Joy And Sorrow Of Using The Nokia N96

Joy And Sorrow Of Using The Nokia N96

Oh the N96! I’ve had such a love and hate relationship with this handset, even before having touched it, that I don’t know where to start from. When I got the N96 last week, as a part of the Challenges, I told myself that I’ll try to look at it with new eyes, without any prejudice, without thinking about the N85 or N79 or 5800 XpressMusic. I inserted my SIM into it, and one day later, off it went back into my E71. Yes, one day, 24 hours. I think I lasted a bit more than James Whatley.

Talking about James’ thoughts on the N96, go over there, read his opinion. He makes some valid points. But let me start by mentioning the points I disagree with, mainly the hardware.

  • In my opinion, the N96 is very well built. Although not E66-like, the slider is miles ahead of the N95, a bit more solid than the N95 8GB, and also more solid than the 2 N85s I’ve had in my hand so far.
  • James also mentions the clustered d-pad region, with the music keys, Menu and C button, softkeys and green and red buttons. Well, I don’t have an issue with it, but then again neither did I have with the N81 8GB, if you recall. The music keys are even better spaced out compared to the N81, and I’ve NEVER hit the wrong key so far. James mentions the music starting to play when he hits Play instead of the C in the middle of writing text. I wonder how that happens with him as pressing Play DOESN’T launch the music player, it only starts playing IF you have the music player already launched. I’ve just had a talk with Ricky, and he said he never hit any wrong key so far either, and that he’s very comfortable with the well-spaced D-Pad region.
  • Another issue James talks about is the battery life, I’ll say that I wasn’t as let down by it as I expected to be. Subjectively speaking, I have the impression it’s on par with the N95 8gb, but a bit worse than the N82, let alone the E71. There was one instance when I had at least 5 bars (I had 6 I think) in the morning, and left the N96 SIM-free, keypad locked, in my bag the whole day without even touching it. I came home in the evening, the phone was dead. It didn’t happen again, so it leaves me very confused.

Still looking at the hardware, the only thing I actually dislike about the N96 is its big footprint and the black plastic used on it. I believe the material is not as good as the one used on the N82 Black, but that’s a subjective opinion. It may just be that the plastic on the N82 Black is thicker, which makes it creek less and feel more robust.

Moving on from the hardware, the main issue with the N96 is its software, and this is where I agree with James. I couldn’t stand keeping my SIM card for more than 1 day in the device. It’s not slow, it’s SLOOOOOW. Opening a message, switching between messages, opening the Music Player, and entering text anywhere when searching for contacts or songs or in the browser, take FOREVER. It’s true, it has certain moments when it works like a frigging bullet, but those are as rare as drops of rain in the desert. Most of the time, it’s painfully sluggish. It’s safe to note that I’m running v11.018, whereas v11.101 is already available for some product codes. Not mine.

Several questions to Nokia fuse through my head now:

  • WHY ON EARTH would you release a “flagship” with such Beta-grade software?! If I pay more than 600$ for a handset, I want it to JUST WORK. I don’t want to wait 10 seconds for a message to open!!! The N96 that I have, came with v10, which was even more painful to use compared to v11.018.
  • HOW ON EARTH do you plan to keep your users satisfied if you give them a flagship device this slow, and with no push-notice whatsoever that a new firmware is available for them? Some will still be stuck with v10 for months and tell everyone around them that the N96 is unusable!
  • WHY ON EARTH do you release a firmware update for some product codes, and leave the others without it, for the same N96-1? Why should I find on the internet that there’s someone else, out there, enjoying a more stable software, while I have to struggle EVERY SINGLE TIME I take the N96 in my hands?

As a final word, yes, there are some touches of genius in the Nokia N96. Users will appreciate the big screen, the solid built, the 16GB+ of memory, the dual-LED light while video recording at night. There’s also some software gems like the Power Saving mode, the better access point handling, … But the truth remains that until a decent firmware is available for all product codes, I can’t recommend the N96 to anyone, even my ennemies if I had any. I’ll update my thoughts when I update my firmware.

