[Ben]

Ok, so, I'm actually starting to want one of these beasts now. I'm hearing some incredibly positive feedback so perhaps it's time to pool N95 feedback on one thread, giving us all an idea of how Nokia's flagship smartphone is performing in the real world.

Got a Nokia N95? Tell us about it here!

[Ben]

(This is the sort of thing that's got my pulse racing: http://www.cbfmobile.com/boards/showpost.php?p=106068&postcount=7 )

[Hands0n]

I've set my mind on one of these as and when the contract comes to renewal time! But thats not until well into the year, so I'll be enviously watching this thread.

[Ginz]

A few things I've said elsewhere..

The screen is beautiful, the slide has a nice click to it (but more below) the buttons are comfortably larger to use than my N73 and overall it seems to be a vast improvement.

I've seemingly got a somewhat limited edition handset being a CPW exclusive in 'Warm Graphite'. It's completely vanilla and unbranded which was quite a surprise.

Have been spending a lot of time today messing around with the new Nokia PC Suite having found a mini USB cable to connect up the N95. The music playing and transfer suite is top notch. It converts the files in to AAC+. Used up all the phone memory with about 40 music tracks (approx 160MB) and have a 2GB Mini SD card on the way for this reason. With the 3.5MM jack which I've been hoping and waiting for a while now on a Nokia this could essentially replace an iPod Nano with a 2GB mem stick full of music.

Also spent some time with the camera and have been impressed with the results. However, sometimes the pictures taken do take on a bit of an effect whereby they look like the setting has actually been painted.. maybe this is something to do with the sharpness etc.

So, yes, the phone is the most capable phone there has been.. I've been making use of most of the features and have been suitably impressed. The faster boot up times over N70/N73 are pleasing, the general faster navigating through the menus is notable.

However, it's not all 100% albeit the phone is the best phone I've ever had.. A few negatives I've posted.

The bluetooth on mine fails to function. It shows up on my laptop that a bluetooth transfer has been made successfully but on the phone it almost instantly says 'sending failed' and nothing sends.

GPS is a bit of a let down, it's not going to replace your TomToms.. When it first made a positioning it said I was in Berlin and started offering me local places nearby.. Then I went out with it and after 5 mins it found me where I was. Shortly after, it disconnected..

Have to say that the slider on mine isn't brilliant. On the right slide of the slider it feels really clicky.. Can't describe it but the left of the slider is solid and doesn't move yet the right side of the slider is slightly offset so when you touch it it flexes a bit. Slide your slide up a bit and then lightly press your thumb on the slider. Does it move at all or make any low squeaking noise?

One person on another forum has improvised with a torn to size post it note.. genius.

Been charging it yesterday overnight, it's down to 3 bars and it's been in use since around lunchtime today.. unbelievable.

[Ben]

Thanks for that, Ginz.

Annoying about your Bluetooth. I'm almost certain that must be an isolated issue, but I guess time will tell. GPS always likes to be outside, it needs a very clear path to the satellites to function properly. Even then yours sounds a little shaky, it'd be good to hear if your experiences improve over time.

The memory card - it's microSD, yes? Rather than miniSD. MicroSD being the really tiny one? The thought of buying another format of memory card doesn't have me jumping for joy. It's a shame the internal memory is on the small side.

The N95 has the full-on processing power of Nokia's latest communicator (330MHz I think), but half the RAM (64MB). Have you experienced any out of memory issues or errors?

Keep on enjoying! :D

[stuartturrell]

I shoudl imagine that the bluetooth is something to do with it being version 2 and your pc adapter not liking it? No problems here at all with my bluetooth.
Though i did haev on my N80 but lived with it, that usually started transferring but usually failed. I may have a USB bluetooth 2 adapter, maybe more compatability or something??! odd.

So far, no memory errors yet, but i thought the n95 had something like 160mb in the phone?!?

[Ben]

There's a difference between application memory and RAM. RAM's what you need to store open programs, and limits the multitasking capability of many modern phones. The N95 has half as much as the new communicator, but the same processor.

Thanks for the info! I'm very tempted :p

[Ginz]

Thanks for that, Ginz.

Annoying about your Bluetooth. I'm almost certain that must be an isolated issue, but I guess time will tell. GPS always likes to be outside, it needs a very clear path to the satellites to function properly. Even then yours sounds a little shaky, it'd be good to hear if your experiences improve over time.

The memory card - it's microSD, yes? Rather than miniSD. MicroSD being the really tiny one? The thought of buying another format of memory card doesn't have me jumping for joy. It's a shame the internal memory is on the small side.

The N95 has the full-on processing power of Nokia's latest communicator (330MHz I think), but half the RAM (64MB). Have you experienced any out of memory issues or errors?

