Nokia N96 May be Landing October 1st
It seems as though it has taken forever but word on the street is that the successor to the Nokia flagship Nseries throne is set to drop on October 1. The rumor surrounds a UK release mind you, but Nokia has been pretty good lately in terms of making its handsets available in various regions at around the same time. We’re sure you know all there is to know about the N96 but just in case you need a refresher, it’s a beast. 16 GB of internal memory, microSDHC support for another 16 GB, sexy dual-slide form factor with a built-in kickstand for media consumption, signature 5 megapixel Zeiss camera with dual LED flash and so on. There is no word yet on an official US price point but we know early pricing in other regions translated to a tag up around $1,200. Clearly the actual US pricing will be significantly lower; at least it will be if Nokia intends to sell any on this side of the pond. We can’t imagine a better successor to the throne currently occupied by the N95 8GB. Well, except for the Samsung Innov8 maybe.
On Jul 31, 2008 @ 1:29 pm, Tyler Brock Said:
Yawn, wake me up when it doesn’t have t9, welcome to 2003 nokia. Suretype anyone?
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 1:36 pm, Kommunikatoroff Said:
two months..:)
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 1:50 pm, The Outside Said:
sorry nokia but its too late. wake me up when your 8MP beast is ready
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 1:55 pm, wako Said:
If the price drops to something more reasonable, I might just pick this one up and switch out my iPhone. But with a 1k price point Im going to say HELL NO!
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 1:56 pm, JohnBo Said:
The N95 has 99% of what the N96 has. The N96 features what? an extra LED light bulb in the flash? This is probably the laziest refresh ever of a flagship phone. Kinda reminds me of the iphone refresh…all they did was add more memory, 3G and a GPS chip…
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 1:58 pm, Pouya Said:
Um, how does nokia sell their high end products for so much. Capitalism is all well and good, but the prices are far higher than any other device out there. Even with a great camera, the features aren’t that much greater than any other phone, so even if that was subsidized, it’d be what, $600-700?
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 2:00 pm, TareX Said:
Too thick, too expensive, too unoriginal.
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 2:05 pm, Jeremiah Said:
Except SureType is disgusting and most of the world is very, VERY comfortable with the alphanumeric keypad. Why change a good thing?
Besides, if you want a QWERTY-like experience, go for the E71. This thing is more about multimedia rather than messaging.
I’m very shocked at the utter lack of excitement for this device. Granted, it’s not much of an upgrade, but honestly, what do you expect from a phone that already had everything. And as for megapixel count, if you knew anything, you know that it wouldn’t matter in such a small device because it would probably just add more noise and the only reason for 8MP is to print mural sized posters, in which what idiot would do that with a cameraphone??
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 2:16 pm, Tyler Brock Said:
Jeremiah, get yourself a nice slr if you want a camera, if I wanted something the size of a brick in my pocket I would just get my dynatac out. Nokia is for euros who don’t know any better.
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 2:26 pm, JohnBo Said:
Cellphones are for communitcation. Pictures come as a bonus. Cellphones will never replace digital cameras, its just for convinience to have a handy dandy camera on your phone but who uses these for the sole purpose of taking pictures. I also agree on the price issue, $1200!?!, thats retarded, there are so many more things that someone could buy..500 for a cell, and that leaves 700 for other things…maybe a Vacation or something of the sort.
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 2:39 pm, Jakon Said:
CompUSA already sells the N96 to US customers. $999… ouch.
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 2:51 pm, Mikey Said:
I’m sure this has been answer many times before, but what US carriers will it be compatible with? Will the be more than one version for multiple carriers?
Thanks
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 3:21 pm, Evilhomer Said:
@Jeremiah: People are comfortable with a T9 keypad only if the device is made for phone calls and light texting. People are NOT comfortable on a device designed for email, GPS navigation, web surfing, document editing, etc. You know, the stuff you do on a SmartPhone. T9 is unacceptable for today’s smartphone devices. Especially when texting has become so popular that qwerty’s are showing up on dumb phones.
