This past weekend I spent time again checking out software available on Nokia's Hong Kong site.  As before, I came across some cool new apps, but this time they did in fact have one available for the N95.   

Animated SMS by Zensis is a cool application that turns smiley codes into graphics.  Once installed, if someone sends you an sms with the smiley code it will show up in your inbox as an animated smiley!

When creating an Animated SMS you can do so right from your Message folder.  Another great feature of the app is that you can send animations as a text instead of mms.

Now the bad part is that this app is only for use on Nokia handsets from Hong Kong.  You will receive an error message when trying to send a message, but it won't prevent you from sending it.

According to the developers site, they are trying to introduce Animated SMS to other countries but for now only phones from Nokia Hong Kong and Macau can use it.

Animated SMS is available for Nokia's N95, N93i, N93, N91, N80, N73, N71, E70, E65, E61, E60, E50, 6290, 5700 Xpress Music and 5500 Sport

From an interesting comparison discussion on Howard Forums comes the link to what is possible the first and only retailer selling "OEM" housings for the N95. 

Colors such as Plum, Sand and Warm Graphite are available from BlueUnplugged.com, but whats interesting is that everything is sold separately.

So, if you are craving to change the housing on your N95's the option is now available... although I don't really recommend it because it will void your warranty.  But who listens to me anyway!

AAS reports that there is a new software update available for the N95.  Version 11.0.026.  Still waiting for the changelog info on it, but it seems that its not available for every single N95 out there (obviously).  A new feature thats been added to Nokia's European site for the NSU download is the option to check from the website to see if there is an update available just by entering the product code.

According to the discussion on Howard Forums, the update fixes some of the European fw's that have the # shortcode profile changer and the shutter sound.

While its nice to see a final fw release available for the N95, it seems that this is going to be another case where users will be changing their product codes in order to get the update.  Why is it necessary to do this?

There's something about a $750 mobile that incites conflicted feelings of shock, awe, lust, and disgust in its beholder. It's unavoidable. Every time you lay eyes on the N95, you can almost hear Nokia saying, "we're through playin' -- this is our phone multimedia computer to end all phones. We know it's not for everyone, but whatever, here it is." As a reviewer with a unit on loan, your paranoia runs deep; you start to have irrational thoughts about your precious cargo being run over by garbage trucks, lost down sewer drains, and stolen by shadowy figures in darkened alleys, so we can't even imagine what kinds of nightmares keep actual owners of this superphone awake at night. Alas, we hear sales have been strong, with units hard to come by just days after its US debut. Is the love justified? Read on for our quick take.

Our first observation after holding it: it doesn't feel any more expensive than its Nseries siblings. That's not necessarily a knock -- Nokias are almost always exceptionally well-built devices -- but it's worth noting that your extra cash doesn't buy you better (read: Vertu) build quality. Don't get us wrong, we know you're really paying for the N95's guts, not its glamor. For unlocked customers, the phone is available in "plum" and "sand" rears, while the front is always dressed in the typical Nokia silver. We'd have preferred black, but we suppose they could be saving that for a Music Edition down the road.

Speaking of music, audio is one of the N95's big pushes with integrated stereo speakers, stereo Bluetooth, a 3.5mm jack, FM radio, and a whole keypad devoted to music controls. As audio players go, the N95's bundled software is nothing to write home about, but we were delighted with sound quality. The speakers were loud and clear -- on par with some laptops, we'd say -- but the headphone jack was the real treat. Static from electrical interference was near zero. In fact, we couldn't hear any at all; with a decent set of Shures plugged in, it was dead silent. As with the speakers, the headphones were plenty loud and crisp.

A decent chunk of the cash you're sinking into the phone goes directly into its 5 megapixel autofocus Zeiss lens. It delivers, too -- the N95's camera app rivals point-and-shoots in the $200 to $300 range and picture quality is decent. Unlike most cameraphones, the N95 truly can take the place of a basic digicam for day-to-day use. It's not going to shame your Hasselblad -- or your sub-$1000 DSLR, for that matter -- but you'll likely be able to snap pics that folks won't instantly recognize as having been taken with a phone. Focusing is a bit slow, as is the post-shutter processing, but hey, remember, it's still a phone.

The last of the N95's secret weapons is its integrated GPS. Like the camera, we found that it does a bang-up job -- for a phone. The time required to lock satellites would be considered unacceptable if this were a dedicated nav unit, but once they were locked, we were pleased with its ability to hold the signal. Update times were also good, with our position being redrawn on the display several times per second. Map redraws were often painfully slow due in part to the fact that the device downloads detail maps on the fly over its data connection, though that data connection is also one of the nav app's strong points. Not only can maps be kept up to date, but you get goodies like city guides (for a fee) and points of interest (sadly, no traffic conditions right now). Point to point routing seemed effective enough; the phone was rarely able to calculate a route by itself, but there's an option to "search" for a route online which seems to work. In action, directions are belted out in a soothing English accent.

