Micha's Nokia N95

Introduction

I got a Nokia N95-2 as an (almost) free upgrade through T-Mobile in June 2008. What follows are some of my impressions on this phone, the software I've put on it, and some links to other web resources about this phone.

Initial Impressions

Looks great, bit on the big side (especially when compared to my last 2 phones) but sooo many built-in toys to keep a geek happy!

I found the interface to be fairly straightforward despite me not having used a Symbian-based phone before (my last 3 phones were all Sony-Ericsson). It's also reasonably fast - faster than I was expecting based on reviews.

Features are great - super-fast internet, downloading and installing software is a cinch using the built-in web-browser, built-in GPS is neat. I played with it a LOT on the first day and it was down to 2 bars on the battery after about 8 hours from a full charge. Will have to see how this goes with more normal usage (I'm used to my phone lasting a week with a single charge).

Performance wise it seems to be good - the interface is snappier than I expected based on reviews and on par with my older phones. It's locked up on me once while I was browsing a secure website. The only downer so far is the battery life, but as I mentioned, this was for an atypical usage scenario and we'll see how it goes through a more normal day.

Downers so far are:

• less than stellar battery life (expected)
• No USB charging! - this was a biggy for me as I had looked at an N95 in a shop and had assumed it could get charged through its mini-USB port. Oh well.

Moving Phones

Moving from my Sony-Ericsson K750i to the Nokia N95 was an exercise in frustration as there's no easy way to get the contacts across. The problem is this, the K750i can send the entire contact list (via Bluetooth, IR, etc.) but it does so as a single vCard file containing all contacts whereas the N95 can only process vCard files containing a single contact each.

Finally, after much searching, I gave up on finding an existing utility to split the file up and clean the contacts etc. All the (free/shareware) vCard managers for Windows are utter rubbish - most couldn't even process the combined vCard file either despite their website claims. So I wrote my own utility and ended up with 250+ individual vCard files.

The one good thing I discovered which meant I did not have to send all these vCard files individually to the N95 is the built-in backup (and restore) utility which copies contacts to the built-in memory. The restore functionality is the key here. I hooked the phone up to my PC, copied the files to it's memory card (Others/Contacts) and then imported them into the phone's Phonebook.

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Software

Following is a list of additional software which I've installed on the phone.

Sports Tracker

This is a very neat little app which integrates with the GPS and the accelerometer to provide a fitness app, counting steps, distance, speed, etc. It can be downloaded for free from the Nokia research projects website here.

Google Maps

Google Maps on your phone! Integrates with the GPS and shows map or satellite view - what more does one want? It's a free download from the Google Mobile Maps website.

JoikuSpot

Turns your N95 into a hotspot! How cool is that?? Get it free from the JoikuSpot website.

Fring

Seems to be the best free Skype / IM client for the N95. Haven't really used it yet, the test call (via WiFi) had quite poor voice quality. You can get it for free from fring.com.

Mobile Weather

Neat free weather app. Get it from here.

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Resources

Following are a few websites which have good info about the N95. For more, just search using your favourite search engine.

• UK Nokia N95 Homepage - manuals, specs, updates, etc.
• N95 Users
• Nokia-N95.net
• Nokia N95 Freeware
• Nokia N95 Best Tips and Tricks

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