3Man
29-06-2006, 01:47 PM
Nokia N91 3G Phone Review
Note : This review is written by an editorial member of 3G staff for the readers of www.3G.co.uk and for the members of the 3G Forum. A full list of 3G Phone Reviews by phone manufacturer and date order can be found here http://www.3g.co.uk/3GPhoneReviews.htm.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/June2006/N91a.jpg
Best features
4GB hard drive
Symbian Series 60 OS
Built-in Wi-Fi
Two-megapixel camera
Specification Details
Operating System Symbian Series 60
Size 113 x 55 x 22mm
Weight 164g
Display 262,000 colours,
Display resolution 176x208 pixels
Camera Two megapixels
Video recording / playback Yes/Yes
Audio playback MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, M4A, WMA
Connectivity Bluetooth, USB, Wi-Fi
Internal memory 4GB hard drive
Memory card slot No
Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS
Email client POP3, SMTP, IMAP4
Ringtones Polyphonic, MP3, AAC
WAP browser xHTML, HTML
Frequency Tri-band + 3G
GPRS Yes
Java Yes
Games No
Talktime 150 mins
Standby 190 hours
http://www.3g.co.uk//PR/Dec2005/BuyBlack.gif (http://shop.3g.co.uk/)
METAL GURU - My-wow-oh-yeah!
It’s taken so long for the N91 to appear that Nokia has launched two further generations of its Nseries in the meantime. Has the delay dulled our anticipation or has this music virtuoso been worth holding out for?
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/June2006/N91b.jpg
It feels like a lifetime since we first clapped eyes on the Nokia N91. In fact, after just over a year of waiting, and waiting some more, 3G.co.uk has finally got hold of Nokia’s hard-drive-toting music handset. It’s been a rough road for Nokia and its flagship audio star; software glitches and digital rights management issues have all contributed to its delay.
Since its announcement in Amsterdam last April, Samsung has beaten Nokia to the hard-drive punch with its i300 Windows Mobile OS-powered smartphone; and other, perhaps less capable but more mainstream music-centric handsets like the Sony Ericsson W810i and Nokia 3250, have carried the music mobile torch. So 14 months on, is the excitement for the N91 still palpable?
Orange, O2 and Vodafone have all signed up for this ‘multimedia computer’, which suggests that the networks see the N91 as a potential big seller. So far they have only taken on the N70 and N80 from the nine-strong Nseries range, so it seems a surprise to find the mammoth N91 rocking up alongside its more compact stable mates. The size issue is hard to ignore with the N91. It’s an unwieldy beast of phone – at 164g, it weighs close to PDA/smartphone hybrid proportions and feels very substantial in the trouser pocket. The 4GB Hitachi microdrive that has been built into the handset measures 32x24mm, so was bound to compromise the size, but in return you are signing up to a music and communication convergence trip, so may well be willing to make the sacrifice. It’s going to be down to personal taste and whether you’re prepared to end your love affair with the iPod.
We’re going to touch on its musical abilities later on, because beyond the audio world, the N91 is a more than capable Symbian smartphone. However, for such a high profile phone, it sports some disappointing discrepancies. The first notable blemish is the screen. At 176x208-pixel resolution, the quality is poor when compared to fellow Nseries members, the N80 and N90. If you’re buying into Nokia’s whole Nseries multimedia experience, you would expect a better display, QVGA quality at least. It may seem a petty observation, especially when the onus is on its music talents, but at this level, attention to detail is everything.
While this is otherwise a meticulously constructed metal phone – a great trait throughout the Nseries range – it is let down by a poor sliding front panel and fiddly keyboard. To reveal the keypad you have to slide down the fascia, with its dedicated music player controls, but the mechanism is jerky and seems very sticky in transition. For the most part the teeny keys are convenient to use – until the last row of buttons comes into play. Its position is too close to the sliding fascia’s lip so proved very awkward to press, especially if you have fat fingers.
It’s business as usual for the Symbian Series 60 operating system and interface. It’s straightforward to navigate around and we found it very stable and, for Symbian standards, relatively speedy. However, it was undoubtedly a lot slower than non-Symbian phones.
To the topside of the handset is a dedicated menu button and corresponding volume keys, while sitting right on top are a key lock switch and an industry standard 3.5mm stereo headphone jack.
The N91’s Symbian persuasion means that you’re privy to a variety of applications like Setting Wizard, which automatically configures your GPRS, MMS and email settings, and Nokia’s Lifeblog. It also supports Visual Radio, Push-To-Talk and instant messaging.
