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Author Nokia N95-2 8GB Unlocked U.S. Review by sighup
SIGHUP
W850 black
Joined: Jul 27, 2005
Posts: 132
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Posted: 2007-12-22 02:10
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I was looking for as close to an ALL-IN-ONE device as possible. After careful considerations of the W910i, W960i and even the K850i (the only one that would be compatible with US 3G networks) I went with the N95-2. Dogman's review actually was the deciding factor in purchasing the N95 8GB. so many thanks to you on your review.

My requirements:

- Compatibility with US networks (850/1900 bands 3G 850 if possible)
- Good battery life
- Multimedia capabilities (music first, video second)
- Compatibility with my JVC KD-BT1 head unit.
- Good camera with led light.
- Storage

I really did not want to stray from Sony Ericsson since I've found the products very good, currently I am coming from a W850i and an N73. But after many considerations like I said, the N95 was the choice.




All the phones side-by-side.


Thickness comparison with a Mr.Pleco cameo in the background.

First impressions:

Basically I'm coming from a W850i and an N73. At first glance the N95-2 didn't seem as heavy or as huge as I thought it would be. It was a bit thick, but it seems better balanced because its maybe proportional to its thickness as far as width goes.

The W850i seems a bit thicker although its rated at 21mm according to gsmarena.com

Nokia N95 8GB: 99 x 53 x 21 mm, 96 cc
SE W850i: 98 x 47 x 21 mm
Nokia N73 110 x 49 x 19 mm

The screen, HUGE screen. Very nice and easy on the eyes. This will definitely come in handy for me since I'm almost glued to my phone browsing the internet. I charged it to full status yesterday when I got it and so far it only lost 2 bars.

A few MMS, a few TXT about 10 phone calls 2minutes each. Brief WLAN browsing, 20 minutes EDGE browsing. Snapped 10 pictures and one 20 second video. Also installed some applications and edited all my contacts (adding pix and sounds). Unsuccessfully tried out the GPS 3 different times. I was concerned about the battery life since I'm used to charging my W850i every 3 days. But so far I trust I can go at least one full day without charging

The Speed

Coming from an N73 this new N95 is BLAZING fast. Menus scroll quick, applications load fast. Just what I was looking for. This was also one of the reasons why I was iffy about S60 devices, but this phone changed all that.

The only bog down that I've had is with the Music player reading/refreshing the music collection (its about 800MB right now). Other than that, everything is awesome.

The Sound

Not bad at all, one of the better sounding phones as far as loudspeaker music and voice goes. I really enjoyed that you could use the middle toggle keys to move the volume (left/right) up and down. I wish this was the case on the N73 a while back when I accidentally broke the volume up button while changing cases, don't ask.

Music via the bluetooth profile Advanced Audio Distribution (A2DP) in my car stereo JVC KD-BT1 sounds spectacular and it supports Audio/Visual Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) and SIM Access (SAP)


Headset (HSP) / Handsfree (HFP) / Dial-up networking (DUN) / Generic Object Exchange (GOEP) / File Transfer (FTP) / Object Push (OPP) / Basic Printing (BPP) / Generic Audio/Video Distribution (GAVDP) / Advanced Audio Distribution (A2DP) / Basic Imaging (BIP) / Audio/Visual Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) / SIM Access (SAP)

I can also use it as a dialup bluetooth modem dialing *99# This is where I seriously considered the K850 for 3G services where it would allow me to use the phone as a modem on my laptop when I am away from my desk.

But EDGE will have to do. This is the only thing I settled on.

Fastest connection I got through EDGE at speedtest.net was an average of 159kbps with an upload speed at about 29Kbps.

Mind you I am doing all this as we speak with yesterday's battery charge.

That's it for now, I'll check back in tomorrow and see if the battery is still good to go.




[ This Message was edited by: SIGHUP on 2007-12-28 04:55 ]
technical-expert
W595 Black
Joined: Mar 13, 2007
Posts: > 500
From: Pacific Rim
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Posted: 2007-12-22 10:26
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Nice review

Audio quality out of 10 how do u rate
w850 and the n95 thru headphones?.