Keep on enjoying! :D

Update.. Am on to my second handset now and the bluetooth issue is still prevalent.. It's an odd one because transfers from my phone and to other phones are fine.. transfers from my laptop to the N95 is also fine.. I've been sending Gmail, metro, MSN messenger etc to it no problem but transfers FROM the N95 to the laptop transfer fails instantly.. is certainly an interesting one to try and answer..

Getting a second handset, I've magically got rid of all creakiness, squeaking and looseness of the slider and I'm hugely happy about that because it was driving me crazy.

In another dramatic change of events.. I've had the phone on since about 10am this morning and the battery is still full.. this is unbelievable.. truly unbelievable.

Filled 1GB of the 2GB Micro SD card I got with music and with them encoded in the nokia 'mobile optimised' format that equates to 440 songs which again I think is quite incredible.. all in full stereo sound, it's like having a 1GB Shuffle IN MY PHONE! The other GB will go on videos.. maybe an episode or two of family guy!

[Seano]

I also am on my second handset, but I have to say the battery life is still a joke, even after initial overnight charging and then running totally flat twice now as advised I still am only getting around 7 hrs from the battery...:eek: and that is pretty much all on standby.....:( is anyone else having battery life issues.....?
Sean.

[stuartturrell]

Jeez, you got your GPS or wifi running or a app running all the time.

Certainly not getting that, i would say the battery life is little less than the n80, but i charge it every night anyway, but i dont get less than half drain a day.

[Bleubean]

I have just got myself the beauty on o2! Gotta say, im loving the experience! Im posting this from the phones browser! Oooo

[stuartturrell]

It is so much better than the N80, simply becuase of the faster processor it has, it makes browsing the web a lot better!

[3g-g]

I've noticed a couple of Nokia adverts about stating it's what the internet was made for, is the inbuilt browser a good-un?

[Ben]

It's an improvement on the N73's one, I believe, and that's already very good - the latest Nokia browsers have been fantastic!

[Seano]

Jeez, you got your GPS or wifi running or a app running all the time.

Certainly not getting that, i would say the battery life is little less than the n80, but i charge it every night anyway, but i dont get less than half drain a day.

Nope, nothing running in background AFAIK, have turned off wifi, have turned packet data to when needed,bluetooth off, and AFAIK gps is not running in the background either.. so I have no idea what is eating it up.....:confused: :(

[Ben]

Just reading the new What Mobile:

"In less than idea conditions the GPS receiver is as deaf as a post, while the battery is too small to cope with all the features. A standby time of one day isn't worst case, but something to hope for."

The handset gets 3/5 stars for performance, but 4/5 stars in all.

What do we think? A fair summary, or way off base?

[Hands0n]

Well, i don't have one but .... battery life was always going to be an issue with yet another power-consuming circuit installed (GPS).

[Slicker]

I have had my N95 for 3 days now and I must say I am very impressed! :)

I have not and any issues with it that I have read here and other places on the internet. I have had no crashes, my bluetooth is great (pc at work, home and my ck-7w in the car). Also using bluetooth with the pc suite as well and all is well.

I have not used the GPS yet so I can't really comment on that.

I got it from o2 direct so its an un branded phone although it does have the O2 startup screen.

Its a great phone! I am more than happy with it

[Hands0n]

Its a great phone! I am more than happy with it

Nice one, at the end of the day that is truly what counts - if its doing it for you then who's to say otherwise :)

My N95 (Vodafone) is on its way ........ should be here in the week.

[miffed]

Well , mine has pretty much Sat on the mantlepiece since buying it !

I am waiting for

A) The unlock code to arrive from Orange

B) Orange to introduce their £8 data flat rate

.... TBH the former would be best for me , but either will do - I have never , and do not intend using data at over £2 per MB thank you very much

So , from a purely "standby" point of view , I Charged Wendesday (16 hours) - so charging finished around 4 am Thursday - Made about 4 calls (long ones though , about 30 mins each - about 8 re-boots (waiting for sim to activate ) - and the battery drained to nothing by Sunday AM
So 72 hours standby + 2hrs + of talktime is pretty good going IMO
....Plus I have had a good play of the camera , and played around with nearly all the features while trying the "TV out" business out (Great fun !)

It is still showing a full battery now (Tuesday) after its charge sunday morning , but has had absolutely no ue whatsoever since then - be interesting to see how long it lasts on pure standby

[Ben]

I though the Orange data tariff was available, you just have to ask/push for it? Or did I dream that?

[miffed]

I though the Orange data tariff was available, you just have to ask/push for it? Or did I dream that?

