Novatel MiFi 2200 Specifications:

• Network: Verizon Wireless CDMA
• Wi-Fi Mode: 802.11b/g
• Security: VPN & WEP/WPA/WPA2
• Size / Weight: 3.5″ x 2.3″ x 0.4″ / 2.05 oz
• Connector: microUSB
• Battery Life: 4 hours use / 40 hours standby

Hardware: 5/5 stars
The MiFi 2220, developed by Novatel, is about the width and height of a business card. It’s 3.5 inches wide, 2.3 inches tall, and just 0.4 inches thick to be exact. While weighing just about 2 ounces, it packs both a CDMA and WiFi antennas inside. There’s a power button on the top that lights up green when it’s on. A microUSB connector, for charging the device, resides besides another green LED indicator that displays WiFi activity. On the bottom, there’s a sliding back door that reveals a battery pack. Other than that there’s not much else to say. It’s light weight and compact enough to take with you.

Setup Process: 3/5 stars
For someone who doesn’t know much about technology, the idea of this device might be confusing. It’s essentially a 3G modem that has a WiFi router built in. So instead of having to connect it to your computer with a cable, it broadcasts a WiFi signal. Just find the access point on your computer, connect, and behold: the internet! Sounds easy right? Unfortunately not. Although our unit was pre-configured since it’s a sample review model, a normal user will have to go through some mess. Unlike phones where you just dial a number to quickly activate, MiFi owners will either need to do it over the internet or at a Verizon Wireless Store. To get it done over the web, you’ll have to download and install some drivers for your computer to recognize the device. Unfortunately that ends up defeating the major selling point of the device: not having to install crappy software.

Features: 5/5 stars
Anyways once you get it activated, there’s a lot this device offers. Just connect to the hotspot and key in the IP address to access the web interface of the device. Just like a standard home Linksys or D-Link router, it offers a panel to change settings. I was able to pick a new SSID, change the security to WPA2, and pick a new pass-phrase. I was quite impressed that such a small device was even capable of offering such options. The local web interface even displays 3G signal strength, data usage, and your IP address and plenty more. Plus since up to 5 of your devices can join in on your network, it even displays the number of connected users. Considering this first model has so many options and capabilities, I’m quite excited to see what’s in stock for a future version.

Network Speed: 5/5 stars
The most important aspect is the data transfer speeds the device offers. To give this a shot I decided to use the SpeedTest.net application on my iPhone to test the speeds when connected to the MiFi over WiFi. Yes, I have Verizon on my iPhone, through WiFi. Speed test recorded throughout the San Francisco Bay Area consistently averaged at about 1200kbps down and 700kbps up. Every time I ran a test on the MiFi, I also tested AT&T’s 3G speed on the iPhone. The results disappointingly averaged at about half of what the MiFi offered: 650kbps down and 250kbps up. I also used the Verizon MiFi to access the internet through my Dell Mini 9 netbook. The speeds were speedy enough to browse most webpages, check emails, or instant message. Streaming rich media such as Hulu or YouTube just isn’t too practical. It works and sometimes well when signal is really strong, but requires waiting for a lot of buffering most of the time. Plus with data caps, I wouldn’t recommend using up precious bites.

Battery Life: 5/5 stars
According to the specifications, Verizon claims four hours of use and 4o hours of standby with the 11mAh battery. After testing for short periods over a period of few weeks, I can agree that the claims are about right. Although the power saving feature, which turns itself off when there’s no activity, is sometimes annoying; it offers plenty of hours for the average user. Plus charging it is as simple as plugging it into either a computer with the included microUSB or a power outlet with the AC Adapter. The device takes about 2.5 hours to replenish and can even be in use while recharging.

Conclusion:
Overall the Verizon MiFi is a new and interesting technology that is simply great. Other than the weird setup process, it makes life on the go truly convenient. Transfer speeds are great. Battery life is probably enough for most users. The only issue comes in with data caps. The plans are just ridiculously overpriced. A 250MB usage plan costs $40/month and a 5GB plan is $60/month. That’s more than what most people pay for unlimited high speed internet at home. And while the hardware lets you easily share internet access with a friend traveling with you, the data caps makes you think again. Other than that issue, the rest is great and I highly recommend it. If you are interested, the device is available for purchase for $99 after a $50 mail-in-rebate with a new 2-year contract.