[ This Message was edited by: arunvc on 2007-12-22 09:27 ]
SIGHUP
W850 black
Joined: Jul 27, 2005
Posts: 132
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Posted: 2007-12-23 01:01
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I can't give you a good opinion yet, since I haven't used for example BOSE high quality headphones on both devices. Plus to add to the bias, the SE W850i earbuds cancel noise and give more bass, compared to stock N95-2 head set.

But they're still two different kinds of headphones. When I get around it though, I'll let you know.
islandprd
K750
Joined: Nov 29, 2007
Posts: 176
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Posted: 2007-12-26 08:52
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Keep it going SIGHUP

Any luck with a torch program?
chuksy
G900 Brown
Joined: Aug 07, 2007
Posts: 224
From: uk
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Posted: 2007-12-26 09:05
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I'd advice that you remove the box cos ur IMEI is exposed to the public,you never know what unscrupulous people can do with it.Or best still u can cover it
SIGHUP
W850 black
Joined: Jul 27, 2005
Posts: 132
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Posted: 2007-12-28 05:54
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Thanks for the advice.

As far as continuing the review. Ive had the phone for about a week now. So far so good. I can honestly say that about the only thing i miss about the W850 is the led light.

Phone Build

Feels good and comfortable in hand. Slides mechanism could be a little stiffer but its good. The keys feel just ok. Keys are a bit cramped, but its fine for texting. Heck I am currently writing this on the phone. One small complaint about the keys. If i hit the keys slightly it makes a loosey lego sound. Like when you tap lego building blocks together. The navigation keys are also a bit cramped but that made room for the larger screen as we all know.

Thats all for tonight. I will update tomorrow on the sound quality via headphones.
SIGHUP
W850 black
Joined: Jul 27, 2005
Posts: 132
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Posted: 2007-12-29 02:24
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Headphone Quality

Obviously listening to music using the headphones that came with the N95-2 8GB is not going to give you great results. So I used the set that came with my SE W850i.

I will say that using the same track for both phones (W850i) and (N95-2) the sound is definitely cleaner and clearer in the N95-2. But there is more noticeable bass in the W850i as well as sound and more steps per volume increase in the W850i. At least I won't go deaf as easily in the N95-2.

Speaker sound

I feel I MUST tell you about how impressed I am with the speaker sound. It is better, crisper and clearer than that of the N95-3. How do I now this? Well I just got an N95-3 which I was going to use to replace the N95-2 because of my hunger/need for 3G here stateside, but man you get used to that big screen and great sound.

* I'm banging my head since I just found out the NAM 8GB version is coming out in FEB.

More to come. . .
Dogmann
T39 black
Joined: Jan 29, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: London England
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Posted: 2007-12-29 02:52
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@SIGHUP

If you are going to listen to Music with Headphones do yourself and the phone justice and use a decent set of headphones it really does make a world of difference IMO.

Marc

_________________
Nokia N95 8GB, SU-8W, Fring, Vox, Tom Tom 6, Shure EC2g
Honoured to have won BEST DEBATER

[ This Message was edited by: Dogmann on 2007-12-29 01:53 ]
SIGHUP
W850 black
Joined: Jul 27, 2005
Posts: 132
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Posted: 2007-12-29 06:57
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Couldn't agree with you more. But the ear buds that came with the W850 suit me just fine. I'll deal with the BOSE headset another time.
islandprd
K750
Joined: Nov 29, 2007
Posts: 176
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Posted: 2007-12-29 09:38
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My latest rant on N95 8GB

http://forum2.mobile-review.com/showpost.php?p=649108&postcount=1184
Dogmann
T39 black
Joined: Jan 29, 2006
Posts: > 500
From: London England
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Posted: 2007-12-29 18:10
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@islandprd


It really is simple if you don't like it just sell the dam thing and stop whining some of your points are frankly absurd. Do you seriously think Nokia have spent time to make the signal indicator appear stronger then it is? I mean really that is just so illogical i can't believe even you can believe such a thing is true. As for the battery meter well yes it sucks but that is just the way it is with Nokia's again either accept it or sell it if you can't.

