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.

Nokia N97 Prepaid Mobile Phone - Review

The latest buzz in mobile phones industry would be the so-called Nokia N97 which is expected to be launched anytime from this post is created. Nokia company has recently unveiled this new mobile-computer phone I can’t help myself but I want to share my view on the mobile phone too with you guys. Before we go any further into our discussion, let’s read the news first before we go deeper into the mobile phone itself. This one is actually extracted from Business Standard news. If this is true and if the mobile phone ever reach the United States market, I guess other mobile phones like i-Phone from Apple and T-Mobile from Research in Motion (RIM) would have to face the greatest challenge ever from Nokia since the phone is said to have embedded outstanding features from both mobile phones. Read on.

Nokia, the world's largest cellular phone maker, today said it expects the internet to drive sales in the next round of global mobile revolution and launched a high-end smart phone N97 and a few Web-based services, including maps and messaging, under the umbrella brand Ovi.

"We will redefine the internet and bring it to the masses. As much as 75 per cent of the world's population has not used the e-mail. Many of these people will have their first e-mail experience on a mobile phone, not on a personal computer," Nokia President and CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said addressing the 14th Nokia World 2008 here.

"Mail on Ovi, together with Nokia messaging services, which offers consumers e-mail and instant messaging, brings mobile e-mail to everyone," he said.

Even with so much focus on internet, Nokia is not keen on any big-ticket acquisition to have a stronger presence.

Replying to a query if Nokia would make a bid for global internet company Yahoo!, Pekka said: "We will redefine the internet without making an attempt in that direction."

Kallasvuo while pointing out that no one can escape the current global financial crisis, however, declined to comment on the company's outlook.

Nokia N97, the latest N-series smart phone from the company, is priced at euro 550 (Rs 36,300). It will be available globally from April next year, he said.

When asked about the high price of N97 model, Pekka said Nokia's XpressMusic 5800 phone (Rs 20,000) was well received in India despite being a music-oriented phone.

Wow! Now how about we take a closer look at the N97 mobile phone images down here.

You know what I think is this is just one of Nokia’s smart marketing strategies where before it even launch the product, they leaks out few information to create the buzz first so the moment the product is available on the market, it will instantly become the bestseller. By the way this Nokia N97 high-end mobile phone has been officially announced at the annual Nokia World event in Barcelona, Spain. It is said to be available in Europe market by mid-2009.

Now the front part is slightly chubbier than iPhone probably because it houses the QWERTY keyboard. Since the day Nokia introduced its first touch-based model, they have been using their own operating system which is Symbian 9.5. As you all may have already known, all Nokia N-series mobile phones are packed with internal memory, processing power, multiple sensors and also connection speeds. This one is better since it has integrated A-GPS (assisted Global Positioning System) sensors as well as smart electronic compass. These are all useful utilities for those who has “second identity” in the internet world and also for those who love to share their social location. In short, friends can virtually be updated with real-time information of your where about.

Unlike its previous phone N96 which is a cutting-edge mobile phone, the Nokia N97 mobile phone is described as the world's most advanced mobile computer. This new mobile phone will not just trigger knee-jerk hysteria, but instead it should breed cool-headed excitement at the prospect of a new era of mobile experience. I can almost see the change in minds of our kids and even among us of what we want as a Christmas gift. Would it be iPhone or Nokia N97 mobile phone? It has been purported that the mobile phone or "mobile-computer" will be around 550 euros.

Let’s take a look into this Nokia N97 storage. It’s 48 Gigabytes my fellow friends! Now how massive is that. This includes 32 Gigabytes of on-board memory which can be expanded to 16 Gigabytes microSD memory card, mainly for music, videos, and other media. Just for your information, Sandisk had recently announced their 16 Gigabytes microSD memory card. From all these developments, I just cannot deny that one day mobile phone could be a trendy lifestyle. You can have almost everything you want on a mobile phone; name it from calling anyone, texting (SMS), listening to your favorite music and songs, watching video clips and movies, watching online television programs, online bookings, reading your favorite blogs, googling, taking high quality pictures, and so on.

The Nokia N97 mobile phone is also equipped with five megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. If I ever happen to own this model, I believe I will just sell my digital camera which is only 3.0 megapixel. So I can just carry my mobile phone everywhere and take any picture I want. Hey I can even make money selling high resolution pictures! Now the Nokia N97 is said to have resolution of 16:9 DVD quality video capture and from what I read, the mobile phone supports Share on Ovi services for immediate sharing over HSDPA and WLAN.

Now who would want to buy a mobile phone during recession? Why would Nokia launched N97 during this time where most manufacturers are battling for attention in an increasingly competitive environment? I guess the answer is Nokia had carefully planned this launching and thorough judgement has been made to ensure its sale. From what I see, smartphone vendors and wireless carriers around the world have been revamping everything from the mobile phones look and feel to their software and hardware in a heated race to attract end users. In other words, I think Nokia is absolutely ready to grab its own share from the whole mobile phone market with this latest product.

