Nokia N96 Cell Phone Review - Organizer
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Marianne Schultz Published on March 16, 2009 Comment on this |
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| The N96 does a respectable job hold on to and keeping your personal information synced. Since it's not a business-oriented device, it doesn't have all the fields and capabilities to keep busy users completely organized, but it will definitely get the job done for most users, and may even be overkill for some. | |
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Synchronization (7.0)
The N96 can sync with a PC with the included Nokia PC Suite software, working with Outlook, Outlook Express, or Lotus applications. Mac users will need to rely on a plug-in to use iSync to sync the N96, which can be found here. We found it easy to set up syncing with PIM data and both wired (with the included USB cable) and Bluetooth syncing are possible.
Syncing contacts, contact photos, tasks, calendar items, and notes are all possible for PC users, though not for Mac users using the Nokia-provided iSync plug-in.
Alerts (8.0)
Calendar alerts are off by default for new events, but they can easily be set. When an alert goes off, it will sound for about 30 seconds and then stop. While it sounds, the screen and keypad backlight flash on and off steadily, making it more prone to catch your eye than other devices we've seen that simply turn the screen on and leave it on. If you ignore or miss the alert, it will sound again in another 5 minutes, which is far better than not sounding at all ever again.
The default calendar alert can be set in the Personalization section of of the General Settings menu or in the calendar's own settings menu though custom alert sounds for individual calendar items cannot be set. Vibrate is set in Personalization section of the General Settings menu and cannot be enabled or disabled for individual alerts. The alert Snooze time can be set for for anywhere between 1 minute and 60 minutes in the calendar application's own settings menu.
Overall, the N96's alerts are good and it's unlikely you'll miss an appointment even if you're away from it when an alarm sounds, though we do wish for a bit more customization for individual alerts.
Over-the-Air PIM Sync (0.0)
Like its predecessor, the N96 is not capable of over-the-air syncing right out of the box, earning it 0 points in this area.
Adding Contacts (4.21)
To see how easy it is to add contacts, we time how long it takes to go from the home screen in the closed and unlocked state to the moment a new test contact's name and phone number is entered and saved.
Creating a new contact
This test took an average of 23.76 seconds to complete on the N96, a slow time relative to our comparison phones, some of which had a physical or virtual QWERTY keyboard to aid in text entry over multi-tap. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Looking/Sorting/Search (3.5)
You have 3 choices to sort contacts in the main list view - by last name, by first name, or by last name with a common before the first name. You can also assign contacts to groups, and these groups can be seen in the second tab of the contacts application. To add contacts to a group, you must first create the group and then add contacts to it in the groups view, not in individual contacts. When you select a group, contact names are shown according to the sorting option selected in the settings.
The main contacts view
There is also a search bar at the bottom of the main contacts list and group members list views and typing the beginning of a contact's first or last name will narrow the search results as you type. While we like the ability to search via multi-tap like this, we miss the ability to scroll more quickly through a long contacts list through an alphabet bar or index as you'd find on the Treo Pro or iPhone 3G.
Fields (12.8)
When creating a new contact, the N96 offers 11 fields for you to complete initially and you can easily choose to add up to 43 more by choosing the Add Detail option in the Options menu. Each field can be renamed as well though there are no blank custom fields specifically made for you to edit to suit your needs. As with other S60 devices, the available fields allow you to assign a picture and custom ringtone to each contact.
Speed Dial/Voice tags/Voice command (5.67)
Numbers 2 through 9 on the N96's keypad can be assigned to speed dial contacts (1 is already assigned to access voicemail and cannot be changed). The N96 also has a voice command system that does not require you to assign voice tags to each contact - this function is accessed by holding down the right soft menu key for several seconds, which is a shortcut set by default out-of-the-box. The N96 had no problems recognizing all of our test contacts. When a contact is recognized, you are shown the search result on the screen. If you take no further action, the contact's phone number will be dialed automatically.
The voice command menu
Adding Calendar Items (5.07)
To see how easy it is to add calendar events, we time how long it takes to save a new test appointment, starting from the home screen in the unlocked and closed state. Our test event is a lunch appointment set for the next day at noon with a reminder alert set for 15 minutes before the start of the event.
A new calendar entry
This took a little longer on the N96 with an average of 19.73 seconds since the reminder alert is off by default for all new events, so we had to navigate to that field to turn it on. Once it's on, the alert does default to go off 15 minutes before the start of the event. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Calendar Views (3.56)
The N96's calendar offers monthly, weekly, daily, as well as a to-do view since the tasks application is incorporated into the calendar. The default view out-of-the-box is the month view, though this can be changed in the calendar's settings menu, where you can also define which day is the start of the week.
The month view
The month view doesn't offer much information about your upcoming events at a glance, showing only a small triangle in the lower right hand corner on days with scheduled events. However, if you scroll to a day with an appointment with the D-pad, a list of appointments scheduled for that day will appear momentarily and stay visible for several seconds. While this isn't the same functionality as on the iPhone 3G where a scroll-able list of all upcoming appointments are shown at the bottom of the screen in the month view, it's better than not having any pop-up information at all like on the HTC Touch Diamond's month view.