For a two-megapixel camera bereft of autofocus and a macro setting, the N91 does manage to deliver some nice shots. It’s not at the same level as its N90 team-mate, which has a Carl Zeiss lens, but the results are pleasing nonetheless. Its only failure for us was on close-ups, where the focus went awry. More impressive is the N91’s flair for video. You can shoot sixty minutes of footage in MP4 format at a resolution of 352x288 pixels, before storing it on your hard drive. The results were some of the best we’ve seen from a mobile phone, with smooth movement and little or no pixelation noise, while the sound capture was strong.
Another big boon is the built-in Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) for hotspot connectivity and for calls over a non-cellular W-LAN network.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/June2006/N91d.jpg
Metal Guru is it you, yeah, yeah, yeah ....
It may arrive loaded with an abundance of multimedia capabilities but anyone who picks up the N91 is in it for the music, and we have to admit that it’s the nearest a phone has come to mirroring the interface simplicity and feature of an Apple iPod. So, until the 4GB flash-memory-packing Sony Ericsson W950i launches in the autumn, the N91 is top dog in terms of storage capacity.
Nokia claims that you can store up to 3000 songs on the hard drive, based on 3.45-minute songs at 48Kbps eAAC+ encoding. Realistically you’re not going to want to listen at that bit rate because the quality will be poor; the standard encoding of128Kbps in AAC format will give you around 1000 songs, assuming you don’t stock up on other media like photos and videos.
Nokia offers three main methods of transferring your music from the PC to the N91 via a USB 2.0 connection. If you already have a digital music library, the easiest way is to make your N91 a mass storage device and drag’n’drop your files into the phone’s music folder. The other two options involve music software: Nokia’s proprietary music software and Microsoft Windows Media Player 10, which most PCs will have integrated. As part of the PC Suite software, we’ve experienced Nokia’s Audio Manager before with the 3250 and its still remains a thorny customer and not that intuitive. If you want to rip your CDs onto the N91 then opt for Windows Media Player 10 instead. While still not on a par with Apple’s accessible iTunes, Windows Media Player is still easy to grasp.
Once you’ve stocked up on tunes, fire up the music player using the diagonal button on the music control front panel and enter the main menu. It’s all straightforward from there. You can choose from playlists, artists, albums and genres, and create playlists within the software or on the fly.
The N91 is ripe for tinkering with sound, offering seven preset equalizer settings and other audio effects. If you are particular about your audio settings, you can alter the 8-band equalizer to your desired sound. For a more general fidelity boost, activate the Stereo Widening facility to give a more spacious surround sound or for extra clout, use the Loudness setting. Our test demonstrated that the Rock preset was perfect for most genres of music, but at least you have the option to experiment.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/June2006/N91c.jpg
If you’re vying for an N91, chances are it’s going to be your main portable music device, so it’s got to sound spot on. Music handset manufacturers realise the need for a 3.5mm headphone jack connection and as we mentioned earlier, the N91 has one plonked on top, so you can plug your Sennheiser or Bose headphones straight in without the need for an adapter. To really coax the best out of any music phone, if the option is available, we recommend you use better quality cans. We hooked up our indispensable Sennheisers and the N91 sounded accomplished. Minor distortion did occur above mid-volume levels and the treble could sound splashy at times but for the majority of our test the audio quality was dynamic and full-bodied with a nice driving bass sound.
As a music player we can’t really fault the N91. Perhaps the audio software could be more intuitive but if you did pick the N91 as your music player of choice, you won’t be disappointed.
We really tried to love this phone but it’s hard not to be disappointed with the N91. Not only is it a giant compared to most other phones, but for a handset of its status, it carries a few too many defects. The screen is poor, the slide mechanism is shoddy, parts of the keypad are tricky to use and choosing to embed a hard drive instead of the more resilient and less power-hungry flash memory might not be the wisest choice. This could have reduced the N91’s gigantic size.
Still despite these flaws, the N91 is a feature-rich multimedia performer that will appeal to early adopters and those of you who are serious about the convenience of having one communications/music device.
Pros
Jam-packed with the latest mobile multimedia goodness while the music player closely matches the Apple iPod range for usability.
Cons
Stuff this in your pocket and you’ll either get admiring glances or cautioned for public lewdness. Too many imperfections for such an expensive handset.
Verdict
The N91 is a cracking music player but owning the phone is all down to whether you’re willing to accommodate its sizable flaws.
3G Total Score 84%
http://www.3g.co.uk//PR/Dec2005/BuyBlack.gif (http://shop.3g.co.uk/)
This review covers the above mobile phone only and does not address the performance of any 3G Network. The score is based on a 3G mobile phone checklist.
Copyright : You are advised that this material is the copyright of www.3G.co.uk and is our own personal view only. (C) All rights reserved 2005. Whist every care has been taken in the preparation of this review, the author nor 3G.co.uk cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or authenticity of the information it contains, or consequence arising from it.
