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Nokia Claims Size Doesn’t Matter, Or Does It

By The Guru on September 24, 2008

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?

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The Guru

The Guru, aka Ricky Cadden, started Symbian-Guru.com in November 2006, out of his excitement for the S60 3rd Edition version of Symella. The Guru has used Symbian devices since the Nokia 6620, and is known for his perspective as a power user. You can follow The Guru on Twitter at @Rcadden

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  • http://www.dailymobile.se/ Phat^Trance

    the size always matters ;)

  • http://www.dailymobile.se Phat^Trance

    the size always matters ;)

  • http://www.nokia-n82.co.nr/ gareth

    i guess you can never have a battery that last too long between charges but the n82 only has a 1050mah battery and that lasts me fine

  • http://www.nokia-n82.co.nr/ gareth

    i guess you can never have a battery that last too long between charges but the n82 only has a 1050mah battery and that lasts me fine

  • james

    what about the N85 battery??? is that any smaller and the right size/shape to fit into the N96 when released???

  • Deelash

    Nokia may continue to defend the battery size in public, but privately I’m sure they are regretting their choice. I can’t believe they’re not at this moment preparing a new larger capacity battery. The n96 is touted as a video-focused device, it should live up to its billing. That means, in my book, being able to watch video/live tv for at least 10 hours. I would not mind an extra 10g for that. Despite this severe limitation, the n96 is still a more desirable device to me than the n85.

  • Deelash

    Nokia may continue to defend the battery size in public, but privately I’m sure they are regretting their choice. I can’t believe they’re not at this moment preparing a new larger capacity battery. The n96 is touted as a video-focused device, it should live up to its billing. That means, in my book, being able to watch video/live tv for at least 10 hours. I would not mind an extra 10g for that. Despite this severe limitation, the n96 is still a more desirable device to me than the n85.

  • http://mickyfin.vox.com/ Micky

    Not forgetting, the N96 is only going to get better with new firmware too. Including battery performance.

  • http://mickyfin.vox.com/ Micky

    Not forgetting, the N96 is only going to get better with new firmware too. Including battery performance.

  • ashu

    ofcourse, they should have opted for 1200mAh instead of 950mAh. If the current feature pack enhances battery life. it should have done that on 1200.
    Anyways, I am too of the line that if I have to upgrade from n82, will go for n96 only and not n85.
    Lets see when can i upgrade:(

  • ashu

    ofcourse, they should have opted for 1200mAh instead of 950mAh. If the current feature pack enhances battery life. it should have done that on 1200.
    Anyways, I am too of the line that if I have to upgrade from n82, will go for n96 only and not n85.
    Lets see when can i upgrade:(

  • http://patton.blogdeldia.com Patton

    It doesn’t make any sense. It’s like the N95-3 and the microSD cards: they say max is 2GB. But if you put a 8GB (maybe 16GB, I don’t know) they’ll work. But they insist on telling you max is 2GB. I don’t get it.

  • http://patton.blogdeldia.com Patton

    It doesn’t make any sense. It’s like the N95-3 and the microSD cards: they say max is 2GB. But if you put a 8GB (maybe 16GB, I don’t know) they’ll work. But they insist on telling you max is 2GB. I don’t get it.

  • Al

    I dont understand how they can’t accommodate both the kickstand and the BL-6F battery

  • Al

    I dont understand how they can’t accommodate both the kickstand and the BL-6F battery

  • mike

    Going off topic. I think the memory card issue is because the larger cards were not on the market when the phone launched. It is risky to say something is supported without testing.

  • mike

    Going off topic. I think the memory card issue is because the larger cards were not on the market when the phone launched. It is risky to say something is supported without testing.

  • http://antoinerjwright.com/ ARJWright

    Now that’s an interesting find @ricky; very much so.

  • http://antoinerjwright.com ARJWright

    Now that’s an interesting find @ricky; very much so.

