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Nokia N95 With US 3G Support Cell Phone Review

Richard Baguley Published on December 17, 2007 Comment on this

Related ArticlesReviews: Apple iPhone Cell Phone Review Blog: Dial 0 for Opinion: 3G Sucks · New Nokia N95 Battery Life Using EDGE: Over 9 hours

Intro Making/Receiving Calls Software Other Features

Tour & Design Messaging Battery Life Value & Comparisons

Audio Quality Organizer Connectivity Conclusion

Imaging Multimedia Hardware Ratings & Specs

Nokia's original N95 had one major Achilles heel: It didn't support the 3G data frequencies used by US cell phone networks, which relegated this speedy phone to accessing the Internet over a slow EDGE connection. That's rather like buying a Ferrari, only to find that the transmission is broken and won't let you drive over 35.

Nokia addressed this issue with this new version of the N95: the N95 with US 3G support. Apart from the updated radio, they also made a number of cosmetic changes, and added more memory. Although these changes may seem minor, they make a big difference. The 3G data connection is much faster, and makes the N95 with US 3G support a much more flexible phone; you can now realistically use features like the 5 megapixel camera to upload high res images and video to the Internet.

And the extra memory makes the phone much more responsive; it can now run several programs at once without choking. These changes make the N95 into the powerhouse phone it promised to be, and it proves to be a seriously powerful device. But it ain't cheap; the phone is sold unlocked, so you pay the full price for the handset ($699 direct from Nokia). You get a lot for your money, though; a phone that can effectively replace several devices (GPS receiver, music and video player, plus a camera and camcorder) in one handy package.

Note: this version of the N95 goes by various different names, including the N95-3 and just the plain N95. To avoid confusion between this model, the original N95 and the other new N95 (which doesn't support US 3G, but does have 8GB of RAM), we are referring to this model as the N95 with US 3G support.

Tour & Design - The new N95 has the same basic design as the old N95, with a few minor tweaks. It's still not what we would call stylish, but the design is practical

Audio Quality - The audio quality of the N95 is mixed: sent sound is good, but the received sound is a little off the limits we test against.

Imaging - The N95 has an excellent camera that takes good photos and video.

Making/Receiving Calls - The Keypad of the N95 is a little small, but we were able to dial relatively quickly.

Messaging - There's no built in support for instant messaging, but the email and SMS client is good.

Organizer - The N95 has a good selection of organizer features that should satisfy most users.

Multimedia - The N95 is a good audio player, but video playback is disappointing.

Software - Running the Symbian OS, the N95 has lots of options for installing third party applications.

Battery Life - The US 3G data support may be faster, but it also eats into the battery life.

Connectivity - There are lots of options for connecting, including 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0

Hardware - The keypad on the N95 is a little slow to type on.

Other Features - The N95 includes GPS and tethered modem support.

Value & Comparisons - The N95 is a premium phone at a premium price.

[page title="Tour & Design"]

Front
From the front the Nokia N95 is dominated by the large 2.6 inch QVGA (240 x 320) screen. Above this is a slit for the phone speaker, an LED light and the VGA camera for video calls. Below the screen are the main controls, with a smallish directional pad surrounded by control keys.
Left
On the left of the N95 with US 3G support are a small speaker cover (one is present on either side of the case), a 3.5-mm headset or headphone socket, a plastic over over the infra-red receiver and the cover over the micro SD card slot.
Top
On the top of the N95 With 3G support, the only major feature is the single power button. You can also see the join where the screen slides up.

Bottom
On the bottom of the N95 with 3G support there are a number of features; from the left to the right we have the 2.5-mm power socket, the microphone port, the USB post and the lanyard loop.

Right
On the right side we see (from the left in this photo) the camera shutter button, the gallery key (which starts off the pohoto and video viewing program), the volume rocker and the speaker cover.

Back
The biggest feature on the back of the N95 with 3G support is the camera. This is one area where thhis new model differs from the old one; there is no camera cover. Instead, a glass window covers the lens, which is more recessed than the older model.