Deal Alert: Verizon MiFi For Free [with contract]
Links: VerizonWireless.com MiFi

BlackBerry Storm2 Specifications:

• Provider: Verizon Wireless UMTS/HSPA & EDGE/GPRS/GSM
• Displays: SurePress 3.25-inch 360×480 pixels touch screen
• Camera: 3.2 Megapixel Camera w/ Auto-focus & Flash
• Music: MP3, M4A, WMA, & AAC/eAAC/eAAC+
• Video: MPEG4, WMV, H.264
• Memory: 2GB (internal) | 16GB microSD included
• Dimensions: 4.43″ L x 2.45″ W x .55″ D
• Battery: GSM: 5-6 hours talk time | 270-305 hours standby
• Other: Bluetooth 2.1 | 3.5 mm Audio Jack | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g

The Body: 5/5
The Storm2 is a bit of a heavy phone just like the original Storm, but there are plenty of changes that make it fantastic. For one it simply just looks sharp and feels like an expensive device. The front is completely glossy, the sides are covered with a chrome trim, and the back has a brushed metal look. Instead of having separated physical buttons for the send, menu, back, and end keys, they are all integrated onto the bottom of the SurePress touch screen. The speaker is now located on the bottom portion facing the user for undistorted quality instead of on the back. The voice command key and the micro USB port are on the left side of the phone. From the top to the bottom on the right side, there’s the 3.5mm headphone jack, volume rocker, and the camera shutter. The top of the back side has the 3.2 mega pixel camera and a LED flash right above the plate covering the battery pack, SIM card, and microSD card. The play/pause control and power button that also locks the phone is on the top. Everything is within fingers reach and the grip feels great.

The Display: 5/5 stars
The original BlackBerry Storm had plenty of issues with the touch screen. For one it was too hard to press and was too slow to type on. The Storm2 features a new SurePress display that supports multi-touch and multi-clicks. The display is much more responsive and feels better. When browsing through applications or typing on a keyboard, you can lay your finger on the screen without worrying about it accepting that as a click. It will simply highlight the item your finger is on until you physically press the display. If you’ve used any other touch screen display such as the iPhone before, this is a very different feel. Although it takes some getting used to, it brings back a bit more of the feel a traditional QWERTY keyboard offered. The accelerometer has also been vastly improved and the display can quickly switch between landscape and portrait for anything including the keyboard. For everything from the home screen, text, images, or videos, the display has excellent colors, is bright, and crisp. Although slightly more difficult to use in direct sunlight, it looks stunning indoors.

The Keyboard: 4/5 stars
Moving on, since the Storm2 doesn’t have a physical keyboard, it offers multiple types of virtual ones. The simplest one is the QWERTY mode that works in both landscape and portrait. It’s a bit too crammed when in portrait, but is the landscape version is the best way to type. The MultiTap method most resembles typing on numeric keypads on old flip phones. It’s slow and tedious, but still works. The most interesting mode is an improved version of SureType which was also present on the original Storm. It pairs two letters on a single key in the portrait view. Without having to double-click to access the second letter, it second guesses the word you are trying to type. And it impressively actually worked most of the time. There’s almost no lag in between key presses and it appearing on the display. I only wish they made the keys for the QWERTY landscape a bit larger since there is some extra screen estate available. Typing isn’t slow either since it can accept two inputs at almost the same time. The original Storm had a delay, since you would have to wait for the screen to pop back up after a click. Plus with an improved auto-correct feature, it’s faster to type as it fixes typos for you. The default dictionary learns new words and names quite quickly. Plus there are plenty of custom settings to adjust tap interval, hover period, and swipe sensitivity to meet your needs. Even though it lacks a real physical keyboard, the Storm2 manages to make typing easy, fast, and even fun.

