones.

Today we are going to take a long walk as we will be talking about the previous Nokia prepaid mobile phone, Nokia N96. Still new though, and therefore I think it is still worth to ramble about the mobile phone features. For some, the mobile phone may be too expensive. However I believe the price of the Nokia N96 mobile phone sooner or later will drop significantly once the brand new Nokia N97 mobile phones have dominated the market.

Before we go to our discussion, I have some updates on the firmware of this fantastic Nokia N96 mobile phone. Here is some updates on the Nokia N96’s firmware, the latest update of firmware v12.043 can be downloaded using the prepaid mobile phone itself by typing in *#0000# on the standby screen and then press Options, Check for Updates. You can also download the latest firmware using the Nokia Software Updater. As usual, it is best to first back up all of your data before updating in the case that the process erase everything but as far as I am concern, the mobile phone is equipped with user data protection system which is activated all the time. It shouldn’t be a problem then but it is always a good habit to always play the games safely. It is not that difficult to first save everything you already have right? Check out some of the improvements of this new firmware update in one of this article’s last paragraphs.

When the N95 mobile phone was first launched it was a prime instance of how far and innovative mobile phones have become. So when the N96 mobile phone was first announced, you would of course expect the same quantum leap you would expect from an update of the N95 mobile phone. The N96 mobile phone though coming with some pretty new features is not as groundbreaking as I expected it to be though. However, like the Apple iPhone 3G and HTC Touch Pro, incremental changes is not always a bad thing, so in looking for why the Nokia N96 mobile phone makes purchasing sense, we firstly need to look at the need for cosmetic alterations.

Let us remember that the N95 mobile phone was a big tool even for its day, and as such, the first thing you will realize about the new Nokia N96 mobile phone is the fact that it is slimmer than its predecessor. While raw numbers do not necessarily reflect anything worth writing home about, it is certainly a far more comfortable experience as you carry the device in your pocket.

A smooth shiny surface now adorns the unit and despite its affinity for fingerprints, it has to be said that the Nokia N96 mobile phone does look expensive. Yes it is going to look really cool when you use the prepaid mobile phone to call India. A redesigned slider means that it feels far more solid to the touch, but what came along with all of this are redesigned buttons. Since the buttons are now flushed against its surrounding surface, for some, it will be difficult to be able to tell individual keys apart via touch. I personally had errors during text composition and navigation due to the Nokia N96 mobile phone’s flushed keys. There is also the addition of a nifty kick stand at the rear of the device close to 45 degrees upright.

A combination of a freshly revised operating system as well as a digital TV tuner pretty much rounds up the new key features of this brand new Nokia N96 mobile phone. The mobile phone is among Nokia’s first few to feature Symbian 60 Feature Pack 2, and to anyone who is new to this feature, Feature Pack 2 offers a wide berth of improvements, including a revised calendar viewing mode as well as a spiffy new standby screen. While there are many improvements even Symbian 60 veterans would appreciate, I felt that the Nokia N96 mobile phone’s hardware does not scale performance well with this new operating system.

I found recurring stability and speed issues with the Nokia N96 mobile phone, and tasks where equivalent N-series devices would not break a sweat over would take a second or two longer to execute on this new Nokia N96 mobile phone. While this is not in itself an end of the world scenario, there is certainly need for further optimizations in getting the device to be as zippy and compliant as the rest of its N-series siblings.

However considering that similar issues did plague the old Nokia N95 mobile phone when it was first launched, I am pretty sure that with subsequent updates in firmware (see updates on this below), the Nokia N96 mobile phone will be able to weather some of these early issues in due time.

The Nokia N96 mobile phone comes with DVB-H tuner and it is not exactly a feature we Malaysians will be really looking at since the only way for Malaysians to be able to enjoy watching digital TV locally is to obtain a 018 service.

