Nokia N96: the new daddy in the Nseries range

It's a beast of a phone!

If you took one of the world's most feature packed handsets (Nokia N95), and beefed up the spec that little bit more, you'd get what Nokia calls the "most advanced computer optimised for entertainment". We prefer to just call it the Nokia N96.

Nokia N96

Officially announced today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Nokia N96 is scheduled for retail in the third quarter of 2008 and will carry an estimated retail price of €550 before tax. In other words, don't expect this one for free with your new contract.

So, what changes has the N96 taken following its evolution from the N95? Well, quite surprisingly, there isn't that much happening here. The N96 packs more memory, it has 16GB of storage built in (8GB more than the N95) and an additional microSD card should you still run out of room. The 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss camera is still present, but now has two LEDs to power the flash. Another notable addition is that of the built in DVB-H tuner for digital TV. If you want to sit down whilst watching your mobile-tele, you'll notice the inclusion of a handy little built in stand too, as shown in the picture above.

Nokia's N96 is a mighty impressive phone, but it isn't a mighty improvement over an already mighty impressive N95. It doesn't even have a touch screen, aren't all phones supposed to have those in this day and age? If you'd like to see more of the N96, head over to its official website at nseries.com/n96.

The N96's beastly specification:

General

Operating Frequency

WCDMA2100/900 (HSDPA) / EGSM900, GSM850/1800/1900 MHz (EGPRS)
Automatic switching between bands and modes
DVB-H Class C, 470-750 MHz

Dimensions

Volume: 92 cc
Weight: 125 g
Length: 103 mm
Width: 55 mm
Depth: 18 mm, locally up to 20 mm

Memory Functions*

16GB internal flash memory, plus microSD memory card slot (hot swappable) for expandability and flexibility
Approximate dynamic memory capacity indication with 16GB storage:
- Video: 40 hours**
- Music: 12,000 tracks***
128MB RAM, 256MB system memory (operating system plus dynamic user data area)

*Changes to product details are possible without prior notice. Application offering may vary. Dynamic memory means that the available memory is shared between dynamic memory functions. When any of these functions is used, there is less available memory for other functions which are also dependent on dynamic memory.

** Video capacity is based on H.264 768-kbps video at 320-by-240 resolution, combined with 96-kbps AAC audio. Music capacity is based on 3:45 min per track and 48 kbps eAAC+ encoding.

*** Capacity based on 3:45 per song with 48 kbps eAAC+ (M4A) encoding on the Nokia Audio Manager. Capacity with 128 kbps AAC encoding is up to [12,000] songs.

Power Management*

Battery: Nokia Battery BL-5F, 950 mAh
Talk time: up to 150 / 220 minutes (WCDMA / GSM)
Standby: up to 200 / 220 hours (WCDMA / GSM)
Video playback: up to 5 hours (offline mode)
Music playback: up to 14 hours (offline mode)
TV playback: up to 4 hours (DVB-H)

* Operation times may vary depending on radio access technology used, operator network configuration and usage.

Display and User Interface

2.8” QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) LCD TFT display with up to 16 million colors
User Interface: S60 3rd edition, feature pack 2
Active standby screen, Multimedia menu

Data Transfer*

WCDMA HSDPA 900/2100 MHz with simultaneous voice and packet data (PS max speed DL/UL= 3.6Mbps/384kbps, CS max speed 64kbps)
Dual Transfer Mode (DTM) support for simultaneous voice and packet data connection in GSM/EDGE networks. Simple class A, multi slot class 11, max speed DL/UL: 177.6/118.4kbps
EGPRS class B, multi slot class 32, max speed DL/UL= 296/177.6kbps
GPRS class B, multi slot class 32, max speed DL/UL= 107/64.2kbps

* Actual achieved speeds may vary depending on network support.

Video & TV

Video center

Video center: central hub for video experiences
Access to last played video and easy resume
My videos: collection of stored videos
Access to Internet Videos, compatible with RSS feeds and video podcasts, with direct wireless updates and downloads
Service catalog to discover new Internet Videos

Video Codecs and Formats

MPEG-4 Part 2 (H.263/SP), up to VGA 30 fps, hardware-accelerated codec, scaled to max QVGA on device screen, or max SDTV on TV-out
MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264/AVC), up to VGA 30 fps, hardware-accelerated codec, scaled to max QVGA on device screen, or SDTV on TV-out
Windows Media Video (WMV9), up to CIF/QVGA 30 fps, hardware-accelerated codec, scaled to max QVGA on device screen, or SDTV on TV-out
RealVideo QCIF at 30 fps
Flash video support in browser
DRM support: OMA DRM 1, OMA DRM 2, WM DRM

Live TV

Broadcast Television (DVB-H) capable
- DVB-H based mobile TV with internal antenna
- DVB-H Class C, 470-750 MHz

Browser-based video access

Support for download, streaming and progressive download
Support for Flash video

Music

Music Features*

Digital music player – supports MP3, AAC, eAAC+, WMA, album art
Playlist editing and sharing
Equalizer and visualization
Search, browse and purchase songs online in Nokia Music Store – with support for Windows Media DRM protected files

* Nokia Music Store availability varies by country.

Radio*

Stereo FM radio (87.5-108MHz, 76-90MHz) with support for RDS, Visual Radio™ and use of FM radio in offline mode
Nokia Internet Radio

* The FM radio depends on an antenna other than the wireless device antenna. A compatible headset or enhancement needs to be attached to the device for the FM radio to function properly.

Imaging

Main camera

Up to 5 megapixel (2592 x 1944 pixels)
Carl Zeiss Optics: Tessar™ lens
Auto-focus, auto-exposure
F-number/aperture: F2.8
Focal length: 5.2 mm
Focus range 10 cm to infinity
Dual-LED camera flash, video light, recording indicator, auto-focus assist light

Secondary camera

VGA (640 x 480 pixels) sensor

Video Recording

Video capture in MPEG-4 up to VGA at 30 fps
Digital Video Stabilization
Video clip length: limited by storage
Video file format: .mp4 (default), .3gp (for MMS)
Settings for scene, video light, white balance, color tone

Photography

Still Image resolutions: up to 5 Megapixel (2592 x 1944 pixels)
Still Image file format: JPEG, EXIF
Location tagging: automatic insertion of capture location into images
Settings for scene, flash, sequence, self-timer, color, white balance, contrast, exposure compensation, guides

Explore

Maps and Navigation

Built-in GPS receiver, with support for assisted GPS (A-GPS)*
Nokia Maps application
Free downloadable maps of over 150 countries, millions of locations, location details and satellite imagery**
Upgrades available for purchase: Multimedia city guides and Navigation services: Drive - voice guided car navigation, or Walk - pedestrian-optimized turn-by turn guidance

* A-GPS is a network dependant feature that requires a data plan. Additional charges may apply.

** Downloading satellite images may involve the transmission of large amounts of data through your service provider’s network. Contact your service provider for information about data transmission charges.

E-mail and Messaging

Easy-to-use email client with attachment support for images, videos, music and documents
Support for SMTP, IMAP4, POP3, MMS, SMS. Unified SMS/MMS editor
Compatible with Nokia Wireless Keyboard SU-8W (sold separately)

Browsing and Internet