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Nokia N96 review: King's new clothes

03 October 2008 | Read the review | Post your comment
Nokia N96 review: King's new clothes - read the full textEvery time Nokia Nseries numbering goes up a notch geeks are holding their breath. Well, geeks - including us - are no ordinary human beings, but in the case of Nokia N96 they'd been holding their breath since February...

 

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To All Nice People here..........The main reason of the N96 getting every1 disappointed is the fact that it was announced way long back in February at that time the market scenario was different......now its 4 all 2 c dat d latest n series like n85 and n79 all hve much better build and if they arrive in time dey r gr8 mobiles at their expected price points......if only Nokia had not delayed this handset sooo much that nw it pretty hard 4 it 2 fight d competition like 8 meg phones 4m samsung, LG and SE.......Its just dat that d phone is released really late dat has ppl critizing it 4 its short comings......just hoping that Nokia doesn't do this wid their N85 and n79 as any delay wud surely change the market scenario and again d devices wud fail 2 meet expectations of ppl.......If only N96 ws launched earlier d scene wud had been different may b an improved version of N96 wud hd been dere nw as ppl's feedback improved N95 to N95 8 GB so wud had N96.....So its just dat the product getting released dat late is not meeting our expectations....bcoz nw market hs better products at better prices....Plz Nokia don't do dis to N85 and N79 and 5800......LAUnch dem as promised and on time........

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-04 04:57
  • vGfM

Also, just for the record. It seems N96 is getting scary often compared to Samsung Innovate. So, I thought sales statistics should be pretty good indicator of the popularity of the devices: N96 had been Plemix's top selling device since the day it started shipping to be replaced by Samsung Omnia only yesterday. Now, Innovate, on the other hand, has never made it to the top ten, and I suspect it never will. Just thought it was interesting thing to know.

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-04 04:33
  • 4CMa

> In reply to Kal @ 2008-10-03 23:52 from 2SU0 - click to readKal, again, by no means do I say that N96 is a perfection, Nokia could have done better, and I'm sure it will do better. To be perfectly honest, I never even liked original N95 -- Nokia at its best is candybar or, lately, qwerty (my E71 totally blows me away), solid devices -- and not hip wannabes (my opinion here).

Nevertheless, GSMArena is way too, shall we say, imposing in its recent Nokia reviews. If GSMArena doesn't like something, it should offer it as its own opinion at one point of the review and not thread it through the whole 7 pages. Reading today's review was like watching Fox (or MSNBC, for that matter, if you're conservative).

And honestly, when I'm reading a review, do I really need a poetic language of "too late, too little" or do I want a solid readout of all specs, key features and cons? I think this is a question GSMarena should ask themselves if they don't want to alienate their readers. The irony is GSMarena excels at the second part of the job (solid review), yet totally fails (again, my opinion) in keeping their reviews professional (e.i., objective).

Anyway, not picking a fight here, just shared some of my thoughts.

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-04 04:26
  • 4CMa

come on nokia
wake up
this is a disaster

n96 should have been

xenon flash
8 mega pixel
720 p video
1500 battery(e71)
16 gig
good screen
600 hz procesor
etc
come ooooooooooooooooooooooon
wake up
samsung its gona a kill you
they are coominggggggggggggggggggggggggg

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-04 02:53
  • LEv1

Hey, Can anybody tell me that N96's Tv works here in new york or not?i have tried with my nokia N96 but it says no channels available. On Gsmareana's Review about Nokia n96 says that some few places around the world DVB-H in service and that includes New york too.the page link is this www . dvb-h.org/services. htm and up there there is a company listed named Modeo (New York City). On Modeo (New York City)web page there no proper information available or any phone number to call.
Gsm arena please take a notice about this matter and give us a clear idea.
Thanks
Sayem

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-04 00:55
  • jW5}

so much more confussed...saving up for N96 for along time but does't seem to pack that punch but i'd still buy it the only probs are the N85 and 5800 being much more for alot less....i'm hoping that with those two phones coming N96 will see a major price drop really soon...thats exactly what happened to the N78...here in the middle east Nokia have a huge foothold and the N78 went from being more than the N95 to less than the N81...thats good news for everyone for those who like it (me) we get a fair price! later homies! keep chillin!!

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-04 00:22
  • 3Cej

Man...who has the N95 can skip two generations and wait for the next N series. And those of you that have the N95 8GB , well look on the bright side you will only have to skip one generation.

I didn't like the looks of the N96. It looks like a chunky N81.
And another thing is that the Symbian version is behind the one found on the E series (E66 and E71) that can change the customization by the touch of a button. a simple feature, but hey, if your emptying your pocket already why shouldn't you deserve it.

All around I hope that Nokia comes um with a true substitute for the N95 because if not I will be skipping a whole lot of generations otherwise.

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-04 00:22
  • pXd4

No Xenon flash in the Samsung INNOV8 as mentioned in the first page of the review...

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-04 00:16
  • fvAt

I sort of agree with the sentiments of all three of you below. But I have to admit, while I'm not that fond of the N81 style myself, I'm getting pretty tired of reading GSMarena's newest negative slants on it. Seriously, your team writes awesome reviews, I love everything about them, but it's true: by infusing them with your heightened objections to some aesthetic quality of a handset, the review is intrinsically more subjective. You're better than that, so why not write that way.

