Customer Reviews

Nokia N95-3 Unlocked Cell Phone with 5 MP Camera, 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot--U.S. Version with Warranty (Silver/Black)

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Firstly let me start with the biggest plus of the N95 - its opennness and unlocked nature.
Everyone now seems to compare every phone with the iPhone ...
so here goes

N95 is unlocked - free unbridled unlocked goodness
- (for people like me who often travel abroad this is a huge plus for not having to beg your service provider to please unlock your phone that you paid money for.

N95 has a replaceable battery - means additional life for your phone and you won't have to discard a high-end device when your low-end battery inside dies - compare that to the iphone.

N95 is a open development platform - for techy users and everyone else also - this means more apps developed free for this platform (S60) rather than other closed and locked down platforms.

N95 supports bluetooth tethering to laptops and PDA's. I use my Nokia N810 Internet tablet to connect wirelessly by tethering over Bluetooth to my N95 high speed HSDPA data connection. This means I get fast internet connectivity everywhere - everywhere there is a cell tower at least.
For those less in the know iPhone doesnt support tethering.

N95 has support for A2DP Bluettoth profile - which means you can listen to Stereo music over a bluetooth headphone (like the Motorola S9). This is apart from support bluetooth headset for talking.
For iPhone users , in todays wireless day, you still have to use a wired headphone to listen to music - pretty messy.

N95's 5 MP camera is one of the best of breed in any cellphone - quality wise of photos.

N95-3 has one of the fastest 3G HSDPA data connection support in the US. (iphone 3g does have this too)

Also the Wifi and GPS in the N95 come is handy when you need those features instantly.
As a in-car GPS it certainly does not fit the bill, but when walking in the streets of NY, and you suddenly need to get some info or directions - GPS and the Wifi come in most useful.

For me having a good quality camera for instant shots (instead of caring a dedicated camera always) and the USA 3G HSDPA is what convinced me to go for the Nokia N95 over other similar featured phones (iPhone is definitely not similar featured - its a different class for me).
On a comparatove note the Nokia N78, E71, N82 and Samsung G series are comparable devices depending on which feature set you lay more importance on.

And for those who find the camera slow - please update the software with the latest N95 firmware that Nokia released recently - it speeds up the camera a lot and also some other features.
The battery on my new Nokia N95-3 lasts 1 1/2 day with HSDPA 3,5G usage in NY/NJ area and I use it daily to tether to my N810 device (which gives me touchscreen internet).

This phone packs everything you would ever need in a smart-phone and then some. You will be able to watch video,movies and listen to your favorite music with the built in media support. You can find your way with the built in GPS. Surf the web with the full HTML browsesr and stay up to date with your inbox on the go.

When initially looking into purchasing the N95 I was planning on replacing a blackberry that I have been carrying around for years. I have been a blackberry user for some time and thought I would never find a better solution. I was wrong. This device does everything my blackberry did and then some. Granted the push email is a plus and the N95 does not support push out of the box (Checks at intervals) but there are some third party applications that add this. The beauty of the S60 platform is that you have the freedom to do what you want with pretty much anything on the device.

The N95 seems thick at first but its actually very small and extremely easy to carry in your pocket. I have actually learned to like the fill of the thickness more because it fits my hands perfectly. I have been using the qwerty keyboard on my blackberry for some time and can type very well on it so I was skeptical about going back to a phone keypad. While I am not as fast as I was on a blackberry the prediction is very good on this device and allows you to easily type short emails and text messages with no trouble.

Nokia states that this device is a multimedia computer and I have to agree its very powerful once you learn how to use it. Will it replace my iPod? Possibly but its not quit as a good as a standalone audio device. The music player is very easy to use and with the media transfer plugin (available for mac) you can use iTunes to sync your music just like you would an iPod. I was able to sync my address-books, contacts and music and videos in no time with the software available for download on Nokia's USA website.