Open
The screen on the N95 with US 3G support slides two ways; upwards to reveal the keypad (the photo on the left) and downwards to show the media controls. The keypad is the same design as the older N95, but the media controls have been updated; theya re now on raised domes which make them easier to find by touch.

Battery Out

Removing the battery cover reveals another major update; the battery is a different, larger model than the older N95. This new N95 with US 3G support comes with a 1200mAh BL-6F battery; the older N95 had a 950mAh BL-6E battery. But this bigger battery does not always translate into longer battery life; the more power hungry 3G radio means that it's a trade off. But we'll get to that in a bit.

In the Box (7.0)
A decent selection of accessories come with the N95 with US 3G support; a set of manuals, software CD with Nokia's own PC Suite software, a charger, Stereo headset, wired remote, USB cable and a video cable that connects to a TV set. A 1GB micro SD card is also included.

Handling (5.0)
When closed, the Nokia N95 with US 3G support fits comfortably in the palm of your hand, but the positioning of the control keys near the bottom of the device makes them a little awkward; you have to stretch the thumb to reach them. But they are much better placed when you slide the screen up to reveal the keypad, and this is the way that it will be used most often. You will also find that the plethora of buttons and ports mean that you fingers are always touching them when holding the device, which can lead to mistaken presses. The device is lighter than we expected, and should fit comfortably on your head when speaking on the phone. Overall we found the Nokia N95 a little awkward, but most users will have no problem holding and using it.

Portability (5.0)
The N95 is no Razr: the phone is a little chunky at 0.83 inches thick, but it is reasonably light at just over 4 ounces. So, this isn't a phone that you are going to stick into a tight pocket, but it is small and light enough to fit into a jacket pocket or bag without weighing you down.

Aesthetics (4.0)
While the N95 with US 3G support has a clean, straightforward design, it isn't what we could call stylish. Functional, yes, but not stylish. Mind you, it looks professional, and this isn't a phone that someone is going to buy for looks

Durability (5.0)
Although the N95 with US 3G support feels solidly built, the plastic case does seem to be magnet for scratches. And the exposed screen could also get scratched, as could the window over the back lens. So the phone feels relatively durable, but a cover to protect the case, screen and lens would be a wise investment.

[page title="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)

Cell Phone	Palm Centro (on Sprint)	Pantech Duo (on AT&T)	Nokia N95 (On AT&T)
Score	7.82	7.26	6.46
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)

Cell Phone	Palm Centro (on Sprint)	Pantech Duo (on AT&T)	Nokia N95 (On AT&T)
Score	6.24	4.94	6.81
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.

Cell Phone	Sidetone Measurement	Score
Nokia N95 With US 3G (unlocked, on AT&T)	19.81	8.19
BlackBerry 8320 (on AT&T)	17.55	9.88
Apple iPhone (On AT&T)	8.80	0.80
Palm Centro (on Sprint)	17.86	9.86
Pantech Duo (on AT&T)	25.06	2.94
Nokia N95 (on Sprint)	19.61	8.39

[page title="Imaging"]

Resolution (8.16)
To test resolution we take photos of an industry standard resolution chart and run them through our Imatest software. Imatest measures how many black and white lines the camera can discern before they turn into a grey mess, a measure called line widths per picture height or LW/PH.

The Nokia N95 posted one of the best resolution score's we've seen: it was able to discern 1355 LW/PH horizontally and 1388 LW/PH vertically. This is significantly better than every other cell phone we've tested; non even come close to getting similar scores. But it compares poorly to even a moderately priced dedicated digital camera: the $329.99 Olympus Stylus 830 captured 1801 lw/ph horizontally and 1613 lw/ph vertically. So the Nokia N95 camera is nowhere near as good as a dedicated digital still camera, but it's pretty good for a cell phone camera.

