OK, so we weren't actually planning to do a formal unboxing, but the packaging is very different from previous Nseries smartphones, plus there was a surprise in the N95's box. Read on...

Read on in the full article (http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/5067_Unboxing_the_production_Nokia_.php).

Glad to see they're including hefty 2gb memory cards now! More of this please Nokia, you know they're not that expensive to manufacture.

It's crazy when phone manufacturers advertise a phone's memory capacity ("store up to 1000 music tracks!") and then add in brackets "requires separate memory card purchase". It's like selling a PC without a HDD.

Incidentally Steve, I think the slogans are upside down because that bit of the box is upside down, from the photo it looks like it's meant to cover the phone. That or the packaging designer messed up... :-)

Yes, I think you're right - I think my box had been packed wrongly, with the box top cradling rather than cupping the main accessory box. Will amend main text.

Incidentally, have you noticed how the packaging emphasises using the N95 horizontally? The manual covers all have it being used horizontally, and the phone itself is packaged so you see it horizontally when you first open the box. (And of course the multimedia controls are designed to work when you hold the phone sideways.)

Also, I think FP2 or FP1 allow you to switch to horizontal mode, so you could use all future S60 models horizontally?

It's a small detail, but it might be one of those important ones that changes the way people think of the device. If it has a wide screen they might see it more like a computer than if it has a vertical one.

Apart from the obvious advantages horizontal displays have in video and web browsing, they're also excellent for games, and hopefully Nokia's next gen gaming platform will try to use horizontal modes as extensively as possible.

I loathe you intensely right now!!! :mad:

Brilliant. I received Nokia's press release this morning advising that shipment has started. Will be waiting for the handset at my local Nokia shop.

It is a shame that the handset still has the red tint on the images as you mentioned. Looking foward to your review in the coming week.

Just to note that the 2GB card is not necessarily standard. These things vary by market and operator. The size of the memory card is one of the things operators can choose and I imagine some will try and save money...

"Just to note that the 2GB card is not necessarily standard."

Darn.

Hi. Are tere any piece of plastic on the screen, to protect it when you unbox it? I cant really see it on the pictures...

as long as this red tint wont be fixed by a firmware update, i wont buy this N95, i'm not ready to sell my N80IE to get a "bad coloured" pictures...comme on Nokia, it's a 5Mpix camera! power without control is nothing right?

"Hi. Are tere any piece of plastic on the screen, to protect it when you unbox it? I cant really see it on the pictures..."

All Nokia phones come with a protective plastic film on the screen to protect it during shipping. Come to think of it, all phones from all manufacturers come with a plastic screen protector don't they?

Nice that inside is 2Gb memroy card, but to bad is that this phone supports maximum 2 gb. So you can not purchase bigger...

"Hi. Are tere any piece of plastic on the screen, to protect it when you unbox it? I cant really see it on the pictures..."

All Nokia phones come with a protective plastic film on the screen to protect it during shipping. Come to think of it, all phones from all manufacturers come with a plastic screen protector don't they?

Ok, thanks. i just can't see it on the pictures. Did you take it of before taking the pictures? :? Your right that all phones comes with the plastic protective film, but some manufacturers has printet a picture on it. Which you cant use as a screen protecter then...

The box is enormous...Why:con? Well, the wait is over for some.

Ok, thanks. i just can't see it on the pictures. Did you take it of before taking the pictures? :? Your right that all phones comes with the plastic protective film, but some manufacturers has printet a picture on it. Which you cant use as a screen protecter then...Some of the N-Series (N73 for instance) devices do have a BIG NSERIES printed on the protective plastic, so it's indeed useless.

The bad news is that camera images still have that rose-tinted glow that has been much remarked upon. Let's hope that Nokia fixes this in a firmware update very, very soon!

I'm still waiting for the blue tint on the N73 camera to be sorted...

Tom

Story has been edited to indicate that this is limited edition packaging. The standard Nseries packaging will be used as seen in the earlier N95 photos. Sorry for any confusion caused.

TBH, exept for some reddish moiree-like noise between the smallest branches of the tree i can't say that i find the mars effect noticable. concerning the other picture: the white balance on the window framing seems ok, i can't make out any red!:)

I don't see a red tint in the sample photos. Is it just a problem under certain circumstances, like low light?

I can't understand why they have removed the anti-alaising on the text in the menu screens, it makes it look cheap and nasty. Yet the text within apps looks fine.