Another key difference is the fact that the Nokia N96 mobile phone’s stereo speakers are now placed along the right side of the mobile phone in order to capitalize on the device’s landscape orientation, particularly when used in conjunction with the rear kickstand. This makes sense aesthetically, although volume intensity seems to be a notch lower than the Nokia N95 mobile phone’s, but it still works well when used in conjunction with an in-car GPS placeholder, as the speakers would be aimed towards the driver, making sensible for right-hand drive markets.

The Nokia N96 mobile phone expectedly carries on the tradition of being a great overall device, and performs admirably with regards to call quality. There is no discernable difference between Nokia N96 mobile phone and that of the N95 mobile phone in terms of their camera performances, and some might find the dual LED camera light and video light useful. The brevity of having 16 Gigabytes of internal storage is also a difficult feature to ignore on this prepaid mobile phone.

What was a concern with the original Nokia N95 mobile phone version 1 device when it made its debut is now again a concern with the Nokia N96 mobile phone; as the 950mAh battery makes its return. While we can certainly understand the complexity of having to juggle between mobile phone size and physical battery size, I found it perplexing that the Nokia N96 mobile phone would come with a smaller capacity power unit as compared to the Nokia N95 mobile phone 8 gigabytes. This is after all coming from a mobile phone which has a digital TV tuner built-in, and we would certainly expect battery capacity to conform to the additional features.

In the weeks of testing, the Nokia N96 mobile phone is certainly capable of sustaining more than a day of life under moderate usage, but once interaction becomes heavier, recharging will again become a daily affair. It should be noted that the device does bundle an in-car charger, which will greatly aid in sustaining longevity outdoors. Regardless, I still felt that Nokia could have at least bundled a higher capacity to go with the Nokia N96 mobile phone.

To some people the Nokia N96 mobile phone might look as a repackaged Nokia N95 mobile phone with DVB-H and nicer styling, but to most cynics, it ought to be noted that most of its improvements is not just skin deep. There are many improvements under Feature Pack 2 makes the Nokia N96 mobile phone worth revisiting as productivity and multimedia mobile phone. As the spiritual successor to the Nokia N95 mobile phone duo, the Nokia N96 mobile phone is arguably the best of both, but there is one hefty issue that will likely concern you in considering how worthy it is the Nokia N96 mobile phone; the enormity of its price tag.

With the Nokia N95 mobile phone 8 gigabytes still in the market and costing significantly less than the Nokia N96 mobile phone, you do have the option of getting that instead of the brand new Nokia N96 mobile phone should you want an all round media mobile phone of that class. Ultimately, the Nokia N96 mobile phone is itself a strong presentation of how far the N-series has evolved and there is no denying that the Nokia N96 mobile phone represents the holy grail of Nokia’s high-end offering.

The price for this brand new Nokia N96 mobile phone is around USD1000 nowadays and the pack includes the mobile phone, battery, stylus, headset, phone charger, USB cable, car charger, installation CD and also the manual. The mobile phone supports GSM850, 900, 1800, 1900, and also UMTS 2100/900. The phone size is 103x55x18mm and weighs around 125g. This mobile phone is using ARM9 264Mhz processor with 240x320 pixels 2.8 inch screen.

The Nokia N96 mobile phone also supports GPRS, WAP, and EDGE as well as Bluetooth. The camera is exceptionally great as it is 5 mega pixels with auto focus. With the use of additional memory card (microSD) up to 32 gigabytes, you just can’t resist the lust to get this mobile phone as yours.

Now let’s go back to the firmware updates. One of the updates is still image quality has been improved, with fixes for color haziness and motion blur that appeared under certain conditions. There are also fixation had been made to the whole system to avoid the Nokia N97 mobile phones from various factors of crashes. Thank god that now the new update has also avoid the mobile phone from being locked automatically while we watch videos.

Now I can fairly say this not-so-new Nokia N96 mobile phone has all the great features packed into one device. Compared to the previous other mobile phones, the features compiled on this phone are space-age and really are cool. Still, it is best to first check out other mobile phones before you decide to buy one. Be wise, look wise, and spend wisely.

Cheers.