Nokia N95 With US 3G Support Cell Phone Review - Audio Quality
We use professional audio testing hardware and software to test the quality of audio produced and received by the Palm Centro. To simulate the human ear when testing the N95 we used a Head and Torso Simulator (HATS), and to analyze the sound sent and received by the phone we used an electro-acoustic analysis program
SoundCheck. This is the same combination used by many handset manufacturers. For more details on how we test see this
article.
Sound Receive Frequency Response (6.51)
Perhaps due to the very small speaker, the quality of the sound received by the N95 (such as someone talking to you) was weak. The frequency response of the phone (shown by the blue line) dipped outside of the limits set in the standard we use (shown by the red lines), and had some significant peaks and troughs. In particular, lower frequencies in the human speech range were somewhat suppressed, while the higher frequencies were slightly exaggerated. We expect a phone to have a slightly stronger response for higher frequencies (which is why the limits for those higher frequencies are higher), but the N95 went a bit too far in this prespect, and voices would sound . But this exaggeration isn’t huge, and our tests show that the sound that the N95 produces from incoming calls is acceptable. It's not great, but it's not bad.
| Cell Phone |
Nokia N95 With US 3G (unlocked, on AT&T)
|
BlackBerry 8320 (on AT&T) |
Apple iPhone (On AT&T) |
| Score |
6.51 |
7.03 |
7.58 |
| Received Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) |
 |
 |
 |
|
Sound Send Frequency Response (7.9)
This test measures the quality of sound sent by the N95 with US 3G support. This is how your voice sounds to the person on the other end of the call. The N95 scored well in this test, with the frequency response of the N95 with US 3G staying within the frequency limits we test against in most of the range. The only problem we noticed was that it bumped against the top end of the limits, and was a touch high on the lower frequencies. But these are minor problems; generally the sent sound quality of the N95 was good. Interestingly, this new version of the N95 was slightly better than the original N95; Nokia seem to have have tweaked the way it compresses the sound or improved the microphone.
| Cell Phone |
Nokia N95 With US 3G (unlocked, on AT&T)
|
BlackBerry 8320 (on AT&T) |
Apple iPhone (On AT&T) |
| Score |
7.9 |
7.51 |
7.57 |
| Sent Sound Frequency Response Graph (click to view) |
 |
 |
 |
|
Handset Side Tone (8.19)
Side tone is the small amount of your own voice that the N95 pipes back into your ear so you can hear how loud you are speaking. Too much side tone makes you think you are speaking to loudly, making you whisper. Too little makes you feel like shouting. The N95 was pretty much spot on in this test: just under two decibels off the 18 decibel ideal that we test against.