Cell Phone	Nokia N95 With US 3G	BlackBerry 8320	Apple iPhone
Score	8.16	5.25	4.70
lw/ph horizontal/vertical	1355 / 1388	1087 / 933	970 / 870
Image of Resolution Chart (click to view)

Cell Phone	Palm Centro	Pantech Duo	Nokia N95
Score	1.41	1.09	8.32
lw/ph horizontal/vertical	581 / 596	512 / 457	1368 / 1223
Image of Resolution Chart (click to view)

Color (6.84)
The Nokia N95 with US 3G support captured very accurate color; most of the colors in our test images were close to the ideal, and there were only a few minor issues in the colors. We test color accuracy photos of the industry standard GretagMacbeth color chart, which contains 24 precisely printed colors. We then run the captured photos through the Imatest software, and this compares the camera's produced colors to the chart's colors.

  

Imatest produces the chart above that shows the original colors in the small vertical rectangle, the adjusted colors in the middle rectangle and the original capture colors in the outer square. Imatest also produces the color analysis chart below. This chart indicates captures colors with a circle and ideal colors with squares. The longer the line between those two points the more innaccurate the captured colors are.

Cell Phone	Nokia N95 With US 3G	BlackBerry 8320	Apple iPhone
Score	6.84	4.92	5.22
Color Checker Chart (click to view)

Cell Phone	Palm Centro	Pantech Duo	Nokia N95
Score	8.08	2.34	6.95
Color Checker Chart (click to view)

Noise (1.41)
In common with most cell phone cameras, the images captured by the Nokia N95 showed some noise; the imaging chips that cell phone cameras use don't use the noise reduction techniques that most dedicated digital still cameras use. But the noise in the N95's iamges wasn't a huge problem; it was there (particualrly in images taken at the lower light levels), but was less noticeable than most digital cameras.
To test how much noise is produced by the N95's camera we took a series of photos of the GretagMacbeth color chart at different lighting levels. We then ran these photos through Imatest, which produced a noise score for each lighting level. Our final score is based on both the average noise score across lighting levels and the consistency of noise score between lighting levels.

Handset	Score
Nokia N95 With US 3G (unlocked, on AT&T)	1.41
BlackBerry 8320 (on AT&T)	1.41
Apple iPhone (On AT&T)	1.20
Palm Centro (on Sprint)	0.91
Pantech Duo (on AT&T)	1.07
Nokia N95 (on Sprint)	1.42

Live Preview (8.5) 

The live preview on the Nokia N95 is excellent, taking up the whole screen and providing a preview that has good color and is not overly jittery or jerky.

Unlocked Standby to First Shot (3.08)
The N95 was a little slow in this test, which examines how long it takes to go from the home screen until we can take a shot. The Nokia N95 took 6.5 seconds to complete this process; an eternity if you are trying to take a once in a lifetime shot. Although the presence of an auto focus lens slows the N95 down, this isn't the thing that is taking the time; the camera application is just slow to start. Still, it's somewhat faster than the iPhone, which took nealry an additional 2 seconds to snap a photo.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Nokia N95 with US 3G support	6.5	3.08
BlackBerry Curve 8320	2.90	6.90
Apple iPhone	2.43	8.23
Palm Centro	5.26	3.8
Pantech Duo	2.43	8.23
Nokia N95	3.00	6.67

Shot to Shot Time (1.26)
Shot to shot time is a measure of how quickly you can take photos in succession. To complete this test we used the Nokia N95's burst mode to take six photos in quick succession, which took 14.3 seconds. This works out to .42 frames per second; rather on the slow side, but this test is done with the camera at the highest resolution; it shoot quicker when you take the resolution down.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Nokia N95 with US 3G support	0.42	1.26
BlackBerry Curve 8320	N/A	N/A
Apple iPhone	0.4	1.2
Palm Centro	0.28	0.84
Pantech Duo	0.81	2.43
Nokia N95	0.42	1.26

Shutter to Shot Time (1.96)
In this test, we measure how long time time between pressing the shutter and the phone taking the image is. The N95 didn't do well here: it took 1 second to take the shot. Part of this is because it has to focus, while other cell phone cameras have fixed focus lenses.You can cut this time down a little by lightly pressing the shutter; the N95 then focuses (this is shown by the box in the center of the preview turning green). In this, case, it only takes around half a second to take the shot; a much more acceptable time.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Nokia N95 with US 3G support	1	1.96
BlackBerry Curve 8320	N/A	N/A
Apple iPhone	0.4	5.00
Palm Centro	0.88	2.27
Pantech Duo	1.03	1.94
Nokia N95	1.00	1.96

