Nokia N96 vs HTC Touch HD vs Apple iPhone 3G

[slitchfield]

With Christmas fast approaching, it's high time for a detailed hands-on head to head between the three smartphone platform flagships: Nokia N96, HTC Touch HD and Apple iPhone 3G. Can I pick a winner? Do I need to? Plenty of opinion, facts and device lowdown here, but your comments most welcome.

Read on in the full article.

Actual phone performance would be a useful comparision but very difficult, as someone who purchased an iphone and was disappointed at its poor receiver performance compared to my existing Nokia phone its an important benchmark.

[snoyt]

This years crop of Christmas phones is very disappointing. No reason the trade in my N82, until a N97-ish comes available.

[slitchfield]

Agreed. If offered any of these three, for free, or having to pay £50 extra to get an N82, I'd go with the N82. Sorry if you guys are getting bored with me going on about the N95/N82-era phones, but the lens protection, the graphics acceleration, the much clearer close-up video capture and, in the N82's case, the Xenon flash - it all adds up.

[lookatbowen]

It is a pity you didn't add the N95 (Original) to that comparison. It beats the iPhone and the HTC with features and beats the N96 on the lense protection.

I can't wait for the same comparison with the N97, iPhone and HTC Touch HD.

[neilhoskins]

Although these three are all 'flagships', surely it's the 5800 that's aimed at this market sector, rather than the N96? That would be a more relevant head-to-head, surely?

Probably worth mentioning how poor the 3G implimentation is on the iPhone. If you are heavily dependant on 3G, iPhone will most likely disappoint. Don't know if Apple have secretly fixed it on newer handsets but kept quiet so existing users don't get stressed ?

Been playing with wife's iPhone and love the interface and the simplicity of AppStore. But so many limitations on the basic features. Bluetooth, file transfer to other devices etc. is a joke. I'll just BT you this picture, no you can't. I'll MMS it no you can't. Have to revert to email or PC. Wife's not a techie, that's why she loved the iPhone. What it does is easy to use. She would probably never have tried half of it on an S60 or WinMob unless I set it all up for her (though I did set up the iTunes account for her). But she was able to send MMS and BT pics etc. Asking her to email or use PC instead in not an option.

Also, apart from games, the apps seam a bit basic to me. Not real power apps like you can get on WinMob or even S60. I might be wrong about this, but that's my initial impression. Still no sign of a actually released/available 'Proper' SatNav offerings. Lots of demos on YouTube (assuming they are genuine), so I guess it's just a matter of time/supplier negotiations with Apple (I really hate that Apple control bit).

I've been thinking seriously about getting the HD. Other devices are also tempting me and so I keep swaying in various directions. Just wish HTC sort out drivers for Video etc.

I really love the xda-developers community that is available to HTC users.

If I get a Nokia, I'll get a couple of bug fix releases, but other than that I'm mostly stuck where I am. iPhone may be a bit better, not sure. But with the HD, there is a good chance (no promises) that I'll probably even be able to get some form of WM7 onto it when it eventually comes out. Particularly given the high base specs on the HD.

Just my (fairly unbiased, non fanboy) thoughts.

Zuber

[genXhippie]

Originally Posted by slitchfield

Agreed. If offered any of these three, for free, or having to pay £50 extra to get an N82, I'd go with the N82. Sorry if you guys are getting bored with me going on about the N95/N82-era phones, but the lens protection, the graphics acceleration, the much clearer close-up video capture and, in the N82's case, the Xenon flash - it all adds up.

I'm right there w/ you ppl.

I'm happily stuck w/ the N82 heading into 2009. I guess, if I was in the market for one of the current Nokia models, it would surely be the N85(not the extremely overpriced N96 imo). Although, the absence of a xenon kills that option too, but if the N85 "refresh"(w/ xenon) was already upon us, I could easily ditch the N82.

[slitchfield]

@neil: Yes, if this head to head had been in late January. The 5800's not out yet, the firmware for it's not even finished yet etc. I wanted to compare three devices that were widely available to the masses.

In this day and age, a crappy built-in browser, or mediocre 3rd party browser, is just unacceptable. Mediocre Youtube experience sucks too. Negates much of the 3.5G and WiFi benefits. Especially for M$. If they can't bother getting this right after 6 years, then it pretty much indicates they are doing at most a mediocre job on the rest of the OS. Even poky S60 has a better browser.

Agree with a previous poster - this season's selection is poor, especially compared to what you can still find online for last year's models. an N95-3 is getting really cheap, and my friend got an N95-4 for free in the US.

Touch HD > iPhone 3G > N96

I've owned/used all three extensively. The n96 should go bottom of the pack no matter what phone you compare it with. BTW my favourite OS is Symbian... The n96 is the biggest waste of money - slow, bugger, poor battery life, limited potential because of slow cpu.

The n85 is a different story.

Looking forward to the n97.

I wish for more of an objective view instead of Nokia/Symbian always coming on top. I know Nokia do you guys lots of favours but please let's be fair.

[neilhoskins]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If I get a Nokia, I'll get a couple of bug fix releases, but other than that I'm mostly stuck where I am. iPhone may be a bit better, not sure. But with the HD, there is a good chance (no promises) that I'll probably even be able to get some form of WM7 onto it when it eventually comes out. Particularly given the high base specs on the HD.

I have to take issue with that. Free releases from Nokia and regular firmware updates on the N95-1 mean that my device currently bears very little resemblance to the device I bought about 18 months ago. In addition to what I bought I now have:
- a proper streaming media player rather than just a uPNP remote control
- n-gage games
- hugely improved RAM handling
- a whizzy search tool (that I don't use, if the truth be told)
- one-button photo uploads to Flickr and Ovi
- geotagging of photos
- internet radio
- accelerometer-based functions and games
- a Python runtime
- a web runtime

I see this as a reward for being an early adopter, and it gets Nokia a lot of brownie-points in my book.

[slitchfield]

@phonegadgetz: a) if you read my text, the N96 doesn't come out 'on top', it's merely a better all-rounder. b) I disagree with your assessment of it, given the v12 firmware upgrade, which makes a big difference.

OK,

Just a couple of bug fix releases is a bit unfair.

But alot of it is fixing unfinished/buggy software. Though as you say, there as some nice additions as well.

My point is though, you are stuck at that particular OS level. i.e. S60 3rd addition FPx.

Once they stop making them, you will get a relatively short timeframe of support and then it's onto the next thing.

With the HTC stuff (because of the excellent xda-developers communitiy, not HTC or Microsoft) you continue to get people putting together tweaks and upgrades long after the device is forgotten by the press.

Not sure if I dare say this, but a bit like the linux community I think (or my limited exposure to it).

Zuber

And now, something completely different:

Nokia N96 vs. George W. Bush

1) Popularity:
N96: very unpopular, both in the US and in Europe
GWB: very unpopular, both in the US and in Europe

2) User experience:
N96: very frustrating
GWB: very frustrating

3) Cost:
N96: extremely costly to consumers
GWB: extremely costly to taxpayers

4) Future:
N96: already a lame-duck handset, to be retired (thank God!) in early 2009
GWB: already a lame-duck president, to be retired (thank God!) in early 2009

5) Power:
N96: has too little power
GWB: has too much power