Ah yes , but I don't want to talk to the idiots about it , I'd rather wait until it becomes available as an add on , on the website and then enable it with a couple of clicks , rather than talk to those numpties again and frustrate myself :)

[Hands0n]

Parcel Force arrived five minutes after my wait-in left the house, :(

I phoned PF to arrange delivery to another address, we were only in today, but the computer said "No", unless I get Vodafone to email/fax them :confused:

I half-heartedly called Vodafone CS (options 2, 4, 1 - Orders for new handsets) and spoke to a very energetic young lad who took my details, tapped away at the keyboard, took the Parcel Force reference number, some more taps and then announced that was "job done". The handset will be delivered to my alternate address tomorrow (Weds) so I get to play with it Thursday after a good charge, all being well.

I've always thought that Voda's CS was not at all bad - but I must say that, of late, they seem to have injected a certain degree of efficiency and competence, laced with a good dose of rather obvious enthusiasm. Others could learn a lot from Vodafone in that respect.

Now if they got their Data Tariffs right, like T-Mobile pretty much have, I'd be in 3G Nirvana! :cool:

[Hands0n]

It arrived, where they said it would, almost when it would too .....

So, this evening I had an agonising wait for the battery to charge up sufficient for me to start using it - I gave it 3 hours before the nerves got to me :D

Plum it is, in many interpretations of the word. And very fast too - is this really S60 - it feels more like S40 for its speed, but yes it is S60 and Speedy Gonzales would not be disappointed.

Sadly the SIP is crippled Vodafone stylee. I may do the product code change thing but seeing as I just bricked my 3 6680 :eek: I'm going to stay away from that for a few days .....

And now, its off to bed for both of us - to get a nice charge up for whatever tomorrow brings :)

[3g-g]

I may do the product code change thing but seeing as I just bricked my 3 6680 :eek: I'm going to stay away from that for a few days .....

A few days?! Jeez, when I get a new toy if anyone even walks into the same room as it I get touchy... and you're going to plug it into something connected to the mains!? You're a brave man...

[miffed]

Now's the best time to do it mate ! - with that evaluation period and all that :D

[Hands0n]

I slept. I feel braver now. I'll attend to matters tonight, probably :D

[SuperFlyTmobileGuy]

Mine arrived the other day and here is my assessment.

This is definately the most capable handset I've ever seen. At Tmobile I get to play with pre-release phones all the time but this one is certainly has the most potential. The first thing I wanted to check out was the camera - 5 megapixels was just too good to ignore. I've taken a load of shots and I have to say I'm quietly impressed although they do seem a little dark - as if the day was a bit cloudy. Still, I'm impressed.

The music player is excellent - the sound quality is very good although not as good as a SE Walkman phone - but the difference is miniscule.

The video camera took my breathe away. The clarity is incredible and is far superior to anything SE have at the moment. Even when you transfer it to a tv it's almost in the same class as a dedicated digicam.

The video playback was a disappointment - very jerky and spoilt the whole experience BUT if you download the latest firmware from Nokia this is completely eliminated.

I'm still making my way through all the applications but a word of advice, make you sure exit them once you've finished or it slows the phone right down. To select which ones to close, hold down the menu button for a few seconds.

The only thing which lets the phone down IMO is the build quality. It feels very plastic and I'm not sure it would survive if I dropped it. The slider doesn't feel as confident as a Samsung - I'd say it feels about the same as the Nokia 6280 for those who know what that's like.

SatNav is ok I suppose and helps when you want to locate your nearest bank, cash-point, petrol station etc but I have CoPilot on my Vario 2 which I use for driving.

The battery life isn't the greatest but bear in mind what this phone can do!

All in all I'd give it 8 out of 10.

[Hands0n]

I reckon that I'd have written pretty much what our good friend has above :) The N95 is an amazing bit of kit that does the job, overall, rather nicely. Of course it has a few shortcomings and in the Vodafone branding is somewhat crippled.

There is just that little bit too much mechanical sliding moving design in the N95 to inspire any confidence in its robustness against being dropped. For that reason, and that alone, I have gone against all of my principles and taken out the Vodafone handset insurance on this machine. I fully anticipate making a claim against it during the 18-month contract. If I don't it will be very much a surprise to me!

[miffed]

I must admit , I was a little dubious about the build quality - I had the "loose slider" on my Generic one from CPW , but on the T-mobile Branded one it is fine , no looseness at all , (not that it was a problem , I had remedied it adequately on the loose one , so it wasn't an issue for me)

The other concern was the back cover , I was concerned by the soft material that it is made out of , a sort of rubbery plastic , and also how easily it is removed - but on second thoughts, I think this is by design - and when you can buy a replacement back & battey cover for about £15 on Ebay , it make sense to have a back panel that absorbs a bit of impact & is replaceable
- this also seems to be the location of all physical branding (except on Vodafone )