Unboxing the Nokia N95 8GB
Published by Steve Litchfield at 9:52 BST, October 18th 2007
It's here, it's Black and it's very, very 'Bad'. And it's a production Nokia N95 8GB, not a prototype - this is the real deal. Read on for loads of close-up photos, plus screenshots and observations of this new, blisteringly fast stunner (Updated)
We'll be bringing you more coverage in due course, but here's something to whet your appetite.
Here the redesigned (compared to the N95) back of the device.
The camera surround has been changed to accommodate a larger battery.
The multimedia playback controls are now bevelled,
making them easier to find my touch alone, and have better tactile feedback.
The main numeric keyboard is unchanged, but the controls keys have changed to make room for the larger screen.
Now that's what you call multitasking - and this was still with 50MB of free RAM left over.
Er.... Nokia, I'm afraid that all this RAM is draining my battery - can I have less of it please?
Only kidding. The second screenshot shows the standby screen, with the new Search integration. More on that later...
The extra 8GB of flash memory appears as an extra disk 'E', just as if you'd popped a microSD
into a standard N95. Examining the 8GB disk takes ages (over 10 seconds), but here's the proof of the capacity.
93MB of free RAM. And this wasn't even after booting, this was after half an hour of use and
with other apps simply closed down. And around 120MB of internal flash memory (disk C),
just as on the original N95. With so much RAM, Web flies, relatively speaking.
Here's the huge BoingBoing site. Any other huge pages you want me to test?
I just LOVE the flat top, with no raised screen bezel.
The controversial protector-less lens. If this is the main tradeoff for the increased battery life
(due to the new body shape) then so be it. A gorgeous touch is that the Carl Zeiss writing
is properly etched into the surround, not just printed on...
The N95 8GB is a chunky beast, but you've got to remember what this thing can do.
Now that there's enough RAM and battery power to keep everything chugging along,
this really is a 'multimedia computer' and is everything the original N95 really should have been.
The (patented!) Steve sunlight test. The new, larger, hard-topped N95 8GB screen performed even
better than that of the original N95, in terms of contrast in really bright light.
The BL-6F and BL-5F batteries in profile. An extra 25% charge might not sound a lot,
but allied with optimisations in the OS it should easily give a full day of use for
even the most demanding users. Oops, that sounds like me. Watch this space!
By popular request, I loaded up the **insanely** huge aftonbladet home page
[go on, you try it - www.aftonbladet.se] - no problems whatsoever on the N95 8GB.
I don't think I'm going to be able to crash this thing... [mutters]
Leave me your questions in the comments and I'll answer them inline in extra comments - the usual deal.
Steve Litchfield, 18th Oct 2007, for AAS and 3-Lib
See Also
Nokia N95 8GB Video Preview (also on YouTube).
Nokia N95 8GB Image Gallery
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Categories: Hardware, Editorial Thoughts
Platforms: S60 3rd Edition
News Discussion
Unregistered
please can we see (if the software is loaded) some n-gage shots (the app/games) also is the horizontal mode the same as the old 95 (d-pad on the right) or like the pics on the n-gage site (d-pad on the left like a gameboy/ ds/ psp) thanks alot!
Nick17
"Slang"-bad or real bad .. ? ;)
Unregistered
Getting rid of the lens cover - and more importantly the function of the cover slider activating the camera when opened - is a shopstopper for me.
I have found myself using my N95 more than any previous camera phone, mainly because it's so easy to slip the lens cover open and take a quick snap without any of the usual fumbling with buttons or menus.
Unregistered
my main request.. did battery life improve?
godeassi
Getting rid of the lens cover - and more importantly the function of the cover slider activating the camera when opened - is a shopstopper for me.
---------------------
Yes, I agree, this was a bad move. As usual, there's always something to stop a device from being perfect!
Unregistered
Anyone here dares to update thier N95 software with the N95 8GB software? Saw the product code, 0549487. Would be interesting to find out. :)
Unregistered
But with N95 8GB it is as easy. Just press and hold the "shoot" button for a sec and it will open the camera application. At least for me the N95 original lens cover could open accidentally. Sure you can also accidentally hold down the "shoot" button, but maybe it doesn't happen so often.
Unregistered
is the surface at the front side sensible for fingerprints? how about the slider mechanism? Is it better than that oft the regular N95?
Unregistered
Questions
1. The slider is smooth and doesn't have sidewards movement? and pressing buttons on top slide makes no movements
2. The hissing noise from the production N95 first batch has stopped?
3. The gps locks in short times ie under 1min.....
4. Light escaping from the front slide.....sidewards... ?
slitchfield
In no particular order:
- slider is *perfect*, but then so is my original N95, I bet they build early units with a lot more hands-on care and attention...