We could drone on and on about the phone's feature list. Put simply, it's stacked. WiFi's in there (works like a champ, by the way), the software bundle runs deep and wide with goodies like Quickoffice and a totally bangin' version of Snake (see a screen shot in the gallery), there's a front-facing cam that does us yanks very little good but can still be used to take self-portraits and the like, and the web browser is utterly fantastic. We also found the device to be a little smaller than expected -- if you're used to a Wizard, you'll feel right at home with the N95's shape and size, and the slightly rubberized back is a welcome touch. As expected, the N95 is cursed with S60's infernal "out of memory" messages, though they're easy enough to solve by simply following instructions and closing a couple open apps.

Is the N95 a buy? Cost aside, this is one of the best smartphones and perhaps the best S60 device we've ever laid hands on, but let's be honest, $750 can be a tough pill to swallow -- especially considering we get nothing better than EDGE data. Add in 3G bands we can use stateside, though, and we're on board 110 percent.

If neither "plum" nor "sand" were to your liking, it seems the Nokia N95 palette is already expanding just weeks into its official release. Nokia doesn't seem to be admitting it yet, but a HowardForums member recently took delivery of an N95 decked out in dark gray (the bottom device, compared to a plum example on the top). We can only hope Espoo's going to bless this one as being available to the public at large, since it'd clearly make for a more business-savvy (never mind neutral) choice than either beige or purple -- and remember, Nokia, an expanded selection was promised at some point!

Jukka over at S60 Multimedia Blog has put the Nokia N95 in benchmarks at JBenchmark Result Database.

The N95 scores two #1 positions:

• Benchmark for Mobile 3D Graphics [link] and
• Quality and Performance Benchmark for Hardware Accelerated Mobile 3D Graphics [link]

The difference between those two categories is that latter one tests 3D performance with hardware acceleration. As you may know both Nokia N93/N93i and N95 have a dedicated 3D accelerator that well explains the stellar performance. However since both devices also occupy the top spots in the non-accelerated category that must mean they have more than enough general “horsepower” for 3D stuff as well.

[source: S60 Multimedia Blog]

Well, we will see some more of these benchmarks coming up shortly, but the starters surely set a high standard!

Good news for Nokia N95 users, new firmware 10.0.002 has released;

Go to Nokia Software Update Page

Nokia N95 Music Focus

Digital music on the move has been one of the biggest growth areas for consumer electronics in the last decade. The iconic iPod has been at the forefront of this digital audio player charge, but it has become increasingly threatened by the inclusion of music playback in mobile phones. The Nokia Nseries phones are no exception, indeed they have been leading the charge, together with Sony Ericsson's Walkman branded phones and smartphones. Through the XpressMusic branding, Nokia has sought to emphasise the music capabilities of its Nseries portfolio. The N95 continues and adds to this trend. It is a very good digital audio player and, thanks to its smartphone background, boasts features that leave many digital audio players behind. Here we take a closer look at its implementation and explore its capabilities.

N95 Hardware

The N95's dual slide design clearly has multimedia playback in mind. The top slide of the N95 reveals 4 back-lit shortcut keys (from top to bottom: forward, play/pause, stop, backward) which can be used to control both video and music playback. If it is not already running, a press of the play/pause key will start the Music Player application. Otherwise the keys behave as you would expect with fast forward and rewind available via a long press of the backward or forward keys. If the keys are when used outside of Music Player there's an on screen indication showing the key pressed and the current track.

On the right hand side of the N95 there are the volume controls (also the digital zoom controls in the Camera application). On the left hand side of the N95 there's a 3.5mm (composite) audio jack. In the N95 retail box, Nokia supply a headset that comes in two parts. The first part contains the microphone and remote controls (answer/make call, play/pause, forwards and backwards) while the second part is a matching set of headphones. The connection between the remote and headphones is also a 3.5mm (standard) audio jack. This means you can use your own headset either plugged straight into the device or plugged into the remote control/microphone unit. I did notice a faint hiss when using a high end (Ultimate Ears) headset when plugged directly into the N95. It was only really noticeable when listening to Piano music, and it was lessened when using the remote unit. It is not audible on lower quality headsets, including those supplied with the N95, presumably because they lack the range of the Ultimate Ears.

On either side, at the top of the N95, there are stereo speakers. The output from these is obviously limited, but is good enough for desk music when nothing else is available. It is particularly good for the spoken word, such as that found in many podcasts or audio books.

