Nokia N95 8GB review

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The Nokia N95 was something of a mobile phone phenomenon; it incorporated just about every flashy application and function available on the market into its boxy case, and became the ‘must-have' handset for anyone wanting to appear at the top of the mobile ladder. So it was a bit of a shame that the software was unpredictable and that it would certainly never win a beauty contest. But at the time, little did we know that the N95 was just the opening chapter of the flagship N-Series' story...

So, here it is, part two of the N95 story where you would be forgiven for thinking that it's simple a memory upgrade – albeit a substantial one – and all the old issues remain, but the Nokia N95 8GB is considerably more than that. Put the two side-by-side and you will first notice that the screen has been enlarged to 2.8” and is now mounted flush to the slider, making it appear far more modern. This screen size increase has necessitated a reduction in size of the navigation keys, but not so much that it affects their usage.

Popping the slider activates the screen and keen observers will immediately notice the increase in quick-access icons at the top of the screen to seven. Otherwise the system appears to have been unchanged until you start trying to do things. Multi-tasking on the original N95 was more like double-tasking, as anything more than two applications running would usually result in something being closed, but not with the 8GB. Here things keep plugging away in the background almost regardless of what else is running, with very little overall slowdown; it's a considerable improvement. Also, when switching to landscape view, the pretty revolving menu system has been removed and replaced with the regular screen setup.

Of course, with the increase of internal memory, the MicroSD card slot has been removed, so 8GB is all you get, but realistically how much more storage does a person need? The final big addition to the 8GB feature line-up is the inclusion of N-Gage, Nokia's forthcoming gaming service. Two demo games, football and racing, have been included and do show off the potential of N-Gage rather well; we just hope it will be worth the wait. The GPS has been improved too, the 5MP camera remains excellent despite the removal of the lens cover and the music player's talents can finally be properly exploited with the memory increase.

The N95 8GB is a big improvement over the original and in turn takes another step towards mobile perfection, however it's still a monster of a handset and regardless of the minimal 8 gram weight increase, a 128 gram, 21mm thick block is a serious item to slip into a pocket. Battery life also suffers at the hand of all this technology, but really, when you take into account all the above features plus 3G, Wi-Fi and HSDPA connections you can forgive the N95 8GB for being a bit of a power-hungry chunk!

For an independent review of this phone, check out Mobile-Phones-UK for their Nokia N95 8GB Review.

Nokia N95 8GB specs and features

• Quad Band
• 5 Megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics
• 8GB internal memory
• Symbian OS 9.2, S60 rel. 3.1
• 3G technology for broadband-like speed
• GPS navigation functionality
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, UPnP technology
• Document viewer (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDF)
• Dimensions: 99 x 53 x 21 mm
• Weight: 128 grams
• Standby Time: Up to 280hrs
• Talk Time: Up to 6hrs