Take 1: Nokia N95

“Another iPhone killer?” you might be wondering. It’s actually not designed for that sole purpose.  Or at least the first Nokia N95 wasn’t designed for that purpose.  You’ll see what I mean when the 8gb version comes out. Oops, maybe I spilled the beans with that comment.

http://www.esato.com/news/article.php/id=1733

Now, don’t get too hopeful Nokia fanboys. It’s still just a piece of wheat hanging around the rumour mill.

Actually, it’s hard not to get excited. First, it has a dual-slider design; slide it one way to reveal the keypad, slide it the other to reveal music playing buttons (stop, play, pause, etc) which possibly doubles as additional methods of navigation (not too sure about this yet).

A 5-megapixel camera tops the list off. I initially thought the Sony Ericsson k850 was first to achieve the superior camera, but apparently Nokia already included it with its March 2007 release of the N95. Its lens is made by Carl Zeiss, which I believe all Sony point-and-shoot cameras sport as well. Not only that, but it can shoot video at a resolution of 640*480, which is near DVD quality. Doesn’t look too bad on an iPod Video either. It also features a frontal camera so it can make video calls. As my uncle would say, “it sounds pretty serious,” so far.

It has a Micro SD memory card slot, as well as 150 mb of built-in storage. Not too great, I’m afraid, for a high-end phone like the N95.

It runs on the Symbian operating system (series 60). I’m going to be honest and say I don’t know too much about this, as I’ve never had a Symbian device.

It also rocks an integrated GPS system, which I would believe to be quite useful. However, some more sophisticated options might require a small fee. But seriously, if you can afford the phone, I think you can cough the change up to download these options.

As for the internet service, it has built-in wi-fi so it can connect through hotspots. It can also use carriers’ EDGE, HDSPA, or UMTS services. Not too shabby; considering how this phone was released in March, it has a lot of functions that only phones that were recently announced possess.

With the arrival of an 8gb hard drive, I think that this phone would stack up very nicely against the iPhone. But, even along with the rest of the eager iPhone killers, I think this one has an excellent chance of standing out. To be honest, I’m almost willing to give Nokia a second chance (after my Nokia 6101, I’ve never looked back). I’m also very partial to sliders and swivels as opposed to boring flip phones or candy-bars.

Sadly, this phone doesn’t sport a touch-screen which I thought would have made it killer. Also, I think it has a pricing problem; however, once again considering its technology, I think it is still quite justified to have it priced at around $700.

Pay some serious attention to this phone; you might end up regretting not purchasing it!

Source: http://www.cep-telefonu24.com/assets/images/nokia_n95_cep_telefonu.jpg