Nokia N96...

[LancelotSA]

Piesang, sorry man but you are one strange fellow. You asked Tony directly for his opinion on the N96 :

What is your opinion of the phone? Anything negative? The N96 and Innov8 is basically the same phone. Yet everybody speaks highly about the Innov8 and they say that the N96 is crap. I think the problem is that people were expecting too much from the N96.

Then when he gave it you jumped on him for daring to say that he felt the N96 was not all that! And the bizarre part is that you specifically asked for the negatives... but were obviously hoping not to hear any!

I felt he was very fair as he stated it is great for watching videos but then criticised areas that needed criticising...

Well at least seeing you now getting all stroppy with someone else does show me that it was not my doing after all and that you are the one that battles with people saying what you don't want them to. And I know some smart ass is going to say something about this being me but again I will state that most of my posts are not opinions but based on specifications.

 

[Piesang]

Piesang, sorry man but you are one strange fellow. You asked Tony directly for his opinion on the N96 :



Then when he gave it you jumped on him for daring to say that he felt the N96 was not all that! And the bizarre part is that you specifically asked for the negatives... but were obviously hoping not to hear any!

I felt he was very fair as he stated it is great for watching videos but then criticised areas that needed criticising...

Well at least seeing you now getting all stroppy with someone else does show me that it was not my doing after all and that you are the one that battles with people saying what you don't want them to. And I know some smart ass is going to say something about this being me but again I will state that most of my posts are not opinions but based on specifications.

That was like 5 days ago Lancie when I asked for comments. I don't worry about the N96 anymore boetie.

And I didn't get "all stroppy" with him because of what he said about the N96. It's because of the way he replied to me and attacking me personaly.

I was asking him a question and was expecting a decent answer. Not someone who attack me for making a mistake that I admitted to.

Hahaha, you make me laught lancie.

 

[LancelotSA]

So the fact that he did not respond to you quick enough for your liking means that you are entitled to insult him for still sharing his FIRST HAND views with others who may be interested?

I am really starting to wonder is Piesang is RPMs alter ego on this forum as you really appear to think this is your personal playground!

You need to start thinking about what you say when you say it if your intention was not what came across as rude or insulting as it seems funny that myself, and obviously Tony too, sensed a derogatory tone in your posts. Unfortunately you may well be getting stereotyped as a result of your previous posts elsewhere which means what you are typing is not coming across the right way. However, in saying that, the fact you go on to still try to sing the praises of the N96 in your "apology" post does say a lot too......

 

[Piesang]

So the fact that he did not respond to you quick enough for your liking means that you are entitled to insult him for still sharing his FIRST HAND views with others who may be interested?

I am really starting to wonder is Piesang is RPMs alter ego on this forum as you really appear to think this is your personal playground!

You need to start thinking about what you say when you say it if your intention was not what came across as rude or insulting as it seems funny that myself, and obviously Tony too, sensed a derogatory tone in your posts. Unfortunately you may well be getting stereotyped as a result of your previous posts elsewhere which means what you are typing is not coming across the right way. However, in saying that, the fact you go on to still try to sing the praises of the N96 in your "apology" post does say a lot too......

Because I still think the N96 is a cool device.

 

[LancelotSA]

Because I still think the N96 is a cool device.

Yeah that is wonderful and I do not have a problem with you thinking that but please do not take it personally when we point out the factual shortcomings of that phone....

 

[Piesang]

I got the N96 this morning. Thought I should give it a try after my bad experience with the Xperia X1.

Came out with v10. I heard that there was a v.12 out and thought, well, it will be a while before it comes to SA.

Check for a update when I got home, and there it was, v12. Did the upgrade OTA, not even used NSU. Downloaded the 5MB file via 3G and updated the phone in less than 10 minutes.

You wont believe the speed improvement. I think if Nokia had this version firmware on the release model the reviews would've been much different.

 

[Sensorei]

I got the N96 this morning. Thought I should give it a try after my bad experience with the Xperia X1.

Came out with v10. I heard that there was a v.12 out and thought, well, it will be a while before it comes to SA.

Check for a update when I got home, and there it was, v12. Did the upgrade OTA, not even used NSU. Downloaded the 5MB file via 3G and updated the phone in less than 10 minutes.

You wont believe the speed improvement. I think if Nokia had this version firmware on the release model the reviews would've been much different.

Looking forward to your Pros/Cons list for the N96 with the new firmware.

 

[Piesang]

Just to give some info on the N96.

So far no problem at all. No freezes, (why does the Xperia come to mind when I say that?), phone is very responsive with the new software.

Loaded a view stuff on the phone and it didn't make the phone slower.

C: 61.1MB Free
E: 11.3GB Free
F: 6.5GB Free

Played with the camera for a short while. Took photos and videos. It is excellent quality.

Will post more later.

 

[Brawler]

yeah keep us posted

 

[Piesang]

yeah keep us posted

Will do so

Copied 1200+ photos onto the phone, 6 movies at 700MB each and about 200mp3's.