On the left hand side of the device there is a microSD (TransFlash) card slot. This supports cards of up to 2GB in size, a 2GB card should give enough space for around 500 tracks (depending on length, formatting and encoding). The slot also supports hot-swapping (switching cards while the device is on) which means it is practical, if a little fiddly, to have a card dedicated to music usage.

At the bottom of the device, there's a standard mini USB 2.0 port which is used for PC connectivity. The USB connection supports PC Suite (Music Manager), MTP (Music Transfer Protocol as used by Windows Media Player) and Mass Storage (phone appears as an extra drive on the computer).

Internally the N95 has an FM Radio, WiFi connectivity with support for UPnP and Bluetooth with support for the A2DP and AVCRP profiles (for Stereo Music and Remote Control over Bluetooth). We'll have a closer look at the implications of this later in the article.

Music Player Application

The N95 has the most recent version of the Nseries Music Player application, as seen on the Nseries Music Edition devices. The application presents your music library in the typical hierarchical approach (All Songs, Play lists, Artists, Albums, Genres and Composers), through which you can drill down to access the music you want to play. Once the music starts, the Now Playing screen is shown, with the usual music playback controls. These controls are associated with the cursor keys for quick access, for example left and right on the directional controls skip tracks on a single press or fast forwards/rewinds them if held down.

The application includes a variety of features beyond basic playback. Shuffle and repeat modes and Album Art are present as expected, but there's a user programmable equalizer together with a number of presets, visualisations (relatively basic), audio settings (that control stereo widening, loudness and balance) and playlist management. Playlists can be managed on the device, with full editing capabilities, and there are a number of predefined smart playlists too (Recently Played, Recently Added, Most Played).

A welcome change from earlier devices is that the Music Player now recognises when new music has been transferred to the phone (for me it worked for Windows Media Player and after downloading podcasts) and will automatically update your music library. Previously this was a manual process and there's still a manual update option in the menu for instances where you want to force an update of the library.

Music Player is also integrated into the Active Idle screen. The current track is shown and clicking on the item will take you back to the Music Player. This, together with the Multimedia shortcut key (on which a long press will start Music Player) and the hardware shortcut keys on the top slide mean music control is never far away.

In terms of formats, Music Player supports MP3, (un-DRMed) AAC, AAC+ and WMA, which should cover most people's collections.

Radio Application

The N95 has the standard Nseries/Nokia S60 radio player which includes support for Visual Radio. Visual Radio is a little used standard that aims to deliver extra information to listeners over the air. When it's available it can be a useful extra service, but unfortunately it is not very widespread. Details of the stations using Visual Radio can be found here. For the radio to work, you must plug in a headset or the remote control, sound can then be channelled through the phone's loudspeakers, but unfortunately can not be channelled to a Bluetooth headset. Radio may seem a bit old-school these days, but is still very popular. It is a nice extra for where you get bored with your onboard music or want to listen to the latest headlines.

Outside of traditional FM radio, the N95 also has support for Real Audio streams, thanks to the inclusion of Real Player. There are a great number of radio stations that make Real Audio streams available, there is a comprehensive list for UK stations available here. Once loaded in RealPlayer, stations can be saved as streaming links and stored in the Gallery application.

Getting Music to the N95

As hinted at earlier, there are a number of ways to copy music to the N95. One option is to use Windows Media Player 11. When you connect the USB cable to the N95, you are asked to choose the connection mode (e.g. 'Media Player'). The N95 is automatically recognised by Windows Media Player and music can be dragged from your music library onto an icon representing your device. Once you decide which music to copy, a single press of the sync button starts the process. Thanks to the USB 2.0 connection, sync speeds are reasonable. There are some advanced features too, such as the ability to transcode formats and bitrates to optimise file size or to make the entire process automatic with a random collection of songs from your library copied to the N95 at each sync. Windows Media Player can be used to rip CDs and manage the PC side of the music collection.

The N95 supports WMA files protected by the Play4Sure DRM, but these must be coped using Windows Media Player in order to ensure that the appropriate license files are also copied across. Play4Sure DRM is used by a number of music subscription services which allow unlimited downloads and playback of music provided you continue your subscription. For example, Napster to Go in the UK charges £14.99 for their unlimited service, which gives access to some 3 million or so tracks. If you're the sort of person who buys a couple of CDs a month this service will be well worth investigating as it could save you money in the long run. Yahoo Music Unlimited is a similar service which is available in the US with a price point of $14.99. Neither of these services yet list the N95 as a compatible device, but in my tests Naspter to Go certainly worked without any problems, and there's a free trial available for both services.

