Nokia’s Unlocked Campaign is enjoying some magical timing right now. While there’s no way to have predicted that Apple would become so greedy with regard to apps on the iPhone - sometimes you just score.
As I mentioned in my Unlock LA recap, Nokia has committed some substantial resources to the US market and finally delivered a very high end device to take specific advantage of the available 3G network. The N95-3 is an amazing release and represents everything that the N-Seres platform has to offer. While physically it look like the original, substantial enhancements have been made that deliver on the promise we initially heard.
In specs, the N95 in all it’s flavors (there are now three) is a very powerful device that delivers great voice and data capabilities, robust multimedia creation and consumption ability and looks and feels great in your hand as well. That said, my initial experiences while cool from a geek perspective, was also disappointing by some actual limitations as well. There are quite a few software related bugs that got in the way causing either input or low memory errors or both; an overtaxed and anemic battery tends to cap out after only a few short hours; and even some reports of poor build quality.
I don’t think I can emphasize enough that Nokia shorted the original N95 in RAM making it difficult to impossible to multitask efficiently — at least the way I want to use things. I could never snap an in the moment picture if anything was open and running…
Those days are over.
The N95-3 is exactly what should have been released initially making it truly the “multimedia computer” Nokia touted. With about 80MB of RAM available to the user along with the new 1200mAh BL-6F Battery AND the addition of US HSPDA, the N95-3 is a force to be reckoned with!
It was impossible to really appreciate the changes to the N95 in LA. Even though there was plenty of time to play, it’s not the same experience as when you are able to load your own applications and use things over the course of a day. As you can see in the screenshot above, I have plenty of things running simultaneously and almost 58MB of RAM free. For non-S60 users, this is a metric-assload and something you just don’t see. It also means that I don’t have to worry about deciding to snap a picture or shoot a video and seeing an out of memory error or worry that something will have been shut down in the background - both regular experiences on the previous edition.
Over the past two days I’ve been really using this device pretty actively - though the way I usually do as well. Jaiku has been loaded and active the entire day along with the browser and a number of other apps which I use on and off as needed. I’ve made liberal use of WiFI as well as cellular data and a few applications (Nokia Maps, Zonetag, Jaiku and Earthcomber) have tapped the location capabilities of the GPS (as well as through A-GPS) and my battery has easily made it from morning until dinnertime and beyond. Aside from the fact that it is impossible to run everything at once on the original model, the battery would certainly have been drained by lunchtime.
I can’t say I really have any real gripes here. The Multimedia Key was initially unresponsive but was fixed by powering down and removing the battery for a few minutes. I already knew (but forgot courtesy of the iPhone) that the S60 browser does not easily handle multiple windows - something that would be amazing now with all this memory. Shozu refuses to run reliably, but that’s not Nokia’s fault and Yahoo’s Zonetag’s S60v3 release seems to be filling that need nicely.
I do have an issue with ATT… get the 3G service to Northern Westchester, STAT!! I had a taste (all over NYC and in Southern Westchester) of 3G - actually 3.5G according to the N95 and wow!! EDGE, while adequate for email and mobile optimized browsing is nothing in comparison to the speed of the faster network. It’s equivalent to the upgrade from dial-up to broadband.
Even though much of the N95 is familiar, this latest release is like a new experience and I feel like I’ve just scratched the surface. Having so many capabilities in such a small package and essentially no limit on what you can do is seriously empowering. I will certainly have more to add soon…
Technorati Tags:
3G, Apple, AT&T, GPS, HSPDA, iPhone, mobile, N-Series, N95, Navigation, Nokia, Nokia Maps, S60, Shozu, 3.5G
24 responses so far ↓
1 jkOnTheRun: New Nokia N95-3: it's what the original should have been // Oct 5, 2007 at 8:00 am
2 davidgp.com — “Hace tiempo estaba indeciso, pero ahora ya no estoy tan seguro” // Oct 5, 2007 at 11:52 am
3 Mark Jambas // Oct 5, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Hey there,
Nice review. But I’m concerned about the issues you had with ShoZu. Are you able to elaborate a bit more on those? Also, which other 3rd party apps are you running aside from Jaiku and Gmail?
