Nokia N95 Cell Phone Review - Hardware
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Alfredo Padilla Published on May 08, 2007 Comment on this |
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Keypad
Text Words Per Minute (5.86)
To test how easy it is to type on the Nokia N95 we used the notes application to enter a short sentence using predictive text entry and two hands. We repeat this test five times and then take the average for our score. The Nokia N95 took an average of 32.78 seconds to enter this text, for a words per minute (WPM) score of 29.28. This is significantly slower than the Nokia N73's 34.9 words per minute, and lags behind the Sanyo M1's 36.4 WPM and the Sprint Upstage's 37.5 WPM. The Nokia N95 was hurt by the poor design of its keypad. Although it is larger than the N73, the keys are raised in the center and slippery, leading to an inordinate number of errors. We usually type for quite a bit with the keypad before we attempt this test, but even after familiarizing ourselves with it we found ourselves making constant mistakes. T9 and Auto Complete (5.0)
Like other Series 60 handsets the Nokia N95 has T9 predictive text entry. You cannot use this feature in all places, for example when entering a web address it is not available. Word completion is not available on the Nokia N95, an unfortunate omission.
One Hand Usability (6.48)
We also run our typing test using a single hand. We use the same sample sentence and again use predictive text, repeating the test five times and taking the average for our score. The N95 actually did better in our one handed test than it did when we used two hands, a rarity. We were able to enter o ur sample text in an average of 29.64 seconds, for a words per minute (WPM) score of 32.4. This puts it more in line with the Nokia N73, which scored 32.85 WPM in our one handed test. We did find that holding the phone one handed was slightly unbalanced, and made our hand ache after awhile.
Keypad Backlighting (8.0)
The Nokia N95 has a light blue backlight for its keypad. This backlight does a good job of illuminating both the numbers and the symbols on the keys. As with other Series 60 handsets the duration control is the same as that used for the screen. The phone uses a light sensor to tell when the keypad backlight needs to be used, thus saving on battery power.
Controls
D-Pad/Joystick (3.0)
The directional pad on the Nokia N95 is not good. Not only is it very small, but the center select key is raised very high, which means that we often made mistaken presses when trying to move in one direction or another. Although not as bad as the touch controls on phones like the LG Chocolate or Sprint Upstage, it is significantly worse than the directional pad on the Treo 750 or the joystick on the N73. We wish that Nokia had taken advantage of the empty real estate around the control keys to create a larger and more usable directional pad. Touch Screen (0.0)
The Nokia N95 does not have a touch screen.
Jog Dial (0.0)
The Nokia N95 does not have a jog dial.
Soft Buttons (3.0)
The soft keys on the Nokia N95 are located on the upper part of the slim silver band that runs around the control keys. This band is raised slightly above the keys that it surrounds, but is still a litle difficult to find by feel. The soft keys are very narrow, and provide very little tactile feedback when pressed. Although we had issues with them, we found the soft keys on the Nokia N73 to be better. The soft keys on the T-Mobile Dash and Treo 750 were significantly better.
Volume Control (4.0)
The volume keys on the Nokia N95 are located on the right side of the phone near the top. They double as zoom keys when using the camera. We were a little dissapointed that the volume keys were only functional when audio is actually playing or when you are actually in a call. This means you cannot use them to change ringer volume as you would on a regular phone. The keys themselves are small and plasticky, feel squishy and have very little tactile feedback when pressed. We were not very impressed with them.
Power and Standby (7.0)
The power key on the Nokia N95 is a single round key located on the top of the device. A long press on this button will turn the phone on or off, while a short press when the phone is on will bring up a quick menu where you can change your profile. The key is slightly recessed to avoid mistaken presses, a feature we appreciated. Although it is a little out of the way, this is not as big a deal for a power key that you won't use too often, and it is a boon to have it in a place where you won't hit it accidentally.
Other Buttons (6.0)
In addition to the keys we discussed above the Nokia N95 has several other buttons. To the left and right of the directional pad respectively are a menu key and a multimedia key. The menu key takes you to the main applications menu, while a long key brings up a menu of all the currently running applications. Two quick presses on this key will take you to the active standby screen. The multimedia key takes you to a carousel menu of "multimedia" applications, or directly to the music player with a long press. As we've discussed, the multimedia menu is user configurable. We found that the multimedia key is a little redundant, and also found it surprising that these keys were made so large, especially when compared to the very small keys on the silver ridge around them.
