Nokia N95 With US 3G Support Cell Phone Review - Organizer

Richard Baguley
Published on December 17, 2007 Comment on this

Synchronization Ease of Use (6.67)
The Nokia N95 ships with Nokia PC Suite software for synchronization. This software is simple to install and connections to the device are quick and easy via a USB or Bluetooth connection. You can manage not only your PIM synchronization with Outlook from PC Suite, but also synchronize media like photos, music and video. On a Mac you can synchronize PIM information using the Mac's iSync utility, but only over Bluetooth, not USB.

PC Suite allows you to synchronize you calendar, contacts, notes and tasks with Outlook. Contact photos are synchronized over as well. Synchronization is supported via USB or Bluetooth. On the Mac you can synchronize via Bluetooth only with iSync. PC Suite allows you to synchronize information with Outlook and Lotus Notes on a PC via USB or Bluetooth. As we have mentioned, on a Mac Bluetooth synchronization via iSync is supported.

Alerts (5.0)
As with all Series 60 devices the N95 allows you to create PIM alerts for calendar appointments and tasks. You can set the alert to go off at any time that you wish, a nice feature that most phones don't support. Unfortunately you can't choose which sound the alert will use. When an alert goes off the screen flashes and you will see an indicator on screen with the item name and time. You can dismiss the item or snooze it. If you choose snooze it will sound again in five minutes. An alert will sound for 1 minute and then automatically snooze itself.

Over the Air PIM Sync (0.0)
Over the air synchronization of your personal information is not supported by the Nokia N95 out of the box. You may be able to install software meant for Nokia's E-Series lineup that adds this functionality via Blackberry or Exchange server, however we only score phones on software that is pre-installed.

Address Book

Adding Contacts (3.93)

To test how easy it is to add contacts we time how long it takes to go from the home screen when unlocked until a new contact's name and phone number has been entered. We repeat this for five different contacts with diverse names and take the average for our score. The Nokia N95 took an average of 25.42 seconds to complete this process. This is slightly slower than the Nokia N73, which took 23.1 seconds, and significantly slower than smart phones with QWERTY keyboards like the Treo 700p (17.7 seconds). The Nokia N95 is slowed down by the fact that you need to expose the slide out keyboard before you can begin entering names and phone numbers.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Nokia N95 with US 3G support	23.1	3.93
BlackBerry Curve 8320	14.1	7.09
Apple iPhone	20.86	4.79
Palm Centro	12.22	8.18
Pantech Duo	11.72	8.53
Nokia N95	25.42	3.93

Looking/Sorting/Search (3.5)
As is standard with Series 60 phones the Nokia N95 allows you to sort your contacts by first name, last name or group. You can search through your contacts using multi-tap, but there is no predictive search as found on many Windows Mobile devices. This makes finding names a bit more awkward than it is on Windows Mobile devices.

Fields (13.6)

As with all Series 60 devices the Nokia N95 provides you with a limited number of fields, but has the ability to insert up to 43 additional fields from the menu, the names of which can be edited. The newer version of Series 60 that the N95 runs provides 12 basic fields and 43 additional fields, more than most phones. You can also add a photo, ringtone and assign a contact to a group.

Speed Dial/Voice tags/Voice command (4.33)
As with other Series 60 phones the N95 allows you to assign a contact to one of 8 speed dials accessed by holding down a key on the keypad. This is disappointing considering that most other cell phones offer up to 99 different speed dial slots. The N95 includes the standard Series 60 voice recognition software, which recognized three of our five test contacts. This is somewhat less then most, and means that the software is not really usable.

Calendar

Adding Calendar Items (5.36)

The Nokia N95 took 18.64 seconds to add our calendar test appointment in our tests. This test involves timing time how long it takes to add a simple lunch appointment from the home screen with the phone unlocked and a reminder 15 minutes beforehand. We repeat this test five times and then take the average for our score. This is significantly slower than the Palm Centro, which managed it in a blistering 4.8 seconds. The N95 was hurt in this test by the fact that the keypad needs to be slid out to enter text, and the fact that the keypad is prone to errors.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Nokia N95 with US 3G support	18.64	5.36
BlackBerry Curve 8320	6.04	16.56
Apple iPhone	18.92	5.29
Palm Centro	4.8	20.83
Pantech Duo	9.28	10.78
Nokia N95	18.64	5.36

Calendar Views (4.22)

The calendar views on the Nokia N95 are the standard Series 60 choices: month, week, daily and to do. There is a month view that shows 6 weeks at a time with a small triangle in the bottom left hand corner of dates that have appointments. When you highlight such a date the appointments appear in a tool tip at the top of the screen. The week view is a grid with days along the top and time in one hour blocks along the left. Appointments are indicated with a bar during their scheduled times. As with the monthly view a tool tip appears when you select one showing you details such as time and name.

