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Reviewer puts prototype Nokia N96 to test

Conclusion: stick with your N95

Nokia's N96, the follow up to the popular N95, isn't even out until the summer, but someone's got his hands on a prototype and given it a write-up. The conclusion: don't chuck out your N95 just yet.

Nokia N96

Nokia's N96: really any better than the N95?

The pre-release N96 was picked up by Russian site Mobile Review, and it's really gone to town on the handset, snapping it from almost every conceivable angle.

All of which really just reveals that the N96 does what the N95 does, and then some. It looks nicer and is thinner too.

The site felt that the protoype was too far off the production version to determine the build quality, speed and reliability of the version we'll be able to buy, but it reckons the only real advantages the N96 offers over the N95 are a more stylish look, a bigger screen and its enhanced TV and video functionality.

Nokia N96 with kickstand

Built-in DVB-H receiver

Yes, the N96 has a DVB-H receiver built in, but how many punters will be able to use it to watch telly?

Of course, the site's review is coloured by the fact that the price of phones likes the N95 and N96 aren't subsidised by local carriers, so it concludes that the features the N96 offers over the N95 won't be worth the price premium the new machine will carry.

The N96 is due to go on sale this coming summer for €550 ($866/£435) before local sales taxes and network subsidies, if any, are applied.

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Latest Comments

@Steve Evans

I've just got an N82 and the GPS receiver in it is fantastic - in sharp contrast to my experience with the early N95. It can get a lock indoors in a few seconds and outside virtually instantly. I'm sure the N96 will follow suit. Now Nokia just have to get the Maps software up to scratch, but we know that is coming soon.

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Batteries

Batteries seem to have been a problem with Nokai uber phones for a while.

my N73 drains batteries quicker than 'el-reg' journo's down pints of the amber nectar!

seems things havent moved on?

when are we to see a real phone that really impresses?

having had a mobile phone since the Sony mars bar phone, i remember the days when call costs where 37p a minute on top your monthly rental.......

there have been a few good nokias over the years, the matrix phone, the subsequent "corporate phone" and the 6210 etc, even a few nice panasonics, sonys and motos.

but nothin any more really wow's me?

the fact the same phone is rolled out every 4 months with a new colour or slightly increased storage or some such, even touch screens, internet or gps (so now someone always know where i am - why ot just chip me).

did i forgot to mention that the N73 ... used the fancy features such as web, slingplayer, maps etc and most of it is still way to slow and clunky for an real use even on 3G.

when can i get hotmail, gmail and yahoo all on the sam phone withou MS mobile $%£

af for the iphone, as with all their products, someone has designed a nice looking box to wrap, and some stlyish lookign gui but functioality it closed and locked down and its slow?

so whats the real deal, wahts gonna float my boat?

whats the real paradigm shift?

will teh atom or mighty google acutally produce anything i want to buy?

yes, i will in the interim upgrade to another dull unispiring insipid phone, ultiamlt the cost is the same whether i do or dont, so there for i do!?

did i mention the toss around DVB-H..... hows that going to work - you try getting a normal dvb set tip box to wrk in half of london and its pants, tey and get to work on the move on london transport? ha! or is it another manyana ? (obviosuly if i wanted to watch dvb at home i would put on my 42" tv - not my 3" phone? with the analogue switch off the service will be great? in which case dvb phones are useless untill 2012? (by which time acording to the mayans we will all be dead)

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Battery guys...

Unfortunately Nokia don't seem to have fixed the one thing about the N95 that really needs fixing: the battery. The N95 is a great phone but the battery life is abysmal. If you use the camera or music player as well as the phone it's very rare, in my experience, that the battery will last the whole day. If I don't charge it every night and I might get a call then I don't dare use it on the second day so the battery might last until I get home.

I don't give a flying about DVB-H or the bigger screen. Nokia, please give me an N95 with a decent amount of flash, a card slot, buttons I can fit my fingers on and a battery that lasts me at least 3 days of reasonable use including a few photos and some music for on the train.

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Hmmm,

...digital TV support, sounds fine, but it isn't a reason good enough to switch, I'm fine with my 6280 for now, thanks :)

Paris, 'coz she will buy it just because of the improved design

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Nokia stalled...

I agree, stick with the old N95...

Nokia seem to have had a technological stall, and replaced it with an Appleesk urge to make things look pretty.

I have the original N95. My boss has the N95 8gig. Okay, the 8g has a bigger screen, which is nice, but the buttons have been squashed up to the point that they are hard to use, and the removal of the microSD slot (cos we all know it's just been used inside for the 8gig) is a serious pain in my book. I'm always swapping the cards on my N95.

The N96 doesn't seem to add anything of any use... TV? Errr, right.. Great. How about a better GPS chipset and a real flash on the camera?

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