The new N97 from Nokia is said to be shipped in the first half of 2009 and since it is built on the previous Nokia 5800’s features, it is going to mark the latest in a steady stream of N series devices that Nokia has been introducing into the US and European markets this year. Look at the screen, it’s a 3.5-inch widescreen display which can be personalized with widgets and quick icon access to social networking services. Just like the Nokia 5800, this new N97 mobile phone supports Nokia’s Music Store and also Adobe Flash. Flash? This is something that iPhone continues to lack!

In my humble opinion, Nokia is so far the leading mobile phone manufacturer in the world. It keeps on producing innovative and creative product and so far no one could actually deny that fact. Having said that, I am not against any other mobile phone as myself is not using Nokia mobile phone. I'm using local product mobile phone as my preferences are more to what a phone should do; call and SMS. If you are looking for a prepaid mobile phone that is packed with various functions, then this Nokia N97 could be your best option available.

Talking about prepaid mobile phone, a lot of users nowadays prefer to use this plan a lot more are considering on switching the mobile plan. From what I heard, many had also switched to other port like Digi. Well this is a good progress! As a user of prepaid mobile phone myself, I love to see what's next as now we have more and more options and most of them are towards benefiting us from using it. Though last time I used to think to switch to post-paid plan, I kept myself analyzing the advantages and the cons to it. And I've come to a conclusion that prepaid mobile phone plan would be my choice until now. Perhaps until some phone carriers start to promote or introduce a standard contract-based plan that is better in service and have more value-added services.

Let's go back at what I wrote last time in my recent posts such as how to call india from your prepaid mobile phones. I have told you in the post how many people from India country have come and work here in Malaysia. What I'm going to say here might surprise you guys. Do you know that our community here that are using prepaid mobile phones are too small compared to what they have there at India? Yes I read somewhere that everyday thousands if not ten thousands people in India registered themselves to use prepaid mobile phones! This is perhaps another one good reason why you should switch to prepaid plan. That figure itself is and indicator that people prefer to use prepaid mobile phones.

Well maybe some would say that the prepaid mobile phone plan is only suitable for those with low income. I beg to differ though because I know a lot of rich people chose to use prepaid mobile phone plan as the plans are far more conceivable for them in terms of saving money. Like I told you before, using prepaid mobile phone plan means you are the king. You control everything. You have the choice not to top up your phone whenever you do not feel like it. You also have the choice to activate as many value-added services as you want. You will also have the chance to subscribe to anything that is offered by the particular phone service provider.

There is one thing that I don't fancy much about one of the prepaid mobile phone service providers available in Malaysia. I hate it each time I received promotion or any kind of gift sent through SMS. I just don't like it. Just like email spam, I hate seeing the message all over my SMS inbox. I tend to delete them each time I receive the SMS. Yes maybe some of them are good for us if we want to purchase or subscribe but most of the time are just promotion on caller ringtones. Why would I want to be reminded about where to go and purchase ABBA ringtones? And unfortunately there is no where in the message that tells us how we can opt not to receive that kind of promotion.

Ah just forget about that. Maybe the prepaid mobile phone provider had actually put that somewhere in any clause in their terms and conditions the day I subscribed to the plan. But I have to agree that prepaid mobile phone is really is a lucrative business. People subscribe to the prepaid mobile phone plan, people purchase ringtones and caller ringtones, people activated all kinds of value-added services like "Teman 20" or "Maxis Active10", people sharing their credit or airtime, and so on. If I were the provider, I'll do the same thing lol. What drives all this services to keep on being improvised is always money.

Let's talk about t-mobile prepaid mobile plan. Last time I talked about how to switch your t-mobile phone and retain your prepaid plan. In the future I will make a post about the latest development in T-Mobile G1 Android which has integrated Google nicely into it. It seems like this year looks set to be a vintage one for sophisticated hand-held devices and smartphones, with Nokia and Google/T-1 seeking to challenge Apple's iPhone and the fast-growing BlackBerry range. I have also read somewhere about the t mobile sidekick mobile phone. I'm still doing some research on it before I can actually post something useful for you guys.

I do have something that I want to confess here. In the future I will try to restrain myself from making any kind of Mymode prepaid promotion. I have far more important thing to do apart from selling prepaid cards and making money from it. I'm not saying that I'm not anymore selling it, it just that I have a new mission now in making money online and I believe I can actually make a lot of money from it. I will share my experience in the future.

I have something else that I want to share here. Recently I came across a magazine. I thought it's just another cheap-in-quality mobile phone magazine. But when i went through it, I have to say that it's a good magazine. It's called Mobile World. I will make a post about this magazine in the future due to the fact that it's a good resource for all of us. Though it's a Malaysian mobile phone magazine, still it is a good resource for anyone around the world. No, I didn't make any money from promoting this magazine, it's just that I feel it's good to share something that is worth reading it. Value for money, value for knowledge.

In short, counting down to 2009 would be an interesting thing to do for me as more and more new mobile phones are coming along the way. The competition is tighter than ever and I just can't imagine what else would come in the near future. If last time we used to think that iPhone is the pinnacle of mobile phone industry, now we know that there is a lot more coming. More for us actually. Now before I stop here, let's take a look at one of the first telephone created about 112 years ago and this one is from Sweden. Telephone? Yes they called it telephone...;-)