Product Reviews

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The N95 is difficult to slot into a category, with its mix of professional features like HSDPA and WiFi, and professional omissions, like compatibility with Exchange. But it's not the traditional worker or consumer markets that Nokia is aiming at - whatever you make of the Web 2.0 generation, the N95 is a blogger's dream. Not only will it proficient online, with its web browser, Flash video player and myriad wireless options, but with its 5-megapixel camera and excellent bundled PC software, it creates as well.

It certainly gives a good first impression. The 2.6in, 240 x 320 screen is bright and clear, and although it's clearly unsuitable for videos longer than a few minutes, it's fine for two-minute shorts, and we can see its potential for YouTube when the video site goes mobile later this year. The screen also slides both ways - up to reveal a numeric keypad, or down to reveal four media control buttons.

Flip the camera over and there's a switch to uncover the Carl Zeiss lens. 5-megapixels sounds impressive for a camera phone, and compared to most other phones the camera offers excellent quality, but it won't truly replace a good dedicated camera - the lens is tiny, and noise becomes a problem with virtually every flash-free indoors shot you take. There's another 352 x 288 camera on the front for video calls.

The N95 also comes with some great software. The phone itself is reasonably powerful, which means it's speedy in use, and the media player is excellent too - particularly as the N95 will accept standard 3.5mm headphones. You can only synchronise content with a PC via Nokia's Music Manager software, but it's straightforward enough, while LifeBlog is Nokia's attempt to pitch the N95 at bloggers - you can

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set it to automatically upload everything on your phone to a blog, down to the last text message, each time you plug the phone in. But although the N95 works well with Outlook's calendar and contacts, it won't synchronise Outlook email, so email requires either a POP3 or IMAP inbox.

The N95 can connect to just about every kind of wireless network you can think of. Besides the obvious quad-band GSM and GPRS networks, there's also compatibility with 3G and HSDPA for broadband-like speeds. And, once you get back to the office, 802.11b/g allows you to connect to a local network. There's also a GPS receiver built in - but it's here we ran into serious problems. Watch any of Nokia's glossy ads for the N95 and you'll see happy people skipping their way through city street. But in our experience, getting a reliable signal in central London was nigh-on impossible. We managed a stable connection from a 15th floor flat, but the odds of finding your way through a dense urban area are slim to none.

This is partly because getting a GPS signal in the middle of a major city is difficult at the best of times, but Nokia hasn't helped much by locating the GPS antenna in the very bottom of the handset, so in normal use it's pointing at the ground. There are no maps preinstalled - the software downloads map tiles depending on what's needed. This can be useful - there's no data clogging up the memory card, but it does mean that your data charges rise each time a new map tile is downloaded, and you could be facing some terrifying charges if you make use it on foreign soil.

All of these wireless radios take a massive toll on battery life, too. Make equal use of the GPS and WiFi hardware, as well as sprinkling in a few text messages, phone calls and pictures, and you'll find yourself rewarded with a dead battery within 24 hours - not good for those used to going away for the weekend without a charger. It's also annoying that the N95 doesn't charge through its USB connector.

The N95 may prove once and for all that there's no such thing as a perfect phone for all people. While Nokia has succeeded admirably in shoehorning in all of the features you could possibly want, battery life is lacking, and GPS aficionados will tire quickly of waving the handset in the air every time the signal drops out. And, while the N95 works nicely with POP3 and IMAP mailboxes, the lack of Exchange compatibility will be a headache for those in offices.

As a phone for impressing your friends with, it's great - we're particular fans of the form factor and build quality and features - it's just a shame that the few problems the N95 has are so serious.

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