Nokia N96 Cell Phone Review - Hardware

Unfortunately, we found many of the N96's buttons to be as unpleasant as the Send and End buttons, though at least the plethora of buttons it has offer a great deal of functionality and quick access to features. Typing on the N96 isn't as fast we've found it to be on devices with QWERTY keyboards, but it still goes pretty quickly.

Text Words Per Minute (7.08)
To see how quickly text can be entered on a device, we time how long it takes to enter a standard set of text using the fastest method of text entry available.  On the N96, we enabled predictive text since this was far faster than using multi-tap to enter text. The N96 averaged 35.38 words per minute in this test, on par with other devices we've tested with numeric keypads and a predictive text setting. Unsurprisingly, this set-up generally earns lower scores compared to devices with physical or on-screen QWERTY keyboards. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

T9 and Auto Complete (5.0)
The N96 offers both standard multi-tap text entry as well as predictive text entry, and it's easy to switch between these options using the # key, which is a nice shortcut instead of needing to go through the settings menu to make any changes on the fly. Predictive text entry allows you to enter words with fewer key presses since a built-in dictionary guesses the word you want to type based on what keys you press. For example, if you want to spell the word 'miscellaneous' using multi-tap, you'd need 28 separate key presses using multi-tap and only 13 using predictive text entry. This can be quite a time-saver when you're entering a lot of text.

You can add new words to the predictive text entry dictionary if a word you use often is not already in it. Unfortunately, the N96's text entry options do not include word completion, which would make an advance guess about the word you're trying to type before you even finish typing it, but we're happy it includes predictive entry as it is.

One-Handed Typing (6.12)
In this test, we time entering the same text as used in the Text Words Per Minute test above, again using the fastest text entry method available but with just one hand this time. As expected, a lower score is obtained here with only one hand to enter text with an average of 30.61 words per minute on the N96, an unspectacular result relative to our comparison phones. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.

Keypad Backlighting (8.0)
Unlike the screen, the N96's screen is controlled by an ambient light sensor that will automatically adjust the light level based on your conditions. There's a note in the user guide that tells you to press the power button briefly if it's not lit brightly enough in low-light conditions, so you have a little manual control over it, but there's nothing else you can do to change how it works independently from the screen. We found the backlight to adequately illuminate all symbols on every key and that illumination is even across the board.

D-Pad/Joystick (3.0)
The N96's D-pad consists of a large, square center select button surrounded by 4 direction buttons made up of a single piece of plastic with a raised edge. We found the directional buttons to be a little hard to hit accurately when we were moving quickly and we found that key presses came with a crinkly noise, as if there was a piece of plastic wrap underneath.

The D-pad

Touch Screen (0.0)
The N96 does not have a touch screen.

Jog Dial (0.0)
The N96 does not have a jog dial.

Soft Buttons (3.0)
The N96 has 2 soft menu keys above the Send and End buttons, and like these buttons, they sit flush with the front fascia of the phone. Flush buttons can look nice, but it can be another story entirely when it comes to hitting them when you're in a hurry, and we don't like these keys any  more than we like the Send and End buttons. Of course, their functions are application-dependent, though you can assign different applications to them on the home screen in the settings menu.

Volume Control (4.0)
The volume up and down buttons are on a single rocker button on the right side. While these are at least no flush with the side of the phone like many of the buttons on the front, we found that the rocker offered more resistance to presses than we liked. Once it is pressed, it offers good tactile feedback and travel, though, so all is not lost here.

Power and Standby (5.0)
We're back to flush-set buttons again with the power button on the top of the N96. We're not quite sure who thought a flush button would be a good idea, since it only makes it harder to press. Add to this the face that the slider can make it a bit difficult to get good leverage on the N96 to press it adequately, and you have a power button we don't like at all.

As with many Nokia devices we've seen over the years, a quick press brings up the profiles menu so you can quickly switch it to silent mode for a meeting, and a long press turns the N96 on or off.

Other Buttons (12.0)
The N96 has a camera shortcut/shutter button on the right side, and this also sits flush with the side of the phone. We found it very difficult to press when trying to open the camera application and activate the shutter. Frankly, this is the worst button on the phone, which is sad since the N96 has a great camera that you're sure to want to use often.

The N96 also 4 media playback control buttons revealed at the top when you slide the front of the device down. These buttons are, thankfully, larger than the buttons on the front of the N96. We found the ones in the corners to be harder to press with less travel, though all offer a decent amount of tactile feedback.

