One of the biggest complaints thus far with the Nokia N96 is that it’s powered by the embarassing 950mAh battery that the original N95-1 was. However, with so few actual real-life use scenarios, I have to put quite a bit of weight behind this report at AllAboutSymbian from guest contributor Nick, who actually has an N96 in his hands and has been putting the battery to the test.
Nick says that the battery, though small, is more than enough to last through at least one day of heavy usage, if not even more than that! Obviously there are murmurs around the internet, as well remember full well the power-disappointment that was the N95-1. Nokia stands behind the N96, stating that S60v3 Feature Pack 2 brings, among other things, several enhancements that allow the 950mAh to stretch further on the N96 than it did on the N95-1.
Over at the Nokia Conversations blog, Charlie says he’s been assured that through market research, Nokia confirmed that the N96 was already thick enough, and that adding space to fit the larger 1200mAh battery would have compromised the phone’s image, and could even have resulted in the removal of my favorite feature, the kickstand. Personally, I’ve had a chance to play with the N96 back in Boston, and the first thing I did was attempt to pop my N95-3’s battery in there. I was amazed to discover that, not only did the battery fit – and work, but the phone’s back cover even fit back on and fastened securely! Of course, it was stretched a bit, but had Nokia shaved only 1mm of room from inside the device, the 1200mAh battery would have fit perfectly. (P@sco has photos to show this, as well)
Now, again, Nick assures us that the extra power isn’t entirely necessary (and I’ll believe him, since he owns one, and I have only played with a prototype), but with all the heat Nokia is taking, it might have been worth it to toss that 1200mAh battery in anyways, as good measure. What do you think? First Nokia claims that size doesn’t matter, to justify the smaller battery, but then, apparently, size IS a concern, as the phone would have been enlarged to fit the bigger battery. Which do you think is more true, and more importantly, what do YOU think?
