Nokia N96 - Revealed and Reviewed

The Succeeding Formula

A successor is defined as "a thing or person that immediately replaces something or someone" in the direct term. But there's much to debate about when one thinks of a successor. Will it be able to live up to its predecessor's name, reputation and performance, or more importantly, can it improve upon and bring further enhancements to a tried and tested formula? Truth is, everything hinges on how a device can uphold the position it held in the past year, and Nokia's latest device on the market, the Nokia N96, is bent on holding onto the success that the Nokia N95 enjoyed during the past year. Whether or not it manages to do so, will be explored in this full review of the latest Symbian S60 device straight from the Nokia production line, so here's another quick look at its specifications before we bring you on a guided tour of the N96's features and performance in this full review.

Subtle on the Outside

As we've mentioned earlier on, the N96 has been positioned as the evolution of what the N95 was, to the next stage. Screen real estate is definitely generous on the N96, measuring in at 2.8-inch with a QVGA screen that supports up to 16 million colors on a 240 x 320 pixel resolution. But on the aesthetic level, you'll find the N96 resembling more to the design aspect of the Nokia N81 and Nokia N78, i.e. the move to be subtle with its exterior. This is apparent (or possibly, not apparent due to the subtle approach) with the N96's navigation pad, which displays the Call and End buttons on the two extreme sides. The two standard shortcut keys, Menu and Clear buttons surrounds the five-way navigation pad and similar to the N78, the navigation pad gets the nifty "breath" feature that lights it up as though the device is breathing.

Flip the phone upwards, and you'll be greeted with two things on this seductively black device. First of all, you'll notice the addition of four additional buttons that sits on the diagonals of the five-way navigation pad. The N96 is, after all, a multimedia-centric device, hence it came as of no surprise to us when we saw the Forward, Back, Play/Pause and Stop button surrounding the five-way navigation pad in a clockwise direction. Putting aside the promise of better access to your music and videos, the second thing we noticed was its numeric keypad, which came as a disappointment to us due to its huge departure from the good tactile feedback as delivered by the N95. Whilst the N95's numeric keypad was raised and had ample spacing, not from each keys, but from the sliding screen, the N96 utilizes the absolute space underneath the screen. Herein lies the problem, as the top three keys will be obstructed slightly by the screen, thus creating the inaccessibility to your symbols and first six alphabets for messaging. Understandably, making the flat numeric keypads did do wonders to the aesthetic nature of the N96, but this was done at the extent of its usability.

Sliding the screen from top to down, and we see the dual sliding form factor in action. Greeting us this time was another set of flat and well-hidden multimedia shortcuts that include the Forward, Play/Pause, Back and Stop buttons from top to bottom. And as we skimmed through these four dedicated multimedia buttons, we noticed that the middle two buttons had a secondary marking, which got us wondering what it meant. After some fiddling, it became apparent to us that it doubles as the dedicated gaming buttons for the preloaded N-Gage platform, which we'll be discussing later on.

Moving on, we take a look at the various other hardware features on the N96. For audio connectivity, you'll be using the standard 3.5mm audio jack; this time round, it's located at the top of the device, with the Power and Lock button flanking it on the right and left respectively. With 16GB of internal storage available on the N96, there's also microSD expandability which is easily accessible on the left profile, whilst the volume buttons and stereo speakers are now located on the right. Of special note here, is the integrated kickstand that's seamlessly hidden with the 5-megapixel camera located at the rear of the device, thus giving logic and sense to the placement of the stereo speakers.

Thou Shalt be Empowered

Consumers were definitely awed and impressed with the myriad of features that were presented on the N95 when it was introduced more than a year ago, and this time round, the N96 will have all the things that made its predecessor a success, with a few added tricks up its sleeves. On the general aspect, the N96 comes with a full suite of connectivity options that's commonly found on upper tier devices, and this includes the following: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, HSDPA and finally GPS with A-GPS. It's apparent that these are common features as seen on the N95, but what gives the N96 the edge, is the launch of the various services under Nokia's banner, namely Nokia Music Store, Share on Ovi, Nokia Maps 2.0 and finally, N-Gage. And adding in as a brief mention, is the N96's DVB-H ready capability. Given for a fact that the DVB-H standard hasn't picked up in this region, this would probably be an under-utilized feature as of now, so we won't be expanding too much on this point, but do note that when the DVB-H standard is passed, the N96 would officially have its full feature set unleashed.

For one, the 16GB of internal storage would provide ample space to store any music tracks that you download from the Nokia Music Store, and with Wi-Fi and HSDPA connection thrown in the list of features, it makes music downloading swifter and easier on the N96. The file sharing site, Share on Ovi, would also benefit from the above mentioned internet connection options, and of course, the 5-megapixel camera with its dual LED flash (another topic we'll be exploring further soon) will be heavily utilized if one were to snap, upload and share your experiences immediately. And yes, you can access both Nokia Music Store and Share on Ovi on the N96, which have been preloaded onto the device.