Interface (9.0)
The camera interface on the Nokia N95 is pretty straightforward; it will be familiar to anyone who has used a digital camera. At the top left is an indicator for what camera mode you are in, at the bottom left is a counter for the number of photos you can still take. The soft keys are placed along the left side of the screen, with the top one assigned to exit and the bottom one opening the options menu. On the right side are a line of icons that indicate features such as camera mode, scene mode, flash, timer, sequence mode, exposure compensation, white balance, color, ISO, contrast and sharpness. You move up and down the list with the directional pad, and seelct an option with the center button. This is an incredible number of settings for a camera phone, but the directional pad makes it easy to move and control these options.

Photo Album Software Internal (7.0)
The Nokia N95 album software presents all of your pictures and videos in a carousel format, with the currently selected item in the center and other items surrounding it. This is one area where the extra memory that this newer N95 has helps: the thumbnails of the photos appear quicker than the older N95. You can easily create slide shows, complete with music and transitions. Although it is slow, it is intuitive and easy to learn. You can also create folders for your images and videos to help keep them organized.

Manual Control (2.0)
Despite the plethora of features the N95 still lacks the manual controls that are found on most cameras; you can't set the shutter speed or aperture directly. There are a good selection of scene modes present, though, including sport, night mode and landscape. It will be a while before cameras on phones begin offering the range of manual controls that are found on regular cameras, but we're looking forward to it.

Zoom (1.0)
There is no optical zoom on the N95; they still haven't managed to work out how to squeeze a zoom lens into the case. There is a 20x digital zoom, but this just enlarges the center of the image, turning it into a blocky, jaggy mess.

Focus (5.0)
The Nokia N95 sports an auto focus lens, which is a definite step up from the fixed-focus lens we see on most cell phones. However, it is slower to focus than a dedicated still camera, which makes the N95 slower to use.

Flash (3.0) 

A small LED light next to the lens fulfills the same function as the flash, but it isn't particularly powerful (it only has a range of a few feet) and it turns on before it takes the image, which means you'll get photos of people squinting because you've just shone a bright light in their face in a dark place.

Metering (2.0)
The N95 has none of the metering modes that we see on dedicated still cameras (such as spot or center weighted metering), but you do get an exposure compensation control that can push the expsure up or down by two stops.

White Balance (2.0)
Basic white balance controls are present on the Nokia N95; you get an automatic mode, plus presets for sunny, cloudy, incandescent and florescent lighting.

Image Handling (8.0)
A decent selection of image handling and editing tools are provided; captured images can be cropped, resized and renamed. Plus, a selection of image processing tools are offered that can remove red eye and adjust brightness contrast and sharpness. That's significantly more than most camera phones can do.

Video

Overall Video Score (8.5)
The N95 captures video at full VGA (640 x 480) resolution and 30 frames per second. This is a big improvement over other camcorders that shoot at lower resolutions or lower frame rates. We were also impressed with the quality of the video taken by the N95; the video was clear, had good color and smooth movement. However, it still doesn't stand up to the quality you would get from a dedicated camcorder.

Video Resolution (14.17)
To test the resolution of the video taken by the Palm Centro we took video of the same industry standard resolution chart we use for still photos, then running frames from this video through Imatest to get a score called line widths per pixel height (lw/ph). This measures how many alternating black and white lines can be discerned before they begin blurring together. The N95 with US 3G captured 331.1 horizontal and 428.1 vertical lw/ph; a much better score than most cell phone videos we've seen.

Cell Phone	lw/ph horizotal/vertical (sec)	Score
Nokia N95 with US 3G support	331.1 / 428.1	14.17
BlackBerry Curve 8320	N/A - no video capture	0.0
Apple iPhone	N/A - no video capture	0.0
Palm Centro	249 / 274	6.82
Pantech Duo	247 / 215	5.31
Nokia N95	336.5 / 428.1	14.41

Video Compression (4.0)
Videos are captured in MPEG-4 format by default, with 4 choices for image quality. An additional option for capturing videos in in 3GP format is available if you want to send videos as MMS messages.