For those who do not wish to use Windows Media Player, Nokia provide Music Manager as part of PC Suite. It is also a sensible choice for those who are not already using their PC for digital music as it is easy to get to grips with and is better at ripping CDs into a format that is optimal for the N95 (AAC+). Music Manager works in a similar way to PC Suite, with the ability to drag and drop files from your PC to the N95. It too has a random transfer feature and allows you to set a maximum space to be used by music files.

If neither Windows Media Player nor Nokia Music Manager appeal to you then you can copy music files across manually. You can either do this using the File Manager portion of PC Suite or use the USB Mass Storage mode of the USB connection. In this mode the phone will appear as a disk drive and this should enable you to use it with a number of other Music Management tools, including WinAmp, Music Match and, with third party plug-ins, iTunes. If you are on a Mac you can use the Nokia Music Manager for Mac; this is intended for use with the N91 but it should work just as well with the N95. Finally, it is also possible to copy music to the N95 using UPnP (which I discuss below).

UPnP

The N95 has support for the UPnP protocol. UPnP is aimed at making it easy for devices to interact over a network, be it wired or wireless. On the N95, UPnP shares content stored on the phone with other UPnP devices (acting as a server) and can access content on other UPnP devices (acting as a client); the connection to other devices is made via WiFi.

On the N95, the UPnP functionality is set up through the Home Network application. Here you specify the wireless network to connect to and what content to share from the N95. In order for the N95 to share content (act as a server) you must explicitly turn sharing on. For accessing other UPnP devices (acting as a client) you use Gallery. On the CD that ships with the N95 is a program called Simple Center. Simple Center is a UPnP server/client for Windows PCs and will scan your PC for music and video files and make these available.

One you have set up UPnP on the N95, a Home Network section will appear in Gallery and from here you can browse other UPnP devices (including your PC, if you have installed Simple Center). Gallery will automatically search for, and list, other UPnP devices on your network. The devices can be browsed (in a similar way to a filing system) and you can choose to ‘copy to your device’ (thus giving you yet another way to get music to your device) or ‘show via home network’ (allowing playback or showing of content on other UPnP devices). If you have a friend with another UPnP enabled Nseries device (N80, N93, N93i) you can also share content from your phones back and forth using this functionality.  

With Simple Center installed on your PC, it is possible to copy or sync content between the N95 and the PC in both directions. You can also use your N95 in a remote control like fashion to play music on your PC that is also stored on the PC thanks to the ‘show via home network’ functionality (illustrated below).

UPnP really comes into its own when there are other UPnP devices in the home. There are a number of UPnP media streamer devices on the market from the likes of Netgear, D-Link and Phillips. These are generally attached to a television or a stereo and act as client devices, playing back content from UPnP servers (usually on a PC) on their respective hosts. In the case of the N95 you can use a media streamer to access content stored on the N95 (such as your music library). However, more useful is using the N95 as an UPnP remote control, browsing content from a UPnP server (e.g. one running on your computer) and playing it back over another UPnP device (e.g. a media streamer). One real world example of this would be sitting on your sofa using your N95 to control the playback of music that is stored on your PC on your UPnP enabled home stereo.

Selecting an album on a remote UPnP device and then playing it back on the remote device all controlled from the N95.

I’ve focussed on the music aspects here, but the same applies for pictures and videos. You can, for example, use UPnP to show a video that is stored on your N95 on your PC (via Simple Center) or on your TV (via a media streamer). Similarly you can use the N95 to control a slideshow of images.

The problem with UPnP is that it is still a relative young standard and there are a limited number of UPnP devices available. Although they are theoretically all interoperable, this is not always the case (for example, not all devices can play back all music formats). I think the greatest benefits come with using the N95 in conjunction with a media streamer, but even if you just use the N95 and the Simple Center software on your PC there is still a lot on offer. It is impressive stuff and shows the virtues of using open standards.

Bluetooth

The N95 supports the A2DP and AVCRP Bluetooth profiles, which allow the playback and control of stereo audio over Bluetooth. At first, doing away with wires might seem like something of a novelty, but it does save hassle and means you can leave your device safely tucked away. I tested the N95 with Nokia’s BH-501 and Sony Ericsson’s HBH-DS970 and both gave excellent quality audio. The DS970 includes full remote control of music playback (AVCRP) and was, for me, more comfortable. The BH-501 was better for making calls because it supported voice dialing.

UPnP might be the most feature rich way to wirelessly connect an N95 to a stereo but it is not the only way. For those without a WiFi network or a media streamer, a Bluetooth Audio Gateway such as Nokia’s AD-42W is a good solution. The AD-42W is a small box that you connect to a stereo via a RCA (phono) cable; the Gateway receives a Bluetooth audio stream and sends it in stereo via the RCA cable. The Gateway utilizes the same A2DP profile as stereo headsets to stream the audio and they are paired with the N95 like any other Bluetooth device.

