Nokia N96 Cell Phone Review - Multimedia
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Marianne Schultz Published on March 16, 2009 Comment on this |
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| With its dedicated multimedia key, the N96 offers super-fast access to your music and videos, as well as decent software for playback. We absolutely love the N96's ability to manage your podcasts and download new ones automatically. The N96 definitely comes through on the marketing hype in this area, with its only hindrance as the relatively small screen compared to other devices currently on the market. | |
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Accessing Music Software (18.07)
To see how easy it is to access a phone's music software, we time how long it takes to go from the home screen in the closed and unlocked state to the moment a song starts playing. On the N96, this test went very quickly, taking an average of 1.11 seconds since the dedicated multimedia controls surrounding the D-pad will get music playing almost instantly when music is queued up and ready. The N96 is at the top of the heap among our comparison phones by far with this kind of shortcut available out of the box. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Dedicated Music Controls (10.0)
As a media-centric device, the N96 shines in this area. We consider only controls available at the home screen with the phone closed, and the N96 is ready to rock with media playback controls surrounding the D-pad, though they're hidden from view unless the screen is also on. These controls allow you to play, pause, stop, fast-forward, rewind, and skip to the next and previous tracks when you're on the home screen. Additionally, the volume up and down buttons work to control volume in this situation as well.
Note the silver multimedia key next to the End button
The N96 also has a multimedia key just to the left of the End key. This key allows immediate access to videos, music, photos, games and more in a rotating panel menu. We award the N96 an additional point here for the easy access this dedicated key offers by default.
Music Software Functionality and Organization (8.20)
When you've added new music to the N96 and then open the Music Player application, you'll be greeted with a message asking you if you want to update the library since new media may have been added during the last USB connection. The main screen shows a list of categories from which to select, including artist, albums, playlists, genres, podcasts, and more.
The contents of the Music folder in the main menu
Good playlist functionality is included, which we love, so that you can create and edit playlists right on the N96. The tags on the test songs in MP3, AAC, and WMV formats were all recognized without any problems, and beyond the categories available by default, you can search through any view of your music using multi-tap. Album art is shown in the now playing screen and can be shown as a visualization, and other visualizations include animated options like an oscilloscope and moving circles.
The main view in the Music Player application
During music playback, equalizer settings are available, offering Bass booster, Classical, Jazz, Pop, and Rock settings. You can also create new presets to customize how your music sounds. Music playback in the background as you do other things on the N96 is also possible and 100% expected on a smartphone, particularly one that's focused on multimedia.
A song playing
Getting to the music application from the home screen is relatively quick, requiring a trip to the Music folder in the main menu. Of course, you can also change the home screen shortcuts to get there even more rapidly.
Online Song Downloading (0.0)
The N96 is capable of over-the-air music downloads, but Nokia's Music service has not yet been deployed in the U.S. yet. When you open the Nokia Music Store application in the Music folder, a message appears describing this.
Streaming (0.0)
To test a phone's ability to stream music, we navigate to a test site with multiple streaming formats available and try the most common formats. The N96 was unable to play Real Audio, Windows Media, and MP3 streams access in the web browser, earning it no points in this area. However, the N96 does have a Radio application that easily accessed the stream of the radio station we use to test streaming in the web browser and stream music directly this way.
Podcast Support (6.0)
As with other Nokias we've tested, the N96 has fantastic on-device podcast support. Podcasts can be accessed in the Music application and also in the dedicated Podcasting application. In this Podcasting application, you can subscribe to podcasts, download them directly to the N96's memory, and listen to them. Additionally, you can set this application to update subscribed podcasts on a fixed schedule, ranging from every 15 minutes to once a day. This is great functionality that allows you to get new podcasts onto your phone without needing to connect it to your computer.
The podcasting application
The only thing the N96 is missing in this area is dedicated desktop podcast synchronization in the Nokia PC Suite with which it comes. The only one of our comparison phones that comes even close to matching the N96 here is the iPhone 3G, that can now download podcasts over-the-air directly to memory and the iTunes software through which it syncs has strong podcast subscription and management features.
Music Sync with PC (7.0)
The N96 comes with the Nokia PC Suite software that manages music synchronization through Windows Media Player. You can also connect the N96 as a USB mass storage device and sync it directly with Windows Media Player on PC. No software is included for Mac users with the N96, though Nokia does provide software that can be downloaded from their site for this. The application is called Nokia Multimedia Transfer and the N96 is compatible with it - you can find it here. This will sync with your Mac's iTunes library, though the N96 will not play DRM-protected files purchased from the iTunes music store. We do not award points for this software since it does not come with the N96, nor is it base software included with every new Macintosh computer.