Interface (8.0)
The video recording interface on the Nokia N95 is the same as other modern N-Series phones and is very similar to the still camera interface. Video is taken in landscape orientation with soft keys at the top and bottom right of the screen. The top soft key is assigned to exit while the bottom one opens the options menu. Between these two labels are icons that give you quick access to common settings. At the bottom left is an indicator that shows you how long you can take video or how long the current recording has been running. In the top left is an indicator that shows you what camera mode you are in. As with the still camera interface we found the camcorder interface on the N95 intuitive and easy to use.

Manual Control (0.0)
There are no manual controls for video capture on the N95.

Zoom (1.0)
There's no optical zoom available for video capture on the N95, but there is a digital zoom. Hwever, this has the same problem of all digital zooms: there's a serious price to pay in terms of iamge quality.

Editing (6.0)
Like the N73 the N95 offers a good selection of video editing options. You can cut sections out and add an audio track as well as special affects and introductory screens. This is significantly better than what most phones offer.

Modes (4.0)
There are two video shooting modes: auto and night. More shooting modes might have been nice (most camcorders have four or five, including modes that make video sharper for fast-moving subjects, etc).

[page title="Making/Receiving Calls"]

Dialing Speed (4.33)

To test how easy it is to make calls on a phone we time how long it takes to go from the home screen with the phone unlocked until we hit the send button. We repeat this test with five different test numbers and then take the average for our score. The Nokia N95 with US 3G took an average of 4.6 seconds to make a phone call. This is slightly slower than the Pantech Duo's 2.89 seconds, but faster than the HTC Tilt's 5.57 seconds. We found that dialing on the N95's keypad was very error prone as well due to the fact that the keys are cramped.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Nokia N95 with US 3G support	4.6	4.33
BlackBerry Curve 8320	3.16	6.33
Apple iPhone	5.05	3.96
Palm Centro	5.26	3.8
Pantech Duo	3.62	5.52
Nokia N95	4.62	4.33

Talk and End Buttons (3.0)
The call and end buttons on the N95 are located along the silver strip that surrounds the directional pad, menu and multimedia keys below the screen. They are the buttons on the bottom left and right of this strip respectively. We found that the keys were slick, distant from the directional pad and keypad, provided little tactile feedback and were small and prone to errors. In fact there was very little that we liked about the keys. We much preferred the larger keys on phones like the N73, or the large touch screen on the iPhone.

Call Management (8.0)
Call management features on the Nokia N95 are the same as those found on other Nokia Series 60 phone. The send button will take you to simplified view that allows you to see dialed, received and missed called. For more detailed call history information you can go to the log in the applications folder and get call and data timers. During a call you can turn on the speakerphone using the left soft key. The right soft key gives you access to a menu that provides additional functions like muting the call. As is to be expected with a smart phone you can access programs while in a call, for example you could be taking a note during a call. There is no support for recording calls, however there is full support for conference calling. We were also pleased to see support for VOIP calling through the addition of the Gizmo project software. Like all true 21st century phones should, the N95 can also make video calls, using the small camera on the front of the phone.

Startup to Call (2.75)
To test startup to call we time how long it takes to turn the phone on and then make a phone call. We repeat this test with our five different test phone numbers and then take the average for our score. The Nokia N95 with US 3G took an average of 36.4 seconds to complete this process. This is in the middle of the pack; the Ocean was much quicker (at 9.5 seconds), but the Windows mobile based phones like the HTC Tilt and the Mogul were much slower.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Nokia N95 with US 3G support	36.4	2.55
BlackBerry Curve 8320	7.12	14.04
Apple iPhone	26.12	3.83
Palm Centro	42.66	2.34
Pantech Duo	43.67	2.29
Nokia N95	36.4	2.75

Ring Volume (10.53)
To test ring volume we set the phone to maximum volume and choose the loudest ring tone on the device. We then use a sound pressure meter to measure the ring volume in decibels. The Nokia N95 scored an incredible 105 decibels in this test. This is by far the loudest ring volume we have measured to date, far louder the LG Chocolate's 88.7 decibels. You won't be missing any calls if you turn the ring volume on the N95 to its maximum level, although you may want to turn it down a tad for the sake of those poor souls that are nearby when it goes off.