Operating System & Interface: 4/5 stars
The Storm2 runs on the BlackBerry 5.0 OS. It’s a big improvement over 4.7. For one it’s much snappier and has faster animations and transitions. It’s interface is user-friendly and even looks good. The home screen is completely customizable from choosing backgrounds, to rearranging icons, or even creating folders for group applications. And as with any BlackBerry, you can customize font size, color, and type. The OS also supports multitasking unlike the Apple iPhone and lets you easily switch between running applications by simply holding down the menu button until an Windows-esque ALT-TAB menu appears. The OS is also more open to 3rd party applications than the iPhone. Storm2 owners will be able to fetch new applications from Verizon’s Application Center, through BlackBerry App World, or download one from a web page in the Browser. App World has a great interface and large selection of both free and paid applications. The phone comes pre-loaded with chat clients, social networking programs, and a few others tools. Plus with 256MB of RAM, double of that on the original Storm, everything is faster and more things can be running at once. The only issue I found was with the Web Browser. Despite a fast network and WiFi, it is still slow when it comes to rendering pages. It lacks a tabbed interface and still has issues displaying pages properly. It also lags quite a bit when zooming in or out. And when it comes to applications, there are plenty of good ones available, but many standard BlackBerry apps don’t run so well on the Storm2 since they aren’t designed for a touch screen display. Rather than those issues, the rest of interface and OS has been vastly improved.

Call Quality & Features: 5/5 stars
I don’t think this phone could do any better when it comes to making or receiving calls. The reception was beyond excellent. Call quality was crisp and clear on both ends. And that’s great since the phone aspect is the most important part of this smartphone. I had no dropped calls either. After pressing the send button to launch the phone application, the dialpad appears. It looks elegant and has large keys, making it easy to dial numbers quickly. Getting to either the call history or contacts page is only one click away. The phone even helps “guess” the number while you are typing by cross referencing your address book. During a call, there’s a menu with keys for the speaker, mute, flash, and “add participant” button. The phone also has a proximity sensor which turns off the display when it’s held up to your ear during a call to save battery life and prevent accidental key presses. The voice-dial function has its own dedicated hard key and recognizes names quite accurately even amongst a couple hundred contacts. The Storm2’s new OS also allows accessing other components of the phone during a call including your calendar, email, and browser making life a lot easier.

Multimedia: 5/5 stars
The Storm2 still isn’t as great of a media player compared to other devices such as the iPhone, but it’s a step closer. It has 2GB of on-board memory and a 16GB microSD is included for extra storage. I was able to sync my phone using the included microUSB cable with both Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.04 easily. I was able to quickly drop media onto the card and the Storm2 automatically detected and indexed everything immediately. It even played back HD shows that was recored in Media Center 7 after being automatically converted to a compatible format by Windows Media Player. The last phone I reviewed, the Samsung Rouge, had horrible speakers, but the ones on the Storm2 exceeded my expectations. There was barely any distortion even with the volume turned all the way up. The phone allows browsing music by artists, albums, or genres. It even displayed the album artwork that was embedded into my MP3s perfectly. I was also thankful to find that my music could be used as ringtones, which even the iPhone doesn’t allow without going through some roundabouts. Video quality was also excellent, it didn’t jitter or lag as some other phones do. If OpenGL gets thrown into a new OS update in the future, it will make media playback, animations, and transitions much smoother.

3G & WiFi: 5/5 stars
The BlackBerry Storm2 makes excellent use of Verizon’s 3G network. I found it to have faster network speeds and it better signal strength just about everywhere I went compared to the AT&T iPhone another Skatter Tech writer had. Emails, Chat Messages, and other notifications were almost instant. And plus with WiFi thrown in, things get even faster. The WiFi setup is simple and even allows those push button pin setups some new routers support. It’s compatible with the latest WPA2 encryption and corporate security protocols too. I don’t know why RIM hadn’t spent the time to integrate this in the original Storm because there’s no question that WiFi is an essential part of this phone.

Camera & Camcorder: 5/5 stars
The 3.2 megapixel camera takes great pictures up to a max resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. The phone has a built in LED Flash, auto focus, and image stabilization. With those three features, images looks wonderful. It still shows signs of “graininess” in low light situations, but that’s expected for a device with a small lens. The camera application now loads up in under 2 seconds and can switch from landscape to portrait almost instantly. It’s a vast improvement over the original Storm. The phone also uses the GPS module to Geotag where images are shot. Importing them into programs such as Google Picasa or Apple iPhoto can arrange them on a world map appropriately. There are no image editing capabilities built in by default, but I’m sure some Apps are available for that purpose. Plus with a large 16GB microSD card, I can take plenty of images and record videos only limited by free space at a 480 x 352 pixel resolution. It even allows turning the flash into a flashlight to record video in the dark. There are effects such as black and white, sepia, and a few others included for both images and video recording. To top that off, the phone even supports uploading high resolution images to webs services such as Flickr or Facebook.

