There’s been a lot of anticipation about the N96. After all, the N95 was such a great handset, a gem among Nokia mobile phones, that following it was always going to be tough. Could Nokia top that?
The answer is, not by much. In fact, in some mobile phone reviews the N96 has been seen as not quite as well designed as its predecessor and certainly not the radical overhaul a new model designation might warrant. Those who own an N95 would be unlikely to want to go for it, simply because it doesn’t offer that much more.
So what is new on the Nokia N96? The big thing here is memory, and lots of it. There’s 16GB of memory on board, and a card slot that lets users add up to 32GB more – a massive amount for a mobile phone. That makes it great for video and music, aided and abetted by the 3.5mm headphone jack that’s on this model.
The screen is very crisp and clear, with video a standout, and for users wanting to catch up on television viewing, there’s a client for BBC iPlayer, allowing streaming or downloading of programmes. There’s even a stand that lets the phone rest at an angle on the table for ease of viewing.
Beyond that, it’s essentially the same as the Nokia N95, with Wi-Fi, GPS, 3.5G and a camera that weighs in at a very decent five megapixels. But unless an N95 owner really needs lots more memory, it’s not worth the switch.
The most immediately striking feature about the Samsung Jet is its styling. Like a runway model strolling through a crowded street, it stands out. The front is a sharp, shiny black and the reverse offers neat red stripes, while it’s as slim as any model in design.
All that’s well and good, but looking fine isn’t everything. With the newest mobile phones, function is every bit as important as form – probably even more so.
On that score, the Jet turns out to be somewhat average. It is a touchscreen phone, as most are these days, but one that needs quite a bit of finger pressure; in other words, it’s a resistive, rather than a capacitive screen. That’s a drawback, although hardly a fatal one.
The camera, at five megapixels, is excellent, and there’s little doubt that both images and video look good in playback, due to the handset’s AMOLED screen, which produces wonderfully crisp images. A 3.5mm headphone jack is a small but very positive addition. Among the latest mobile phones, the call quality on the Jet is excellent, an issue often forgotten by manufacturers who seem to concentrate on the additions instead of the essentials.
The Samsung Jet could be faster – anyone wanting something that moves from function to function at serious speed is going to be disappointed – and it certainly doesn’t live up to the advertising hype for navigating to places in a hurry. However, for those who can live with that, and want a handset that’s a feast for the eye, it will fill the bill handily.
