Q&A session and Thoughts on the N96

Before I give my comments on what I think is the high-light of yesterday’s announcements, the N96, let’s summarize the extra details that we know so far, based on the Q&A session with the N96 Product Manager.

-What is the reason for including only a 950 mAh battery?

“Answer: Instead of putting in a bigger battery than the N95, we optimized power usage of key functions, in particular those related to multimedia and entertainment. For example, video playback time is up to 5 hours and music playback time is up to 14 hours, which we achieved through hardware accelerators and other optimizations.”

- How much of N95 & N95 8GB user feedback has been taken into consideration when developing the N96?

“Answer: When we develop new products, we base our decisions on a lot of research, focus groups and feedback from users of earlier products. We also test design alternatives with users and get their input. We started development of the N96 when the some of the earlier products had just come to market. So we followed the acceptance of those very closely and tried as much as possible to take learnings from those into account.”

-Will the kickstand be a one-off novelty, or is this something that is planned to be incorporated in future handsets?

“Answer: we feel that the kickstand or some similar stand design is excellent for handsfree viewing (such as watching video) and similar usage. I cannot comment on future products, but there are already some other Nokia products (e.g. N)  which have it, so I would not be surprised to see this again in future products.”

-Why was the decision made to put 2 sets of media keys on the device, especially around an error prone area like the directional pad?

“Answer:There is actually only one set of media keys available at any time. As the device transforms itself into the different modes… landscape for e.g. video, portrait for e.g. music, with the numeric keypad extended for e.g. messaging, landscape for camera or “upside down” for gaming, the media keys can have different functions and illumination.The reason there is a set of media control keys around the Navi wheel (the directional pad) is that it allows you to control your music or other media in the background, for example while you are in a chat session.By the way, this was an example of user centric design, and a decision we made after testing several options for placing the media keys. So again, there is only one active set of media keys active, and when you open the short slide, the icons around the directional keypad disappear.”

-Why N96 design is quite similar to of N81?

“Answer: The N81 and the N96 are both part of the same Nseries range of multimedia computers. They share a common design language, such as the black front and the band around with embedded functions and connectors.On the other hand, there are of course many differences: e.g. the bigger display, the dual-slide, the landscape orientation of connectors. The N96 is slightly thinner but wider. And then there are major functional differences such as storage, GPS, 5 megapixel camera etc.”

-Why no Xenon flash and lens cover/shutter?

“Answer: It has a dual-LED flash and video light, with auto-focus assist beam.While the Xenon-flash can output more light over shorter period of time, we felt that the video light for video recording is the better feature for this device.”

-Has the issue with the flash chips not having fast data transfer like the N95 8GB been fixed on the N96?

“Answer: the N96 will have faster data transfer than some of the previous products. The real speed you will see as an end user e.g. transferring files from the PC will be at least 5 times faster (we are still working on further optimizations so I will provide some update later).”

-Is accelerometer/Naviwheel there?

“Some questions about Navi wheel: yes it will be there, and it will be available in media applications such as music player and video center,  as well as in applications with long lists like contacts. Not everywhere in the OS, at least not in the PR1. Some questions about the accelerometer: yes it is there. The functionality to change the display orientation based on the accelerometer will be also be there, although it might be part of some PR1.x release. Compass: no integrated compass.”

Why did Nokia get rid of the pencil key?

The media keys around the d-pad will not only be active when a media app is running... however I do not believe this is a problem: accidental key presses are not very likely due to the width of the device. Question about pencil key: it was found that many users don't use it very much, so the same functionality got embedded into the Options menu. So full editing like copy and paste, and select functionality are still available.

Thoughts

I love the N96 and I want one as soon as possible!!. When it comes to features The N96 is more of an evolution rather than a revolution though, but it’s still amazing what they’ve managed to get into this thing. They hit the bull’s eye when it comes to storage giving you best of both world: large amounts of built-in storage and the flexibility of memory cards. It looks good, the color is right and especially interesting about the DVB-H. I’m happy that measures have been taken to increase the USB transfer rate. Navi Wheel, Hold key, kickstand it’s all there. But I can’t help but think that many old mistakes are being repeated. Take for example the media keys: it took a second generation N95 in the form of the N95 8GB to get raised media keys, so why are they back to flat? And will Nokia never learn about lens covers? What about the puny battery? Why not make the device bigger to get a bigger battery capacity. And most importantly after getting so many praises about the Xenon flash why not put it into the top device and add those LED lights just for the purpose of video? I’m also disappointed about the lack of optical zooming, if the LG Viewty can get that, then so should the N96. Now don’t get me wrong as I really like this device, but these are all things that have been repeated so many times and it’s a shame that they didn’t work on these things. Can you imagine if had raised media keys, Xenon flash, optical zooming and a larger battery. It would be close to perfect, but even with its shorts comings it’s the best out there. Quite amazing if you ask me!

Comments

[CRIS]

how do you download videos to the darn thing so i can watch it and not just listen to it?

[LySquareZ]

the battery used is kinda... stupid...
even the new N78 use BL-6F, why can't they just give it to N96 as well...

[LySquareZ]

the battery used is kinda... stupid...
even the new N78 use BL-6F, why they just can't give it to N96 as well...

[Krit]

I guess the addition of navi wheel and the dedicated gaming keys does make this better thank n95 8gb.
But i will not buy it because i still fear the battery problems.
Knowing nokia,
They will surely firmware update N95 8GB for any power saving changes similar to the ones in this

[Meraj Chhaya]

Most of us did want an actual revolution, but I guess you are right, we should appreciate this evolution!

[Leonard]

LG Viewty doesn't have optical zoom,but it has manual focus,which is cool.