Email & Messaging: 4.5/5 stars
After the phone component, email and messaging are probably the second most important aspect of a BlackBerry. And the Storm2 handles that quite well. There are pre-configured settings for services such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Live Mail included. If you have your own corporate email, there’s even a wizard to walk you through the setup process. If you’ve used a service like Facebook, you know about the news feed. The BlackBerry 5.0 OS has it’s own news feed for everything that’s happening on the phone. This includes everything from missed calls, emails, instant messages, and even Facebook alerts to appear in one centralized location. The only data it didn’t include in the stream for some odd reason is SMS and MMS. There’s even a centralized way to compose a message. And as I mentioned before typing takes some getting used to, but becomes fast. The Storm2 is truly a powerful messaging device and will definitely meet or surpass your needs.

Conclusion:
This is hands down the best phone I’ve ever had. Sure there are plenty of other device such as the Apple iPhone that claim to be the god of smartphones. Even so, the iPhone lacks many business features that the Storm2 offers including a powerful search, a robust email client, security features of all sorts, and finally the freedom to use any application you wish. Plus the Storm2 comes with the Verizon Wireless network that has the best overall coverage in the nation. The phone can make calls in another 220 countries and even has data access in 185 of those. There’s no question that this is one of RIM’s best BlackBerries to date. It’s a night and day difference compared to the software and hardware problems customers faced with the original Storm. I will definitely be disappointed to let go of this phone once this review gets published. If you are a business customer and also want to get in on the touch screen action while not loosing any of the enterprise and corporate features the BlackBerry offers, the Storm2 is for you. Plus with the unique SurePress screen technology, it’s something to show off. And even if you are a college student, it’s got plenty of entertainment features including a great media player, social networking, powerful texting platform, instant messaging, and even a web browser. If you need a new phone the BlackBerry Storm2 is available as of today for $179.99 with a new 2-year contract. If you are an existing customer eligible for upgrade, you should be entitled to another $50 or $100 discount based of your current calling plan.

Links: VerizonWireless.com Storm 2 | BlackBerry.com Storm 2

As you may be aware by now, all of us here at Skatter Tech strongly recommend buying a protective case for your phones and other expensive gadgets.  Spending a couple bucks is well worth the investment.  Today I’ve reviews of two new cases for the iPhone 3G and 3GS by OtterBox. The Commuter and the Commuter TL are both are quite similar, but have a few differences, keep reading to find out which one’s right for you.

Installation – 5/5 stars
Some cases that I’ve come across have been a pain to install. For example the Griffin Wave even ended-up scratching my iPhone. Both the Commuter and Commuter TL are truly easy to install. It took less than a minute to place my iPhone into the silicone sleeve then attach the hard case onto it. I was a little worried that the silicone might tear when the plastic portion was going on, but it went on just fine with some caution. OtterBox also includes a screen protector with both the Commuter and the Commuter TL. It’s a decent screen protector, but it does slightly reduce the screen’s sensitivity.

Protection & Usability – 4/5 stars
The OtterBox Commuter and Commuter TL cases offer great protection all around the phone. Unlike most cases, both offer protection of the power button, dock connection, volume control buttons, and the headphone jack. The only parts which are left open are the silent switch, the speaker, the microphone, and the camera. Adding a cover for the dock connector was a great idea since it almost always gathers dust and lint. Unfortunately that also means that your iPhone won’t fit into any docks while this case is on. Doing the same for the headphone jack was great idea as well, but will definitely take two hands to get the headphone cable in. I found that the volume and power buttons were even easier to use since they bulged out even more. The ringer switch was the only one that was a bit difficult to use since the case around it was a bit too thick. For the most part, both cases are functional.

There are a couple of differences between the two models. The Commuter has a cutout for the Apple logo which reduces protection, but the Commuter TL covers it with a plastic window. The Commuter’s hard case extends onto the side of the device for additional protection, while the Commuter TL only goes from the top to the bottom on the back side. The Commuter has a solid colored hard plastic shell while the Commuter TL has a transparent one. Although I would have appreciated protection over the Logo on the Commuter and protection on the sides for the Commuter TL, they are still some of the most rugged cases I’ve used. Plus they don’t look bad either.

