Welcome to the HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource.
HowardForums is discussion board dedicated to mobile phones with over 1,000,000 members and growing!
For your convenience HowardForums is divided into 7 main sections; marketplace, phone manufacturers, carriers, smartphones/PDAs, general phone discussion, buy sell trade and general discussions. Just scroll down to see them!
Only registered members may post questions, contact other members or search our database of over 8 million posts. Why don't you join us today!
If you have time check out our sister sites: HowardChui.com - Where you can find the latest mobile phone news and reviews. HowardChui.com phone gallery - See interesting pictures of phones that we've taken. HowardForums Wiki - Our Mobile Phone Encylopedia. Niknon.com - Our sister site about Digital Photography. SlowFo.com - General Discussion.
As many of you may know, I've been an N95 advocate since July 2007 when they came out with a half decent firmware for it.
I tried the iPhone for a month as soon as an unlocked version was available but it just wasn't enough 'device' for me. I needed more than just music and a nice photo album.
The N95 is a technological swiss army knife and as such, I'm honoured to help other people use this tool to it's fullest.
I'll try to cover as many things as I use but there's just an almost unlimited potential to the things you can do with this so, inevitably, I will miss many aspects and applications so please feel free to fill in the blanks.
PREVIOUS REVIEWS:
I've done several reviews in the past for this beast. To reference my previous reviews, select the URL:
The debate between which is better between the N95-3 and the N95-4 is a matter of personal preference. For Canadians, the N95-4 is the best choice because we'll get local warranty service through Nokia Canada (and Rogers if purchased from Rogers). Firmware also puts the N95-4 in the lead, but that may be a fleeting advantage if the N95-3 gets an upgrade.
There are actually 4 different versions of the N95 but to North Americans, the first 2 don't matter as they don't have NA 3G access.
N95 Colour
This may seem trivial to some but to a previous N95-3 user since it's inception last fall, this is a welcome facelift. Let's face it, the N95-1/3 duo aren't the most attractive kids on the block. The silver plastic often gives the impression that there's a rubber tire wrapped around the back and sides. The decked out, Black N95 is straight pimp, nuff said.
N95 Size
The screen is wider so the top slide is wider. As a result, the top slide is flush against the bottom slide, which is far better in my mind because there are less ridges and crevices to collect dust. I would love to take comparison pictures but I just don't have the time. In terms of the N95-1/3 vs the N95-2/4, bigger, is better.
N95 Screen
I'll be honest, the N95-3 screen was large enough, they didn't need to go this far. After using this for a while, it's all the same anyways. In a side-by-side comparison, it's obvious; shoot, the N95-4 screen is bigger than the Blackberry screens used in the 83XX and 88XX series. Some key advantages though is that the firmware allows for an additional icon on the active standby screen, more lines of text throughout the various applications and other slight advantages.
N95 Memory
This is where the N95-3 is superior - it has expandable memory. The N95-4 comes with a whopping 8GB but something tells me that'll be peanuts by the time 2008 is over. 12GB and 16GB memory cards are already on the horizon and once those are released, the N95-3 will be poised to eclipse it's big brother.
Also, file transfer on a memory card via a card reader is significantly faster than file transfer on the 8GB N95. It's a damn shame if you ask me.
N95 Firmware
The 8GB advantage here may be fleeting. The firmware alone makes the N95 8GB editions better than their smaller siblings. The new shortcut key is interesting, to say the least, and the new 'demand paging' feature allows RAM heavy apps like the gallery and camera to load significantly faster and save battery at the same time.
I'll add more to my collection as I come across them.
APPS:
Here are some of my favourite apps that I've been using religiously:
Location Tagger:
Description:
This app will add GPS co-ordinates to any picture you take, provided you're outdoors and can get a lock on GPS satellites. When you upload these images to sites like Flickr, Picasa or SportsTracker, it'll plot your picture on a map. Pro!
Subscription & Cost: Free, no subscription required
Data Traffic: Minute amounts but not necessary. Might transmit GPS data to Nokia's servers if data is not disabled. I haven't figured it out yet, but it works if data settings aren't programmed in.
WorldMate
Description:
I've set this app to go off every morning at 5:30am, Mon-Fri, with an update on the weather of the day. Yes, it uses data, however, if you have wifi at home, you can configure it to always use wifi. There are some other goodies here like a currency converter (with updated exchange rate info), and if you subscribe, you can get Flight Ticket status, etc.
Subscription & Cost: Free, no subscription required. However, more features area available with a paid subscription
Data Traffic: Necessary for up-to-date information. Can be defaulted to WiFi for morning updates before leaving for work/school
Sports Tracker by Nokia
Description:
This app is amazing...for anyone into outdoor exercising. Walking, jogging, riding and any other distance sport can be tracked. This app tracks everything from distance, # of steps, point of highest altitude, point of lowest altitude, fastest point, slowest point, and any GPS tagged images taken along the way. A must for anyone who likes hikes, riding or jogging.
Subscription & Cost: Free, no subscription required but registration is required to establish a profile.
