The long-awaited Nokia N95 has arrived!

By Jacia on April 19th, 2007

Nokia has been touting the N95 since September of 2006 and I just got the chance to sit down and have a nice “get-to-know-each-other” session with it. Of all the N series, this “phone”, if you can call it simply a phone, is a multimedia beast! Compact and sleek, it embodies the future of mobile broadband technology.

This phone is a Quad Band GSM unlocked worldwide phone that is compatible for T-Mobile and Cingular accounts (not Verizon, Sprint or Nextel, however).

The most impressive feature for me was the GPS (Global Positioning System) mapping system that is included (free!) with the phone. Nokia has integrated maps of over 100 countries with more POIs (points of interest) than I have ever seen! You can find anything worldwide! I find that to be an incredible feature and only wish I was going to have the N95 when I am visiting New York City in early May. Without a huge paper fold out map with only streets and without POIs, it would help me look less like a tourist and I would immediately know where the closest Bebe store is. And the Google Earth-esque navigation interface is quite impressive. Spin the globe around and find anything you want anywhere in the world. That is power.

I was quite impressed with the 5 megapixel camera with its Carl Zeiss lens and retractable lens cover, auto-focus, flash, scene selections, color tones, red-eye reduction, exposure compensation, white balance adjustment, in-”camera” editing, plus photoblogging capabilities. I can upload instantly from my gallery to my photoblog. That would come in handy when I am in NYC as I could update my life, literally hour by hour, online. Everyone would feel like they were really there with me for my birthday!

Speaking of “being there with me”, if your phone is compatible to view video, I could even stream live video so that you could see the live filming of The Colbert Report, too, at 640 x 480 resolution. I can send clips, I can download movies or internet videos - all seen on the N95’s 2.5″ QVGA (240 x 320) display screen, showing over 16 million colors.

I can listen to my music with the built-in MP3 player when I am on the plane to NY, and I can also control my MP3 player with the included headphones and attached control device. It even features a hands-free speaker so when I am relaxing in Central Park with my cousin Jana, we can both listen and still chit chat together over the music. We could also listen to FM radio if we so desired.

All of these features and I have not even mentioned the phone capabilities! Nokia has it covered, have no fear. With expected features such as speed dial, voice dial, speakerphone, and an advanced address book, you will have no problem staying up to the minute with your calls (unless you are having too much fun with the “extracurricular” features, that is).

Of course, web browsing, text messaging, and multimedia messaging are included as is WIFI. So when I am using my laptop in a cafe in NY, I can use the WIFI supplied through my phone to connect online. What will they include next - a scanner?!

With four hours of talk time and over 215 hours of stand-by time, the 2.5″ QVGA screen displaying over 16 million colors plus internal GPS, 5 megapixel camera, 640 x 480 video capability, MP3 / MP4 player, all of the advanced call management features we have come to expect, plus an incredibly friendly user interface, this Nokia N95 GSM unlocked world wide multimedia “phone” is at the very top of my list! I highly recommend it!