According to man-about-town, Robert X. Cringely, Samsung is readying not one, but two separate Android-based phones, one of which is due in September, with another model following around Christmas. If you believe what you read (and what his tipster says), these phones will not be labeled Samsung, rather they will be released as Google-branded gPhones.

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The Nokia N95 is a smartphone produced by Nokia. It is part of the company’s Nseries line of smartphones. The N95 runs on Symbian OS v9.2 which is an S60 3rd Edition platform with Feature Pack 1. The phone uses a two-way slider to access either media playback buttons or a keypad, but not both simultaneously. It is due to be replaced in late-November by Nokia’s next N-Series phone, the N97.

History

It was unveiled in September 2006 and was released at the end of March 2007.
Nokia has heavily promoted this phone as “It’s what computers have become.”
On March 22, 2007 Nokia announced that the N95 had started shipping in key European, Asian and Middle Eastern markets. .

On April 7, 2007, the N95 went on sale in the United States through Nokia’s Flagship stores in New York and Chicago and through Nokia’s nseries.com website. No US carriers are expected to offer this phone.

On August 29, 2007, two updated versions of the N95 were annouced at a press event in London; first, a U.S. version with support for AT&T/Cingular’s 850/1900 MHz W-CDMA (3G/UMTS, 3.5G/HSDPA) bands instead of the original European/Asian 2100 MHz frequency, as well as improved battery life; second, an updated version for the European/Asian markets with 8GB of onboard flash memory, slightly larger screen (up from 2.6 inches to 2.8 inches), and a black faceplate instead of the original silver. Both the new versions have additional changes, such as the removal of the sliding lens cover for the camera and doubling of runtime memory (RAM) from 64 to 128 MB. According to rumors, the U.S. version will be available unbranded in September, and carried by AT&T Wireless in early 2008. There is no word yet on a version for the T-Mobile U.S. 1700/2100 MHz W-CDMA bands.

Nokia N95 handsets supplied by Orange and Vodafone in the UK have the VoIP facility disabled from the phone by installing their own firmware and not using the Nokia generic software. Vodafone’s reason for removing the facility was that it “does not believe it’s a mature technology”. O2, T-Mobile & 3 allow VoIP to be used on their handsets, however data charges may apply when using the service.

T-Mobile were forced to connect calls from VoIP company truphone customers to the network as T-Mobile& truphone were in dispute over termination fees.

Features

Integrated GPS system

The N95 contains an integrated GPS receiver which is located below the 0 key on the keypad. The phone ships with navigation software. Maps are free and can be downloaded either over the air (via a carrier’s data packet network) or through the phone’s built-in Wifi. Maps can also be downloaded via a PC using the Nokia MapLoader application. Individual city guides and voice navigation are also available, but require a fee. A-GPS was added later, which greatly improved the performance of the GPS. Whilst TomTom Navigator 6 does not support use of the N95s internal GPS, Route66 Version 7 works fully with the Integrated GPS.

Imaging abilities

The N95 is particularly notable for its built-in 5 Megapixel (2592 x 1944) digital camera with Carl Zeiss Optics, autofocus and digital zoom. The camera can also be used to record video at 480p30 (640 x 480 at 30 FPS), nearly NTSC DVD resolution. The N95 also contains a frontal CIF camera for video calls.

On April 24 2007, the N95 won the prestigious ‘Best Mobile Imaging Device in Europe 2007′ award by TIPA (Technical Image Press Association), the largest photo and imaging press association in Europe.

Multimedia abilities

The N95 is a full fledged music player. It supports MP3, WMA, RealAudio, SP-MIDI, AAC+, eAAC+, MIDI, AMR, M4A, True Tones. Its two-way slider, when slid towards the keypad, allows access to its media playback buttons. A standard 3.5mm jack is located on the left side of the phone and allows the user to connect any standard headphones to the unit; a user can also use Bluetooth for audio output using A2DP. Capable built-in stereo speakers allow the user to forgo any headphones. The N95 is also capable of playing videos through the included RealPlayer application. Video can be output to a TV (or similar device) via a composite cable.

Internet

The N95 has built-in Wi-Fi, with which it can access the Internet (through a 802.11b/g wireless network). The N95 can also connect to the Internet through a carrier packet data network such as UMTS, HSDPA, or EDGE. The web browser displays full web pages as opposed to simplified pages as on most other phones. Web pages may be viewed in portrait or landscape mode and automatic zooming is supported. The N95 also has Bluetooth built in and works with wireless earpieces that use Bluetooth 2.0 technology and for file transfer.

It should be noted that the original N95 does not support US based versions of UMTS/HSDPA; UMTS features in this version of this phone are disabled by default as sold in the US (but can be reactivated if needed). Likewise, the forthcoming N95 U.S. will only support AT&T’s 850/1900 MHz UMTS/HSDPA bands, not the 1700 MHz T-Mobile USA band or the 2100 MHz band used internationally.

The phone can also act as a WAN access point allowing a tethered PC access to a carrier’s packet data network. VoIP software and functionality is also included with the phone (though some carriers have opted to remove this feature).

N95 - 8GB

A revision of the N95, called N95 8GB, was announced on August 29 2007.

The changes compared to the regular version are:

* 8GB internal flash memory
* Larger display (2.8″, up from 2.6″), same resolution
* MicroSD slot removed
* 128MB RAM, up from 64MB
* 1200mAh battery, up from 950mAh
* Slider protecting camera lens removed to make room for the larger battery
* Cosmetic changes to media and front-panel buttons

Specification sheet

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