Surrounding the D-pad are more media playback control buttons - these are hidden until they are backlit and the symbols indicating their functions are visible. They have a small footprint making them hard to activate without some effort and they share the same fascia, appearing to be a solid piece of plastic around the D-pad.

The media shortcut button is immediately to the right of the End key and it's the only raised button, aside from the D-pad ring, on the front of the N96. It has good tactile feedback and travel and is very easy to find since it's raised. We wish Nokia had chosen to make other buttons raised instead since they will be used far more often than this media shortcut in general use.

On the top of the N96 is a sliding lock switch that allows you to manually lock the keypad to avoid accidental button presses when you're putting it in your pocket or bag. It also sits flush with the top of the phone and required us to use a fingernail to catch and slide it.

The last 2 buttons on the N96 reside at the very bottom edge below the Send and End keys. The one on the right is the menu button and the one on the left is the clear button. Pressing the menu button once will bring you to the main menu, while pressing and holding it will bring up an icon list of all open applications. Like the soft menu keys, these are small and can be hard to find and hit.

Primary Screen Gross Resolution (8.0)
The N96 has a 2.8-inch screen with QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) resolution. This isn't anything particularly outstanding and the N96 is on the low end here relative to our comparison phones, most notably the iPhone 3G with its larger 3.5-inch 480 x 320 screen.

Primary Screen Pixels per Inch (7.25)
To calculate pixels per inch, we measure the visible area screen along one side using calipers and divide the resulting number by the number of pixels. The N96 has 144.93 pixels per inch, which is reasonable but it doesn't match up to any of our comparison phones that all have more pixels packed in to each inch of the screen.

Screen Physical Size (6.93)
Here again, we use calipers to measure the actual diagonal viewable size of the device's screen, and the N96's measures 2.77 inches, just a hair under the claimed 2.8 inches. In general, we like bigger screens since they make activities like web browsing and video viewing more enjoyable, though there is also a balance to strike with the size of the device.

Screen Brightness (5.3)
To measure screen brightness, we navigate to a blank white web page with the screen's brightness set to its highest level and use a light meter to measure the output. If a phone has an ambient light sensor, we ensure that it's either off or activated and isolated during testing to push the screen to its maximum brightness level. The N96 does not have an ambient light sensor so all we needed to do was turn it up to the brightest level in the settings menu, and its screen clocked in at 81 lux, which is reasonably bright but not nearly as much so as the iPhone 3G and the HTC Touch Diamond.

Screen Bright Light Performance (9.0)
To see how the screen performs in bright light, we place the device under a lamp putting out the equivalent of bright daylight and see how usable the phone is in this lighting condition. Although the N96 doesn't have the brightest screen we've seen, it did very well in this test, with all text and icons clearly visible. This is probably aided by the default theme that shows light text on a dark background and we'd expect that a theme with lighter colors might not yield the same level of readability in similar conditions.

Color Depth (10.0)
The N96's screen can display up to 16 million colors, earning it the maximum number of points under our scoring guide. None of our comparison phones match this, though we must note that Apple has not published the color depth number for the iPhone 3G.

Secondary Screen (0.0)
The N96 does not have a secondary screen.

Power & Data Ports (7.0)
The N96 has a single port for charging and data transfer - it's on the bottom of the device and has a Micro USB connector. The N96 will also charge when plugged into your computer's USB port, a feature we like to see when you would rather carry this cable than the AC adapter and cable.

Headphone Compatibility (8.0)
The N96 has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, making it easy for you to use any headphones you already have and offering you the widest selection when purchasing new ones to use with it. Compared to the HTC Touch Diamond that doesn't even have a dedicated headphone port, requiring you to use an adapter to listen to music through its power/data port, the N96 is an absolute dream.

Additionally, the N96 has the A2DP Bluetooth profile, making it possible to use a stereo Bluetooth headset to listen to music, earning it even more points in this area.

Internal Storage (8.0)
The N96 comes with 16GB of internal flash memory, matching the iPhone 3G and surpassing every other one of our comparison phones. You definitely won't be wanting for space here to store your music, movies, and data unless you want to carry absolutely everything in your media library with you on the N96.

Expansion Slot & Format (6.0)
Unlike the iPhone 3G that has no expansion slot to expand its memory capacity, the N96 has a microSD card slot that will allow you to add up to 16GB more storage to keep even more media with you beyond the 16GB of internal storage. The microSD card format is a very popular one so finding an expansion card will be very easy and not too expensive. We love that the N96 offers this kind of expansion in addition to its existing capacious memory.

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