Personally i can accept a less than 100% accurate battery indicator for all the other truly great and class leading functions this devcie delivers if you can't again the sloution is really simple sell it. No one forced you to buy it and no one is forcing you to keep if the lack of an LED torch function or a not as accurate battery meter is really that important and you can't handle a devcie that doesn't have those features just sell the dam thing and you will be happier as we will not having to listen to your constant whining.

There really is no perfect devcie for everyone and there never will be IMO we choose what suits us best and sell what doesn't what is important and a deal breaker to you isn't to others. Go back to an SE dumb phone that has a LED torch function and excellent battery meter and be happy.

Marc

_________________
Nokia N95 8GB, SU-8W, Fring, Vox, Tom Tom 6, Shure EC2g
Honoured to have won BEST DEBATER

[ This Message was edited by: Dogmann on 2007-12-29 17:10 ]
islandprd
K750
Joined: Nov 29, 2007
Posts: 176
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Posted: 2007-12-30 09:28
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On 2007-12-29 18:10:03, Dogmann wrote:

It really is simple if you don't like it just sell the dam thing and stop whining some of your points are frankly absurd.


Always think you know best erh? tsk tsk tsk

Please anwer these two questions:
Whatever I want to do with my gadget is my own business, true ot not?
If I want to keep it in my drawer or to use it is none of your business, true or not?


Do you seriously think Nokia have spent time to make the signal indicator appear stronger then it is? I mean really that is just so illogical i can't believe even you can believe such a thing is true.


Have you ever heard about fine tuning or adjustment?


As for the battery meter well yes it sucks but that is just the way it is with Nokia's again either accept it or sell it if you can't. Personally i can accept a less than 100% accurate battery indicator


Why must I sell it. Do I owe you anything for a living?

If you can live with all those inaccuracies, fine! that is you though! Why must everyone line up behind you?

you will be happier as we will not having to listen to your constant whining.


Fanboys have been warned to skip, but still reply

Who do you think you are, to know what makes me happy or not?

either accept it or..


Easy to preach but not easy to practice erh?
Actually SE fanboys can also say the same thing to you
SIGHUP
W850 black
Joined: Jul 27, 2005
Posts: 132
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Posted: 2007-12-31 00:55
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Here we go. . .

Dogman:

Remember he did say it was a rant. Its not nice being so critical all the time.

island*:

It was a rant.

Here is my take on the battery meter, so far so good. It actually was "inaccurate" for the better. Last week went to a concert in LA. I took video + pics, mostly video on and off for about 3 hours. Full charge the night before. Mind you I did have it in "offline mode" for video and image capture. It went to 1 battery bar and kept reminding me of such, thus stopping my video recording. But it never died on me. Even on the trip back. 2+ hours, but I did use it. It was on the network/general profile though.

As far as your gas/car example, I never trust fuel gauges anyways, I always count miles left on the resettable odometer.

This used to happen a lot on the N73, it would say 3 bars, then after that would sink like mad.

The N95 8GB is a charge-a-day device. There is just no way around it. For me the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

I knew going into this thing there was no torch and bad battery life. Always know what you're getting into.
BobaFett
R520 copper
Joined: Jan 06, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Kamino (wish it would be Lund)
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Posted: 2007-12-31 01:00
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if u want great standby time, get an e series fone imo, those are made for bizmen, so better option for heavy mobile users, n series fones are for fun mainly. sadly thats crappy batt meter bug is still present, donnow why nokia cant fix it... its well known since 6630 and that was almost 3 years agon as i recall...
Aquila non capit muscas - /// 4ever!

/// Ericsson Forum
islandprd
K750
Joined: Nov 29, 2007
Posts: 176
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Posted: 2007-12-31 10:17
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Comparison N95 8GB vs the oldie K750i

http://forum2.mobile-review.com/showthread.php?p=649937&posted=1#post649937
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