Ringtone Customizability (8.0)
We were pleased to see that the Nokia N95 could use every audio file on the phone as a ringtone. This includes AAC, WMA and MP3 files. Compared to Windows Mobile devices (which require you to drop music files into a specific folder) or the iPhone (which requires you buy rigntones in iTunes) the Nokia N95's approach is refreshing. We were also pleased to see that your own recordings from the voice recorder are available to use as ring tones as well.

Non Audio Alerts (10.0)
The Nokia N95 vibrate alert is a little softer than we would normally like, but you can feel it in a pants pocket. In a jacket pocket you may have some more trouble. In addition to the vibration alert the screen displays the incoming number and flashes to indicate that there is a call. This is a very nice feature that we like better than a simple flashing LED because it is much more noticeable.

[page title="Messaging"]

Supported Email Services (6.0)
As with other Series 60 phones the Nokia N95 support POP3 and IMAP4 email services. There is no support for automatic configuration of popular email systems like Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail; you'll need to enter the server details manually to use them.

Push Email (0.0)
The Nokia N95 does not support push email out of the box. You may be able to add this functionality in using the software Nokia provides for its E-Series devices that allow you to use Blackberry or Exchange server, amongst other push email services. Because we only review devices out of the box the N95 does not receive any points in this area.

Multiple Email Accounts (10.0)
The Nokia N95 is able to support multiple email accounts, up to at least the five that we test. Each email account is given its own inbox in the messaging application.

HTML and Attachments (5.0)
As with all Series 60 devices the N95 does not support html email. It does, however support attachments. The view only version of Quickoffice is on board that allows you to view Word, Excel and Powerpoint files. An Adobe reader is available to view PDF files, while a zip manager allows you to open zip files. We were particularly pleased to see support for zip files as this was missing from the Nokia N73.

Email Customizations (2.0)
The email customization options available on the Nokia N95 are limited. You cannot change font, size or color. You can add signatures to outgoing emails, but that's it. Other Nokia devices (such as the E-Series devices) allow you to change how many lines are used to display emails, an option not found on N-Series devices.

Time to a New Message (4.55)
To test how easy it is to send a new email message we time how long it takes to go from the home screen with the phone unlocked until we have a new email dialogue up. We repeat this test five times and take the average for our score. The Nokia N95 took an average of 4.4 seconds to complete this procedure. This is slightly faster than the HTC Tilt, but slower than the BlackBerry Curve 8320 and the Helio Ocean, both of which could manage it in about 2 seconds.The Nokia N95 was hurt primarily by the fact that it took a lengthy amount of time to launch the messaging application. Access was not a problem as the left soft key on the home screen is assigned to messaging and the highlighted item when you open the application is to create a new message, but we then had to scroll down the list of new message options to reach the email one.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Nokia N95 with US 3G support	4.4	4.55
BlackBerry Curve 8320	1.7	11.76
Apple iPhone	1.9	10.53
Palm Centro	1.86	10.75
Pantech Duo	2.33	8.7
Nokia N95	4.4	4.55

Email Usability (6.0)
The email interface on the Nokia N95 is the same that is found on all Series 60 devices. The messaging application gives you list of folders. Each email account gets it own folder. Once in the folder you see a list of the messages in your inbox. You can move to other folders using left/right and move amongst messages using up/down. The right soft key is assigned to exit, while the left one opens the options menu. When creating a new message the interface is simple, with To: and Cc: fields at the top and the body where you enter text below. You move between fields using up/down. There is are single folders where drafts and sent items are stored. The N95's email client is adequate, but it isn't as fully featured or as easy to use as Windows Mobile devices such as the HTC Mogul or BlackBerry devices like the Curve 8320.

Like all Series 60 devices the Nokia N95 does not attempt to automatically insert email addresses into the To: field while you type in a name. This is an unfortunate omission as it is standard on other smart phones like the Centro and Blackberry Curve 8320. What the N95-3 does do is a little backwards. If you type a name in the To: field it will try to match it with a contact once you've actually hit the send key. Of course this doesn't help if you happen to have typed the name wrong, and it's also not very transparent. Only half points for this functionality, we would have much preferred the automatically filtered list as found on other devices.

