Review: Nokia N93 - MI3 Edition
Score:
78%
Looking at yet another themed N93 launch slightly cynically, one might say that it's all a bit of a gimmick. And, for those who already own the ubiquitous black (or silver...) monster, there's no official way to get the movie separately, at least not in miniSD form.
It's fair to say that this is mainly a promotional stunt from Nokia, but to give them credit it's a very nicely executed one. For a start, they're not (in theory) charging consumers any more than the usual N93 price. And, even after watching the film, you can wipe the 512MB miniSD card and use it for your own files, for free. And, even as someone who regularly converts video files for use on smartphones I was pretty blown away by the encoding quality.
Which, at the end of the day, is what you're all probably curious to know about. What exactly is on the card.
First though, just a note that the smartphone itself is, obviously, the bog-standard N93 (our review here). The card contains a variety of resource files plus a copy of the Mobiclip player (v4.42.1002), by Actimagine, an existing media/DRM solution. There's also a 450MB .mo file, the encoded (and in this case encrypted) movie itself. It seems to be also locked to only play on the N93 itself, possibly because it needs the extra graphics oomph but far more likely simply to stop the file set circulating on warez sites and being played on any old S60 smartphone.
At less than 4MB per minute, the picture quality at 320 by 240 is fabulous, every last explosion (and there are lots of them) is rendered beautifully, with only very occasional artefacts here and there if you look closely enough. Moreover, the sound has been 'treated' with extra bass and high frequency to give it that 'crispy rumble' of sound that you normally associate with a movie in the cinema. In practice, this sometimes distorts the audio uncomfortably, but you learn to tune out the distortions after a while and sit back to enjoy the film.
Mobiclip player has a very simple interface, just left and right to skip backwards and forwards and up and down to change volume, but it's quite sufficient. And, importantly, when you exit the player and start it again, it remembers exactly where you got to and offers to resume. Very polished.
I somehow doubt that we 'll be seeing miniSD versions of our favourite films in Blockbusters any time soon, but this is one promotional idea that's been planned and executed very well indeed.
Oh yes.... the movie itself. Ermm..... it's got Tom Cruise in it (which should tell you most of what you need to know) and it's got more explosions and destruction in it that the first two MI films combined. 'nuff said.
Steve Litchfield, November 2006
Reviewed by Steve Litchfield at