My favorite feature of the N95 is the fact that I can take pictures/video (5MP camera) and post them to the web (flickr, OVI) all from the device. Being a family man this is a wonderful thing to have because I have have a great moment in our life up on the web with comments in a matter of minutes without ever needing a computer. The camera is very impressive for a phone. It takes a while to get used to getting good pictures with it but with a little practice you can take great shots with ease. I can't wait to see what Nokia comes up with next. The N series devices are the best hands done.

I try to stay on top of technology without sweating the details. I shop, I blog, and I keep up with my TLA's. (three letter acronyms)

When this phone was released, I was understandably excited. I bought the display model from CompUSA before they got it out of the box for $699 in August of 2007. (it's an N95-1, the "real" original N95)
Here's what I've figured out since then:

1: You MUST have faith in Nokia and flash the firmware as it gets released (but not when it's still beta). Every time I do, I find new bells and whistles that I didn't have before.

2: I have T-mobile service with the $4.99 t-zones plan which is supposed to include POP/IMAP/SMTP email capabilities. This works great... and so does the FULL http internet!! After much research, I've concluded that only Symbian phones are exempt from the proprietary blocking that WinMo, Mac, and Crackberry users are constrained to. That means you get the $40 internet capability for $35 less than the next guy. Multiply that by 12 and your phone is paid for. Do the math.

3: No other Phone OS comes close to Symbian. It is, however, turning into more of a fanatical club lately, like the dorky Linux club and Apple marketing suckas club. Once you're in the club, you're a lifer. I would be in a bad place if I had to go back to the chalkboard and learn to run my life using a different platform, mostly because the competition simply cannot do what I have come to expect out of a phone.

4: Components vs convergence. When you're "decorating" the living room, you shouldn't buy the $1200 home theater in a box. When your DVD laser gets dirty or wears out, you need to spend $1200 to replace the thing, and then you've got all these extra speakers, you know what I'm talking about. So why do I entrust my entire mobile device consortium to one device? Because all this stuff has to fit IN MY POCKET. I've never owned an MP3 player. I've never owned a point-and-shoot camera. I've never owned a Garmin GPS. And I rarely need to carry my laptop anywhere. It's all there, and if I had owned these devices, I could have easily sold them to pay the asking price at the time. There's no spare room in my pants for extra electronics if you know what i mean.

5: You CAN make the GPS work faithfully. After much fussing, I found myself in the Chicago Nokia "outlet" store talking to a sales rep about the issue and learned that out of the box, the phone uses GSM data to triangulate the GPS position (in addition to, or rather, PRIOR TO, using the GPS antenna) which is why people are crying endlessly about it taking 5-15 minutes to find a signal. It's right there in the user interface, it's just a little tricky to find it. You have to turn off the GSM/GPRS data location awareness and it's good to go. Now I find GPS signal in 3-15 seconds every time.

6: I carry mine with an 8GB Kingston microSDHC card inside and have never had any issues with data loss or recognition. I suspect the new 16GB will also be fine as it is the same class as the 8GB.

7: I used a PC program called "Fixtunes" to lookup my music and assign metadata/album cover art on the fly, and my phone shows the album art while it is playing... a small but worthwhile chore for any music collection.

8: Compatibiliy: For bluetooth, I have a Sony HWSBTA2W receiver for the home theater, a Scosche UBRH bluetooth receiver for my car, a Cirago BTA-6210 micro dongle for my laptop sync, and a Nokia 5310 for my Girlfriend. The only device that ever gives me a hard time is the girlfriend.

Great phone it is as advertised a n95-3 black. I have had the phone for about a month now and I love it! The camera is great and so is the video. the are tons of third party apps for this phone so you customize it with everything from motion sensing programs to a infared tv remote this phone has it all. The only things you might want to consider before buying this phone is battery life, the slide becomes loose after awhile and I'm not sure what causes this but after I updated the firmare (thru nokia) my phone stops and reboots itself without warning which is aggravating after spending $520

I have the N95-3 (RM-160), which is this version that is sold by Amazon for the North America market and I am having serious issues getting GPS lock. I opened the phone slider, point the phone upward to clear sky from 20th floor rooftop and I get GPS lock AFTER 20 minutes. I tried this on different location and the same thing.