  • Viipottaja

    On MAKING ROOM for a bigger battery within current measurements: I would like to point out that shaving of “just” 1mm from the phone is not as easy as it sounds. These are jam packed devices and every fraction of a mm is valuable and hard earned space. Therefore, I challenge anyone to provide any convincing proof that shaving of enough space from somewhere WITHOUT adding to the thickness would have been easy.

    Now, on ADDING to the thickness: my view is that if it can run for a full day of heavy use its perfectly fine and they would have been stupid to add 1mm to the thickness (to an already fairly thick device by today’s weird standards) to get a bigger battery in. Most people do no put their phones through heavy use – in particular after a couple of first weeks of enthusiasm.

  • Viipottaja

    On MAKING ROOM for a bigger battery within current measurements: I would like to point out that shaving of “just” 1mm from the phone is not as easy as it sounds. These are jam packed devices and every fraction of a mm is valuable and hard earned space. Therefore, I challenge anyone to provide any convincing proof that shaving of enough space from somewhere WITHOUT adding to the thickness would have been easy.

    Now, on ADDING to the thickness: my view is that if it can run for a full day of heavy use its perfectly fine and they would have been stupid to add 1mm to the thickness (to an already fairly thick device by today’s weird standards) to get a bigger battery in. Most people do no put their phones through heavy use – in particular after a couple of first weeks of enthusiasm.

  • blank

    I was reading a review on another website that stated that the n96 used unique hardware. ( not sure if i am allowed to link to an article). Its hardware allows it to coonsume less power. In my opinion though FP2 alone would not increase battery life by that much.

  • blank

    I was reading a review on another website that stated that the n96 used unique hardware. ( not sure if i am allowed to link to an article). Its hardware allows it to coonsume less power. In my opinion though FP2 alone would not increase battery life by that much.

  • http://www.symbian-guru.com/ The Guru

    @Viipottaja – Sure, send me an N96 and I’d bet money I could shave enough off the inside of the back battery cover. It was that close when I tried it.

  • http://www.symbian-guru.com The Guru

    @Viipottaja – Sure, send me an N96 and I’d bet money I could shave enough off the inside of the back battery cover. It was that close when I tried it.

  • blank
  • blank
  • Viipottaja

    Without jeapordazing e.g. durability (over an extended period of time at that) and in hand feel and not having the back pop out all the time? If it REALLY was _THAT_ easy (i.e. simply redesigning the lid with NO downside whatsoever), I think Nokia would have done it – they are not complete dimwits. :)

    Blank, yeah,I recall reading the same thing on the new hardware platform consumes a lot less power.

  • Viipottaja

    Without jeapordazing e.g. durability (over an extended period of time at that) and in hand feel and not having the back pop out all the time? If it REALLY was _THAT_ easy (i.e. simply redesigning the lid with NO downside whatsoever), I think Nokia would have done it – they are not complete dimwits. :)

    Blank, yeah,I recall reading the same thing on the new hardware platform consumes a lot less power.

  • http://www.serkoart.com/ Serko

    The N96′s graphics processor is weaker than the N95/N95 8GB’s = a more battery efficient phone.

    Have a look at this video for some perspective:

    http://qik.com/video/123733

    FP2 helps give it extra battery life too but once the N85′s battery life is tested (it’s FP2 too but

    includes a 1,200mah battery) I’m willing to bet that the N96′s battery life will seem weak.

    Shame on Nokia I say!

  • http://www.serkoart.com Serko

    The N96′s graphics processor is weaker than the N95/N95 8GB’s = a more battery efficient phone.

    Have a look at this video for some perspective:

    http://qik.com/video/123733

    FP2 helps give it extra battery life too but once the N85′s battery life is tested (it’s FP2 too but

    includes a 1,200mah battery) I’m willing to bet that the N96′s battery life will seem weak.

    Shame on Nokia I say!