Further A2DP Bluetooth devices are coming out all the time. Parrot has been showing off an A2DP-enabled ‘boom-box’ and I’m sure there is lots more on the way too. All of the Bluetooth accessories mentioned above are an extra purchase, but this is a not an uncommon pattern in the digital music world.

TV Out

The N95 ships with a TV Out cable, which plugs into the same composite 3.5mm port as the headphones. While the obvious use of this is showing pictures and video on the TV, it can also be used to play back music. The TV Out cable will work with most stereos too (the composite video, yellow lead, can be left disconnected). It may not be as elegant as the wireless solutions mentioned above, but it is available out of the box.

Third Party Software

Since the N95 is running on an open software platform, it is of course possible to add additional functionality through the installation of software. For example, there is Nokia’s free Podcasting application (available via the Downloads! application on the N95). This application allows you to subscribe to podcasts (episodic audio shows) and download them to your device. Features include an in-built podcast directory, podcast search and scheduled downloads. Podcast can be downloaded using a cellular connection or WiFi and played back using the Music player application (audio podcasts) or Real Player (video podcasts). Also available from Nokia is the Internet Radio application, which lets you listen to the SHOUTcast audio streams which a number of Internet radio stations broadcast.

There are an ever growing number of applications from third parties too. These include Audible Player, which lets you download and playback Audible content, such as audio books, on the N95.  There is also the MyStrands Social Player which is a Music player replacement, but also adds online services (download album art), music discovery (recommendation based on your tastes) and community features. The Filter, which will automatically create playlists from the contents of your music library and Pocket Ogg, which is a music player supporting the open source .ogg format.

All of these applications mean that you can significantly extend the music and audio related capabilities of the N95 beyond what is available out of the box.

Conclusion

The N95 is an impressive music device. There are five ways to get stereo audio out of the N95 (stereo speakers, headset, Bluetooth, TV-Out, UPnP) and even these can be further broken down (e.g. FM Radio transmitter via the 3.5mm jack anyone? - hey, I'm reviewing one of these next week! - Ed). It is amazing to see this level of versatility in a single device considering that the N70 (the hot Nseries phone this time last year) only had one of these. PC connectivity is good although perhaps, overall, not as cohesive as the iTunes/iPod combination and the lack of an integrated music store is a current omission, though this is likely to change in the near future.

The quality of the sound produced by the N95 is excellent. The clarity and accuracy of the sound is now dictated more by quality of the headset and the encoding of the music file or stream rather than any hardware limitations. Audio buffs will notice the usual problems with digital music, but the average user will have no complaints.

The N95 integrates well with third party services and its capabilities can be extended through third party software. It is theoretically possible for any software-based DRM mechanism to be added to the N95. This reflects an important difference in attitude between digital music market leader Apple and Nokia. Apple prefers a proprietary ‘walled garden’ approach whereas Nokia has chosen to integrate with other products via open standards. Consequently Apple is able to closely control all aspect of the user experience, but locks customers into its own solutions. Nokia’s more open minded approach will appeal to the technical, but may not resonate with the wider public since the user experience can be less cohesive. However, experience in other areas does suggest the open approach does offer better longer term prospects.

When assessing the music functionality, the obvious question is: Is it as good as a standalone player? Here it is worth drawing a distinction between the different types of standalone players. The large hard-disk based players such as the iPod or the Zune are not going to be directly replaced by the N95. However, they are threatened by the convenience of the one device solution. It comes down to the question of which is preferable – having your entire music library available or having to only carry one device. More at risk are the flash memory based players such as the iPod Nano or SanDisk Sansa. Why would you carry one of these devices when the N95 can replicate or better the functionality?

The main ‘problem’ issues with the N95 in this area are memory (realistically you will need to buy a 2GB card – at a cost of about £25-30), battery life (not as good as standalone; also shares battery with a GPS/Wi-Fi/Camera-bearing phone) and cost (more expensive). Each person is going to assess this differently, but for me none of these outweigh the benefits of carrying around one device. In making this calculation it is also necessary to evaluate the wider picture since the N95 is much more than just a music player. At one time I would have added ease of use as a problem in common with most other converged devices, but thanks to the top slide, good software and good PC connectivity there is little to complain about here.

Overall, the N95 scores highly as a music device, offering excellent functionality and a good user experience. There is room for improvement (lack of cohesiveness of the user experience, lack of an integrated music store) and device convergence brings its own problems (shared battery, complexity), but measured against the overall abilities and appeal of the device, these will not trouble many of the N95’s potential buyers.

