The N95 8GB: Open to Anything

This is Lisa. She loves her N95 8GB, as well she should. There’s many reasons to love the N95 8GB. I’ve spent some time with the N95 8GB myself, and am currently having a go with the N95 8GB NAM (these N95 variant monikers are starting to become a mouthful) right now courtesy of the fine folks at WOM World, the Nseries sponsored word-of-mouth resource that covers all the latest happenings around the Nokia blogosphere. The N95 8GB line has seen some very nice software improvements since I last played with one. I’ve done a piece some time back on the ten reasons to update to the N95 8GB from the classic edition, and it may very well be time to revisit that topic. The shiny black beauty that I’ve got here in front of me now has flash support in the browser so that I can play embedded flash content from YouTube, or any of the other flash content sites out there. It’s got all the fancy updates that I’m sorely lacking from my beloved N95-3- that’s the seemingly forgotten North American variant. This new one has vast improvements in speed with regards to the gallery as well as a much quicker camera load time and processing of the images. It’s also got a larger screen- which doesn’t really look that big on ‘paper’- it’s a 2.8 inch screen as opposed to the classic N95’s 2.6 screen- but when you get the thing in your hands, it’s a quite noticeable difference. The width added to the top slider that allow for the extra 1/5 of an inch gives most the initial impression of a rather “chunky” device, and this was exactly my impression. It just loses some of the elegance of the N95- and yes, I think the N95 is a classy, elegant device- I really do. The N95 8GB though, with its shiny piano black looks, and it’s fat-headed slider with the 2.8 inch screen seems to lose some of this. I will have to say though- I’ve absolutely gotten used to it- and now that the North American 3.5G network capability has been added to this variant of the N95 8GB, I’m really starting to like it. One thing that really makes this device stand out is something that Lisa wants to tell you about…

There are a number of reasons to like the bigger screen- read on for some of the impressions that the N95 8GB has left of me, and some of the reasons why you should love the N95 as much as Lisa does...

Certainly it’s a little easier to see text, and images are a bit nicer to view. The Nseries team has seen fit to add a couple extra icons and function to the screen in some views. The active standby shortcuts have been added to with an additional time-saver bringing the total to seven. Various menus have another visible item in them, such as the messaging menu. There’s also a battery meter in the camera mode now- which could be handy for people like me who will regularly run through a couple hundred shots when I’m out snapping photos. Lisa has stumbled on to the best advantage to the N95 8GB over the classic model though- the extra screensize really does make watching video a better experience and more enjoyable. The core of the device remains the same, it’s got the same OMAP2 processor that can render video quite well, and there’s a number of ways to get video playing on either N95’s screen. Several applications are dedicated to filling every spare second you have on your mode of public transportation, waiting in queues or otherwise with YouTube clips. Most favor the EmTube client, and while YouTube offers their own application that has proves these chaps really know how to program in Java- it just doesn’t quite match up to the EmTube offering. Aside from browsing YouTube, there’s also a smattering of applications that play nearly any format of video you can toss at it, from h.264 to divx- but my absolute favorite video trick is streaming video from home to my N95 anywhere I have a data connection or WiFi available. For about 100 US dollars you can get a box that hooks up to your TV signal at home, whether it’s satellite, cable or antenna- a SlingBox will stream it your N95 with fantastic results. You can even change the channel or operate the functions of your DVR with the S60 application. All this happens for the cost of the equipment alone. There’s no service to subscribe to, there’s no monthly fee- nothing but the initial cost of the SlingBox. Sure, it’s still only a 2.8 inch screen even on the “big screen” N95, so you’re not going to want to watch the first run of that new episode of ‘Lost’ on it, but I find it absolutely brilliant to fire up the SlingPlayer app on my N95 if I’ve got a few minutes to kill. There’s almost always something decent like Mythbusters on the Discover Channel, or they run The Daily Show and Colbert Report fifteen times a day on Comedy Central- that’s not a bad few minutes to spend either. If I’m not at a home or near a pub that I can duck in to catch the score of the Detroit Tigers game, the SlingPlayer works beautifully- and if you’re like Lisa- maybe your favorite sport isn’t best presented on a screen much larger than the N95 anyhow, especially into those later rounds…

The N95 really just makes a great device that much better. I have my issues with the lack of proper lens protection on the newer N95 variants- and I still prefer to have the option of pulling the memory out of my N95, tossing it in another device or in a card reader- USB transfer rates on the N95s are still an absolute pain. That being said- the screen really makes the difference, and although this shouldn’t be an issue (but since it is, I guess it’s worth mentioning again…) the N95 8GB really does have quite a bit better performance than the N95-3 as far as boot up times, camera app loading and the time it takes the N95 to process those wonderful 5 megapixel beauties- plus you’ve got podcast integration with the music player, search right from the active standby screen and a number of other tweaks to the system. In fact, now that you remind me again- how’s that N95-3 update coming, Nokia?

Moving on- Open to anything… that’s the key. There are about 8 thousand different applications (this is not an exaggeration!) available to the S60 user- granted many of them aren’t nearly as cool or as practical as those that stream video from your home to your phone- but there’s an amazing wealth of applications out there that are even cooler than that. Applications that download torrents (not that anyone would do that, especially with their phone), applications that push your email or let you listen to the countless Internet radio stations out there- or identify the song that’s playing on the radio in the pub. You can have your favorite podcasts ready and waiting for you every morning. There are programs that share the power of your Nseries mobile like your GPS data over bluetooth and even your data connection over wifi. A wide array of apps keep you connected to your favorite social media networks and chat clients for nearly any service are readily available. You can even stream live video from your N95 to the Internet for anyone in the world to see, geo-tag your photos then upload them to your flickr account- even automatically every time you snap a shot if you’d like. You can turn your N95 into a fax machine if the need is there- this has certainly saved me from a couple of frustrating searches for a fax machine on the road before. The list of what can be accomplished with the thing is absolutely astonishing. The N95 really is open to anything- more and more talented software developers are proving that to be the case all the time, and with the amount of support that Nokia offers these developers- it’s not likely that this will slow down any time in the near, distant or far off future.

Lisa would be happy to know that the N95 8GB is not only good at watching the titans of chow compete on their stage, but as you can see with these videos recorded on the N95 8GB- it can also be quite handy at recording these moments as they happen. ;)

Thanks to WOM World for sending the video over. 

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written by S, April 17, 2008

I think Nokia need to add the words 'with the help of an OPDA certificate' after the words 'Open to anything', or it's false advertising.

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written by PseudoFinn, April 21, 2008

The website is now live- pop over for more videos!

www.opentoanything.com

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