I reset the phone, upgraded to the latest firmware, uses Assisted GPS and still the problem persist.

Google "N95 GPS lock" and you will see hundreds of people having the same problem. Many send it back to Nokia and got it work, some are not so lucky and Nokia just send them a refurbished phone that have the same problem. It seems that some phones have DEFECTIVE GPS chip.

Please be warned of these.

I made my homework before choosing this phone and let me say I am glad. Windows based phones have a lot of programs and functions, but are very slow and the management of memory is a mess. Also some times are too bulky that I rather carry my notebook instead.

Basic nokias, sony-ericssons and motorolas are that, basic.

So, I wanted a smart phone, with lots of features, easy of use and that could let me stop carrying many other devices. The nokia did that for me!

Pilot, no longer need it. Ipod, no longer need it. Cannon camera, no longer need it. Garming gps, no longer need it. FM Radio, no longer need it; voice recorder, calculator and games no longer need them, also universal remote, skype phone, etc... Don't get me wrong on this. But... the N95 does all that and well done! I do not miss any of the mentioned.

Is like a swiss knife, every body has one but very few carry it on! With the N95 you can carry all of those devices on. (I am one of those who carries the n95 and the Sw Army)

Why the n95? Came down to blackberry 8310 or 8320, iphone and the n95 to me. But I found the nokia camera a lot better; lens, resolution and also the others do not take movies. Also I found the GPS faster on nokias an can use it out of the box. Wi-fi is marvelous (blackberry made me choose between gps or wi-fi, depending on model I wanted both features), the size, etc.. The touch is firm, well built, nice grab, the size is to me perfect. Is very simple and fast to use, and finally a phone that my ol'man can use with out going to college.

Also I rather this version since the 8 gigas version is more expensive and the memory has a limit. Here I can get the HD-SD for a few bucks in Amazon with... infinite capacity.

If you are a corporate person, or a chat fan, then probably you are stuck with the berry. Which is a great option too. The iphone... well trendy people will love it. I made my choice and think is the best bet!

Thanks for reading!

I was excited about the N95 at first, but within minutes of charging it and trying to get my sim cad in I was absolutely disappointed. The battery cover is way flimsy...it broke almost immediately. The software probably needs to be updated out of the box as it was slow and clunky. Overall this phone had avery cheap flimsy feel. I returned the defective one I received. I believe that for $400 I shoud get a battery cover that does not break in 5 minutes.

My 2 cents:

I'm not a phone junkie and have only owned about 15 phones ever, from the free cheapos offered by the network companies, to the $500+ "smart phones" of old, but this one takes the cake for audio quality coming from its speakers.
The best part is the 3-D audio effect it can produce for your ringtones and music files - it is truly like a mini boombox that's situated just behind your ears. Many times I'm left to wonder where the sound is coming from, even when I'm holding the phone right in front of me.
Put in an 8 gig micro SD card, slap on a good pair of cans, and you can throw away all your iPods and digital music players.

I have since moved on to the Nokia N85 Unlocked Cell Phone with 5 MP Camera, 3G, GPS, MP3/Video Player, MicroSD Slot - U.S. Version with Warranty (Copper), in which its OLED screen blows the N95's old TFT screen out of the water, as well as most other phones I'm sure.
But audio-wise I think the N95 is better, and for a phone that's several years old, it can still hold its own on the other fronts as well - AWESOME photo quality and very decent video quality.