Data Traffic: Optional, not necessary. With data, you can send live updates to the website. WiFi connection recommended to upload stats and pictures from phone to Sports Tracker server
Symella
Description:
This app is like the LimeWire / Gnutella for your phone. Strongly recommend to use this over your own native WiFi connection as it downloads full fledged MP3 tunes from the Gnutella network. NOTE: In order to install this, you'll need to manually change your date to something around June 2007 give or take a few months (I can't remember what I did exactly). Reason being is that the app is programmed to expire after a certain date so it wont install if the phone's date is beyond the app's expiration date. After installation, just change your date & time back to the correct date.
Subscription & Cost: DivX ID required but after that it's all free & smooth sailing
Data Traffic: None
YouTube & EmTube
Description:
YouTube application for your phone. YouTube is official but Java. EmTube is not official but far better than the official app. Note: Neither of these apps are currently working on the N95-4 (as of May 3, 2008). Stay tuned for updates though. These apps are godsends - they should work fine on the N95-3.
Subscription & Cost: Free, no subscription required
Data Traffic: None
Slick
Description:
Messaging application - works with GoogleTalk, AIM, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo!....all at once! I only use GoogleTalk & MSN. For MSN, it allows for nudges and uploading files.
Subscription & Cost: Free, no subscription required
Data Traffic: Yes
Shazam
Description:
Like Sony Ericsson's Track ID, this app will identify the song, artist, album and even cover art of a song. Simply put your phone near the speaker and start recording the tune with the app.
Subscription & Cost: Free, no subscription required
Data Traffic: Yes
Theme DIY
Description:
A do-it-yourself theme maker application. You can create your own themes, right on your own phone. This app supports full-screen wallpapers!!!
Subscription & Cost: Free, no subscription required
Data Traffic: None
Handy Taskman
Description:
Allows you to see active applications, recent apps, battery status, RAM status, memory status and other nice tidbits of status information. Highly recommended
JoikuSpot: make your phone a wifi hotspot through your carrier's internet connection
Nokia Energy Profiler: see how much battery life various games and applications consume on your phone. Even 3G transmission can be measured
Windows Live for S60: OEM MSN app for your phone. I prefer Slick personally...
Mail 4 Exchange: Access your company's exchange server for push email, synced contacts & calendars, etc
Mail 4 Exchange (GAL): Similar to above but this one ONLY gives you access to the Global Address List so that you can search and download contacts from the corporate server
Podcasting: OEM Nokia podcasting app, link is below
Conversations: Threaded SMS & MMS conversations. A worthy app but needs far more integration to be useful.
SkyQuikKey: An excellent app for finding apps, contacts and bookmarks from the homescreen. I've found it a bit buggy personally and would rather a native app for better stability. ShaolinMonk would swear by this one lol. Definitely worth a try.
I'm sure I forgot some stuff so feel free to post your own faves.
Nokia N95 8GB Product page (Canadian...which is just a copy of the Euro site anyways): http://www.nokia.ca/A4688742
ONE LAST THING...
Make sure you guys make full use of this things music capabilities. Pair it with your car stereo, home stereo or anything else with speakers for that matter. It's the ultimate jukebox:
Hope you guys find this helpful. Took me like 2 hours to put everything together from my bookmarks and MOSH page, but it's been something I've been meaning to do for a while.
Happy N95 Shopping everyone!
__________________ GSM HISTORY:
2009: Nokia (N96, 5800, N79, E75, N97)
2008: Nokia (E51, 7900 Prism, N95 8GB, E71, N85); SE (W910, W760i); Samsung (i8510 Innov8)
2007: Nokia (E65, N95-1, N95-3, 6500 Slider); SE (K850); Treo (750); Samsung (A706); Apple (iPhone 8GB)
Just a link to the S60 forum and their "Best Freeware" for S60's phones.
__________________
2009 = iPhone 3G (White), Blackberry 8900, HTC Dream, Blackberry 9000, Blackberry Bold 9700
>*<<*<*
2008 = Sony Ericsson w810i, Nokia N95-3, Nokia E71-2, Blackberry Bold
>*<<*<*
2007 = Nokia 5300, Nokia N73ME, Sony Ericsson W580i, Sony Ericsson K850i
>*<<*<*
2006 = Samsung A740, Samsung D600, Samsung D900, Samsung A900, Nokia 3220
Phone(s):
1: Nokia N95-3 w/ 8GB SDHC
2: Nokia E71-2 w/ 8GB SDHC
3: Nokia E61i (Retired cuz of above)
Provider(s):
Rogers Wireless
Joined: Sep 2002
From: Brampton
Posts: 2,976
You forgot Shozu! the best program to upload pics from your phone to sites like Flickr, Facebook...etc....and even videos to Youtube with one simple click!
Point your mobile browser to m.shozu.com or read about it on your PC at www.shozu.com
Wirelessly posted (The Eliteness: Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.2; U; Series60/3.1 NokiaN95_8GB-3/1.2.011 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 ) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Candyman
You forgot Shozu! the best program to upload pics from your phone to sites like Flickr, Facebook...etc....and even videos to Youtube with one simple click!
Point your mobile browser to m.shozu.com or read about it on your PC at www.shozu.com
oh yeah, forgot about that one. I stopped using it though because I prefer Share Online for Flickr and mms to Facebook (cheaper and I prefer the "Mobile Uploads" folder over the "Shozu" folder)
05-03-2008, 15:15
THANK YOU FOR THIS !!!! 
Linear Mode
