By now nearly everyone has had a chance to either read about or see a Nokia N95 first hand. The phone was and still is a success and remains unmatched in many features; mainly the 5MP camera with flash (with the exception of the Nokia N82 Xenon flash for night shots) and VGA 640×480 Video Recording. With such success comes an overwhelming urgency to release a handset with superior features and capabilities that hits the public was the same force as the original. Now let’s skip the Press Release and go straight for the meat and potatoes with the Nokia N96; the new flagship device set to end all competition.

Building on the Past

When something isn’t broke, don’t fix it. The N96 has taken this message to heart by keeping the same famous Carl Zeiss optics and LED flash packed in the 5megapixel shooter. The VGA video recording capabilities are still present and they have taken a page from the N95 8GB’s book by including the 2.8″ screen as a standard feature. It might not sound like much to go from 2.6″ to 2.8″ screen sizes, but any additional landscape is always appreciated. The big change with the N96 compared to the N95 in physical appearance is the kickstand which allows you to rest the phone at an angle for optimal viewing pleasure. This of course is a key component to the Multimedia focus of the N96 and provides an excellent solution especially when watching TV.

Who wants to watch TV?

Yes I did say television, DVB-H to be exact. Although this feature is well before it’s time in either the UK or the United States at the moment (also note that only European 3G bands are currently supported for Internet) the capability is always appreciated. DVB-H stands for Digital Video Broadcasting Handset and is a set of standards designed around delivering television to your phone as long as your carrier supports it. This feature was not available on the Nokia N95, but the N series has always been about setting trends and including every possible feature you could ever need in a phone.

We love Memory!

Internal storage became the natural evolution in the N series with the N95 starting with under 200MB of internal storage and eventually ending up with it’s present 8GB of internal storage. Since the iPhone has become the hallmark of all things mobile with it’s trendy commercials and never ending Mac Love, Nokia took the appropriate steps to silence the crowd. 16GB is now the standard storage on the N96, and in an effort to one up Apple at it’s own game they have retained the MicroSD slot which can take all of your SDHC loving. When the 32GB SDHC cards hit the market there will be no stopping the storage capacity of the N96 especially when the weight and size are negligible and Apple will still be trying to sell the next upgraded storage iPhone.

The List Goes On…

HSDPA 3G, Wifi b/g, A-GPS, TV output, Nokia Maps 2.0 (voice guided directions), Flash support, accelerometer and a dual slider are only the beginning. Although all of these features except the new Nokia Maps 2.0 are on the N95, the list is still as impressive as it was in 2006 when the N95 hit the market. Besides not having a full QWERTY keyboard there is really nothing the N96 does not have and the S60 operating system is only growing stronger thanks to the new feature pack design around N96 multimedia.

Expensive!

Yes, the N96 is an expensive piece of hardware. 550 Euros pretax $800USD to be exact, but when you want every feature available on a pocket sized handset you must pay the premium to have the best. Anyone who has fallen in love with their N95 will definitely be in line to pickup the N96 in the 3rd quarter of 2008 when it is released and I encourage anyone who is skeptical about the device to also go and take a look. My overall feeling on the N96 is that if the features are a necessity, the value is there. [picture credits: pocket-lint.co.uk]