Nokia N95 - brown/silver (North American Edition, Unlocked)

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We were impressed by the quality of photos and videos the N95 produced, as one would hope with a 5-megapixel lens. Pictures boasted vibrant colors and sharp lines and edges, though there was a slight hazy effect to our shot. Unlike some smart phones, the N95 didn't require you to have a supersteady hand to get a clear shot. The camera phone also did a decent job with nighttime pictures, though they were still pretty dim. Video quality was also good. There wasn't any of that graininess that sometimes plagues videos shot by camera phones. We also wanted to mention the camera's interface, as we found it extremely easy to use and change camera settings, which can sometimes be challenging when you don't have a touch screen.

Once you're done, you can touch up your videos and photos with the included image editors. For example, you can add clip art and reduce red eye on still images, or cut audio for videos. The phone's memory capabilities have been upped with about 160MB of internal memory (compared to the previous 150MB) for saving your photos and videos to the phone, but we recommend saving them onto a microSD card, especially since the N95 can support up to 4GB expandable media (used to be 2GB). And sharing your memories is also easy with the ability to view them as a slide show, print them via Nokia's Xpress Solutions, upload them to the Web or Nokia's Lifeblog app, or transfer them to other devices. Also, Nokia includes video-out cables so you can hook up your N95 to your TV to view all your media on the big screen.

As a multimedia computer, the Nokia N95 isn't limited to just pictures and video. There's also an integrated music player that supports MP3, WMA, W4A, AAC, AAC+, and eAAC+ files, as well as OMA DRM 2.0- and WMDRM-protected songs. The music library categorizes tracks by artists, albums, genres, and composers; you can also create playlists right on the phone and adjust the sound with the built-in equalizer. The N95 also has an FM radio, though you'll have to use the included headset to access the radio, since it acts as the tuner. RealPlayer is also onboard with 3GPP and MPEG-4 video streaming support. Again, we applaud the decision to incorporate a 3.5mm headphone jack, which goes a long way in making the multimedia experience that much better.

On top of all that, Nokia has also packed a GPS receiver into the N95, along with a mapping application. With it, you can get color maps, route planning, and a healthy points-of-interest database. There's also a trip computer that shows you information about the total distance, time, average speed, and so forth. However, to get any kind of turn-by-turn directions, you'll have to download an upgrade to the device. There are several options for purchase, including a one-year license for $125.77 or a one-month license for $13.96. The N95's GPS performance was satisfactory, although it took quite a while for the unit to get a satellite fix. Once connected, though, it did a good job of tracking our position and gave accurate route calculations.

Aside from the GPS radio, other wireless options on the Nokia N95 North American Edition include integrated Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi, an infrared port, and the best news of all, 3G. Specifically, the device supports the 850/1900MHz HSDPA bands, meaning you'll only get the benefit of 3G (data speeds of around 400Kbps to 700Kbps with the potential to hit up to 2Mbps) if you use AT&T's network. The smart phone supports a number of Bluetooth profiles, including wireless headsets, hands-free kits, wireless keyboards, and A2DP for Bluetooth stereo headsets. As far as Wi-Fi, the N95 is compatible with 802.11b/g standards; in addition, there's support for Universal Plug and Play, which lets you use a Wi-Fi connection to hook up with a compatible PC, printer, or home entertainment system, but the number of UPnP devices is limited at the moment. The N95 was able to find and connect to our test access point, and we were able to surf the Net within minutes, using Nokia's excellent Web browser.

While all the aforementioned features are great, you can't forget that the Nokia N95 is, first and foremost, a phone. The N95 includes a speakerphone, speed dial, conference calling, voice-command support, a vibrate mode, and text and multimedia messaging. The phone's address book is only limited by the available memory, and the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts. There's room in each entry for multiple phone numbers, work and home addresses, e-mail addresses, birthday, and more vitals. For caller ID purposes, you can assign each contact a photo, one of 44 ringtones, or a group ID.

Last but not least, the N95 runs the third edition of the S60 platform on the Symbian operating system for your productivity needs. An app called QuickOffice lets you view Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents, and it optimizes the pages for the phone's screen, so you don't have to scroll all over the place to read text. There are some nice shortcuts to jump to the top or bottom of the page to reduce the up-and-down scrolling, and there's also a search function. However, if you want any editing capabilities, you'll have to upgrade the preloaded copy of QuickOffice. For messaging, the N95 supports IMAP4, POP3, and SMTP e-mail accounts and comes with a full attachment viewer. The N95 does support a number of push e-mail solutions, as well as Microsoft Exchange Server synchronization, but this is dependent upon your service provider and company's e-mail solution, so check with your IT department if you have any questions.

There's a handy wizard when you first power up the device to help you configure your e-mail, and we used it to easily set up our SBC Global account. Other productivity apps and PIM tools include Adobe Reader, a Zip Manager, a calculator, a notepad, a measurement converter, a clock, and a voice recorder.

Performance
We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; ) Nokia N95 in San Francisco using AT&T service and call quality was excellent. We could hear a faint background hiss when talking to friends, but still enjoyed plenty of volume and clarity to carry on with the conversations and to interact with our bank's voice-automated response system. Our callers said they were impressed at how good the phone sounded and had no complaints. Speakerphone quality wasn't as good as the background hiss increased slightly for us and we sounded muffled on the other end; still, it was nothing that prevented us from continuing with the call. We had no problems pairing the N95 with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset or the Nokia BH-604 stereo Bluetooth headphones.

When we reviewed the original Nokia N95, we were pretty disappointed at the sluggish performance of the smart phone. The device is jam-packed with features, so understandably this can bog down the processor, but even so, the number of delays we experienced was frustrating--imagine if we had actually paid $700 for it. Fortunately, we had a much better time with the North American Edition of the N95. There were still times where the phone acted sluggishly--for example, when opening a Word document--but it was much improved. Web browsing was also swift, whether we were cruising via Wi-Fi or 3G.

Music playback through the phone's speakers was better than anything we've heard from recent smart phones. It still lacks that deep bass, but we're impressed nonetheless. Video playback was also smooth with good synchronization between picture and audio.

The Nokia N95 is rated for 4 hours of talk time and up to 9 days of standby time. In our battery drain tests, we were able to get 8.5 hours of continuous talk time on a single charge. According to FCC radiation tests, the Nokia N95 has a digital SAR rating of 0.42 watts per kilogram.

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