A Swiss army knife of technology or Just a Nokia mobile phone?
MThe latest piece of kit from Nokia, the N95. Not content with just giving us a phone and a chat and Nokia have also given as a dedicated music player, a five megapixel digital camera, built in GPS and a host of other features including WiFi, Bluetooth, three G, HSPDA, blogging tools and Flickr tools when on the go, and a whole list of other things. So the question is do you need all these devices which include a digital camera music player sat-nav ... or just the Nokia N95.
Now one of the main selling points of the Nokia N95 is the satellite navigation capabilities meaning that you'll never get lost again, well, theoretically. To activate it all you have to do is slide open the phone and inside there is a GPS receiver. Now while using it you do have to have it open which means you can look a bit of a Star Trek geek as you scan for an open signal. To download the maps you need a WiFi connection or three G. The Nokia maps are supported in 130 different countries which means you can roll up to New York Paris or wherever you are and get them up straight away, the bad news is you have to download the maps every time you used them and if you don't have a data package with your tariff this could prove expensive. The Nokia N95 was tested around London and overall performed really well, we wouldn't say it was as good as Tom Tom or nav-man but to get you from a to B or to a meeting at the last minute it’s a really good little gadget. Bearing in mind however you will have to buy the route planning software in addition to your contract with your mobile phone operator. Other than that however it is great!
When it comes to a digital camera the Nokia N95 has a five megapixel digital sensor, which is activated by sliding the lens cover from right to left, this then loads the software. Once you've taken the pictures you can upload them to another device using Bluetooth, WiFi, three G, or HSPDA to photos showing website Flickr or video showing website.
What we have found is when taking pictures there seems to be a slight delay, when you press the button to take the picture it seems to take a little time to focus, once the picture is taken there is a little bit of a hold before it gives you any other options so you can decide what you want to do or just go back and take another picture. Now compared to a normal digital camera it has quite a long delay which means if you are trying to capture something quick like a little child or a sporting event you might have a few problems.
Without wanting to repeat myself it's the same story with the digital camera as with the GPS it won't beat a traditional model. There were problems with focusing and with the lack of optical zoom; you have to get close to what you are taking the picture off or rely on the digital zoom which is nowhere near as good. Overall it will get you out of a fix if you don't have your traditional digital camera with you.
When it comes to music the Nokia N95 has a dedicated music player which is revealed when the phone is held horizontally by sliding the screen to the right. The four buttons which are then revealed on the left are your main controlling buttons for the music player, these include the traditional play, pause, skip forward and skip back. On the right-hand side is a d-pad which allows you to scroll through the songs, albums, artists and play list. It's all very similar to an iPod or any other MP3 player. Playing a song is just a case of selecting the track you want and pressing play; there was is a brief pause while the song loads up and starts playing. You can either choose to listen to the music through the speakers which are located at the bottom left and right hand side of the phone or you can choose to use the 3.5mm jack which means you can either plug-in headphones or external speakers. All you have to do to be able to use the speakers is to insert them into the phone using the aforementioned 3.5 mm jack and then select the speaker setting on the phone. Overall the sound is really good certainly comparable to any MP3 player you can find on the market today.
Jack of all trades but a master of none, The Nokia N95 is a Sat Nav, digital camera, dedicated music player all in one box. For the purists out there the individual elements won't beat a solo offering however you get so much in the little box it's probably worth the compromise.
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