We’ll test with an identical setup in-house to see if we can replicate the problems.
Thanks!
Mark
mark.jambas@shozu.com
4 Viipottaja // Oct 5, 2007 at 7:35 pm
God.. me has to got one.. lol…
Mark, Ricky at Symbian-Guru has also been complaining about Shozu not working well on N95, although I think that was on the original (of course it should work on the original as well) so you want to get in touch with him as well re: probls with Shozu. Great app, works well on my N75.
5 Jonathan Greene // Oct 5, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Mark - I’m not really sure what the problem is with Shozu but since I’ve been on the N95 it refuses to work. I can sometimes load it up, but usually I get a blanked screen and a freeze. If it loads, I’ve been able to upload a file or two, but it’s not working in the background at all.
I had no problems with Shozu on the N73… I used it almost daily there without issue.
6 davidgp.net — Cosas que suceden en internet alrededor de davidgp // Oct 5, 2007 at 10:24 pm
7 Symbian-Guru.com: N95-3: Has the Handset (Marketing) Revolution Begun? // Oct 6, 2007 at 11:39 am
8 Nseries WOM World » Blog Archive » US N95-3 is a winner // Oct 7, 2007 at 8:14 am
[...] amounts of RAM, 1200mAh battery and compatible with US 3G, it’s a device to be reckoned with. If you’re looking at buying or upgrading, this is a great, and typically honest, review of the [...]
9 Nokia's RAM brler i n95.... - Page 2 - Mobildebat.dk | Forum om mobil, tele og it // Oct 7, 2007 at 9:24 am
10 HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource - Nokia's HUGE expensive (for us n95 owners) mistake! // Oct 7, 2007 at 9:53 am
11 N95 | www.hostmanydomain.com // Oct 7, 2007 at 11:55 am
12 hozay // Oct 7, 2007 at 9:23 pm
How can you tell if it’s an N95-3 or a previous version. I have to make sure that my phone seller isn’t trying to pass me off an older version????
13 Jonathan Greene // Oct 7, 2007 at 9:26 pm
The N95-3 is the US model.
It will NOT run on 2100UMTS, but instead 1900 which is what is used here. You will also find MUCH more RAM and the larger battery capacity.
14 Mark Jambas // Oct 8, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Hi Jonathan,
Thanks for getting back to me, I posted a reply to your new post over here:
http://www.atmasphere.net/wp/archives/2007/10/07/the-battle-to-post-your-content-online
15 Roland Tanglao's Weblog | Blogs, RSS, wikis, social software, flickr, mobile phones,... Roland's pontifications from Vancouver, Canada // Oct 9, 2007 at 5:38 am
16 Re: Nokia's HUGE expensive (for us n95 owners) mistake! - Nseries Devices and Smartphones // Oct 10, 2007 at 10:13 pm
17 MoTR // Oct 11, 2007 at 4:18 pm
18 HaloScan.com - Comments // Oct 16, 2007 at 10:08 am
19 Nokia N95 blog - Find all information on the Nokia N95! // Oct 23, 2007 at 4:19 pm
20 jWalkr Blog // Oct 26, 2007 at 10:03 pm
21 N95-3 Cradle - Dogpile Web Search // Feb 10, 2008 at 9:07 am
22 the mobi-pad team // Mar 20, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Hi!
First of all we would like to thank you for the great feedback we got from you for the WiiConnect project. Now, we have good news for everybody! We “pimped” our application by implementing a key emulation, which means you can control the whole phone now – with the Wiimote. This includes all the emulator games, the media player… simply everything! The name of this new project is “mobi-pad” which you can check out at http://mobi-pad.com. It is Symbian signed and available for S60 3rd as well as for UIQ3. We would be delighted if you would feature us again with our new project!
Kind Regards,
The mobi-pad team
PS: There is also a forum Nokia blog entry with a nice description at: http://blogs.forum.nokia.com/blog/andreas-jakls-forum-nokia-blog/s60/2008/03/18/mobile-game-controllers-problem-solved
23 coComment - Site // Apr 7, 2008 at 11:23 am
24 jkOnTheRun: Smartphones // May 1, 2008 at 4:13 am
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