As we have seen, the first half of 2008 on Nokia's roadmap was dedicated to the launch of its various services, and with most of them fully functional, it is definitely the right time to have the N96 feature most, if not all, of the services that are currently available. In our opinion, having a GPS chipset on a mobile device is still a bonus feature, and not a necessity. But that's not to say it's not wanted in a device, and judging by the number of devices supporting GPS with A-GPS, Nokia was right in keeping the GPS function intact (not that we expected them to remove this feature, anyway). Unlike the N95's positioning of its GPS antenna that requires one to keep the slider up, the N96's antenna won't require one to do so, allowing you to slide the display down without losing your satellite lock. And of course, the N96 is preloaded with the latest Nokia Maps 2.0, with up to 3 months of free navigation bundled in the package for new purchases.

N-Gage, the dedicated gaming platform from Nokia, plays an equally important role in the N96's features. The N96's positioning as a multimedia device includes music, video and gaming, and it's evident that by following the design focus of the N81, the N96 is also well suited as a gaming platform with its five-way navigation pad and the dedicated gaming buttons which are actually the middle two multimedia keys at the top. Multiplayer capability has a strong presence on the N-Gage platform, hence you'll find yourself utilizing the wireless connectivity options quite often. This brings into contention on the battery performance of this powerhouse device, as we'll discuss in the next page.

More Juice Required

Following through with all the jam packed features on this new generation device from Nokia, you would be definitely wondering on how the N96 manages to handle in the performance arena on a few aspects, which includes the audio quality, imaging reproduction on its 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss Tessar lens with dual LED flash, video playback frame rate, GPS satellite lock time and most important of all, battery performance with heavy usage. So here's a quick breakdown according to each category.

Audio quality, in truth, would be what you can expect from a multimedia device. It has the right amount of audio clarity on its highs and mids, but lows were slightly muffled on both the bundled earphones and its stereo speakers. Nonetheless, at the appropriate volume, music was definitely enjoyable, though we had hoped that there's more punch in the audio delivery in this aspect.

While the N96's camera function would be almost similar to its predecessor, the addition of a second LED flash would create better lighting conditions for night shots. Of course, if one were to wonder about the decision to use dual LED flash instead of Xenon flash, the answer would be very basic: battery performance, but hold your horses as we aren't done with the imaging quality analysis yet. In short, the colors reproduced on the N96's 5-megapixel camera is of average quality, without any bluish hue or warm colors to its delivered results. Of course, the N96 is still a camera phone at best, and resolution results were in the range of ten to eleven for both the horizontal and vertical readings. Choosing a fixed imaging subject, we took a few shots with the N96 and did manage to get some pretty pleasing results, probably good for on-the-fly imaging purposes, but you still won't get the kind of attention to details as seen on dedicated digital compact cameras.

Video playback on the N96 was for the most part smooth and uninterrupted, with no frame losses on a 28FPS video clip on the .MP4 format as tested on the N96. As a video recorder, the N96 manage to return video clips at frame rates of up to 30FPS, though in lower lighting environments, we didn't manage to get desirable results even with the aid of its dual LED flash. Moving onwards, we've mentioned earlier on that the N96 is no longer required to have its slider up for the GPS antenna to capture a decent satellite lock. On average, we managed to grab a satellite lock in under 30 seconds.

Now comes the possible deal breaker for many: the 950mAH battery. Like the very first version of the N95, it's successor suffers the same problem that plagued many over a year ago, that being the lack of a strong battery lifespan to fully utilize the myriad of features on the N96. We were surprised at Nokia's decision to use a less than 1000mAH battery for a power-hungry device such as the Nokia N96, We put the device to the test with a full load of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, adding in some routine cellular functions including voice calling and messaging, and the results: almost a day of usage with a full charge. Do note that with heavy usage of its music or even video playback, you would probably find the battery performance to see a sharp dip due to the power intensive requirements of the multimedia features. 

Aye or Nay?

At the end of the day, the biggest question that needs answering is this: is the Nokia N96 THE definitive successor and upgraded version to the successful Nokia N95 and its 8GB variant? While it's undeniable that the N96 does come with a thinner profile, the overall feel of the device in the hands won't be able to match up to the comfort level one gets with the N95. True enough, the N96 has managed to pull it off in the subtlety department, but it won't garner high points due to the compromising of a flat and stiff numeric and multimedia keypad in favor of a smooth and unobtrusive layout.

Features, however, are of a different issue. It can be said that the N96 is more of a complement to the various services (Nokia Music Store, N-Gage and Share on Ovi) that was launched in the first half of 2008, and with the connectivity options present on the N96, you won't find a lack of things to do on the move. While there isn't much to be in awe of in terms of its multimedia aspect, it does manage to deliver what one looks for in a convergent device that does it all. With a high storage capacity of up to 16GB internally and microSD expandability thrown in for good measure, you probably be looking for more things to toss into the N96 to listen and watch while you're commuting to work.

But the biggest grouse we had (and probably some of you might have) would still be the battery performance of a device that's supposed to be the epitome of multimedia convergence on the mobile phone. Still, this is easily rectified if one were to charge their N96 daily, but you'll probably have to cut back on the multimedia usage if you wish to stretch the N96's usage to the max. If your primary aim is a device that gets you connected easily, and comes with a huge range of online services, not to mention if you're an avid tech follower who chases after every new device that appears, the N96 should land as one of your to-get items for the year when it hits our shores at a recommended retail pricing of S$1258 during September.

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