logo
  • Mobile store
  • Hi-Tech products
  • My Mobile Services
  • TheLink Experts
Experts Home |  News |  Reviews |  Guides |  How to |  About
Home > Reviews > Nokia N96 review
Reviews | December 15th, 2008

Nokia N96 review
Rating: 4.5

The Nokia N95 8GB is a mighty hard act to follow in anyone’s mobile book. Its powerful feature arsenal still towers above most of today’s smartphone competition. So is its successor, the N96, all conquering enough to trade in your Nseries powerhouse?

While its new look spec sheet undoubtedly improves upon N95 8GB, we’re still left wondering if Nokia has really pushed the envelope hard enough. Does a 16GB memory boost, slight design overhaul, added memory card slot, and a currently redundant built-in DVB-H mobile TV receiver scream essential upgrade? Not hiking the camera to a Samsung i8510-rivalling eight megapixels also feels like a missed opportunity but despite these initial misgivings, the N96 still proves to be a mobile dream machine.

So apart from these upgrades, slightly faster processors and a new streamlined but still pocket denting design, its feature list and performance mirrors the N95 8GB. This means a masterly autofocus-led five-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera lens, rapid built-in Wi-Fi and HSDPA for web browsing, support for A-GPS and the latest Nokia Maps, slick VGA-quality video capture and N-Gage gaming. Still impressive, non?

This Nseries uber phone also shines as a newfound mobile television entertainer. With the DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast for Handheld) switch on still on the distant horizon for us UK residents, Nokia has appeased TV addicts by fitting a BBC iPlayer app and a flip out desktop stand, so you can easily view the latest Beeb programmes over Wi-Fi on the hop. Picture quality isn’t super-slick but it’s still highly watchable, even despite annoying intermittent buffering interruptions.

Verdict
Perhaps not the massive leap on from the N95 8GB we’d all hoped but the N96 nevertheless proves to be a smartphone tour de force.

Best features
More attractive streamlined design
Vast 16GB onboard memory with further expansion plan
Mouth-watering feature set
Mobile TV courtesy of BBC iPlayer app

Not so good
Big and bulky
Expecting eight megapixel camera upgrade

Nokia N96 product page >>

Nokia N96 full specifications >>

Check out the Nokia N96 photo gallery:




Closest rivals

Samsung U900 Soul
This stylish slider’s morphing context specific touch controls make it a treat to use but its five-megapixel camera and HSDPA download speeds are equally slick.

Nokia 6220 Classic
If you want your Symbian smartphone a little more pocketable, then this five-megapixel toting, HSDPA-careering, sat nav guiding candybar is worth a look.

LG KU990 Viewty
It may not be an all-out smartphone but this touch phone’s five-megapixel camera and stellar video capture performance is still top draw.

Find the latest Samsung U900 deals

Find the latest Nokia 6220 Classic deals

Related Tags: LG KU990 Viewty, N96, Nokia, Nokia 6220 Classic, Samsung U900 Soul

Related stories

    • Dell Mini 5 Gets Kindle Integration and New Name
    • Nokia E75 tech specs and pics
    • Nokia 8800 Arte review
    • Nokia 6220 Classic photos and specifications
    • HTC Touch HD unboxing

Subscribe to RSS or TrackBack URL

Leave a comment

 Username(*required)

 Email Address(*private)

 Website(*optional)

Please Note: Comment moderation maybe active so there is no need to resubmit your comments

Samsung reviews

  • Samsung Galaxy Portal i5700 Review
    Rating: 3
  • Samsung B5310 Genio Slide Review
    Rating: 4
  • Samsung R530 Review
    Rating: 3.5
  • Samsung Omnia 2 Review
    Rating: 3
  • Samsung X120 Review
    Rating: 3.5

Nokia reviews

  • Nokia 7230 Hands-on Review
    Rating: 4
  • Nokia 7230 Unboxed (Image Heavy)
  • Nokia X3 Review
    Rating: 4
  • Nokia X6 Review
    Rating: 3.5
  • Nokia Booklet 3G Review
    Rating: 3.5

Sony Ericsson reviews

  • Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Review
    Rating: 3
  • Sony Ericsson Naite review
    Rating: 3
  • Sony Ericsson Satio review
    Rating: 3
  • Sony Ericsson S312 Review
    Rating: 3
  • Sony Ericsson W205 review
    Rating: 3

LG reviews

  • LG GW620 InTouch Max Review
    Rating: 3.5
  • LG Viewty Lite Review
    Rating: 3
  • LG BL20 Chocolate review
    Rating: 3
  • LG GD510 Pop Review
    Rating: 3
  • LG GT505 Review
    Rating: 4

Motorola reviews

  • Motorola Milestone Review
    Rating: 4
  • MOTOZINE ZN5 review
    Rating: 3.5
  • MOTOROKR E8 review
    Rating: 3
  • Motorola U9 review
    Rating: 3
  • Motorola Z10 review
    Rating: 3.5

feeds Subscribe to RSS

Free Bluetooth Headset

Keep up with the latest from The Link Experts
Stay on top of the latest mobile news as it happens. Click on your favourite news aggregator below to automatically get the latest Link Experts news as it happens.

Add to Google Reader or Homepage

Add to My AOL

Add to netvibes

Subscribe in Bloglines

Powered by FeedBurner

My Zimbio

Free Bluetooth Headset
    Most wanted
  • LG Shine
  • Mobile broadband
  • Nokia 6500 Slide
  • Samsung J700
  • Sony Ericsson C902
  • Sony Ericsson K660i
  • Sony Ericsson K800
  • Sony Ericsson W580i
  • Samsung U900 Soul
    Sort by brand
  • 3
  • Apple
  • Archos
  • BlackBerry
  • CoPilot
  • Garmin
  • LG
  • Microsoft
  • Motorola
  • Navman
  • Nintendo
  • Nokia
  • Orange
  • Samsung
  • Sony
  • Sony Ericsson
  • T-Mobile
  • TomTom
  • Toshiba
  • Virgin
  • Vodafone
    Hot Topics
  • Nokia Samsung Sony Ericsson netbook Smartphone Android LG HTC touchscreen Blackberry Laptop Apple Windows 7 Asus Vodafone mobile Google Motorola T-Mobile QWERTY Acer 3G iPhone GPS Dell 10.1-inch handset Eee pc Windows Mobile Windows XP
Free next day delivery  |   Returns  |   Cashback  |   Terms & Conditions  |   Privacy Policy  |   Contact us  |   Help  |   Site Map  |   The Link Experts  |   RSS Feed

by DSG Retail Ltd. 2007     Powered by   100% secured payment   visa   visa electron   solo   mastercard   maestro

Registered in England No.504877. Registered Office: Maylands Avenue, Hemel Hempstead, Herts. HP2 7TG

Orange  |   T-Mobile  |   Three  |   Virgin Mobile  |   Vodafone  |   LG  |   Motorola  |   Nokia  |   Samsung  |   Sony Ericsson  |   Republic Publishing |   Cloud Hosting by Hyve |   Recycling