Smart2go

The launch of Nokia's Smart2go system in February 2007 marked a sea change in the way mapping and navigation worked, at least in terms of smartphones and handheld devices. Previously there had only been the two models - the traditional one, where you buy a memory card with all the maps on it, along with a license (enforced) to use it with one device - this solution typically would cost at least £70, or up to £200 when bundled with a Bluetooth GPS. The other solution was to simply have a small client application on the mobile device and load up routes, map segments and calculated directions over the Internet, usually by signing up (again for the one device) with the appropriate Internet service. In latter times, basic mapping and route planning have been free using this technique, with the likes of Google Maps.

Each solution had its downsides. The first solution's downside was the sheer expense and commitment, especially if you had more than one mobile device in the family or you tended to upgrade/swap quite often. The second solution's downside was cost (again) and also a dependence on the network - if you got really lost then the chances are that you'd drive out of network coverage area and you wouldn't then be able to plan a way back.

With Smart2go (initially developed by gate5, subsequently bought up by Nokia in mid 2006), this traditional either-or scenario is turned on its head completely. Not least because the software and maps are basically completely free, for as many devices as you care to load it up on. The idea is that detailed street maps of virtually the entire world are made available for free, along with route calculation and display of your GPS position (if required, should you own a Bluetooth GPS). There's the option to have all maps stored on your expansion card or to grab them as needed over GPRS or 3G data, so you can plump for the option that's best for you.

So how can Nokia afford to give this away for free? The idea is that if you wanted to upgrade the system to 'Navigation', i.e. to supply turn-by-turn instructions in real time, based on your position (along with spoken commands e.g. "In 100m, turn left"), then (and only then) would money change hands. And, unlike traditional £100 for life or for one year arrangements, there's the option of licensing navigation for as little as a day (for a couple of Euros), for a week, a month, right up to £30 (50 Euros) for a year, at which level it's still an awful lot cheaper than its competitors.

We really, really like this kind of 'pay as you go' licensing for navigation. Effectively, it means that you can keep any maps you want on any devices you want (S60 or Windows Mobile) and use them as much or as little as required, all for free. Then when you plan a trip and are going to stray from your familiar area, you license navigation on whichever device is going to be your main companion for a week or month (for example) and you're done. Nothing extra to install, you don't even have to get your credit card out. Simply request navigation and the appropriate premium SMS messages get sent, to debit your phone bill/account. Really rather neat.

The Nokia N95

I suppose I ought to mention the N95 at some point, lest you be wondering why I'm talking about Smart2go at all. You see, "Nokia Maps" in the N95's ROM is actually just Smart2go. It's nice to have the core app pre-installed, but you obviously still have to get your maps in the usual way, by direct download as-needed or by using the PC-based Smart2go MapLoader to grab entire countries and pack them onto your expansion card. The process is fairly straightforward, but it's also tediously slow, as MapLoader needs hours rather than minutes to do its thing - best to leave it going overnight - and Nokia, if you're reading this, please use some of your Smart2go navigation revenue to upgrade your servers. Pretty please.

The main difference between a standard S60 or WinMob smartphone running Smart2go and Nokia Maps on the N95 is of course that the latter version is tightly integrated with the N95's built-in GPS receiver. Yup - you read that right - it's built-in, so no messing around with (or charging) a separate Bluetooth GPS. I'm not entirely sure exactly where the GPS antenna is, but Nokia do say to open the keypad for best performance and this is borne out in practice.

It's worth noting that we're not talking SiRF III performance here. In my experience, lock-on can be up to (in absolute worst case) two minutes even when the N95 hasn't moved from the spot where you last used its GPS, with satellite lock being disrupted more easily by buildings than with my two year old TomTom SiRF II GPS. Having said that, the extra convenience that comes with an integrated GPS may outweigh the performance differences, and in any case it's easy to supplement the built-in GPS with a Bluetooth GPS ('GPS Data | Positioning settings') in areas where you know there are going to be problems seeing GPS satellites. Maps/Smart2go automatically uses this extra GPS data if available and then goes back to its internal attempts at a fix when the Bluetooth GPS is unavailable.

Driving around with the N95 sitting in a cradle next to the steering wheel, I had a GPS fix (and thus reliable navigation) for 99% of my test runs) - aside from the slow startup time, this element of the N95's functionality is certainly 'good enough'.

Navigation

The core GPS-related function for most users will be road navigation - paying to upgrade it to Navigation status was the very first thing I did. Which puts the N95/Smart2go solution head on with the likes of TomTom Navigator, Route 66, Navicore and CoPilot Live, not to mention the likes of Wayfinder. In the last three years, quite a few ways of navigating using your smartphone have come to prominence.