Compare screenshots of the N90 and the N95, the menus actually look better on the N90 and that is a lower res phone.

Does the N95 have the full quickoffice editors built in?

I can't understand why they have removed the anti-alaising on the text in the menu screens, it makes it look cheap and nasty. Yet the text within apps looks fine.

Compare screenshots of the N90 and the N95, the menus actually look better on the N90 and that is a lower res phone.

not true, n90 has a 352x416 pixel screen and the screensize is smaller ( 2 inch if i am correct), N95 has a 240x320 screen on 2.6 inch. So the pixel density on a n90 is much higher making it look better.

Regardless, a large amount of UI text on the S60 devices with QVGA screens is not anti-aliased making it look extremely ugly and inconsistent.

Compared to the devices with 352x416 screens where everything is anti aliased coupled with screens being smaller and having a much higher pixel density, this looks dated and ill fitting on a high end product like the N95.

This, along with the N95's mundane appearance and disappointing camera quality, will make sure I skip it and wait for S60 V3 FP2 devices with VGA screens... although I am a self confessed sucker for eye candy.

Will buyers be aware that the N95 music-player will only play 4 out of every 5 tracks selected, every fifth track being silent unless you purchase the key to fully enable the music-player, at around a fiver a month?

aaah... No... I may have got that wrong... It COULD be the much-vaunted built-in GPS facility that's crippled unless you subscribe... Yes! That's it... One of the N95's major selling-points, the GPS system, is the utility that remains silent until you pay the subscription... It will THEN give you turn-by-turn voice instructions.

Using silent GPS to navigate whilst driving unaccompanied, is positively dangerous, as without audible directions, the driver is forced to constantly look at the map-screen... I wonder who'll be the first GPS-navigating non-subscriber to depart this earth, leaving a blood-spattered N95 to their nearest and dearest.

Nokia, by leaving one of the main selling-points of your flagship device only Partially-Functional, you plummet in my estimation... Shame on you for squeezing extra cash out of your customers in order for them to fully-enable all the features of their handset!

Uh.... don't you mean... GPS, not GPRS?

I don't see it as such a safety concern. If you can't glance at your navigation software every now and then without becoming entirely consumed, maybe you should just concentrate on keeping two hands on the wheel while you drive around out there. Please.

Scary.

Hmm, this could be the one to lure me away from WM5. That video review was exceptional; although i hate the way the phone looks (it seems like they've released the N80's predeccessor after it in terms of the styling of the N95), those specifications really are pretty incredible.

If i can tack on as many widgets and apps as i can with my treo to this bad boy, i reckon it could well be time to head on back into the Nokia corral.

Will buyers be aware that the N95 music-player will only play 4 out of every 5 tracks selected, every fifth track being silent unless you purchase the key to fully enable the music-player, at around a fiver a month?

Eh? What ARE you talking about? The music player on the N95 is fabulous. Doesn't miss any tracks.

And your rant about GPRS rather than GPS rather confirms that you don't really know what you're talking about.

Although for the record I agree that Nokia should have enabled the full voice navigation on the N95 by default. If you've just paid £500 for a device you shouldn't really have to pay extra to get something you probably thought you were getting built-in.

Having said that, I've just forked out for a navigation license for the built-in Maps and wil do lots of tests over the next couple of weeks.

Steve

Steve

Uh.... don't you mean... GPS, not GPRS?
I sure did... and it's not the first time that I've made that error! ... Corrected now, thanks. :)

I don't see it as such a safety concern. If you can't glance at your navigation software every now and then without becoming entirely consumed, maybe you should just concentrate on keeping two hands on the wheel while you drive around out there. Please.

Scary.
Unlike a quick glance in your mirrors or at the speedo, checking navigation on a tiny, detailed screen will on many occasions require considerably more than a brief look in order to establish your position and forewarn yourself of any signed deviation from your current route.

If you see no possible danger in this prolonged diversion of your attention whilst driving, then perhaps you're the one who should be concentrating solely on keeping both hands on the wheel at all times... Assuming you drive an automatic, of course! ;)

Eh? What ARE you talking about? The music player on the N95 is fabulous. Doesn't miss any tracks.
Don't skim-read... My first paragraph is what is known as an attention-getter... and it worked! ;)

And your rant about GPRS rather than GPS rather confirms that you don't really know what you're talking about.
Nope, that's the way it may appear to a techno-head, granted... but to the average reader, hopefully it appears as what it is, an honest error in naming the satellite navigation system...

