Nokia N96 User Opinion

thephantom_2

Please give me your reviews about this phone

ease of use
battery life
reception
key board
build quality
gps performance

any reviews will be much appreciated

simon211175

I've not had one, mainly due to hating nokias - but I've read lots of opinions already about it (I was due an upgrade and thought of getting one to sell). Word on the street is that it's rubbish - a complete downgrade from the N95 it was meant to replace. The build quality is poor, battery is abysmal and reception is not as good as most other phones. They can fix the software glitches, but the build won't change - I'd steer clear and go for the Samsung i8510, a truly excellent Symbian phone.

Tigert

My opinion - Loved it for the 1st 2 weeks. Then started to hate it. Despite software upgrades, it still crashed randomly, the menus are slow and occaisionally i would get seemingly random call divert indicators show up, regardless of whether they should or not. BBC Iplayer was good though!

Took mine back and got an E71 which is great and suits me far better.

On your specific criteria (Marks out of 5)

Ease of use : 2
Battery Life : 3 (okay but I used wifi a lot and it rarely lasted the day)
Reception : 4
Keyboard : 4
Build Quality : 4 (good but not excellent some plastic bits don't feel strong)
GPS Performance : 3 (Not great in the car but fine out of it)

claire6hy

i got an n85, which they say is actually better
and i love it :D

easy to use, battery is pretty good for what the phone does, easy to text etc

adamphillips

some interesting points between n85 and n95 at
http://www.n95users.com/forum/general-95/17559-n85-vs-nokia-n95-n96-3g-wifi-whats-difference.html

nickmack

If you read my previous posts on the N96, you'll see I'm not a fan.

The battery should have been better and one of the main features, the DVB-H unfortunately isn't yet available in the UK. The CPU should have been quicker.

In my book, it's not really an upgrade from the N95/8GB.

Depending on what's important to you, I'd recommend the N85 or Samsung i8510.

Skint_Catt

Thanks - the N96 was my second choice (first being 5800 but not hopeful!) might ask if they have N95's. Third choice was 6600 slide.

Samuraiman89

As a former N95 user, I was apprehensive about the N96 as I didn't feel the handset had an significant improvements over the N95, but after using the handset for a while here are my thoughts.

1) Ease of Use.

As like all Nokia's, the phone is a doddle to use. My mother (whom has no grasp of English) can use this phone fairly easily as the menus and options are designed and placed very logically.

2) Battery life.

The phone has poor battery performance. On minimal usage the phone will last for roughly 2 days. On heavy usage will last 1 day, requiring a charge nightly.

3) Reception.

This phone has excellent reception, though you will need to factor in the network you are/ will be on. On Orange, the phone has impeccable reception and is visibly more receptive than the N80 and occasionally N95.

4) Keyboard

The keyboard is flat, meaning texting and any activity requiring you to diffrentiate between keys can be difficult at first. I was very concerned about this initially but after perservering for a couple of hours, my fingers became used to the design and this was no longer a problem.

5) Build Quality

Many people have commented on the plasticky feel of this handset, and I agree to some extent. The unit's face is very large, and perfect for viewing photos and what nots, and the slide function is very strong and smooth, a considerable improvement over the N95's. The back however is quite flimsy, as it creaks when pushed against and will most likely break/ fall off if dropped.

6) GPS

The maps program is very clear, though I haven't used the GPS function yet.

7) Other features

I feel I have to mention that the phone is quite slow when moving from menu to menu and the photo viewing quality is poor compared to the N95, especially the zooming function which becomes pixellated very often.

The sound/ music quality/ volume from the speakers has also declined from the N95, despite both units sharing the same components.......but is still SIGNIFICANTLY better than the Samsung Tocco and Sony C905, which I tested. Ironically, with the absence of the N95, the N96 may be the best in this field.

The MP3 player function used in conjunction with some good earphones is very good and comparable with the iPod Video and the new Nano.

The Wireless Internet Browsing seems to be bugged as of version11, as my connection is very unstable. Now whether it's my handset that is causing the problems or not, this is a feature that is very unreliable....for the moment.

The best feature by far is the 16GB memory.