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Nokia released a
tech-freak's dream of a
handset offering a
mouthwatering horde of
features in a fairly compact
size. The omnipresent N95
spawned a successor and now
the question is how much
better can it get. Nokia N95
8GB sure has good genes but
there still seems to be
enough room for improvement.
At first glance, Nokia has
heeded user complaints with
the original and addressed
them properly. However, we
are yet to see if the
enhancements are enough to
make the N95 8GB the
definitive upgrade from the
previous model or is it
about laurel-resting mostly.
Finding your way around
 Nokia N95 8GB, like the original N95, has a built-in GPS receiver. There is no official info regarding the chipset used, but rumor has it it's a SiRF Star II. Pity kind of, as the more capable SiRF Star III would have suited Nokia's top performer better. The SiRF Star II chipset is still able to cater to the usual user needs, providing information so precise that you won't notice the difference on most occasions. Unluckily, the problem with the slow initial satellite lock is still pending. The phone needs quite some time to find you initial position, especially if you start it when you are in a moving vehicle.
The built-in GPS receiver works with the Nokia Maps application, which is one of the software applications to offer the most detailed maps. Furthermore, it is free and relatively easy to use. Well, at least the basic information is free, because charges apply to the voice guidance and turn-by-turn navigation. You only get a three-day trial that goes with the new version of the Nokia Maps application, so you can see if the voice navigation is worth the extra dime. Regardless of whether you do or don't have voice navigation, Nokia Maps has support for Assisted GPS, which facilitates and speeds up the initial satellite lock.
The main downside of the GPS receiver however has nothing to do with its sensitivity. It lays in its incompatibility with 3rd party applications. In other words: if you want to make use of the built-in receiver you have to rely on Nokia maps. In case you want to go for another software solution you will have to purchase an external Bluetooth GPS receiver. This is not a very customer-friendly solution by Nokia at all. After all, the owners of Nokia N95 8GB paid good money for their phones and it would be nice if they can make full use of their capabilities instead of being limited to Nokia-developed software only.
So, leaving our frustration aside, we have to admit that the application itself is not that bad and has very decent looks. Furthermore, its route planning algorithm can be easily customized according to the user's preferences. Toll roads and motorways can be avoided and so can be tunnels and ferries. The route selection can be set to either fastest or shortest. The program can also be used for pedestrian navigation or you can switch the GPS receiver off to use as a substitute for your paper map.
Telephony of great quality
Nokia N95 8GB's signal reception is just what you would expect from a Nokia high-end phone - simply flawless. The loudspeakers are also good and because of their position they are almost impossible to muffle, no matter if you have the phone in your pocket or on a desk. The vibration of the phone is also strong enough to make sure you never miss an incoming call or message. The phone offers brilliant speaker quality and the sound during calls is very clear and without any interferences.
The blue circle next to the icon of a running application is a well known Symbian indication reminding users to quit unwanted applications that are still running in the background. Luckily, the days when there was only a single alarm slot and the voice recorder was limited to a miserly minute are now long gone.
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Take clearer photos and
videos through Carl
Zeiss optics in the 5
megapixel camera. Enjoy
your music on the move
with the digital music
player and stereo FM
radio.
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The active stand-by
display is naturally
also present with Nokia
N95 8GB. This is a nice
and convenient way to
bring shortcuts to all
your favorite
applications to your
home screen. You can
even assign shortcuts to
websites of your choice
for quicker access. The
two soft keys functions
can also vary. As the
standard keypad lock
pattern is a quick
successive pressing of
the left and right
selection keys, when the
left one is pressed it
will wait for about a
second before acting as
assigned to see if a
lock command is to
follow. Otherwise,
key-lock is
automatically on when
the slider is closed and
turns off when the phone
is slid open in any of
the directions.
The built-in memory
(that's on top of the
8GB gross) is 133MB,
which is a considerable
figure but you probably
will never use it, as
accessing applications
or any other files from
the Mass memory doesn't
seem to be any slower.
The multimedia menu is a
focal item in Nokia N95
8GB. It is launched by
pressing the dedicated
key and provides quick
access to the multimedia
features of the handset.
It is identical to the
one found on Nokia N81,
with icons sorted
thematically. They
appear as drop-down
menus when the
respective tab is
selected. If you find
the menu layout
unsuitable, you can
freely rearrange icons
until you're pleased
with the result.
As with any Symbian
phone, there is a
built-in voice
recognition system. It
is doing a great job,
being fully
speaker-independent and
recognizing a remarkably
high percentage of the
given commands.
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