Supported IM Services (0.0)
The Nokia N95 does not support any instant messaging services out of the box. You can install any of several third party applications to add this, though, such as Agile Messenger.

MMS Support (7.0)
The Nokia N95 handles MMS messaging just as other Series 60 devices do: MMS messages appear in the same inbox as SMS messages. Unfortunately this integration doesn't extend to creating new messages as you cannot turn an SMS into an MMS. The interface also doesn't make it obvious that you can insert multimedia, which you do via the left soft key menu. Other phones like the Centro have a helpful field for pictures or video in the interface that makes it plain and easy to insert such items. MMS is well integrated with other applications on the phone. You can send an MMS directly from the voice recorder, camera or gallery. Overall we found integration and usability to be solid, with just a few small drawbacks.

SMS Smiley Face Interpretation (0.0)
To test whether a phone properly interprets smileys, we send four sample smileys to the phone in an email. We were disappointed to see that the Nokia N95, like other Symbian Series 60 phones, fails to properly interpret the smileys, instead leaving them in text format. This is not a huge problem, but we like things that smile appropriately.

SMS/MMS Ease of Use (6.0)
As we've mentioned SMS and MMS are integrated into the messaging application with all such messages going into a single inbox. The interface for creating both messages is fairly simple, with a To: field and an area to enter text. With MMS messages you can insert media using the left soft key menu. We found creating both SMS and MMS messages straightforward, and found the interfaces to be fairly well organized and easy to use.

Time to a New SMS Message (11.11)
To test how easy it is to create a new SMS message we time how long it takes to go from the home screen to a new SMS message dialogue. The Nokia N95 took an average of 0.9 seconds to complete this process. This is an excellent time and is the result of the fact that the Nokia N95 has a shortcut to a new SMS message in the applications shortcut bar on the home screen; a new SMS message is jsut a couple of button presses away.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Nokia N95 with US 3G support	0.9	11.11
BlackBerry Curve 8320	4.22	2.37
Apple iPhone	2.62	3.82
Palm Centro	0.86	11.63
Pantech Duo	2.39	4.18
Nokia N95	0.9	11.11

[page title="Organizer"]

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.

[page title="Multimedia"]

Accessing Music Software (1.69)
Our first test is very simple: how long does it take to go from the home screen to the music player and start a song playing? We repeat this test five times and take the average for our score. The Nokia N95 took an average of 11.82 seconds to get tunes going; an extremely slow time. That's twice as long as the Helio Ocean, and four seconds longer than the somewhat clumsy music player on the BlackBerry 8320. Part of the delay is caused by the fact that the N95 does not have a shortcut for the music player on the active standby screen. Instead you have to launch the multimedia menu by hitting the multimedia key or sliding the screen down to reveal the music keys. It then takes several seconds to launch the multimedia menu, and then several more seconds to launch the music player. For a phone that purports to be a music oriented device, the amount of time it takes to get a song playing is frankly unnacceptable. However, real hardcore music-o-philes will use either the remote control on the cable or controls on a set of Bluetooth headphones.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Nokia N95 with US 3G support	11.82	1.69
BlackBerry Curve 8320	7.62	2.62
Apple iPhone	3.1	6.45
Palm Centro	3.22	6.21
Pantech Duo	3.39	5.9
Nokia N95	11.82	1.69

Dedicated Music Controls (8.0)
The Nokia N95 has four dedicated music control buttons that can be accessed by pushing the screen down: play/pause, stop, next and previous track. The nice thing about these buttons is that they work in the background no matter what program you are. This means that when music is actually playing in the background while you are browsing the web, you can jsut slide the screen down to skip to the next track, without interrrupting your browsing session. When you do use the music controls a small pop up window appears showing what the new track is if you switched tracks, or what the current one is if you hit the play/pause button.