- battery here is much chunkier, at least 25% extra charge, possibly more with software optimisations etc.
- time from factory fresh to first GPS fix INDOORS on a window ledge was only 2 minutes - astounding!
- lens is as unprotected as on any other phone, but at least it's just as easy to clean etc.
- N-Gage app simply goes to holding place on the N-Gage site - I'll check for firmware updates daily and see if anything emerges
- no light escaping that I can see
- camera software much faster, shot to shot times at 5 megapixels around 3 seconds. Camera startup still around 3 seconds though
- have I mentioned it's black? 8-)
Unregistered
Does this one comes pre-loaded with the Spiderman III movie?
Viky
Unregistered
I think the main question would be, where did you buy it from? I live in finland, and here they still haven't hit the shelf, if they had i would be unboxing right now :)
Unregistered
Does it already come with "On Demand Paging"-enabled firmware?
soussef24
Lucky you, where did you got it???
Al3xandr3
The N95 8Gb its indeed a perfect phone! Congratulations for the possibility to be testing it already!
Unregistered
is the speed from/to the flash-memory via USB still as crappy as with the N95-1? for example, my MicroSD card brings about 6MB/s write speed in an external adapter on USB 2.0, but when used in the N95-1, its ounly about 1MB/s. now, when having even 8Gig interbal flash, it would take AGES to fill that with 1MB/s... hast this been improved? thanks!
Unregistered
The software should still be based on the same OS as N95 which means it's v9.2. Only v9.3 has 'on demand paging'.
Unregistered
Not true, N95 8GB has On Demand Paging
Orophin Anwarunya
After seeing this for myself at the show, i have to say that its is an awesome update to the N95. Those of you that are worried about a lens cover are missing the whole point entirely about this new iteration to the N95.
- Far better battery life
- Incredibly fast when compared to the old N95
- True multitasking. I was able to run Maps, Web, Google Maps, Ngage game, Music, and camera all simultaneously without memory full or involuntary exiting of another app.
- The screen is beautifully larger and bright. More crisp. Please don't mention resolutions, Nokia are using the industry standards for now.
- GPS was fine since it has AGPS built in by default. I got it to lock on in 3 minutes at the S60 party. Mind you, my old N95 performs the same ever since the AGPS upgrade.
- The new d-pad and softkey arrangement is quite an improvement. I had my doubts about its squat size at first, but in use it seemed more comfortable and the buttons protrude far enough to enable more accurate control. A much more tactile experience than the flatness of the old N95.
- I've never had issues with the slide of my N95 so i don't really have a base of reference, but the N95 8GB i tried out at the show had a sturdy enough slide. That said, its the worst item to test since it is preproduction demo unit, thus would have taken alot of beating from many show appearances.
- Yes the lens shutter doors have gone, but that is by no means a show-stopper and i'd say it worthy sacrifice for everything else the N95 8GB does right. I have never scratched the lens of my previous camera-phones, but if you know you are going to be hard handed or careless with this beautiful piece of kit, then i suggest you get Nokia 5500. I doubt anyone would be so bad with Cupertino's baby.
One thing that irks me about the N95 8GB is its lack of a memory card option. I've never been a fan of these type of phones because it limits it capabilities in future expansion, and that is a real shame for a platform that supports the SDHC standard. A 10GB or 16GB N95 would be quite awesome.
That said, I'm not sure if the support for those larger capacities are there and by the time those capacities become available, Nokia would have come out with another killer handset that will persuade you to ditch your N95 8GB or otherwise.
For now i at least the N95 8GB is a very interesting and worthy purchase. I hope Steve's full review will prove that right.
-Barry S-
Unregistered
I don't think N95 8GB has ODP either. The software is still the same, S60 3rd Edtition FP1. It would new a new software upgrade for that to happen. And historically, Nokia has never updated the software in the phone eg. from 3rd Edition FP1 to FP2.
Unregistered
When will people get over the lack of lens cover. It doesnt need it. The lens cover is a dust trap anyway, Mine is covered and sometimes the cover opens in my pocket.
I dont think it will get scratched if the glass is as hard as the LCD because I have abused my phone a lot and still not a single scratch on the screen. If i maybe had diamonds rattling around in my pocket things would be different.
Unregistered
i have a n80 which doesnt have a camera lens cover....and i havent had any scratches or anything happen to it over the last 1 1/2 years. i dont have a case for my phone, its just always in my pocket.
Unregistered
I see they have squeezed one more app shortcut in the active standby!!
Could you do a shot of BL-5F next to BL-6F??
Unregistered
do you have the old original n95? can you please do a shot showing both turned on with the same screen?
ramkd
does it support games in landscape mode???
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