The week view
The N96's week view shows the best overview of availability since appointment times are blocked off in a different color. Scrolling to a time when an appointment is scheduled will show the same pop-up box as in the month view to give you a little more detail about what it is.
The day view
The day view is pretty sparse, showing only any scheduled appointments or nothing at all if there are none. Of course, here is where you see the most information about individual events without needing to scroll anywhere and wait for a pop-up box to appear.
The tasks view
The to-do view shows only any upcoming task items and isn't quite as useful as an agenda view that would show a daily calendar view along with to-dos. Consider this view to essentially be your tasks application's main view.
Appointments cannot be assigned to groups, so there's no way to adjust the views to view only specific groups of events. Also, there's only one calendar, so if you are looking to keep separate personal and work-related calendars, this won't be possible on the N96.
Overall, the N96's calendar views are decent, some showing more information than we'd find on business-oriented smartphones, and should be more than sufficient for a non-business user who has a lot of appointments and wants to stay on top of them and sync back and forth with their PC to ensure they have the latest information about their schedule. Without the ability to have multiple calendars or assign groups to events, business users will find less to like about the N96's calendar views.
Fields (7.0)
The N96's calendar offers 4 event types when you go to create a new entry - Meeting, Memo, Anniversary, and To-do. Of these 4 options, the Meeting type offers the most fields, though unlike the contacts application, the it offers far fewer fields for new entries, which is not horribly surprising. When creating a Meeting, you can set the subject, location, start time and date, end time and date, set an alarm, set it to repeat, and define its synchronization setting. Through the Options menu, you can add a Description, which is essentially a memo where you can add additional text, or simply choose to add an existing note. Once you add either, the menu option to add these disappears. All in all, this is a sufficient number of fields for the casual user, but not nearly enough for a business users without the ability to add invitees or assign meetings to different groups or calendars.
Adding ToDo/Task (5.13)
To see how easy it is to enter a to do item, we time how long it takes to go from the home screen in the closed and unlocked state to the moment a standard to do item is saved. The tasks application on the N96 is built into the calendar application, so it was easy enough to navigate there and then selecting a new task at the bottom of the new entry sub-menu.
Creating a new task
This test took an average of 19.49 seconds, which sounds slow but is still far better than having no tasks application at all, as you'd find on the iPhone 3G and LG Dare. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
To Do/Task Sorting and Prioritizing (0.0)
Tasks on the N96 are automatically sorted by due date. While tasks can be assigned a priority, you cannot sort them by priority. Tasks cannot be assigned to a group or category, so sorting by these attributes is not possible either. If you're happy with your tasks sorted by date alone, the N96 will make you happy. Otherwise, you'll probably want to search around for a tasks application by a 3rd-party developer that will allow you at least a little flexibility to view your tasks the way you want.
Fields (5.0)
When you create a new task in the calendar application, you have 5 fields to complete with the option of adding a description from scratch or importing an already-created Note via the Options menu. While you can set the due date for a task, missing are options to make it recurring or categorize it.
Adding Notes (2.73)
To see how easy it is to generate notes, we time how long it takes to go from the home screen in the closed and unlocked state to the moment a standard test note is created and save. The Notes application is a little buried in the menu system, requiring you to go to Applications folder in the main menu and then to the Office folder.
Creating a new note
We enabled predictive text to make text entry as fast as possible, but it still took an average of 18.35 seconds to complete this text on the N96, putting it last among our comparison phones. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Note Interface (2.0)
The N96's note application interface is very simple - created notes are shown in a list shown in chronological order based on creation date or the time it was last edited. Notes cannot be sorted in any other way, nor can they be grouped by category or any other factor. Without any options to change anything at all, the interface is dead simple. However, we'd happily exchange simplicity for some other features to sort and view notes in other ways.
Note Formatting (0.0)
The N96's notes application offers no ability to change the look of notes whatsoever. If you like to create notes with different fonts, colors, or add emphasis with bolding or underlining, this will not be possible on the N96 unless you search for another notes application from a 3rd-party developer.
Voice Memo (6.0)
The N96 comes with a voice recorder application that can record anything you want, including phone conversations. There's no one-button recording so you'll have to hunt for it or create a shortcut to it on your own. If you want to record a phone conversation, you'll need to navigate to the application while the call is active and start recording. The user guide notes that a tone will sound every 5 seconds during recording, which will be heard by both parties on the line.
The voice recorder application
Saved recordings are moved to the Media gallery, though you can access the list easily within the voice recorder application via the Options menu. Unlike the N95-3, you are not limited to one minute of recording time, and you can still choose from 3 sound quality options, send them via email, MMS, or Bluetooth, and rename recordings. In the sound clip gallery, you can choose to sort saved voice recordings by date, title, or size. The only thing we miss in the N96's voice memo capabilities is one-touch recording, but it offers very good features otherwise.
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