Music Software Functionality and Organization (8.8)
The music player on the Nokia N95 is slightly updated from previous versions of Series 60. The basic functionality is the same, with the ability to create and edit playlists on the device. It recognized the tags on our test WMA, MP3 and AAC files. The music library allows you to find and add music files on your phone or memory card, and it allows you to sort music by title, artist, album, genres and composers. Background play is supported, however there is no support for rating your music. The Equalizer is very fully featured with several presets, the ability to edit each one or create your own.
The N95 has a straightforward system where the directional pad is used for music control. The center select key acts as a play/pause, left and right skps to the next or previous tracks, or if held down fast forward and rewind, and down is assigned to stop. We find this approach easier to use than the traditional Series 60 music player and we were happy to see this change. We have always liked the music player included in Series 60 devices and we find the updated made to the version only improves an already good piece of software.
Online Song Downloading (0.0)
Another new feature found on the N95 is a music shop built into the music software. Unfortunately, Nokia has not yet made this service available in the USA. As such, we awarded no points for this section.

Streaming (0.0)
We were disappointed to see that one item the N95 did not update over previous Series 60 devices was the ability to play streaming music. As with the N73, it was unable to play streaming MP3, WMA or Real audio from our test web site. We continue to be disappointed by this lack of functionality as Windows Mobile devices easily allow you to stream WMA content over the network. Nokia Europe has just released a program that allows access to streaming radio stations, but as this is not included by default on the N95, we don't give points for this.

Podcast Support (0.0)
Although the N95 does not include Nokia's excellent podcasting client pre-installed they do include a link to the client in the Download! application on the phone. We do not award points for software that is not installed on the phone by default, but we do encourage users that enjoy podcasts to try the application out as it is very good; it's one of the few that we have seen that includes the ability to download podcasts directly to the phone.

Music Sync with PC (7.0)
The Nokia N95 ships with PC Suite, which allows you to synchronize music on your phone with Windows Media Player on your PC, much as you would with any other Windows Media Player compliant device. You can choose to connect the N95 via PC Suite and use the built in synchronization client or you can connect as a mass storage device and drag and drop your files, or use Windows Media Player to control the syncing. There is no support for direct synchronization with iTunes or other media management software.

Music Formats and DRM (4.0)
The Nokia N95 supports AAC, MP3 and WMA music. It also supports the AAC variants AAC+ and eAAC+. The N95 supports Windows Media DRM as well as the OMA DRM 1.0 and 2.0 standards. This is an upgrade over the N73, which did not support Windows Media DRM. This means that you can use the N95 with Windows Mobile DRM compliant services like Rhapsody or Napster. It will not work with usic bought through Apple's iTunes music store, though.

Music Interruption (10.0)
As with all Series 60 devices the N95 does a good job of pausing your music when a call comes in. When your call is complete the music starts playing again automatically from the point at which it was paused.

Video

Video Software Access (1.96)
Like all Series 60 devices the Nokia N95 uses Real Player for video playback. To test how easy this software is to access we time how long it takes to go from the home screen until we get a video clip playing in Real Player. On the Nokia N95 this took an average of 10.22 seconds; slower than most of the other phones. As with all the Series 60 phones that use Realplayer the Nokia N95 is hurt by the fact that the software is buried in the menu system and that you then have to navigate your folder system to get to your video file as there is no library support. We also tried using the gallery to access the videos, but this took even longer; up to 20 seconds. However you cut it, getting to a video file on the Nokia N95 is not quick.

Cell Phone	Time (sec)	Score
Nokia N95 with US 3G support	10.22	1.96
BlackBerry Curve 8320	8.08	2.48
Apple iPhone	3.2	6.25
Palm Centro	3.16	6.33
Pantech Duo	5.8	3.45
Nokia N95	10.22	1.96

Video Controls (4.0)
The interface of Real Player on the Nokia N95 is the same as that used for audio; the center select key on the device acts as a play/pause button. For some strange reason pause is also assigned to the left soft key, while the right soft key is assigned to stop. Up on the directional pad will fast forward your clip, while down will rewind it. The volume rocker keys on the right side of the device will of course control volume. Because there are no library management features you cannot skip to the next or previous track. These controls a