Nokia N95 gets close-up preview

WE'VE MANAGED TO get our hands on a prototype of the hotly anticipated Nokia N95 phone.

The new N95 is packed with a plethora of features.

A 3G phone with a five mega-pixel camera, HSDPA, Wifi, Bluetooth, and even built-in GPS, all make this phone one of the most eagerly awaited mobiles for sometime.

Various phone resellers have placed a March 20th release date on the phone, and with only weeks away until we get a final-build unit, we're giving you a sneak preview of what to expect by the end of this month.

The main feature of the phone that really sets it apart from bog-standard mobiles is the built-in GPS. This is a significant boon, and coupled with Nokia's free mapping software, this should be a key-selling point of this new unit.

Unfortunately the GPS doesn't work in our prototype model as they're still ironing some bugs out - but we'll endeavour to bring you the full low-down when we receive a final review unit in a few weeks time.

A quick shot of the phone, with the keypad and multimedia keys closed:

From the back:

The slide-out keypad:

Additional multimedia keypad slider:

The right side:

The left side:

We've even put a mini video preview up on Youtube for your viewing pleasure. It's only quick and shows you the size of the phone and a quick glimpse of the GUI.

Here's some pictures taken with the 5 megapixel camera, which comes coupled with Carl Zeiss optics, and a service that allows you to upload your photos directly to Flikr. You can see that this is no standard photo camera - the images are of a very high quality.

What can we conclude about this phone in its current state? Despite its prototype form, a few bugs, and the lack of working GPS in this unit, its easy to realise that this phone is going to be a huge hit.

Though there are smartphones on the market that do similar things, nothing comes in a small, mobile-phone like, compact package such as the N95, with all of the features the Nokia has.

For instance the similar sized HTC P3300 (aka O2 Xda Orbit etc) has GPS included, but a 2 megapixel camera and no 3G support, let alone HSDPA.

The much bulkier HTC P4350 has a keyboard and 3G support, but a 1.3 megapixel camera and no GPS built-in.

The Apple iPhone has no 3G support, nor does it have GPS included. It contains a 2 megapixel camera.

Suffice to say, this light, feature-rich phone is going to be ubiquitous by the end of the year.

A full review of a fully working and finished Nokia N95 will hopefully appear later this month. and a review of the new Nokia E65 will appear later this week. µ

See Also
HTC P3300 Windows Mobile reviewed
Nokia to offer free mapping software
Nokia N800 examined up-close
Nokia is winning the price war