Review: Nokia N96 - TV on the go?

[Rafe]

In this, part one of a three part All About Symbian evaluation of the new Nokia flagship, the N96, I look at its position relative to the previous flagship, the N95 8GB. Analysing all the upsides and (sadly) downsides, I find that its role in terms of video is crucial, whether using DVB-H, BBC iPlayer, the new Sky/ITV/BBC mobisodes and other video improvements. The N96 is not the obvious choice for a real S60 power user, but I reckon it does have a potentially successful place in Nokia's lineup.

Read on in the full article.

[fernando20]

So, if you're in the UK or in a country with dvb-h = get N96; else get N85

I'm getting bored of Nokia rehashes. It's the same old hardware with minor improvements in a different casing. Nokia has stopped innovating which is a big disappointment. It's been nearly 2 years since the N95... Other manufacturers such as HTC, Samsung, RIM etc are coming out with devices thick and fast which has surpassed Nokia's hardware.

Don't get me wrong I'm a big fan of Nokia but they are seriously going to fall behind if they don't do something about it. Their market share has dropped about 3% which is huge amount $$$$$$$.

I'm going to get myself a HTC Touch HD on Orange which is due out within a week or two.

I may go back to NoKia only to try out their touch screen devices. Nokia your domination will be squeezed if you don't wise up. Once the technological leader is now just run of the mill...

[Dr Tran]

Hardware decoders for H.264 video and digital audio streams (these are crucial to the N96's raison d'etre, meaning much better power efficiency for media playback)

I don't think this covered well enough.

I don't think enough people realize that the N96 is the only Nokia capable of playing back such high bitrate video such as the mp4 version of the Mobile Industry Review Show. There are plenty of other video podcasts that play on the N96 but won't play on other Nokias.

[Rafe]

I think Steve is planning on discussing this in greater detail in part 3, along with test on playback times etc.

[timsalmon]

Great overview Rafe/Steve?! Nice one. I'd like to add my thoughts to that and say that I have plucked out my 8GB MicroSD and SIM Card and placed them squarely back into a more stable E-Series device until some of this stuff is sorted. I'm not going to get rid of it as I think there's great potential with FW updates (as you note) but it's far too flaky for now.

The iPlayer, you're right, can't be 'streamed' any sense and must be downloaded - not a problem for those with 5 minutes to spare for a 30min show following - and there seems to have been a 'shift' in policy at some point in the recent past as when the N96 first arrived I 'downloaded' an episode of 'Little Britain' and it appears to be mine forever to keep but all subsequent 'downloads' are subject to the rules of 'watch it in 2 weeks but make sure you watch it quick when you start' scenario.

Physically - I was one of those 'odd balls' who actually liked the N81 8GB and the form factor is OK, with a smarter and more 'sturdy' slide mechanism. It seems to work OK and much like the N81, doesn't just 'open' in your pocket like the N95. The much greater problem physically is the 'plasticky' rear battery cover and how it 'creaks' and 'creaks' with *every* action - I've effected a partial fix by cutting up bits of paper and stuffing them between the cover and the battery - but one shouldn't need to do this - and I guess that they just *might* catch fire?! The other physical problem for me is that the 'D' Pad (and central button) seems to 'creak' in a similar way. Every time it's pressed it sounds like there's a Sainsbury's bag between one's finger/thumb and the mechanism. Hard to describe but it doesn't fill one with confidence.

On software - I'm naffed that with Symbian 3rd Edition FP2, 2 of 3 apps that I rely on heavily plain don't work properly. Remind Me and GSync. I've emailed the authors and they tell me they're working on it but it seems to be a problem with the device not being able to connect properly with whatever choice you make. GMail works beautifully.

Anyway, loads more to say I'm sure but these are the reasons why ATM I'm switching my 'cards' to a much more stable ESeries device.

Looking forward to reading more comments from others.

Tim

I guess that he used Nokia N82 to take photos of N96

[Tzer2]

In theory VGA would have been nice to use with TV Out, though it would have needed VGA software to go with it which would be non-existent.

I suspect Nokia didn't bother on the N96 because they knew the higher resolution displays were coming anyway on touchscreen devices (e.g. the 5800 has a 640x360 display which is very close to VGA).

doesn't just 'open' in your pocket like the N95.

I've had a second hand N95 for about half a year now (so it's been used a lot by me and the previous owner) and I've never ever had it open by itself. Was there a batch of bad N95s or something? My experiences with the N95 slider are nowhere near as bad as some people make it out to be, it's about as good as the N81 was when I had that. It's not perfect, it wobbles a bit when open, but so did my N81.

It sounds like the quality control on sliders has been a bit variable on the N95 and N81.

Maybe the best S60 slider I've had is the 6110 Navigator, totally 100% rock solid when open and closed, really good build quality.

The N96 got the best audio/sound quailty after n91 from nokia, best speakers too (this is a missing point).

I just absolutely love the idea that there is a separate instruction booklet for Tetris. Brlliant.

A big screen, but is it not fully utilised by programmes like iplayer? Should the screen on n96 have been slightly bigger? (maybe on the n97 it will be!)

[marketsqhero]

The iPlayer, you're right, can't be 'streamed' any sense and must be downloaded - not a problem for those with 5 minutes to spare for a 30min show following

Is this only an issue on the N96 then as I've been streaming iPlayer (over 3G) on my N85 this weekend!

[malerocks]

To be honest, I have been considering waiting for the 5th edition phone - touch or no touch, it does not matter much to me. I am not too comfortable buying a 3rd generation phone now that I know that the 5th generation is (nearly) out.

The N96 can stream the iplayer over 3G but it depends on your network. The iplayer looks at what network you are on to see if it's allowed to stream or not. The 3 network allows it but O2 and T-mobile do not allow it. Not sure about orange & voda.

I have read that it's possible to modify the iplayer to stream over any networks 3G but I have not seen it done on the 1.5 iplayer, just v1.0.

Your article was just Right on time Steve!
i was about to ask you whether it's a good step to change over from N95 8GB to N96 or not..and here i am reading your article!
I have just got back from the nearest Nokia centre near my place, i went to look at the N96 for the 2nd time, and played around with it..

I have to say that i'm kinda dissapointed with the build in quality of the phone!
the multimedia key was kinda bad as well..it's like it's about to come off from the case!
i mean..maybe that was because the one i tried out was the show off unit and lotsa people have been playing around with it..
I agree about the camera shutter key though..it was like deep, it went deep inside and made me go..."oh what the" is the auto focus on yet? something like that..

I decide to keep my N95 8GB after reading your article..thanks Steve, a job well done =)