If you buy are buying a Moto Razor then sure, T9 is fine. If you are buying a smartphone, especially at this price point, it should have some sort of suretype keyboard at least. SureType may suck but it doesn’t suck as hard as T9…
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 3:24 pm, Evilhomer Said:
@Mikey: It will work for GSM carriers only such as AT&T and TMoblie. Nokia doesn’t mess with CDMA much since most of the rest of the world doesn’t either. There is not a likely will not be a CDMA version of this or any other such feature loaded device.
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 3:29 pm, EricE51 Said:
Two big launches due on PRC’s Founder’s Day. Interesting. I’m so underwhelmed I may give up on mobile and discontinue service until I see something that’s actually impressive.
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 3:48 pm, Mikey Said:
@Evilhomer (”I am evil Homer! I am evil Homer! I am evil Homer! I am evil Homer!”… awesome)
What about 3G? I’m guessing its like just about every phone (i.e. it will work on AT&T’s frequency, but not T-mo’s).
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 4:10 pm, Evilhomer Said:
@Mikey: I was dancing around with my maracas wearing my red devil suit while you sang that.
It should work on AT&T if it has the 1900mhz HSPDA radio. I think it does but don’t remember the specs. I am not sure about TMobile since I don’t remember what frequency their 3G network will run on.
@JohnBo: You think the addition of 3G, GPS and twice the memory is a small update? Not to mention the addition of an online OTA downloadable applications store. I’d call that a rather substantial upgrade. Perhaps if the N96 got rid of 3G and the GPS radios, you consider that just a small downgrade???
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 4:44 pm, Charlie K Said:
I’m really disappointed that it’s being released so late.
Wasn’t it supposed to come out July 29th?
And, about the alphanumeric/SureType/QWERTY keyboard thing;
Almost everyone I know would take T9 over SureType and QWERTY anyday, especially over QWERTY, because it’s so slow.
I’ve been with T9 for years now, and whenever I type on a SureType or QWERTY, I feel dyslexic or something.
QWERTY is for computers, not cell phones, yeah?
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 5:10 pm, Evilhomer Said:
@CharilieK: You are kidding right? QWERTY is for computers not cell phones?? I guess the internet is for computers and not cell phones as well? Same for Email? GPS is only for dedicated devices then too? Sorry but that is a ridiculous statement.
And serioiusly, T9 is faster than QWERTY? I guess the MILLIONS of Blackberry and Palm users should have ditched their devices for a Razor. Sorry but those are some miserably weak statements to try and justify the N96’s lack of a real keyboard on what is designed to be a smartphone device. But I don’t guess you are buying it for anything but to make phone calls since, you know, all those great features are really for computers… (sigh)
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 6:01 pm, PHug Said:
this thing is about a year late
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 7:09 pm, tnkgrl Said:
@JohnBo, you wrote: “who uses these for the sole purpose of taking pictures”?
I do: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tnkgrl/sets/
Some of these cameraphones, like my N95, take superb pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tnkgrl/2207212559/in/set-72157606392626946/
The other advantage of cameraphones is that you can upload the pictures intantly to the web via 3G, and full size!
I find the limitations of camepahones to be somewhat liberating as I can focus (haha) more on composition and lighting…
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On Jul 31, 2008 @ 7:52 pm, Craig Said:
Nokia Australia are sticking by their guns and saying it is an August release here.
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On Aug 1, 2008 @ 1:15 am, eh Said:
it comes out the same day as tmo’s 3g? will they get it?
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On Aug 1, 2008 @ 1:17 am, Charlie K Said:
@ Evilhomer,
Yeah, you’re right.
I didn’t think about what I was saying, sorry.
I guess it’s just me that can’t type fast with a QWERTY on a cell phone, haha.
Still, I see phones with alphanumerics like, 10 times more than I see phones with QWERTY and SureType keyboards.
Nevermind, I see more SMARTphones with QWERTY and SureType than with alphanumeric.
Der.
Again, sorry about those previous statements.
Pretend I never said them, haha.
Anyways, do you have a good reason why the N96 doesn’t have a SureType or QWERTY?
And “Nokia sucks” isn’t a good one.
=]
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On Aug 1, 2008 @ 6:44 am, bustafone Said:
@Jeremiah
Spoken like a typical Nokiahead.
What do I expect from a phone that already has everything? A frigging VGA screen resolution, not the same shitty 320×240 Nokia has used for the last 20 years.
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