Hands-on (again) with the North American N95!

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 28th 2007 at 8:01AM

Our all-too-brief interlude with the North American N95 left us wanting more, and fortunately, Nokia delighted us (and everyone) by expediting the launch and getting supply into stores in just less than a month's time. We'd originally thought that the new model would be available only in black, but it turns out that the company churned out "bronze" as a second choice, which turns out to be the first shade Nokia's flagship stores are being stocked with. This is a critical point here: the materials used on the cases of the two colors are different, and the colors are close enough to one another that we think folks are better off choosing a version based on the material instead. The black is a soft-touch plastic with a rubbery, non-slip texture to it (anyone who's used a Q Black or a Wing will know what we mean here), whereas the bronze has a more traditional hard plastic feel. Anyhoo, yeah, the HSDPA is lightning fast, the additional RAM over the first version solved our out-of-memory errors with the browser, and the just-announced SlingPlayer Mobile for S60 (free for N95 owners) was a pleasure to use. So, sorry, existing owners -- at least the lot of you in North America -- we wish we could tell you that it's not worth the upgrade, we really do. But it is. Check out our full gallery of both colors below!

Gallery: Hands-on (again) with the North American N95!

Filed under: Handsets, Nokia, Symbian, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS

Tags: features, hands on, hands-on, HandsOn, n95, n95-3, nokia, s60, symbian

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Nando @ Sep 28th 2007 8:37AM

This looks so good. I would buy it if T-Mobile had 3G out now and this phone would support T-Mobile's 3G.

Neutral

xman @ Sep 28th 2007 11:11AM

I agree!
But a few upgrades would make this PERFECT:

1) QWERTY
2) Half as thick
3) Little better battery life
4) UMA (why not throw it in for T-Mobile)

Highly Ranked

TDG01 @ Sep 28th 2007 9:33AM

I'll say the same thing about this than I did about HP's iPAQ 912 Business Messenger....Sweet device...and I'd seriously take a look at it, if it was CDMA on VZWs network...

Someone PLEASE make some power devices for that network...VZW clearly has ZERO urgency in advancing that market segment...

Highly Ranked

TDG01 @ Sep 28th 2007 9:37AM

This is especially true since Nokia seems to be making a concerted effort in the business segment....Nice job on the enhanced Exchange support which is naitive on the device...

http://www.mobileburn.com/pressrelease.jsp?Id=3676

Neutral

mrjasjit @ Sep 28th 2007 10:16AM

Man, if that thing had a qwerty keyboard, it'd be the shiz!

Neutral

Atanas Boev @ Sep 28th 2007 2:42PM

Better model? The early adopters should start to complain:)

Neutral

samgoody818 @ Sep 28th 2007 7:05PM

lol while everyone is still trying to get their hands on the N95-3 america edition i'll be upgrading to the 8gb all black N95 that shit looks mean!

Neutral

James @ Sep 28th 2007 9:39PM

Well samgoody, the 8gb black version does look awesome but the lack of US 3g support really cripples it. I still don't know if it's 100% accurate that it won't have US 3g support, but from what I initially read it won't (boggles the mind why they would do that).

I want this US-3g version right now. Are there any online stores selling it already? I know it's "launched" but when can we actually buy it (I looked at all the typical online stores and could only find the old N95). Any ideas?

Neutral

Justin M @ Sep 29th 2007 10:33AM

Wal-mart is selling it, unlocked. I kid you not

Neutral

Doody @ Sep 29th 2007 8:33AM

Nobilecity and Nokias own stores those are what i know off. More retailers coming next monday.

Neutral

Doody @ Sep 29th 2007 8:34AM

And thats a mobilecity ;)

Neutral

DJ SlipStream @ Sep 29th 2007 8:06PM

Wow Wal-mart really is selling it unlocked :O

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5978831

Neutral

cardo4691 @ Sep 30th 2007 12:14PM

Uh... don't think so. That looks like a "first edition" N95 (with Euro 3G frequencies). The US version is actually officially known as the N95-3, and it comes with a larger capacity battery (model BL-6F). The spec sheet says that Wal-Mart phone comes with the BL-5F, which is the Euro spec battery. Unfortunately, Nokia seems to have brought confusion on themselves, for insisting on using basically the same model number for all the variants of the phone... let's see: N95, N95-2 (upcoming 8GB model), N95-3... what's next?

Neutral