I've found Smart2go, with its two-tiered approach (mapping/planning, followed by navigation if needed), to work very well indeed and, unlike Route 66, Navicore, CoPilot Live and Wayfinder, Smart2go (i.e. Maps on the N95) was always intuitive. For every occasion when I thought 'Now, how do I do that?', I'd pop up the Options menu and there would be exactly what I needed - it seems that Smart2go has gone through a lot of usability testing and the end result is rather impressive.

 
An access point is needed for grabbing of maps that aren't already downloaded, for grabbing voices (a one-time operation) and for grabbing extra or updated category information. Address searches take between ten seconds and thirty seconds for the UK.

Once matched, just click through to see the search result...

Route planning was as good as most of the above and substantially better than CoPilot Live, based on my tests. Again, impressive when you consider that this aspect of the software is free. Voice guidance (the actual voice samples are grabbed from the Internet after you've selected a language) is clear, loud and effective and I had no complaints. During navigation, audio volume is handily placed on the Options menu.

 
Once activated, you can 'Navigate to', to bring up real time turn instructions and voice commands...

The alternative to 'Navigation' is non-real-time route planning, shown above, both graphically and in text. A GPS position indicator will be shown if appropriate, but with a very small icon, meaning that for practical purposes you really need the Navigation upgrade if you're going a-driving....

You'll notice from (most of) the screenshots that on-screen mapping defaults to 2D rather than the 3D view popularised by TomTom. Smart2go does include a 3D view (just press '0' to toggle), but I found the top-down version easier to understand. Cleverly, the zoom/scale is adjusted dynamically, depending on your distance to the next junction, so that you get a feel for the next 'leg' of your journey. This generally works well, but the algorithm sometimes got confused and had the scale zooming in and out rather erratically (see my notes on it being 'beta' below). There's an option to plan for journeys 'on foot', but unless you walk at reasonable speed and exercise common sense, Smart2go's instructions can be confusing to follow - when on foot, it's easier to simply use the free mapping in conjunction with the displayed GPS position.

The overall level of functionality falls some way short of the market-leading TomTom Navigator (no specific roadblock avoidance, no itinerary feature, for example), but I'd argue that Smart2go's more standard (for S60/mobile) interface brings it up level and that the licensing and cost benefits (e.g. installed on all your family's smartphones for free and navigation for a pittamce only when you need it) take Nokia's solution into the lead.

To add in the fact that the N95 doesn't need a standalone GPS receiver, with one less device to charge, is another distinct benefit, although it should be noted that the N95's battery life isn't exactly stellar and that prolonged GPS use with screen backlight on (i.e. when using it for navigating) really brings this point home. I'd estimated that a fully charged N95 would only last an hour or two at most in this mode. My recommendation (and my own practice) is to have the N95 charging from my car's 12V socket while driving - so no worries about running out of power, in fact the opposite, with the device usually fully charged by the time you arrive at your destination.

In the interests of completeness I should mention that I've experienced a few funny freezes and oddities with Smart2go, both standalone (installed on my N93) and on the N95. Still, it's still listed as 'BETA' on the Smart2go web site and the N95's firmware is still very new, so I'd expect free updates to both fairly shortly and this will undoubtedly improve reliability.

Extra features

As with other mapping systems, Smart2go includes over 40 points of interest 'categories' and, as with its competitors, these are somewhat erratically populated. Again, this might be an indication of beta status, but I don't hold out that much hope.

At least the main categories have useful entries, e.g. railway stations, hotels, and all entries are sorted by distance from your current position, as with TomTom Navigator, and each also has associated address and phone details, so that you can call ahead if need be, only a click away as the software's running on a smartphone, of course.

Searching for results in the supplied Smart2go 'categories'.

 
Category entries have details and are contactable, as you'd expect

Any location ( whether you're there or just browsing the map) can be saved as a 'landmark' (favourite), for easy navigation at a later date, plus there's the novel option to send any location via text, email, Bluetooth, etc., which might just save someone's life one day.

Finally, Smart2go has an integrated ecommerce system for 'City guides', I'll be looking at these in a separate article, but suffice it so say for now that these seem to be of variable depth and quality.

Have Nokia succeeded?

And so to the bottom line. Has Nokia's attempt at integrating mapping, navigation and GPS into a smartphone succeeded? Does it make the N95 significantly more attractive than any other (for example) S60 3rd Edition smartphone? In truth, it's hard to say yes to this, although you may be lusting after the N95 for other reasons, of course, such as for the 5 megapixel camera, DVD video recording, large screen, Feature Pack 1, and so on. For many people, adding Smart2go and a £30 Bluetooth GPS to their existing smartphone will be a better option.