Note : This review is written by an editorial member of 3G staff for the readers of www.3G.co.uk and for the members of the 3G Forum. A full list of 3G Phone Reviews by phone manufacturer and date order can be found here http://www.3g.co.uk/3GPhoneReviews.htm.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/June2006/N91a.jpg
Best features
4GB hard drive
Symbian Series 60 OS
Built-in Wi-Fi
Two-megapixel camera
Specification Details
Operating System Symbian Series 60
Size 113 x 55 x 22mm
Weight 164g
Display 262,000 colours,
Display resolution 176x208 pixels
Camera Two megapixels
Video recording / playback Yes/Yes
Audio playback MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, M4A, WMA
Connectivity Bluetooth, USB, Wi-Fi
Internal memory 4GB hard drive
Memory card slot No
Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS
Email client POP3, SMTP, IMAP4
Ringtones Polyphonic, MP3, AAC
WAP browser xHTML, HTML
Frequency Tri-band + 3G
GPRS Yes
Java Yes
Games No
Talktime 150 mins
Standby 190 hours
http://www.3g.co.uk//PR/Dec2005/BuyBlack.gif (http://shop.3g.co.uk/)
METAL GURU - My-wow-oh-yeah!
It’s taken so long for the N91 to appear that Nokia has launched two further generations of its Nseries in the meantime. Has the delay dulled our anticipation or has this music virtuoso been worth holding out for?
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/June2006/N91b.jpg
It feels like a lifetime since we first clapped eyes on the Nokia N91. In fact, after just over a year of waiting, and waiting some more, 3G.co.uk has finally got hold of Nokia’s hard-drive-toting music handset. It’s been a rough road for Nokia and its flagship audio star; software glitches and digital rights management issues have all contributed to its delay.
Since its announcement in Amsterdam last April, Samsung has beaten Nokia to the hard-drive punch with its i300 Windows Mobile OS-powered smartphone; and other, perhaps less capable but more mainstream music-centric handsets like the Sony Ericsson W810i and Nokia 3250, have carried the music mobile torch. So 14 months on, is the excitement for the N91 still palpable?
Orange, O2 and Vodafone have all signed up for this ‘multimedia computer’, which suggests that the networks see the N91 as a potential big seller. So far they have only taken on the N70 and N80 from the nine-strong Nseries range, so it seems a surprise to find the mammoth N91 rocking up alongside its more compact stable mates. The size issue is hard to ignore with the N91. It’s an unwieldy beast of phone – at 164g, it weighs close to PDA/smartphone hybrid proportions and feels very substantial in the trouser pocket. The 4GB Hitachi microdrive that has been built into the handset measures 32x24mm, so was bound to compromise the size, but in return you are signing up to a music and communication convergence trip, so may well be willing to make the sacrifice. It’s going to be down to personal taste and whether you’re prepared to end your love affair with the iPod.
We’re going to touch on its musical abilities later on, because beyond the audio world, the N91 is a more than capable Symbian smartphone. However, for such a high profile phone, it sports some disappointing discrepancies. The first notable blemish is the screen. At 176x208-pixel resolution, the quality is poor when compared to fellow Nseries members, the N80 and N90. If you’re buying into Nokia’s whole Nseries multimedia experience, you would expect a better display, QVGA quality at least. It may seem a petty observation, especially when the onus is on its music talents, but at this level, attention to detail is everything.
While this is otherwise a meticulously constructed metal phone – a great trait throughout the Nseries range – it is let down by a poor sliding front panel and fiddly keyboard. To reveal the keypad you have to slide down the fascia, with its dedicated music player controls, but the mechanism is jerky and seems very sticky in transition. For the most part the teeny keys are convenient to use – until the last row of buttons comes into play. Its position is too close to the sliding fascia’s lip so proved very awkward to press, especially if you have fat fingers.
It’s business as usual for the Symbian Series 60 operating system and interface. It’s straightforward to navigate around and we found it very stable and, for Symbian standards, relatively speedy. However, it was undoubtedly a lot slower than non-Symbian phones.
To the topside of the handset is a dedicated menu button and corresponding volume keys, while sitting right on top are a key lock switch and an industry standard 3.5mm stereo headphone jack.
The N91’s Symbian persuasion means that you’re privy to a variety of applications like Setting Wizard, which automatically configures your GPRS, MMS and email settings, and Nokia’s Lifeblog. It also supports Visual Radio, Push-To-Talk and instant messaging.