Music Formats and DRM (4.0)
The N96's music player can play back AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, and WMA files. It is also compatible with Windows DRM protection and can play files purchased from digital music stores like Rhapsody.
Music Interruption (10.0)
When music is playing and a call comes in, the N96 will stop music playback immediately. After the call is over, music begins playing again, fading in gently to full volume.
Video Software Access (2.71)
To see how easy it is to get a video playing, we time how long it takes to get from the home screen in the closed and unlocked state to the moment a loaded video begins playing. The quickest way to get to videos on the N96 is to use the dedicated multimedia key to the left of the End key - from here it's just a click away when a video is queued up and ready to go. However, it takes a few moments for the video to start playing, and the N96 averaged 7.40 seconds on this test, putting in the middle of the pack among our comparison phones. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Video Controls (6.0)
The same controls surrounding the D-pad work for video playback control, allowing you to pause, play, stop, fast forward, rewind, and skip to the next and previous videos easily. As expected, the volume buttons work as expected during video playback as well. Videos play in landscape mode when the N96 is closed and can be switched to landscape mode only if you slide it open to reveal the media controls at the top. As noted in the Dedicated Music Controls section, the Multimedia key next to the End button offers quick access from the home screen to music, videos, photos, and more. We award the N96 an additional point in that section but will not repeat that here since this feature has already been recognized.
Video Software & Organization (2.0)
The main screen of the My Videos application shows you videos sorted by pre-defined categories: Last Watched, My Videos, Video Feeds, and Video directory. When you go into the My Videos section, there's another breakdown: All Videos, Downloaded, TV Recordings, Personal videos, and Other. Once you get into one of these sections, videos are shown in a thumbnail list view and the Options menu offers the ability to sort them by date, name, or size. There's no way to create additional folders to sort your videos. Individual videos cannot be rated to aid in organization.
The library menu within RealPlayer
During video playback when you've accessed a video directly from the media gallery, there's no way to pull up any menu to switch to full-screen mode or show on-screen controls. As previously mentioned, the only way to switch to landscape mode is to slide open the N96 up to reveal the media control buttons at the top of the device.
The video menu accessed via the multimedia key
You can also access your videos through the Real Player application. If you get to them this way, you do have a menu available through the left soft menu key that offers options to play the video in full screen mode, mute it, and more. In Real Player, the only way to play videos in landscape mode is still by sliding it open to reveal the media controls at the top.
Overall, the N96 offers less control over the organization of our videos than we'd like, though it's easy to navigate once you've had a quick run through to familiarize yourself with the layout.
Video Sync with PC (7.0)
The N96 can sync videos through Windows Media Player on your PC as a USB mass storage device. The included Nokia PC Suite software will sync photo and video content, but you must drag and drop the video content you want to put onto your N96 to it manually, so it's not the full, automated syncing you can get through Windows Media Player. Again, Mac users here get nothing with which to sync videos out of the box with the N96, but the Nokia Multimedia Transfer software, which you can download from Nokia's site here, will sync non-DRM video files and video playlists from your iTunes library.
Video Formats (7.0)
We have a number of test files that we load on to each phone we test to determine video format compatibility. The N96 was able to play back our 3GPP files encoded in H.263 and MP4 codecs with both AMR and AAC audio, as well as our WMV, MPEG4, H264, and Real Media test files, but not our Flash or QuickTime files. This is wider file compatibility than its predecessor and all of our comparison phones.
Video DRM (5.0)
The N96 can play back OMA and WMA DRM-protected files. OMA stands for Open Mobile Alliance and this DRM protection scheme is more common in Europe with the cell phone carriers there who offer video download services to mobile subscribers. At this time, this protection does not earn any points under our scoring guide.
Video Playback Smoothness (10.0)
To test video playback smoothness, we view a number of test files with increasing bit rates on the phone. As hoped for with a multimedia-focused device, the N96 had no problems playing back any of our test files.
Online Video Downloading (0.0)
The N96 is capable of downloading videos directly to its memory, though we only award points if this is possible with a carrier-provided service that offers full-length content, such as movies and TV shows. The N96 is sold unlocked in the U.S. and is not tied to a carrier. You can download short videos directly to the N96 from Nokia or from Jamster with a monthly subscription plan, but these options still only offer short clips, not full-length shows and movies.
Video Streaming unscored
We don't score video streaming since the standards are disparate but we do check to see if a phone is capable of it by checking out YouTube Mobile and other similar sites. The N96 was capable of streaming YouTube and ZooVision videos, but not WMA files from the Windows Media Mobile site.
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