But for new smartphone users, the simplicity of having everything in the one device can't be overstated. Aside from the slowish startup time and questionable GPS reception in dense cities, it's quite fantastic to have your accurate position available on demand and to be able to get guidance home, by car or on foot, from anywhere on the Earth's surface.

With the Nokia E90 and 6110 also having GPS built-in, I'm sure the N95 is the vanguard of a whole new crop of GPS_enabled smartphones, with Nokia Maps (nee Smart2go) standing an excellent chance of being the de facto standard across the smartphone world.

Source: [Steve Litchfield, allaboutsymbian]

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A nokia N95 related pressrelease from TeleAtlas:

Orlando, FL, CTIA Wireless 2007, March 27, 2007 – Tele Atlas (FSE: TA6, EUNV: TA), a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location-based solutions, today announced the availability of Tele Atlas Connect™, which provides digital map coverage for more than 140 countries. A complement to the company’s comprehensive MultiNet™ global digital map database, Tele Atlas Connect has already been selected by Nokia for the N95 multimedia device, which is the first product to leverage the data and help users initiate local searches all over the world.

Tele Atlas Connect features basic mapping and routing functionalities, including cross-border routing, and is intended to provide partners with a single, seamless global coverage solution for digital map and location-based applications. Designed to simplify development, Tele Atlas Connect is geometrically and logically seamed with the MultiNet database and is available in standard database formats to ensure ease-of-use.

“Our partners are seeking broader coverage solutions in order to strengthen their own products and meet the demands of their increasingly global markets,” said Basak Ozer, vice president, global product marketing, Tele Atlas. “With the introduction of Tele Atlas Connect, we continue to deliver on our commitment to providing global digital map data solutions that help enable business users and consumers find more of what they need, wherever they may be.”

We have seen implementation of this already on the prototypes and production models of the N95… so interesting timing of TeleAtlas for publishing this press-release: It can already show the world proof of what the product is capable of.

MobileToday reports that even before Nokia N95’s nationwide availability in the UK (April 1st 2007), distributors are already facing shortage in supply…

Distributors are already concerned that interest in the Nokia N95 is so strong that they will be unable to keep up with demand.
‘Demand for the handset is already outweighing supply,’ one distribution source told Mobile. Another was worried that they would not receive the number they had so far requested. ‘What we order and what we get are often two different things,’ he said.

which has been confirmed by a Nokia spokesman…

A Nokia spokesman said: ‘We are aware that demand is high and we’re doing everything we can to ensure our production ramp is as fast as possible. Initially there is going to be a shortage as with any popular product. We’ve tried to do our best to make the UK market in particular gets a good supply.’

Although this indeed seems to happen to any popular product, I somehow think this is also part of Nokia’s marketing strategy. A scarce product will get additional attention in the media for free

Good to see how the general excitement for the Nokia N95 is growing by the hour.

I was not able to blog this weekend (had to take care of my father who suffered a ruptured retina, which was quite scary), so coming home last late and checking different N95 related feeds, I was quite amazed about the sudden rise in mentions of the Nokia N95.
Not just on the cell-phone minded websites, but on any site related to one or more of its capabilities, which is a lot as we know.

For linking pleasure only, apart from all standard media websites with press-releases:

1. Ivan Kuznetsov has posted a nice and compact review of the N95
2. Of course, All about Symbian is updating on a daily basis their findings with the 2 N95 sets they have received (pictures & video)
3. James Burland is reviewing his N95 step by step with well-written and detailed articles
4. Darla was so excited with her Pink N95, that she could not stop screaming and added a little R-rated material to her unboxing ceromony (tri-pod is the missing word)
5. Next were the announcements for shipping of the N95 to the Middle East and the US
6. In the meantime, the discussions over at N95users.com start to heat up too, nice thread is the one on “Best price for the Nokia N95“
7. And finally, after a long wait, even Apoc over at Symbian-Freak has received a “black box”… but what he finds inside… see for yourself!
8. Update: Also in France, the first production model of the N95 has arrived at SymbianFrance: Nokia N95 en test chez Symbianfrance !!!

Any other news that you want to see mentioned: Drop me a line!

Nokia N95 Support

A quick summary of what is being covered:

• Maps
• VOX
• Music
• Interactive Demos
• User Guides
• Software (for Flickr, Podcasting, VOX and more)
• Different HowTo’s
• Get settings for MMS (which does not mention the N95 actually)

Quite interesting, it has also has a link to the Nokia Softwaremarket for Nokia N95…