Cheers

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-04 00:05
  • jUP3

Got one on contract from T-Mobile (£40 a month), and I'm still getting to grips with it, but never does the quality of the phone demand a £500 price tag... Creaky, light leaks from the case and the slider's not great...
DON'T buy it sim-free if you can help it!
BTW: sim-free on eBay is £300...

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-04 00:02
  • 0BqL

> In reply to Bakhti @ 2008-10-03 22:49 from iVF4 - click to readI don't quite agree with you.

Those who loved nokia for years, expected nokia to bring out something that they can claim to be the best are mostly offended, disappointed. The words and the emotions are natural and nothing surprising to me.

I don't know what those designers and marketing guys are doing at nokia but I can see many who are in fact not fond of this glossy plastic design. Moto stuck to their Razr design for years and we know where they are now. Everyone loved it in the beginning. That's a lesson enough. As a reviewing site, GSMarena should have their own opinion.

After n95 8Gb the market was expecting more from Nokia. But in reality Samsung actually released innvo8 with all those specs and a lot more, and Nokia failed to deliver on time. There isn't much that has been added on N5 8gb. You are right you live in a place where a true multimedia monster will never get to see the light with all it's feature in the market. Thats one reason why Nokia dosen't have a strong foothold in their. US carriers will never release a phone with built-in GPS, HSDPA, TV out, WiFi to begin with.

Had Nokia releas this much before Innvo8, it would be a whole different perspective to look at. Hence it's too little too late.

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-03 23:52
  • 2SU0

> In reply to Bakhti @ 2008-10-03 22:49 from iVF4 - click to readGeeeeezzzz! Lighten Up Bakhti... No need for the statistical report, Duh!!
I'm not crazy about this N96 either. From all other 'better' Nokia designs, they picked N81 as the base for N96.
Sigh...
The keypad certainly look cheap and probably easily smudged as well.
I guess I'll be waiting for the 5800...

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-03 23:40
  • i}dR

I'm a bit surprised by what seems to be a very subjective review of N96 -- GSMarena, you know better than this.

First off, even the very wording of the review seems to be as if Nokia personally offended GSMarena review team: "blatant insult", "gritting teeth" -- these are more appropriate for a letter to your ex-girlfriend who cheated on your with your best fried, but not when reviewing a device.

Secondly, Nokia is a $60 billion (as of today) business entity and it can afford to hire a decent marketing team, which analyzes the market sentiments and if N81 design didn't fly with consumers, they would ditch it. Even if the whole GSMarena team isn't fond of the design, it doesn't mean they have to be so vocal about it.

Thirdly, since when a 5mp device with 32 gigs of memory, 2.8 inch display and built-in wi-fi, gps is too little, too late? Well, I don't know much about where GSMarena people live, but in the North America, where I live, people still live with their 1.3 mp phones and Blackberry Curve with its 2mp camera and no 3g is still the king of the mobile world, so N96 is certainly not too late, nor it's too little. And honestly, I travel quite a lot and Europe is not that more advanced than North America (want to see advanced? go to Dubai or Japan) and I don't really see how N96 is "too little" for Europe either, so you GSMarena should be more careful with their wording.

That is not to say that N96 is a perfect device -- I'd yet to see a phone with a price tag of more than $500 that'd be perfect, if merely for its price -- but the fact is it is unique in terms of its dual-slider design, hefty storage capacity and media and connectivity capabilities (stereo bluetooth, video recording on Iphone, anyone?), certainly not a revolutionary device either (but who says Nokia's each N series device should be something revolutionary?), bug, which, again, is a very solid all-around performer for those who appreciate uniqueness.

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-03 22:49
  • iVF4

Corrections:

1. Innov8 doesn't have "8 megapixel camera with xenon flash".
2. Since the review is written now, the author should know that N96 costs more than Innov8 right at this moment.

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-03 22:32
  • 2SU0

And it looks like the N82 is still the camera king...

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-03 21:39
  • 0gRn

There is no phone better than the NOKIA E71 at the moment. N96 is way too overpriced and has a very cheap look to it. There is nothing better than a stainless steel phone feel like the E71. I am sorry...I would never think of buying N96!

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-03 21:36
  • k8XA

as i am having all the e series nokia mobile phone.

i buyed this nokia n96 , but not satisfied by the product as it hangs alot .., its slow in processing ...... small battery backup.

its better to buy iphone 3g instead of this giant

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-03 20:47
  • v{SV

Its strange that no one talks about it still,through n95,n95 8gb and now the n96...the phone having all the features but when it comes down to practicality it just hard to believe that n series being so expensive phones 1.Do not have torch feature in them and 2.We can feed more than 2 or 3 phone number like land line for instance to contacts but we still do not have any means to know what number is the call coming from cause it does not show the number nor the icon changes for a land line phone..shame these basis and most needed features go unnoticed...

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-03 20:46
  • ut55

N96 should be tagged "N82" because it is much more a N81 enhancement. Changes between the N95 8GB... not THAT much... I`ll not trade mine. What I did: N81 8GB>N95 8GB. I`s fair enough. Now N96 is gooood but for that price and features (I`ll never use tv reception) I am going to keep my very loved N95 8GB :D

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-03 20:06
  • P43j

Great phone! Let see in a while if it deserves my money

  • Reply
  • 2008-10-03 20:00
  • P43j
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