Verdict
Overall the OtterBox Commuter and OtterBox Commuter TL are both now my favorite cases. Unfortunately each one has one flaw in protection such as the huge hole on the back or no hard case to cover the sides, but they both are still great choices. The Commuter is only available in Black, but the Commuter TL is now offered in Black Blue, Green, Pink, Red, White and Yellow. If you are looking for a case, I’d definitely recommend picking up one of these. The Commuter and Commuter TL are available for purchase now for about $35 and $30, respectively.

Buy: OtterBox Commuter Cases for $20-$30
Links: OtterBox.com Commuter | TL

Installation – 4/5 stars
Some cases I’ve come across have been quite a pain to install. Placing the iPhone 3GS into the OtterBox Impact Case takes just a few seconds. The silicone case easily stretches to let the device slide in. The Screen Protector wasn’t too difficult to install. Just clean the screen with a microfiber cloth first, then wipe it down with the cloth they provide to clear off any lint.I aligned and placed the screen protector onto the display from the top to bottom. A few large air pockets got caught in between, but they weren’t to difficult to push out with the included “application card.” Afterward just peel off the remaining layer.

Screen Protector – 4/5 stars
It’s quite tricky to find the right type of screen protector for touch screen devices. Although the included OtterBox screen protector looks clean once installed and is a welcome inclusion with the case, it has a few issues. First, visibility of the display is slightly reduced. Second, some of the touch screen’s sensitivity and responsiveness is lost. Third, it doesn’t feel too great on the finger either. We can say for sure it’s better than leaving your screen unprotected, however there are better iPhone screen protectors available. But considering the price of the entire package, it’s reasonable. In the end, you need something that will be durable enough to prevent scratches while being still sensitive enough to use. And that’s exactly what you get.

Protection & Usability – 4/5 stars
The Impact Case protects just about the entire iPhone 3GS. The touch screen display is of course left open. OtterBox also made a poor choice to design a circle cutout for the Apple Logo on the back of the device. I personally thing it looks horrible and just makes room for another vulnerability. Other than those openings, there’s also small incisions made for the dock connector, speakers, the ringer switch, the headphone jack, the earpiece, ambient light sensor, and camera. The volume rocker, power button, and home key are all functional while in the case. One issue was the usability of the home button. In the beginning it was quite easy to press, however after a few days of use, the case covering that portion began to become thinner making it more difficult to click. If there was a small bulge over that area as there is with other buttons covered by the case, that might help. The thickness on the sides of the case were a bit too thin as well. They might be useful to prevent scratching the bezel of the phone from scratches, but not from shock absorption. The silicone is extra thick around the top/bottom ends of the case and is designed in that fashion for a purpose. Those two areas obtrude enough that they would be the first part of the device to touch the ground during a fall. As implied by the name of the product, the case is designed help reduce the impact the iPhone 3G faces if it were to be dropped. And after handling it for a couple days, I definitely feel it will do a good job at what it was intended to do!

Verdict – 4/5 stars
Overall the Impact Case, deserves to be well noted and considered when looking to purchase a new case for your Apple iPhone. The case OtterBox provided us was white, which didn’t go along so well with my Black iPhone. OtterBox offers the case in black as well, so no need to worry. I would recommend sticking with a matching color. In the end, the bottom line is how well it protects your device. The OtterBox Impact Case will go a long way to saving your device from total destruction in the event of a collision. It’s available for purchase at a reasonable price of $19 directly from OtterBox’s website.

Buy: OtterBox Impact Case for iPhone 3G/3GS

Griffin Wave package is composed of a few pieces: back and front pieces which snap together and a screen protector. The first thing I did was attempt to install the screen protector. Immediate reaction: horrible. It was a bit too thick of a plastic which reduced sensitivity, made the screen more difficult to see, and wouldn’t even stay on properly. I hilariously found that the thin sheet of plastic that protects the screen protector while in the packaging to function better.

