Nokia N96 review: King's new clothes

03 October 2008
Every 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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  • B
  • Bakhti
  • iVF
  • 03 Oct 2008

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.

    • K
    • Kal
    • 2SU
    • 03 Oct 2008

    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.

      • C
      • Coma
      • 0gR
      • 03 Oct 2008

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

        • A
        • Adam
        • k8X
        • 03 Oct 2008

        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!

          • A
          • ANURAG AGARWAL
          • v{S
          • 03 Oct 2008

          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

            • s
            • sinners
            • ut5
            • 03 Oct 2008

            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...

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • P43
              • 03 Oct 2008

              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

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • P43
                • 03 Oct 2008

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

                  • A
                  • Andy Burgin
                  • 3pa
                  • 03 Oct 2008

                  Nokia announced the N96 in Febuary getting everyone excited about it,but Why? as it took Nokia that long to get it released an then announce a much better mobile to get the N85 as the Quality of the N85 shows that the N96 can"t compete with it at all,so the N96 might end up being a lot of wasted time an money for Nokia an the price of the N85 is Cheaper as well,so the price of the N96 will drop down rapidly,glad the N85 as been announced by Nokia ,but when will it be made available by Nokia

                    • K
                    • Khroz Rdrez
                    • PbW
                    • 03 Oct 2008

                    n 96 you are the best!!!!!!!

                      • n
                      • nirmalendu
                      • vww
                      • 03 Oct 2008

                      n95 rocks

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