Nokia N96 Blog

With several new launch announcements in the past couple of months, it is apparent that many enthusiasts have now put their Nokia N96 purchase plans on hold. When Nokia revealed this phone in Q1 this year, it was hyped up as the next flagship from the company because it was seen as a natural upgrade to the N95 family, which were a run away success.

Sibling rivalry no 1: The N85

And then, just before the actual launch date of N96, Nokia announced the N85, which has very similar specifications to the N96 and bettering it in a few features. Except for the DVB-H, the Nokia N96 does’nt differ from the N85 in many ways. The size of N85 is more compact and it has a smaller screen, but it offers a better experience due to the OLED display. The N85 seemed like a better alternative to the N96, so many people put their plans on hold.

Sibling rivalry no 2: The 5800 XpressMusic

Then came the shocker - the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. With touch features and huge screen resolution offered, it almost took everyone by surprise. Suddenly, the S60 third edition looks archaic. Eventhough Nokia targets the music loving crowd for the 5800, I won’t be surprised if many people waiting for the N96 switch to the 5800 bandwagaon.

It may be bit early to completely call of the Nokia N96, but I am very sure that it is not going to see the success that its predecessor enjoyed. I have been saying this so many times, but I do strongly beleive that Nokia needs to realign its portfolio and trim off some redundant handsets from the offerings.

Yes people, you are reading it here, first! The Nokia N96 has been officially launched in India and will be available from retailers from the first week of September. In a press event that was scheduled 3 days before the launch of Apple iPhone 3G in India, Nokia unveiled the N96 in a glittering press event in India.

Interestingly, Nokia will be bundling the N96 with an additional 8GB memory card, taking the total available user memory to a whopping 24GB, probably the highest in any phone ever launched. In case you are not aware the feature list of Nokia N96 will read like a long shopping list. Here is a summary

• QVGA
• 5 MP auto focus camera with dual LED flash with geo-tagging
• Video capture at 30 fps
• Kick-stand for easy video viewing
• Dual slider with dedicated music keys
• A-GPS chip with built-in software for turn-by-turn directions
• 3G with HSDPA
• Dedicated music chip for excellent sound quality
• Built-in WaveSecure software for storing backups.

Nokia has priced the handset at a hefty Rs 36,000 which is like 850 US dollars. This pricing is expected as this was the same price at which Nokia N95 also started retailing in this country. The device is now available for pre-booking with an advance amount of Rs 4000.

If you are not in a hurry, I would recommend waiting for atleast one month, since the price will come down significantly by that time.

Unlocked N96 will go for a price of about GBP $700 during the initial launch. Expansys has moved the N96 16 GB to the front page and has started taking pre-orders now.

All About Symbian reports that Nokia N96 will be available from september on the 3 network!

I think we will start hearing these release news from many networks and vendors in the coming days. Stay tuned.

Nokia has launched a micro site called Face the Task which is a flash based website where you can play a game and donate for WWF, which is a nature conservation group. If you donate EUR 759, you will get a special edition Nokia N96. There are also some games which could win you an N95 for free.

While many of us may not have that much money to donate for the WWF and get a handset in return, all this points to another very good thing: The launch date of N96 is nearing! Fasten your seatbelts and get ready for the action.

Nokia has this habit of releasing phone variants in different colors throughout the lifetime of the product. It appears that for some time, the Nokia Europe website was displaying an N96 phone in white color. Even though it seems to have been removed from the site as of now, this is a clear indication that N96 will follow N95’s footsteps in getting dressed up in different colors. For the picture, refer to the link below.

[via The Symbian Blog]

Mobile-Review is at it again. They got a N96 unit for review and a detailed preview with plenty of pictures are put up on the site. Feast your eyes to this beauty. The review is in Russian and the Babelfish translation is not helping much. We can just wait for the English translation to appear.

Update 25/March: The English translation is available from mobile review website itself.

One question that is in the mind of everyone who is planning to buy the current flagship, the Nokia N95 8GB is to go ahead with the purchase or wait for the N96 to be available. We would recommend to wait for the August release of the new handset as it is only a couple of months away. There are several reasons why N96 is better than N95 8 GB. For example, the additional memory slot, the audio DSP, gaming controls etc.,

Instead of buying now and regretting 4 months later, we request the users to wait for the N96 to be officially available.

If you thought the middle soft key is the only major change in Feature Pack 2 of S60, then you are mistaken. Mobile Review has published a very detailed review of this revision with plenty of gorgeous screen shots. Though the review is in Russian, the translation link from Google gives makes it very readable in English.

Our Nokia N96 phone will be running this version of  S60!

Here is a nice theme for your N95 8GB. The pitch black background matches perfectly with the N95 8GB’s aesthetics. This is created by the official S60 design team.

[via Symbian Guru]

There is no dearth of Nokia N96 hands on pictures coming. Instead of writing a post every time a new hands-on appears, I have consolidated all of them in a single post here. Feast your eyes on this great beauty from Nokia. This post will link only to the coverage from MWC. Links are in no particular order.

1. Intomobile
2. Engadget
3. Gizmodo
4. All About Symbian: More or less a review!
   
5. The Nokia Blog