The next issue that hit was actually getting the case on. The design is a bit flawed due to the way the rear and front piece latch together. Getting them to snap is difficult and I found myself slightly fearful of either breaking the case or scratching my iPhone with the sharp edges of the Wave Case. Once you manage to get it on, it stays on fairly well. The main concern I had then was the overly unprotected area near the volume keys, where a large portion of the iPhone’s body was left exposed.

Finally the case wears too quickly and poorly. When purchased the plastic has a “smoked” or “frosted” look. However after just a week or so of use, that opaque look started to literally shed off. The case scratched too easily making it look like it had gone through years of use.

I find it a bit difficult recommending this for the price tag of $25. There are plenty of other cases available for a similar price, some of which we’ll be reviewing in the coming weeks, which will function a whole lot better. On the other hand if you manage to grab the case for $7.99 including tax and shipping as I managed to from Griffin’s own website, I think that might be an acceptable price. Use the code GRIFFINRTMN09 on “Step 2: Billing & Payment” of Check Out, not any earlier.

Links: Griffin Technology – Wave Case (use code mentioned above)
Buy on Amazon: Griffin Wave for $16

Sony VAIO P Series Specs:

• Processor: 1.33GHz Intel Atom
• Hard Drive: 60GB HDD, 64GB SSD, or 128GB SSD
• Memory: 2GB 533MHz DDR2
• Operating System: Windows Vista Home Basic
• Graphics: Intel GMA 500
• Built-in Webcam & Microphone: Yes
• Keyboard / Mouse: Reduced Standard / Pointer
• Display: 8-inch 1600 x 768 LED
• Wireless: WiFi b/g/n & Bluetooth 2.1 & WWAN
• Expansion Slot: Memory Stick & SD Card slots
• Audio: Speakers and 1 Headphone Jack
• Ports: 2x USB 2.0 & Expansion I/O Connector

My initial response on first glancing over the specifications might have been that a lot of it was quite impressive. Although Sony’s PR folks were quite serious about not advertising it as a netbook, we’ll still call it one since it has a Atom Processor. Although the starting price might set it far away from other “netbooks,” but I’ll get to that later. First off, this is probably one of the few portable laptops I’ve come across that doesn’t have a crappy resolution. Sony managed to squeeze 1600×768 pixels into a 8-inch wide screen display. It’s great for those with decent vision, however will be a pain for many to see. And yes, I do know that text size can be changed in a second. But point being made, for those who can see, is the ability to view more content on the display than any other netbook. In fact the most common resolution for a 13-inch laptop is still 1280×800. Next, the SSD options offer plenty of storage space for multimedia. The P Series sports WiFi 802.11n, Bluetooth, and optional 3G Mobile Broadband through Verizon Wireless. The large spacious keyboard makes typing easier than on many other portables.

The most unique feature is probably the built in GPS module which functions independently of 3G card, so no service is required. Your laptop now functions as a turn-by-turn navigator and applications such as Google Earth should be able to pinpoint your exact location. The other neat feature is the “instant OS” which borrows the UI from the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3. It allows quick access to music, movies, photos, and a web browser without needing to start up Windows Vista.

Sony claims a 4 hour battery life with the standard capacity battery and a 8 hour capacity with the extended battery. Units will be available in red, green, blue, white, and black. Sony is now taking pre-orders on SonyStyle.com. Pricing starts at $900 for the lowest-end model. It will become available in retail stores next month. We will be getting a unit in a few weeks, so check back for an in-depth review!

Links: Sony Style P Series

Nokia N95 8GB Specifications:

• Type: WCDMA 850/1900 + WiFi
• Display: 2.8-inch with 320×240 resolution
• Form Factor: Two-Way Slider
• Battery Life: 5 hours talk & 12 days standby
• Main Camera: 5 megapixel w/ flash & auto-focus
• Storage: Built-in 8GB Flash Memory
• Special: WiFi, GPS, 2nd Camera, Home Network
• Other: Bluetooth and Standard Headphone Jack
• Dimensions: 3.9″H x 2.09″W x 0.83″D
• Price: $550 – $650 for an Unlocked Version

The Body – 4/5 stars
From looking at the images, you’ve probably realized that this isn’t exactly the best looking phone. It’s a bit bulky and definitely doesn’t look attractive. Keep in mind the reason you are probably purchasing this phone is for it’s features. On the front of the phone you’ll find the large 2.8-inch display with four-way controls, send/end buttons, the left/right soft keys, and a couple other short cuts. Above the screen is the secondary camera with its flash for video conferencing and self-portraits. Sliding the screen up will reveal a numeric keypad while sliding it in the opposite direction will reveal multimedia controls. The power button can be found on the top of the phone while the mini-USB and charging connections are on the bottom. A standard 3.5mm headphone jack can be found on the left side of the phone besides an infrared transmitter. A volume toggle, media button, and camera key are all on the right side. The 5 mega pixel camera is on the back above the battery compartment which also holds the SIM card.