The daily view shows a simple chronological list of the day's appointments. Start and end times are shown, along with title and indicators for things like alarms and recurrence. There are no options to filter your appointments in any of the views. We were generally pleased with the views, especially the detailed tool tip that make the monthly and weekly views much more useful. We were disappointed by the inability to filter your views, because the Series 60 calendar does not support categories.

Fields (6.0)
When creating a new calendar appointment on the Nokia N95 you can fill in title, start and end times and location. There are a good selection of features like recurrence and the ability to set an alarm for any time we want. But there is no support for categories, notes or all day appointments, all of which are supported by Windows Mobile devices. We were also disappointed at the recurrence options as you are not able to customize recurrence, instead you are limited to one of five preset options. Missing were options for weekdays and weekends.

ToDo/Tasks

Adding ToDo/Task (8.08)

To test how easy it is to add tasks we time how long it takes to start at the home screen with the phone closed and then add a simple task reminding us to pick up groceries. We repeat this test five times and then take the average for our score. The N95 took an average of 12.3 seconds to add a new task. This is faster than the most phones: only the Palm Centro was a bit faster.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Nokia N95 with US 3G support	12.3	8.08
BlackBerry Curve 8320	14.80	6.76
Apple iPhone	N/A - no tasks	0.0
Palm Centro	11.52	17.77
Pantech Duo	19.37	5.16
Nokia N95	12.3	8.08

ToDo/Task Sorting and Prioritizing (3.5)
As with all Series 60 devices the Nokia N95 has a tasks view built into its calendar application. You can prioritize your tasks, but you cannot sort them by priority; instead you are stuck with the simple chronological list. You cannot filter your tasks either as Series 60 does not support task categories.

Fields (5.0)
When creating a new task on the Nokia N95 you can enter a title, due date, priority and alarm. The alarm can be set for any time and date that you choose, which is a nice feature if you're teh forgetful type who needs a warning the day before of an upcoming deadline. More advanced fields like categories and recurrence are missing, which is a shame as this would fit in well with the advanced functions of the N95.

Notes

Adding Notes (2.82)
To test the note functions of the N95, we started at the home screen with the phone unlocked and timed how long it takes to add a note reminding us about lunch tomorrow. We repeat this test five times and take the average for our score. The Nokia N95 took an average of 17.7 seconds to add our sample note. This is slower than most of our comparison phones: only the Helio Ocean comes close. The Pantech Duo in particular was much faster, completing this task 8 seconds before the N95. That could be critical if you are a frequent note-taker.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Nokia N95 with US 3G support	17.7	2.82
BlackBerry Curve 8320	12.2	4.1
Apple iPhone	12.66	3.55
Palm Centro	4.8	20.83
Pantech Duo	9.82	5.09
Nokia N95	17.7	2.82

Note Interface (2.0)
The notes application on the N95 is the same one that is found on all Series 60 devices. When writing a note, the left soft key opens an options menu that allows you to manage your notes. Notes are organized in a simple list with the newest note at the top of the list. You see the first 15 characters of the note's text in this list. There are no options to categorize, filter or search through your notes, which is a pity; frequent note takers will quickly build a long list of notes that they ahve to wade through.

Note Formatting (0.0)
As with other Series 60 devices the Nokia N95 offers no options to format your notes. This means you can't change the font, size, color or add hand drawn items to the note.

Voice Memo (3.0)
The Nokia N95's voice memo program is found in the Office folder. It is the same as that found on other Series 60 devices, meaning that you are limited to 1 minute in length and you need to switch to the gallery via the left soft key menu to manage the voice notes you've recorded. You can change the name and delete the last voice note recorded. You can also send it via MMS, Bluetooth, infrared or upload it to the web. The voice notes application is very simple, but it does the job.

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