Despite this, the menu keys are easy enough to prod. Similarly, the slide-out keypad with its finger-friendly rounded keys is a tidy piece of work.
The dual-mode sliding keypad action has been maintained. Slide the display down and you get a dedicated set of music player buttons. Slide it up and there’s the regular phone pad. On this model, slipping out the music keys doesn’t automatically present you with a multimedia menu or music player. It does, however, switch menu orientation into landscape format.
The dual-mode sliding keypad action has been maintained, down...
Round the back there’s been a change to the lens cover arrangement, which previously caused some users to accidentally activate the camera: it's been removed - cue more fuss about scratched lenses? The flash has also migrated to sit beside rather than below the lens when the phone's held in landscape orientation.
Most other buttonware and socketry around the phone is standard-issue N95. There are dedicated camera button and gallery review buttons, along with a volume/zoom control on one side, and a mini USB connector and charger socket on the bottom. The 3.5mm headphone jack is still on the side, though the original N95’s Micro SD card slot on the side is absent from the 8GB phone.
...and up
The lack of the MicroSD card expansion option reduces the simplicity of transferring or sharing content just by swapping cards, or upgrading sat nav software simply by slipping in a different Micro SD. Hooking up to a PC via the USB and transferrign content using Nokia’s supplied Nseries PC Suite software is likely to be the most used option with the N95 8GB. Alternatively, you can use Bluetooth.
Over-the-air downloading is high on the N95 8GB’s can-do list. It’s one of the first N series devices to come pre-loaded with Nokia Music Store software, providing an off-network way of filling up with more tunes, albeit at 80p a track.
COMMENTS
@ Jason
Me thinks you have the original N95 and are now sour grapes. As for no camera cover, I like it, I've had many phones with open lenses, and have never scratched one yet. If you're that bothered then get a screen protector (A crystal one) and cut it down to size.
I own an N95 8GB and can quite honestly say it's the best bit of kit I've ever owned, in relation to build qualitly, support, features ect.
Battery life
I've never understood the complaints about N95 battery life. After conditioning the battery and a few charge-cycles later, and I get 3+ days on standby if I don't use the phone too much. Not great, but not awful either - certainly way better than the <1 day some people report. Can only assume that they are leaving WiFi scanning on permanently or something..
Oh and the assisted GPS is fantastic - around 20 secs to get a fix.
old 4Gb version
slap the latest v20 firmware onto the older 4Gb version and its almost the same - more battery, faster responses, faster startup, and much better camera interaction. still, the 8Gb does give you more 'working memory' (not the 4Gb of extra storage memory!) and the GPS is better.
sadly
it's still a humongous hunk of cheapish plastic. Admittedly, that plastic feels better than one used in the first version.
And another El Reg review that is sorta late. But thank you for making it a written one!
soft-keys and screen labels
Is it just me or do the soft-keys look to be too far away from the on-screen labels? Why couldn't they put the 'Nokia' branding on top of the screen? Then the buttons could be bigger too.