The Screen – 5/5 stars
The N95’s 2.8-inch screen can only display at a maximum of 320×240 pixels, but is extremely bright and sharp. Just about anything displayed on the screen such as the menus, photos, or videos all look wonderful. The screen also looks great out doors and glare isn’t as bad as it is on other phones. And for those of you wondering if the screen is touch capable, it isn’t. Although I felt it would have been neat for such a large, the control system is fairly easy to use once you get a hang of them.

User Interface – 5/5 stars
For a first-time user of the Symbian OS it took a little bit of time figuring out how everything in the phone work. But once you learn the general stuff, everything becomes quite easy. Just about every place you want to go in the phone such as the phone book, email, or browser are all individual applications. You can open them up and close them when you are done. Running too many at once can slow down or possibly crash the phone. Most of the apps have a similar layout. The left soft key just about always brings up a context menu of options to perform including quitting. The four-way pad is to browse through the menus and the center button is usually the ‘Enter’ key. The home screen is also quite informative as it displays shortcuts to the phone book, email, web browser, clocks, and camera. It also will show alerts, upcoming calendar events, connected access points, the time, signal strength, and battery life. Overall I loved it a whole lot more than the Windows Mobile OS which I dreaded to use on the HTC XV6800.

Office Suite – 5/5 stars
I also discovered that the Nokia N95 had a built in Office Suite with support for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDFs. I was able to quickly transfer a couple of documents onto the internal storage device with a USB cable then view them on the phone. Although the formatting on some them got distorted and others were slow to load, it would indeed be quite need to have these document views on a phone. To create new documents or modify current ones, you’ll have to buy the full $70 QuickOffice Suite. As for email, the phone supports the IMAP, POP3, and SMTP protocols. The interface is neat and easy to use. Push email is also supported by using the widely popular corporate Microsoft Exchange Server.

Digital Cameras – 5/5 stars
The Nokia N95 8GB has a 5 megapixel camera, which is the most powerful camera I have used on a phone. I only wish it had some optical zoom, which it didn’t. It does have a digital zoom, however this means quality is lost the further you zoom in. The phone takes photos quite instantly, however I noticed some lag when it tries to auto-focus and when saving the photos to the memory. The built-in LED flash is also quite bright and can easily make photos taken in under lit places a whole lot better. The quality of the photos themselves were pretty darn good. The colors looked natural in outdoor situations while the images were well focused and sharp. I was shocked to see how many options the camera settings offered. There were 6 scene modes including an Auto and a Custom option. The Flash can be turned off, always on, or set to reduce red-eye. There’s a self timer to take group photos. A burst mode to continuously take photos is available in addition to an option to take photos at a set time interval until the space runs out. The color tone, white balance, sharpness, contrast, and ISO can all be customized as well. Moving on to the .3 mega pixel camera on the front, it is plentiful for video conferencing since too much bandwidth can’t be transfered anyways. The quality is incomparable to the camera on the back and barley any customization settings are offered for the secondary camera.

Multimedia Playback – 5/5 stars
Once again, the N95 beat my expectations regarding music, video, and photo management. Starting with music, I was able to immediately start syncing my DRM-Free Mp3s in Windows Media Player 11 with the Nokia N95 without any additional software. I was also able to manually drop music onto the phone’s mass storage device and the files were also automatically recognized if placed in the right folders. The phone supports playback of AAC, MP3, and WMA files. I loved the music player interface as it was quite powerful and allowed me to browse by Songs, Artists, Albums, Genres, and Composers. Browsing through was quick and smooth without any hiccups. And with a 3.5mm headphone jack I was able to use my own Shure SE210 earphones. The built in FM radio was also a neat addition in case you get bored listening to your 8GB of music! To make things even better the phone also has a built in podcasting client. I was quickly able to download and start listening to the latest episode of TWiT through my WiFi network. (Can also use 3G data network!) Moving onto Video, the phone runs Real Player which has an excellent 3GP and MP4 decoder turn it into a great portable media player. I was also able to playback iPod Formated movie trailers and even DiggNation episodes without needing to re-encode the content into a special format. Everything worked as it things should without any horrible twists.