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Comments

  1. Dotsisx, it's not the N96 which let you down, it's the fact that you're using the E71
    Ever since I bought the E71 I'm not thinking about any other phone, and I must say that I used to change phones like gloves which my wife hated in me. I even tested the E66, while it's a very good phone I used it for about a day, just like you used the N96, I guess you can call this being an E71 freak or something.
    Hmmmm, maybe I lied about not thinking about a new phone, I'll check out the E75 when it comes out, meybe I'll become a E75 freak? Who knows, but still I love the E71 look, the E75 doesn't have that unfortunately

    best regards

    blesio
  2. The reason the N96 is so slow is that because Nokia used another processor that has 200 something Mhz. Yes, that's right, they used a painfully underclocked processor just to make up for that sleezy battery under its hood.
  3. And that is EXACTLY why I switched to an iPhone. Nokia has this nasty habit of building incredible phones, and then to save a buck or two, halving the memory, or cutting the processor speed in half, or for crying out loud, refusing to improve software.

    I used to be a Nokia schill, and I've kept an eye out for the N85, but I'm sorry to hear that Nokia still hasn't learnt a thing about regular software updates. Guess I won't be getting another Nokia.
  4. Couple things you should do to improve your N96 experience...

    -Make sure you're using NSU for your software update. The OTA update will only give you the version you're using now. I needed to use NSU to get 11.101.

    -Reformat the phone. You can back up everything from the mass storage onto your PC and you can use the native file browser for its backup feature to save your settings. WOM World was also kind enough to send me the viNe application in sis form as well, and they should be able to do the same for you if you email them.

    Doing these two things will make a HUGE difference. The phone is still slow, but it's at least manageable. I'll be posting my thoughts on the device before the day is over on my site.
  5. Quote:
    Originally Posted by JonnyBruha View Post
    WOM World was also kind enough to send me the viNe application in sis form as well, and they should be able to do the same for you if you email them.
    Partially tempted to see if you'll send it over to me, but based on Rita's experiences, as well as others I've picked up on, I'm going to pass.
  6. just picked up the n96 and here are a few tips for you as my results seem to be different from yours. i have the latest firmware on mine and i have also had the internal memory reformatted. the speed of the device is fine in most things, the notable exception is when changing screen orientation using garmin. when i open an email (using mailforexchage) it does take an extra second from what i am used to but not with sms. getting around the menus is very quick and i just came off of using the n85 and i also own an e71. i am happy with the speed of the device and have noticed that it is much quicker than the n85 when it comes to taking pics and saving them.

    as for leaving your phone in your bag and finding it dead, most nseries devices have a brutally inaccurate battery meter, and this phone is no exception. mine showed full bars from 830am to 3pm, then dropped 4 bars in the next few hours of light usage. the e71 is the only s60 phone i have owned that did a decent job at accurately showing the remaining life. point is that when you put it in your bag with 5 bars left it was much less than what it showed. the screen could have also been on when the contents of your bag shift and buttons are touched.

    make sure firmware is updated and format the internal memory as it has made for great performance on mine
  7. Ricky, I thought you had already used it through Mobileburn and appeared to like it????
  8. Quote:
    Originally Posted by Viipottaja View Post
    Ricky, I thought you had already used it through Mobileburn and appeared to like it????
    The N96, I've got one through Nokia's Blogger Relations program, and I'm actually pretty pleased with it (more thoughts from me coming to the site soon).

    I was referring to NokiaviNe in the above comment, though.
  9. Ricky, I just posted my review of the N96 on my site and posted a video of NokiaviNe running on the N96 and my N95-3. I like it a lot better running on a phone with appropriate hardware!

    http://thoughtsons60.com/2008/10/31/...iew-nokia-n96/
  10. I quite like the phone and it's features. Yes - it's slower than the N95 I have as a company phone but apart from one big failing, I quite like it. I have a Nokia CK-7W bluetooth car kit which works wonderfully with the N95 but the N96 bluetooth is absolutely hopeless - it would be more accurate to say it's unusable! I've changed the product code and upgraded to the very latest f/w version (11.101) and it's still cr*p. Anyone else have the same experience/know of a cure?
  11. hi everyone...

    Nice to came across the great place with lots of shared information, views and reviews...

    thanks to all the members for sharing info, ideas and links...


    Have a nice stay...


  12. Been usin the N96 andnot impressed. Slow as a windoze phone. Phone seems a throwback from the early 2000s.
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