  • http://www.symbian-freak.com/ Michael Hell

    i’m so sick and tired of this whole battery discussion .. Nokia can FOR SURE even implant the E-Series 1500 mAh Batteries, but for some unknown stupid Reasons just refuse to! :(

  • http://www.symbian-freak.com Michael Hell

    i’m so sick and tired of this whole battery discussion .. Nokia can FOR SURE even implant the E-Series 1500 mAh Batteries, but for some unknown stupid Reasons just refuse to! :(

  • Viipottaja

    Serko, look at the Smape comparison. Sure, N85 battery life is better, but not dramatically so.

    Michael, I gather you are referring to E71? Well, just four things (there might be others) to note is that E71 is not a slider, it does not have 16GB internal, DVB-H, and the camera module is tiny (read = way crappy).

    The bottom line to me seems to be: tests seem to show N96 has an ok (not great) battery life and at the time of the N96 design and development the battery used in the N85 was not even available yet.

  • Viipottaja

    Serko, look at the Smape comparison. Sure, N85 battery life is better, but not dramatically so.

    Michael, I gather you are referring to E71? Well, just four things (there might be others) to note is that E71 is not a slider, it does not have 16GB internal, DVB-H, and the camera module is tiny (read = way crappy).

    The bottom line to me seems to be: tests seem to show N96 has an ok (not great) battery life and at the time of the N96 design and development the battery used in the N85 was not even available yet.

  • http://www.symbian-freak.com/ christexaport

    Flagship Schmlagship. This is a fiasco, Nokia. I bet third party housing makers could make an indistinguishable battery cover to fit the battery. Nokia focused on services, thinking their lead was far superior, but what now turns out no longer exists.

  • http://www.symbian-freak.com christexaport

    Flagship Schmlagship. This is a fiasco, Nokia. I bet third party housing makers could make an indistinguishable battery cover to fit the battery. Nokia focused on services, thinking their lead was far superior, but what now turns out no longer exists.

  • Viipottaja

    The battery is the fiasco???? Again, it has rougly comparable battery life to N95 8GB and N85 (according to Smape). How’s that a fiasco??

    N96 may not be a huge success for sure but to call it a fiasco just because a (IMHO) “storm in a glass of water” complain about battery life is a bit stretched..

  • Viipottaja

    The battery is the fiasco???? Again, it has rougly comparable battery life to N95 8GB and N85 (according to Smape). How’s that a fiasco??

    N96 may not be a huge success for sure but to call it a fiasco just because a (IMHO) “storm in a glass of water” complain about battery life is a bit stretched..

  • http://www.symbianplanet.net/2008/09/a-quando-una-batteria-piu-capiente/ Symbianplanet,Symbian News, Tecnologia, Symbian Serie 60 e Tanto Altro: Il Blog di Mauikek e Dockside…News Super aggiornate ogni giorno, Temi freeware, Software, !!! » A quando una batteria piu’ capiente?

    [...] per il web, mi sono imbattuto in Symbian-guru (in realtà, dato che è nei miei preferiti, lo visito spesso ) e ho trovato un articolo che parla [...]

  • cheryl

    well i think the n96 is great i got it yesterday and im always textin on my phone and the battery lasts me at least the whole day as long as your remember to put it on charge of a nightime its fine

  • cheryl

    well i think the n96 is great i got it yesterday and im always textin on my phone and the battery lasts me at least the whole day as long as your remember to put it on charge of a nightime its fine

  • http://www.symbian-guru.com/welcome/2008/11/nokia-n96-thoughts-from-the-guru-battery.html Nokia N96 Thoughts From The Guru – Battery | Symbian-Guru.com

    [...] up – the battery. This is a major point of contention, and after 2 weeks of full-time usage (one before and one after my vacation), I have some thoughts [...]

  • james

    what about the N85 battery??? is that any smaller and the right size/shape to fit into the N96 when released???

  • james

    what about the N85 battery??? is that any smaller and the right size/shape to fit into the N96 when released???

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