Speakers & Headphones – 5/5 stars
The Nokia N95 has a set of stereo speakers which was the best that I had seen on a mobile phone. The quality was clear and crisp. Even with the volume turned up to the max, it remained clear without beginning to crack like most phones do. The audio playback quality through the headphones was excellent. I wasn’t able to tell apart it apart from when playing the same song on my iPod Nano.

N-Gage Games – 4/5 stars
I had a chance to play some demo games available on the phone and the quality was quite impressive. The graphics was much better than I had expected a mobile phone to have the power to handle. The games are by no means as good as those on the Sony PlayStation Portable, but are much better than games available for most mobile phones. The games seemed a bit pricey, but it’s still a plus that they are available for purchase and that the phone can handle and support playing them.

Phone Functions – 5/5 stars
The phone comes with all the standard functions of most phones on the market. These features include an excellent phone book with pretty much no capacity limit, speaker phone, conference calling, bluetooth headset with stereo support, speed dial, voice commands, text messaging, email, calendar, calculator, notepad, voice recorder, and more! With a 3G Network, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS, and WiFi (b/g) the phone is almost always connected to something. Despite this it has a impressively powerful battery and manages it’s power saving quite well with the ambient light sensor. The phone had better signal in most locations versus the phone I usually carry. Call quality was pretty clear and crisp. WiFi signal strength was quite strong as well. The Bluetooth in the phone supports more profiles than any phone I have ever used meaning that it should connect to just about any device you can think of. The phone also supports the new DLNA media sharing protocol so once I connected my phone to my home network, I was able to access music, photos, and videos on the phone from my laptop and even my Sony PlayStation 3.

Web Browser – 5/5 stars
The N95 features an impressively powerful web browser. Sometimes web pages took a bit long to render, but in general they rendered a whole lot better than on most phones I have seen. I still feel the iPhone’s Safari browser is superior to this one in most aspects. However the N95 topples the iPhone’s browser in some aspects such as supports for the Flash player. This means YouTube and a whole slew of other streaming videos can be viewed from within the browser. The browser works by accessing either a WiFi access point or using the Cell Phone network, both of which functioned well.

GPS and Maps – 5/5 stars
The phone has a built in GPS which can be utilized for many different purposes. The N95 allows locating yourself on a map, getting directions, looking for points of interest near by, and much more. I didn’t have a chance to test the turn-by-turn directions, but I would expect it to work as advertised. The phone also has a cool feature to tracking your jogging and it takes it to a whole new level by recording pace, distance, time, altitude, speed, and steps taken. (Displays pretty-looking data graphs too!)

Included Items – 5/5 stars
The Nokia N95 comes with a couple accessories in addition to the power supply. Nokia includes a USB cable for data transfer and syncing media. A pair of headphones and a small wired controller to control music playback. The phone is also capable of video output using the included composite cables. Other than that Nokia provides a CD with some software, a couple of manuals, and a quick start guide. For the price that this phone goes for, I wish they would have also thrown in a case.

Conclusion
Overall the Nokia N95 is now one of my personal favorite phones. It is definitely not for everyone and most people will probably never get to using even half the features it offers. But for those who are looking for a high end smart phone, the N95 8GB will not be a disappointment. The only thing I felt that this phone lacked and that I should mention is the fact that it lacks a microSD expansion. Although it has 8GB of on board flash storage, it would have still been a nice addition. The phone offers more battery life talk time than most phones. With a powerful office tools and media playback tools the phone covers just about all grounds. The only downside might just be the high price of $600. The phone is currently not available through any service providers in the United States. However that doesn’t mean it won’t work here. You can just go ahead and purchase the North American version from a site such as Amazon. And for service, you can sign up to a calling and data plan from AT&T and insert the SIM card you receive.

Links: Nokia N95 8GB (nokia.com)
Purchase: Unlocked Nokia N95 8GB (US) – $580