Speaking of that silver ridge, there are two additional keys on it below the directional pad. These keys are the Series 60 standard pencil and "C" keys. The pencil key is used to change input method and gives you access to clipboard functionality. The "C" key functions as a backspace. You will also find some extra keys on the right side of the device near the bottom. These are a dedicated shutter button and a key that launches the gallery for viewing photos and videos. We found the additional keys on the Nokia N95 to be generally useful with the exception of the multimedia key, which we found redundant. Unfortunately none of these buttons can be reassigned by the user.
Display
Primary Screen Gross Resolution (8.0)
The Nokia N95 sports a QVGA (240 x 320) resolution display. This has become standard for mid to high end handsets and provides a good resolution for viewing video or photos, although we can't say we wouldn mind seeing VGA screens on some consumer handsets soon. Our score for screen resolution is standardized based on the total number of pixels the display supports.
Primary Screen Pixels per Inch (7.69)
Pixels Per Inch (PPI) is a measure of how densly pixels are packed into the screen. Higher pixel density leads to richer colors and clearer displays. The Nokia N95's screen packs 153.8 pixels per inch. This is an average score, slightly lower than the Nokia N73 due to the N95's larger screen size at the same resolution. It is significantly lower than the Sanyo M1 or LG Chocolate, which both have pixel densities over 200 PPI.
Screen Physical Size (6.5)
The Nokia N95's screen measure 2.6" diagonal. This is larger than the N73's 2.4" screen and is significantly larger than the 2.1" standard that has emerged for many handsets. The larger screen size provides more real estate for viewing documents or surfing the web, although as you saw above it does slightly reduce the N95's pixel density.
Screen Brightness (4.85)
To measure screen brightness we point the phone's browser at a white web page and set the screen backlight to maximu. We then measure how bright the screen is using a lux meter from two inches away. The Nokia N95 scored 72 lux in our test. This is not as bright as the Nokia N73's excellent score of 95 lux, but is better than the Treo 750's 60 lux or the Sprint Upstage's 44 lux. Desipite the fact that the N95 has a sensor for ambient light the screen brightness did not adjust automatically. You do have the option of 5 settings for screen brightness. 72
Screen Bright Light Performance (10.0)
did very well, the best I have ever seen a phone do, was able to read everything clearly and easily.
Color Depth (10.0)
Color depth is a measure of how many colors the screen can display. The more colors it is able to display the more true colors will appear on the screen. The Nokia N95's screen is able to display an impressive 16 million colors. This is significantly more than the 65,000 color standard that we see on Windows Mobile phones, and even blows away the Nokia N72, which was able to display 262,144 colors. Our score for color depth is standardized depending on how many colors the screen can display.
Ports & Storage
Power & Data Ports (5.0)
The Nokia N95 departs from previous Nokia N-Series phones in that it exchanges the proprietary Pop-Port for a much more standard Mini-USB port. This is a move we appluad as it allows users who have several Mini-USB devices to use a single cable to connect their devices to their computers. We were dissapointed however that Nokia did not take this opportunity to use the Mini-USB port for power as well, instead they stuck with their "slim" design Nokia charging port, as seen on the Nokia N73 and other modern Nokia phones. You also can't use the Mini-USB port for USB charging. We hope that in the future Nokia moves away from their poprietary charging port and uses the Mini-USB for both data and power. Headphone & Jack Compatibility (8.0)
The Nokia N95 has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, which means you can use standard headphones without the need of an adaptor. We applaud Nokia for making this transition. We were also happy to see support for A2DP and AVRCP, which are used for wireless bluetooth headphones.
Internal Storage (1.0)
The Nokia N95 has 160MB of internal storage. This is significantly more than most phones, for example the N73 included only 42MB of internal memory, while most modern Windows Mobile devices include 128MB. Of course not all of this memory is available as some is used by the operating system, and of course if you want to store many of those 5 megapixel photos or music and video you will find that 160MB fills up quick. Still, we are glad to see that the N95 provides users with a bit more breathing room than standard.
Expansion Slot & Format (5.5)
As with most modern cell phones that have expansion slots (at least those not manufactured by Sony) the Nokia N95 uses Micro SD for adding memory. Micro SD cards are currently available up to a maximum of 2GB, which lags behind Mini SD and full sized SD cards, but you should start seeing larger cards later this year. The Micro SD slot on the N95 is located on the bottom left part of the phone and is protected by a hard plastic cover that is connected to the body. We found that the it was a bit fiddly to hold the cover back while inserting/removing the card, but we were happy to see that the slot was spring assisted.
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