Although for the record I agree that Nokia should have enabled the full voice navigation on the N95 by default. If you've just paid £500 for a device you shouldn't really have to pay extra to get something you probably thought you were getting built-in. >snip<
EXACTLY!

Having said that, I've just forked out for a navigation license for the built-in Maps and wil do lots of tests over the next couple of weeks.
Had I spent as much on an N95 as yourself, I'd have little hesitation in subscribing to make my device fully-functional too! ;)

Can you give us what's the difference with Proto and Prod N95. Someone here is selling here and I'm not sure if it is Proto or Prod.

I really like Nokia's MapLoader program. I've never seen any other GPS that has worldwide maps for free download, out of the box, provided by the manufacturer. I know many people that would buy the N95 just for this.

Now if Nokia would support Unicode fonts my life would be complete.

Can u plss tell my in how many colors is it available in Europe??

Now if Nokia would support Unicode fonts my life would be complete.All Symbian OS based products since Symbian v6 have been fully Unicode devices. That means every single font file on every single S60 device is a Unicode font.

However, no single device has any Unicode fonts that include every Unicode glyph (character/symbol) for every possible 16-bit code point. For example, devices not destined/manufactured for a Chinese speaking region do not include fonts with Chinese characters. Only devices manufactured for a Chinese speaking region will have those.

So, could you clarify what you mean with your statement above, exactly?

All Symbian OS based products since Symbian v6 have been fully Unicode devices. That means every single font file on every single S60 device is a Unicode font.

However, no single device has any Unicode fonts that include every Unicode glyph (character/symbol) for every possible 16-bit code point. For example, devices not destined/manufactured for a Chinese speaking region do not include fonts with Chinese characters. Only devices manufactured for a Chinese speaking region will have those.

So, could you clarify what you mean with your statement above, exactly?

Sorry my statement is not more clear. I realize that S60 is fully Unicode in itself. However, like you said, only devices from a particular region has fonts for that region included, and unfortunately, there's no easy way to add fonts from other regions.

Does Nokia assume that only people living in China will need Chinese? What about foreigners living in China and don't want Chinese? What if I want to send/receive messages in another language? I realize that phone prices vary significantly and carriers don't want people to brings phones from abroad (almost like region locking) but this really sucks for communication devices that are supposed to work world-wide.

The problem is that these devices have a limited amount of memory where to store things, and having every device on every region be burdened by - relatively speaking - huge font files with all possible languages supported, it would mean that something else would have to be left out, or more memory would be needed.

Note also that there might be separate licensing fees for font files, and it'd also add to the cost if the fonts would have to be licensed for every device.

And, of course, people living outside their home country can in most cases still buy a phone from their home country and use it elsewhere (have a friend or relative buy it, or buy it from a web shop).

Anyhow, new font files can be installed, and even set as default system fonts (removing them is harder). I agree that it should be much easier to do, either way, and ideally phone manufacturers should allow the user to install support for any language on any device regardless of where it was purchased.

That's why I like the MapLoader so much, since it allows loading maps from other parts of the world for free.

Installing fonts for other languages on S60 V3 is not a trivial thing. For me, I ended up creating my own font by merging two fonts. I'm still missing two more languages that I need and I'm looking for someone from Taiwan to send me some fonts.

Steve and Rafe:

Will the n95 eventually support microSD cards larger than 2MB? It should just be a matter of adding in fat32 support through a firmware update, right, or am I totally off base here?

Now i have a N80. I bought it without take a look to the posibilities of N95... but now... i want a N95 !!!!!!!!! Think is a great tool for everyday things to do

Steve and Rafe:

Will the n95 eventually support microSD cards larger than 2MB? It should just be a matter of adding in fat32 support through a firmware update, right, or am I totally off base here?
I just tried formating the micro-SD in my cardreader to FAT32 and it's works just fine.
U're welcome to read more details on the N95 in my blog http://madinksa.wordpress.com.

Cheers

the only thing dissapointing about the n95, is that it doesn't have most recent/used contacts when you write sms. gotta go to contacts every time!
that sucks! does anyone know a fix for this?

hi, since some time i am a quite satisfied n95 user. The only thing, which drives me crazy is the the ongoing problems with reading chinese characters on mz mobile. As I am a European, living in 北京 i need to find a way to install normal and or system fonts for Chinese. As i can read you seem to have some experiences with this issue. If you can give me some advise how to get and install chinese fonts i would be very glad. thanks in advance for your effort