N95 v E65

[gorilla]

I'm going to keep this short as you all know about the N95.

Looks:
I love the E65. It's simple, sleek, elegant.
I'm not overly taken by the N95. Resembles the N80 for me. I can't put my finger on it, but I think its chunkiness puts me off.

Size, weight etc:
The N95 is bigger than the E65, but lighter.
The E65 is neater and feels heavy in comparison to the N95. Having said that, the E65 is a solid phone. I get the feeling that dropped on a hard surface such as a road it will damage the road! The N95 on the other hand feels plastic and fragile. Whether it is or not is another debate.

I would say the battery lives are comparable.

As a media device the E65 sucks. Pop port headset, no radio, crap music player etc. However with a few addon's it is respectable. The lack of a radio was initially a shock, but with three's coverage here being good I have been able to stream radio stations with great ease.

There's no point mentioning the camera. It's, well a 2mp camera, on a phone. It's ok for taking a snap of someone to use as their thumbnail.

I've not had much of a play with the N95's media capabilities but I'm going to say it's good. Certainly far superior to the E65. It has no problem handling divx movies either (via addon).

The UI:
I've said it before and I'll say it here now, but I thought the UI in the E65 was fine, sluggish, perhaps, but better than the N80.
Well not any longer. The N95 flies in comparison. (I will add here that since the firmware upgrde on the E65 more ram has become available)

I'll probably us the n95 as main phone, but I'll note disposing of the E65 just yet.

Will that do? I'm happy to take questions.

[Hands0n]

Nice review comparison, interesting differences seen. These two handsets are coming from different angles, n'est pas? The E65 is rated as a "Business" phone whereas the N95 comes from the multimedia general-purpose-all-things-to-all-men stable.

Every time I look at the E65 I cannot get the Nokia 6280 out of my mind - these two look so very similar. But I tend to feel that the N95 is a class above anything in the E series handsets. Even allowing for the seemingly more flimsy design of the N95, what it comes with is so very comprehensive. To my mind, comparing the E65 and N95 is like comparing a budget PC with a high-end PC or Mac respectively.

Questions; what is it about the E65 that floats your boat, spins your wheels etc.? You obviously have quite a passion for the device. The N95 seems to be winning you over, albeit slowly. Do you think that you see your future in the N series now? :)

For sure, I have been very critical of the N95 - but I now have two of the darned things (Voda and T-Mobile). They, for me, represent the current pinnacle of mobile phone technology. Far from perfect, quite far, but the best there currently is for sheer flexibility.

[miffed]

Personally I am more of an 'e' than an 'n' man
For me , the E61 was a far better device than the N95 , the general robustness , plus the whole thing seemed to work better generally
One thing I could not get my head around with the n95, is why the screen was left uncovered ? I think this makes the device more vunerable than it needs to be - whereas the e61 has a hard screen cover and aluminum casing ,
Ever seen an N95 after a few months of normal use? (i.e. not treating it like a baby) , The ones I have seen are not pretty at all , the front slider appears to chip easily , but by far the worst problem is the chrome plating flaking off the buttons - this allows the backlight to shine through , looking like a cheap worn out xmas decoration or a childs toy !
Certainly wouln't buy another one

[Ben]

Thanks for the comparison.

The E65 seems to be an awesome business device, a force to be reckoned with. It's just so robust, it feels solid and reliable and is damn small!

The N95, on the other hand, is a very different beast. I'm encouraged that you say the UI is faster, as I'm looking for a 'fast' phone to replace my N73, which really suffered towards the end - particularly when it came to SMS.

Hopefully the 'quality' issues have been better addressed in the N95 8GB. Better internals and a higher capacity battery, plus the slightly bigger screen, should allow this handset to sell well over the Christmas period, even despite the iPhone. I think it's the one I'll be getting... but we'll see.

I'd love an E65 as a second phone, but I want something to bring the multimedia for my main.

[Hands0n]

Is the E65 HSDPA? I don't think it is ....

[hecatae]

E65 is not HSDPA but has got EDGE, the E51 is HSDPA, and looks a very good replacement.

http://europe.nokia.com/A4546299

[Ben]

Wow, that looks like a killer business phone. Not as good looking as the E65, but a killer.

[gorilla]

Questions; what is it about the E65 that floats your boat, spins your wheels etc.? You obviously have quite a passion for the device. The N95 seems to be winning you over, albeit slowly. Do you think that you see your future in the N series now?

I just think the E65 does being a mobile phone very well. It might lack a few bells and whistles (GPS etc) but for the most part it is the complete package for me.

Having said that...it is probably a bit dated now. Having played with the N95 a bit more, I can see that HSDPA is a vast improvement over 3g. Mobile data has never been so good.

The N series is edging towards being the ultimate convergence device.

I am slightly concerned about the durability of the N95. It feels cheap and the screen (I'm sure) can be easily damaged.

A better like for like comparison might be between the N80 and the N95. In this case the improvement is huge. This being my 3rd S60 phone, you can tell that the platform is being developed and is getting better (faster).