| Nokia N96: Multi-Media Magic |
| Written by Adam Gosling | |
| Thursday, 14 February 2008 | |
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Nokia
has evolved its previous top of the line N95 8GB with the release of
the N96, a longer, slightly slimmer and fatter device that packs double
the storage, DVB-H TV, cool backlit N-Gage controls, a little kick
stand to make it sit up and beg and finally, decent thigh speed
broadband with HSDPA support. It weighs a couple of grams lighter than
its predecessor too.
Nokia has optimised this device for watching video with the inclusion of a very neat looking foldaway stand that lets you sit the handset up at an angle for easy TV viewing, if you are lucky enough to be in a country where DVB-H TV is being transmitted, that is. Of course in other regions of Europe and Asia (including Australia) where HSDPA networks are prolific you can watch the streaming video provided by your carrier thanks to the high speed 3.5G capabilities of the standard. The phone is equipped with the Nokia Video Center, which offers a single interface to discover and access a variety of mobile content ranging from movie trailers and comedy to news from world-leading content brands such as YouTube, Reuters, and Sony Pictures. The Nokia N96 supports common video formats including MPEG-4, Windows Media Video and Flash Video (such as YouTube). The phone has a whopping 16GB of storage on-board and that can be boosted with the addition of an 8GB microSDHC Card taking this to a (higher than the new iPhone) total of 24GB and a seriously impressive 60 hours of video content. The N96 is a dual-slide like the N95 and has a nice, large 2.8-inch QVGA screen, so watching video will be comfortable enough, but if you aren't into that, there's plenty of other great ways the N96 makes use of its display. The device is a pretty reasonable camera with 5 megapixels and Carl Zeiss optics all lit up with a Dual LED camera flash and video light that will not only grab photos in low light conditions, but will shoot DVD-like quality video at a healthy 30 frames per second. Once you've snapped your shots, the N96 has the same integrated A-GPS (assisted GPS) and geotagging features found in other new Nokia which allow you to link location data to the photos so your friends and family can see where you've been when you upload the pics to a photo sharing site or other online community. Of course with GPS on-board you get all the other advantages of Nokia's personal navigation system Nokia Maps which now offers richer maps with urban details and satellite views and has upgrade options such as City Guides, turn-by-turn pedestrian mode and voice-guided car navigation. Alternatively you could use the screen to play your favourite N-Gage games, thanks to the new back-lit game control buttons and the navigation button that serves as a D-Pad. The gaming buttons actually morph depending on your activity, so if it's music your after, the controls will function for play, stop, forward and rewind as you playback your tunes. Same applies for video content of course. In short this little puppy has just about everything you could imagine in a mobile phone, but you won't find it at all until at least the third Quarter when it will hit the streets with an estimated sales price of approximately 550 euros, before subsidies or taxes. Nokia N96 Features and Specifications Video and TV
Music
Maps and Navigation
Photos
Explore
Technical Profile
Media
Main Camera
Operating Times
Connectivity & Data Services
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