Nokia N90 review: The great mobile revolution

Phone calls: pure excellence

No matter how packed with various multimedia functions Nokia N90 is, it is first and most of all a mobile phone with brilliant phone equipment. It works in GSM networks at 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz and even in third generation networks like WCDMA 2100, which allow video conversations.

The sound coming from the earphones is good, but yet standard. Remarkably clear are the bass elements in the sound of the loud speaker. On the other hand, the sound of the middle and higher tones seemed to me somehow garbled. But as a whole, N90's volume characteristics - the most important for any mobile phone - are brilliant. No resonance or creaky sounds were detected.

Ringing is supported by polyphonic melodies or any MP3 or AAC files. You can modify it using different ringing profiles. The fastest way to activate these is to use the switch off button. In addition, the menu offers a keypad lock option, extraction of the memory card or an offline mode option. By activating the latter you turn off the part communication with the GSM network as well as its assigned functions, but the phone remains available for common work.

The phone searches the address book by both name and surname • inserting a new entry

The phone book is a multi-item one. It uses the shared memory of the phone, which amounts to 31 MB. 500 names without pictures use up to 200 KB, so you should not worry about possible lack of space. Pictures are one of altogether 30 fields that can be assigned to each name. As for special ringing melodies, they can only be assigned to groups, around which all contacts are organized. Filters are a matter of course.

No news in messages

Compared to the 6681 model Nokia N90 has undergone no modifications in respect to messages. SMS writing can be fastened by activating the T9 dictionary. The SMS editor has remained unchanged. It provides information about the number of used so far messages as well as the number of characters still left in the current message. SMS are not limited by a certain number, but by the capacity of the free shared memory.

Messages menu • writing SMS • creating MMS

The MMS editor has remained unchanged. You can send messages as big as 300 KB. No modifications have been made in the email client either. It downloads message headers, reduces the size of the downloaded emails, sets a regular mailbox check etc. A matter of course is work with attachments. The email client manages POP3, IMAP4 and SMTP protocols.

Downloading emails • received mails overview • viewing emails

Opening a picture attachment and a Word document

The Push to talk function is not present in the current Nokia N90 firmware. However, you can download it free directly from Nokia N90 support page.

Excellent companion not only in the office

As usual, all organizing functions are accurately elaborated. The calendar is very well organized and offers a month, a week and a day view as well as the option for inserting three types of events - a meeting, a note and an anniversary. These events are more than enough for quick and successful work. If there were more of them, they might cause confusion.

Month, week and day view at the calendar

The Nokia N90 has both a task and note applications. Among the extra functions you will also find a measure converter. Some of the most interesting applications here are Quicksheet, Quickword and Quickpoint, all three of which help you browse documents created in Microsoft Office. Everything works smoothly. As the relevant application opens automatically, attachments and emails can be viewed immediately. Reading PDF documents is also possible.

Notes • tasks • dictaphone • extra applications menu for viewing documents

Unfortunately, two of the traditional Symbian variances have not been corrected. The first one is the alarm clock, which lacks the repetition option; the other one is the dictaphone, which allows only one-minute long records.

As the operational system is open, you can always download any necessary additional applications. The phone uses Java applications, whose speed results are worth our attention. Nokia scored 1862 points in the JBenchmark 1.0 test and 97 points in the JBenchmark 2.0 test. In comparison to other Symbian Nokia models, such results appear quite miserable. Obviously, this low score is caused by the higher resolution of the display.

In the extra applications menu you will also find the beloved Lifeblog program. Each new Nokia N90 owner obtains an activating code for this software in order to be able to use its full version free of charge.