Still going smoothly.

 

[sand_man]

I got the N96 this morning.

ooooh.. lets hope this is the real deal, looking forward to your impressions...

 

[Piesang]

Using wifi now for browsing myadsl. Excellent reception. My E90's wifi is not this good.

 

[sand_man]

Will do so

Copied 1200+ photos onto the phone, 6 movies at 700MB each and about 200mp3's.

Still going smoothly.

 

[Piesang]

Oooh, the battery is halfway now. So with heavy usage it will definately not last a full day.

 

[Brawler]

I don't think any of my phones have lasted a full day on its 1st day

 

[sand_man]

Oooh, the battery is halfway now. So with heavy usage it will definately not last a full day.

mmmm... That was one of the criticisms of the N96 on GSMArena if memory serves, poor battery life...

 

[Sensorei]

mmmm... That was one of the criticisms of the N96 on GSMArena if memory serves, poor battery life...

950MhA is not much power at all and its beyond me why Nokia gave the N95 8GB a bigger battery. You could do a Mcgyver and put a 1200MhA battery in though. Do a google.

 

[Piesang]

Seen that yes. As long as it lasts 1 day its fine. Im not going to watch movies every single day.

 

[Piesang]

Ok, here is a short review after my first day with a Nokia N96.

I can't comment on the battery life as yet because I only gave it it's first full charge last night. It usually take about 3 or 4 charge cycles to get the best performance out of a battery.

Screen Quality:

In previous posts I was told that his huge screen is not good because Nokia stretched the 240x320pixels over 2.8inches. I was told that the pixels would be visible and that would make the screen look "grainy".

Well, that's not true. The screen quality on this phone is beyond excellent, even so that I think it compares up to par with the 800x480pixels of the 3" Xperia screen. (I can say that because I had one myself)

Call Quality:

Well, like all Nokias you can't find anything wrong with the call quality.

Symbian OS 9.3, S60 rel. 3.2:

WOW!!! This is a huge improvement from OS 9.1 & 9.2. The Feature Pack 2 is stunning. All the animation etc... It's just good on the eye.

CPU / Speed:

Here is where everyone had something bad to say about the N96. The 264mhz CPU is fast enough to handle everything the phone can do. Yes, I agree, it could've been better with a faster CPU but if you don't compare two handsets next to each other you wont notice the difference. I mean, what is anything less than 1second worth?

Firmware:

When I got my phone yesterday morning the first thing I did was to see what version firmware is installed. The phone showed v10.***. I then though that I will have to wait a while for v.12.043 because it was only released overseas on or after the 26th of November 2008. I read that it makes a huge difference on the performance of the N96. I only played with the phone for about 5 minutes then I thought I must have a look to see if the newer v11.*** firmare is available. I typed in *#0000#, pressed options, and there it was, Check for updates. Cool, OTA updates for the N96. To my amazement it found v12.043. It was a 5MB file which I downloaded using the phones 3.5G. It took about 10minutes or less to download the file, installing the update and restarting the phone. All settings on the phone was exactly the same. I didn't have to set the date, time or anything.

The v.12 firmware really does make the N96 perform better because of better memory management.

Camera:

I only took a few photos last night. I don't have to go into this too much. We all know that the 5MP Carl Zeiss Optics takes excellent photos. Same with video. Taking a video in the dark with the Dual Led (which the N82 can't do) is amazing. It is very bright. Ideal for closeup videos, not for anything more than at least 4 or 5 feet though. (in the dark that is)

In good light it is probably better than my MiniDV Video Camera.

Video Playback:

The Transformers Movie that is preloaded on the N96 is just awesome. It's like watching a DVD. I loaded other movies on the phone as well ranging from about 350MB to 700MB each and the playback quality is very good. No problem with skipping frames or sound etc... (I guess I can sell my iPod Video now) The speakers volume and sound quality is also loud enough and very clear.

Wifi and Internet Browsing:

Like I said in a previous post. The wifi is much better than the E90 and Xperia. It picks up the wireless network in places at my home where the other two phones coudn't even see it. Browsing the internet on the huge screen is a breeze. Even setting the Zoom size to 50% you are still able to read all text on the screen so you can see so much more.

GPS:

Last night I thought let me give the GPS a try. I know where I live, so that's not the problem, I wanted to see how fast the initual Lock will be seeing that this is the first time I will be running the GPS software.

I got in the car, slide the phone open (only because I remembered the N95's GPS receiver is on the bottom of the phone, then I realize that the N96's GPS receiver is on the top of the phone. So I typed in my address, found it on the phone and said GO. Put the phone in the cradle and the phone said, Awaiting better GPS Accuracy. I started driving and after about 20seconds the phone got reception and started to give me voice guidence. That was super fast.

What else can I tell you???

MMMMmmm. Well, I didn't have a single freeze or any problem with the phone. I hope it stays that way.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.

 

[adamr]

@Piesang, have you played witht he INNOV8? ... and if you did how do you compare the two phones .... (seeing you the phone tech dude on these here forums)