Although it's fat almost like a soap bar (as opposed to a "candy bar" like other phones), I very much like how it feels in my hand - gives you a very secure feeling (I feel like I'm always about to drop my N85).
The soft rubber of the back has a very nice feel as well (although prone to marks and scratches because of its rubbery material).
The feel of the buttons is very firm, tactile, and responsive, but prone to wear like most phones.
On the downside, the Real player sucks - you'll have to install a third party player to enjoy all your different video files.

Overall, highly recommended.

I will tell you first I am a Nokia person. This will be my fourth Nokia phone. Even though I tried to leave for the Quickfire I was back in three days :) Being a Nokia person their phones just keep getting better. Wi Fi nice addition. I cancelled my data plan now I can sip on a coffee at starbucks and access the internet free of charge. The GPS is great too. I was in the car with my girlfriend who doesn't own a GPS we got lost and my phone got us back on track. 5 mega pixel camera I could go on and on. Don't be scared buy this phone!

Amazingly, although I bought this phone neither here nor at NewEgg, there are only 2 reviews on NewEgg for it, and I wrote one of them. It follows:

Pros: Relatively small, fits in a pocket albeit cases are tough to find (see Cons), has Wi-Fi, has built-in GPS (and A-GPS), has US 3G (not Euro 3G like a lot of "unlocked" cell phones), has a huge software development community, comes with everything you need (including a 1GB microSD card), plays video at 30fps, supports a SlingMedia client, supports voice recognition, has a great bluetooth implementation, has TWO cameras (one with 5MP on the back with a flash and a lesser one on the front for Skype-type use), is stable with the latest firmware release, supports innumerable tools for file management and software installation, has excellent battery life considering everything it has (which can be increased by turning off Bluetooth, lowering the Wi-Fi transmit level, etc.), has great voice call quality, has an FM radio, voice recorder, supports apps that allow editing of Office documents, comes with its own (admittedly almost useless) GPS app which you can easily replace, and is now a LOT more affordable. Makes an iPhone look like a Fisher-Price toy. Oh, and has a microSDHC slot that will take an 8GB chip (and larger, hopefully).

Cons: There's really only one case out there--a horizontal leather fold-over flap job with a magnetic latch. PnP-driven media players for which it's allegedly a client are hard to make work. Real player is the built-in video app, which is fine for MP4 but lacks support that comes with Core Player (which you can get, but which is also hard to integrate). The stock web browser is good, but doesn't support MS IE-based apps (but a Beta version of Skyfire does, so you can play Sirius' internet stream--seeya, Stiletto). Doesn't come with anti-virus or firewall SW, but Kapersky makes a good one. The only GPS app worth using that supports voiced turns is AmazeGPS which is FREE (the latest version of Google Maps works splendidly, if silently). Users used to a simple bar phone won't like the complexity, although my wife has done OK moving from a somple 6030 to it. No QWERTY keyboard, but also no 2-handed head-down operation to send a message (OK, it's still a 1-handed head-down operation).

Other Thoughts: There's the original N95 (a.k.a. -1), the -2 (with European 3G--forget high-speed Internet access), and the -3 (a.k.a. the NAM model), with US 3G that's only superseded by the N95-8G and now the N96. Interestingly, my understanding is they left out the hardware-based video processor from some succeeding models so the N95-3 supports video and games better. The -8G model, like the iPhone, has 8GB on-board but no microSDHC slot, although the N96 has 16GB internal (and I believe the slot came back). But BOTH cost a LOT more than the N95-3 (try as high as TWICE AS MUCH). I like Nokia's small-tip charger system, so the car charger works with the N95 AND their Bluetooth headsets and headphones. There's more, but space is limiting. I am convinced that there's no better cell phone available--it's basically future-proof. Don't download Nokia's Maps 2.0--it loads the voice library which you have to subscribe to in order to use ($$$!). Oh, it has lots of RAM and a standard 3.5mm headset jack. A USB charger is extra (a LOT extra), but useful. BE CAREFUL about ordering accessories--almost everything advertised for it is really for the original N95 and WILL NOT FIT the N95-3 because of its larger battery and consequently deeper case size.