My First Nokia, the Nokia N95

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My name is Judie, and I have never owned a Nokia mobile phone; I’m not exactly sure why I haven’t, it just never happened. It’s not that I haven’t been curious, especially with the release of some of Nokia’s newer models – such as the N81, the N92, N93, and yes – the N95, but I just never took the plunge.

Why is it that I feel like I should be admitting this glaring error of my gadget repertoire in the confines of a 12-step program meeting? Probably because until today I was one of, oh…maybe fifteen people in the world that hadn’t used a Nokia, and it was almost shameful.

Today I received a Nokia N95 through the Nokia Blogger Program, and I am looking forward to learning about a new (to me, anyway) platform and delving into a device which is so feature-rich that Jenneth ultimately dubbed it her “JesusPhone.”

My First Nokia, the Nokia N95

One of the first things I was concerned about after I got through the initial “ooooh, a new phone to play with” moment, was whether or not it would sync with Exchange. I needn’t have worried, the N95 and Exchange play very nicely together via Nokia’s Mail for Exchange application; all of my contacts, calendar entries, tasks, and email are now loaded and continuously syncing…which may quickly become a concern because the battery on this device is only 950 mAh. :!:

My First Nokia, the Nokia N95

As Mitchell pointed out in his review, the battery most likely won’t last as long as I need it to…as in, it might not make it through half a normal day!

My First Nokia, the Nokia N95

I hope that perhaps because “my” N95 won’t constantly be switching between UMTS, HDSPA or EDGE in my EDGE-only city, my battery life might not suffer as much as it would elsewhere.

We shall see…

My First Nokia, the Nokia N95

I have a lot to explore and much to discover about this new (to me) OS and device, but so far I am already finding the transition to be a lot smoother and less stressful than I had anticipated. :-)

My First Nokia, the Nokia N95

One feature I am looking forward to trying is the 5 megapixel camera. It seems almost comical to put such a large digital camera on a mobile phone, but I have seen pictures and videos taken with the N95, and the results are quite impressive.
The N95 feels surprisingly solid, even with the dual sliders. I guess I half expected that I might keep unintentionally activating one of them while using the phone, but that hasn’t yet occurred. The N95 measurements are 3.9? long x 2.1? wide x 0.76? thick, and it weighs 4.2 ounces.

So what if the mobile phones I generally use run either Windows Mobile or even the Palm Operating System…it’s definitely time to try something new. ;-)

 

12 Original Responses to “My First Nokia, the N95”

  1. Gravatar Icon 1 Mitchell Oke Nov 6th, 2007 at 9:59 pm The N95 really is a great phone, it’s just let down by its lack of a thumboard and battery life!!Your battery life should fair better than mine though, I have all my phones set to UMTS/HSDPA only (otherwise I may incur roaming data charges), so that doesn’t help my battery situation :P
  2. Gravatar Icon 2 Judie Lipsett Nov 6th, 2007 at 10:32 pm Yeah, I am looking at the N95 more as a smart phone with media capabilities, not so much as a messaging / texting device. Someone that doesn’t carry multiple devices might not be as cool about it. ;-)
  3. Gravatar Icon 3 patrickj Nov 7th, 2007 at 12:28 am Hey Judie – is it the US version? If so, isn’t that supposed to have much better battery life?
  4. Gravatar Icon 4 Judie Lipsett Nov 7th, 2007 at 12:31 am Patrick…I have no idea! Perhaps someone that understands the codes showing on my box will know. ;-)Judie = total Nokia Newbie :lol:

    I’ll report back with more info on battery life after using it a bit, though.

  5. Gravatar Icon 5 Allen Hong Nov 7th, 2007 at 9:15 am Welcome to the Nokia-side Judie!!! :DMy Nokia Communicator 9500 is the Europe version device. I bought it direct from Nokia USA. The only device language choices I have on my 9500 is English (UK) and Nederlands. The device also came preset to Euro’s for the currency.

    This may or may not be the way to check the device for region version?
    As for the codes on the box, they look pretty standard compared to the ones on my 9500 box.

  6. Gravatar Icon 6 palmsolo Nov 7th, 2007 at 10:56 am The box label shown above states N95-1 so this is the original N95 model with the smaller capacity battery and lack of support for 3G and HSDPA in the U.S.I really enjoy using the S60 operating system and look forward to your thoughts on the device. If you find you like the S60 OS and want a device that is better for texting then you may want to think about the Nokia E61i as a future model.
  7. Gravatar Icon 7 i-bystander Nov 7th, 2007 at 11:05 am What if you don’t have an Exchange Server to connect to? Are there any other options?
  8. Gravatar Icon 8 Judie Lipsett Nov 7th, 2007 at 11:51 am Thanks for clearing that up for me, Matt! What type of battery life are you getting on yours? It would be nice to have a comparison. :-)I may have to look into the E61i, because I am very heavily into texting. Although I will say that I am getting better at the tap-tap-tapping involved to send a short SMS. Anything longer and I would be pulling out my hair, however.

    Allen – the N95 had options for almost every country in the world, but it was definitely set up out of the box with European settings on the calendar. That should have been my first clue. ;-)

    I stayed up late last night digging into the menus and features on the N95. I know I am late to the party, but so far am really impressed by how easy everything is to personalize and navigate. I seriously have some catching up to do.

    i-bystander – if you don’t use Exchange you can still sync with Outlook email or your POP and IMAP email accounts, just as you would with a Palm or Windows Mobile device. :-)

  9. Gravatar Icon 9 Mitchell Oke Nov 7th, 2007 at 1:42 pm They need to bring out an update to the E61i, it’s getting a bit long in the tooth now.
  10. Gravatar Icon 10 hongkongphooey Nov 9th, 2007 at 9:31 am I’m waiting for the official launch for the Nokia N95 8GB here and having a hard time deciding between that and the LG KS20 (WM6 PocketPCPhone, which is really sweet with the new UI). My major concern is how well a phone works with my Outlook Exchange, and that’s why I ditch my iPhone and turning it into an iPod.
  11. Gravatar Icon 11 Judie Lipsett Nov 9th, 2007 at 9:43 am Victor, I was pricing the n95 8GB on Amazon last night…can you believe it?“Only” $750 –
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ…..JN09EHG35B

    Reality finally set in, and I ordered a 6GB microSD instead ($70), but ooooh. The black 8 GB is gorgeous and I would love to get my hands on one. :drool:

    I am having so much fun with the N95 right now. Mitchell and I were chatting last night, and he was laughing at my enthusiasm.

    It is so easy to become almost jaded about everything when you have used an operating system for years, as I have with Windows Mobile and Palm. So when you discover a new one, such as Symbian on the feature rich N95, it is like rediscovering your first Palm or Pocket PC device all over again. You can’t wait to find programs for it, customize it, and make it work for you. :mrgreen:

  12. Gravatar Icon 12 Mitchell Oke Nov 9th, 2007 at 7:47 pm Yeah the N95 8GB looks great, bigger screen too :grin:

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About the Author

Judie Lipsett Stanford
Judie is the co-owner and Editor-in-Chief of Gear Diary, which she founded in September 2006. She got her start in 1999 writing software reviews at the now-defunct smaller.com; from mid-2000 through 2006, she wrote hardware reviews for and co-edited at The Gadgeteer. A recipient of the Sigma Kappa Colby Award for Technology, Judie has written for or been profiled by nationally known sites and magazines, and she has served on multiple industry hardware and software award panels. She is best known for her device-agnostic approach, enjoyment of exploring tech, gadgets, and gear, and her deep-diving, jargon-free reviews.