For a two-megapixel camera bereft of autofocus and a macro setting, the N91 does manage to deliver some nice shots. It’s not at the same level as its N90 team-mate, which has a Carl Zeiss lens, but the results are pleasing nonetheless. Its only failure for us was on close-ups, where the focus went awry. More impressive is the N91’s flair for video. You can shoot sixty minutes of footage in MP4 format at a resolution of 352x288 pixels, before storing it on your hard drive. The results were some of the best we’ve seen from a mobile phone, with smooth movement and little or no pixelation noise, while the sound capture was strong.
Another big boon is the built-in Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) for hotspot connectivity and for calls over a non-cellular W-LAN network.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/June2006/N91d.jpg
Metal Guru is it you, yeah, yeah, yeah ....
It may arrive loaded with an abundance of multimedia capabilities but anyone who picks up the N91 is in it for the music, and we have to admit that it’s the nearest a phone has come to mirroring the interface simplicity and feature of an Apple iPod. So, until the 4GB flash-memory-packing Sony Ericsson W950i launches in the autumn, the N91 is top dog in terms of storage capacity.
Nokia claims that you can store up to 3000 songs on the hard drive, based on 3.45-minute songs at 48Kbps eAAC+ encoding. Realistically you’re not going to want to listen at that bit rate because the quality will be poor; the standard encoding of128Kbps in AAC format will give you around 1000 songs, assuming you don’t stock up on other media like photos and videos.
Nokia offers three main methods of transferring your music from the PC to the N91 via a USB 2.0 connection. If you already have a digital music library, the easiest way is to make your N91 a mass storage device and drag’n’drop your files into the phone’s music folder. The other two options involve music software: Nokia’s proprietary music software and Microsoft Windows Media Player 10, which most PCs will have integrated. As part of the PC Suite software, we’ve experienced Nokia’s Audio Manager before with the 3250 and its still remains a thorny customer and not that intuitive. If you want to rip your CDs onto the N91 then opt for Windows Media Player 10 instead. While still not on a par with Apple’s accessible iTunes, Windows Media Player is still easy to grasp.
Once you’ve stocked up on tunes, fire up the music player using the diagonal button on the music control front panel and enter the main menu. It’s all straightforward from there. You can choose from playlists, artists, albums and genres, and create playlists within the software or on the fly.
The N91 is ripe for tinkering with sound, offering seven preset equalizer settings and other audio effects. If you are particular about your audio settings, you can alter the 8-band equalizer to your desired sound. For a more general fidelity boost, activate the Stereo Widening facility to give a more spacious surround sound or for extra clout, use the Loudness setting. Our test demonstrated that the Rock preset was perfect for most genres of music, but at least you have the option to experiment.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/June2006/N91c.jpg
If you’re vying for an N91, chances are it’s going to be your main portable music device, so it’s got to sound spot on. Music handset manufacturers realise the need for a 3.5mm headphone jack connection and as we mentioned earlier, the N91 has one plonked on top, so you can plug your Sennheiser or Bose headphones straight in without the need for an adapter. To really coax the best out of any music phone, if the option is available, we recommend you use better quality cans. We hooked up our indispensable Sennheisers and the N91 sounded accomplished. Minor distortion did occur above mid-volume levels and the treble could sound splashy at times but for the majority of our test the audio quality was dynamic and full-bodied with a nice driving bass sound.
As a music player we can’t really fault the N91. Perhaps the audio software could be more intuitive but if you did pick the N91 as your music player of choice, you won’t be disappointed.
We really tried to love this phone but it’s hard not to be disappointed with the N91. Not only is it a giant compared to most other phones, but for a handset of its status, it carries a few too many defects. The screen is poor, the slide mechanism is shoddy, parts of the keypad are tricky to use and choosing to embed a hard drive instead of the more resilient and less power-hungry flash memory might not be the wisest choice. This could have reduced the N91’s gigantic size.
Still despite these flaws, the N91 is a feature-rich multimedia performer that will appeal to early adopters and those of you who are serious about the convenience of having one communications/music device.
Pros
Jam-packed with the latest mobile multimedia goodness while the music player closely matches the Apple iPod range for usability.
Cons
Stuff this in your pocket and you’ll either get admiring glances or cautioned for public lewdness. Too many imperfections for such an expensive handset.
Verdict
The N91 is a cracking music player but owning the phone is all down to whether you’re willing to accommodate its sizable flaws.
3G Total Score 84%
http://www.3g.co.uk//PR/Dec2005/BuyBlack.gif (http://shop.3g.co.uk/)
This review covers the above mobile phone only and does not address the performance of any 3G Network. The score is based on a 3G mobile phone checklist.
Copyright : You are advised that this material is the copyright of www.3G.co.uk and is our own personal view only. (C) All rights reserved 2005. Whist every care has been taken in the preparation of this review, the author nor 3G.co.uk cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or authenticity of the information it contains, or consequence arising from it.