The Nokia N95 was arguably the phone of 2007. Despite being out-specced by some of the more powerful smartphones out there (LG's Viewty) and overshadowed by the hype of (Apple's iPhone), the N95 went on to shift thousands of units and become one of the most sought after handsets going. Described by GSM Arena as "Nokia's crown jewel" the N95 is still in demand over a year after its release back in March 2007.
Maybe it's the pin-sharp auto-focus enhanced 5 Megapixel camera, the DVD-like quality of the video capture (30 frames per second), the innovative dual slide design, or the integrated music and video player with dedicated media keys, or maybe it's all of the above. Even if that was all the N95 had to offer, the demand would still be understandable, but it doesn't stop there. As well as all of the top-end high powered features mentioned above, the N95 also boasts high speed internet access. Viewing web pages on the large 2.6" TFT display capable of pumping out 16 million colours is a treat, and gives the N95 the feel of a micro laptop, sans keyboard obviously.
The GPS mapping function, holding maps for 100 countries and 15 millions places of interest, means that the N95 doubles as an all in one sat-nav – plug the charger into the cigarette lighter and turn call barring on (we here at Mobile Phones encourage safe driving), and you have a fully functional interactive roadmap. It runs the latest version of the Nokia web browser with MiniMap, so you can view entire pages from a distance and zoom in to specific parts. Whilst basic satnav support is included as standard, for longer journeys you may want to opt for voice-assisted support, and unfortunately there is a charge for this.
Earlier we mentioned the dual slide design of the N95. The standard numerical keypad slides out from the bottom section of the phone, and operates in the same way as a standard keypad would, used for making calls, and accessing the main menu. Set up at the other end of the handset there is a separate slide-out section which holds four keys, Play/Pause, Stop, and Skip Forward/Back – these keys are dedicated multimedia keys, used exclusively for playing music and film and browsing.Set up at the other end of the handset there is a separate slide-out section which holds four dedicated multimedia keys – Play/Pause, Stop, and Skip Forward and Back – used exclusively for playing music and video.
The music player supports a number of formats (MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA) and you can use your favourite pair of headphones with the 3.5mm jack. The N95 has 160MB of internal memory and a microSD slot upgradeable to 2GB, so you have plenty of room to play with. As with previous Nokia N series phones, the music player has an equalizer, allowing audiophiles to achieve that sound, and a feature which automatically pauses tracks for any incoming calls, resuming play as soon as the call has finished. Music stored on the N95 can also be played on your TV via the TV-Out cable, or through Nokia's Music Stand speakerphone set – this is where the DVD-like quality of the video really becomes apparent.
The only real downside of the N95 is that all those nice high flying functions really eat into the battery – daily charges are an absolute must. The ingeniously integrated GPS system also charges you if you want to use anything other than the basic satnav service, such as voice assisted directions. This plus the battery drain are the only two real gripes we have with an otherwise perfect handset.
