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What happened to Day 3 - Video Capture? I’m working on it, it’ll be here soon. In the meantime, let’s talk about the redesign and the build quality - what works and what doesn’t?


Design

The first thing you notice when unboxing the Nokia N95 8GB, or the N95 Ninja, as I like to call it, is it’s size, or rather the size of it’s screen. It really does look considerably bigger than the N95 Classic. Next, you’ll be hit by just how much wider the Ninja is, then you’ll hold them back to back and realise that they are in fact exactly the same width . . . huh! What’s going on? To accomodate the enlarged display on the Ninja, the display plate is now the same width as the lower body, whereas on the Classic, the display plate is a few millimetres narrower. That, along with the clever use of colour on the Classic, gives the allusion of being narrower than it really is. In short, I guess you could say that the original design is all about making the N95 look smaller and sleeker than it really is, but this new design is mostly about accommodating the larger display and battery.

All this means, that whilst the design doesn’t feel much different when carried on your person, it will elicit many more “that phone is huge!”, and “what a brick!” comments from friends and family.

Other items of note are the shortened navigation controls on the display plate, the white illuminated keyboard (replacing the previous blue), the new prominent position of the Nokia logo and, of course, the missing lens shutter, now replaced with an easy to clean plastic lens protector. It’s this last design ‘feature’ that has put the cat amongst the pigeons. Aside from the comments I’ve already made in regards to the whole debate, I’ll briefly add that sadly the position of the lens means the you will be forever wiping the lens cover clean.

The colour is . . . well, the colour is black - piano black on the shiny top surface and a kind of warm black on the underside. This combination works well, though it might put the girls off, as it does have a distinctly masculine look. Nokia might be wise to offer the 8GB version in silver as well as Ninja black!

Fit & Finish

Equal to how a product looks is how it feels, this is especially true of a device that, by it’s nature, is held during operation. One of the masterstrokes of the iPod design was to endow it with a chrome back plate, it just feels right somehow, plus, there’s always that desire to keep it clean, to polish it until it shines.

Although the N95 8Gb has practically no metal to keep shiny, that’s not to say that it does not have shiny surfaces. The entire top surface is now smudge city! But have no fear my fellow compulsive screen cleaners, the screen now runs flush with the top surface - one or two wipes will buff up the screen and the top plastic surround. A big improvement over the N95 Classic.

The slide action, whilst not ‘LG Shine’ slick, is certainly smoother and tad more honest than before. All in all the whole sensation whilst using the N95 Ninja is one of strength and solidity - it feels good.

Check back in few hours, by then I may have had a chance to add some HD video footage, examining the overal look of the N95 8GB.

Next . . .

Day 4 - Video Capture, probably!



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N95 8GB: Day 2. Endurance../11/14_EXCLUSIVE%3A_N82._Day_1._The_Silver_Snapper_Arrives%21.html

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N95 8GB: Day 3. Design and Build18_N95_8GB%3A_Day_1._The_Nokia_Ninja.html
N95 8GB: Day 4. Video Playback22_N95_8GB%3A_Day_2._Endurance.html
N95 8GB: Day 5. TV Out
N95 8GB: Day 6. Sub-Aqua Capture24_N95_8GB%3A_Day_4._Video_Playback.html
N95 8GB: Day 7. Bath Time!26_N95_8GB%3A_Day_5._TV_Out.html
N95 8GB: Day 8. Nokia Music Store29_N95_8GB%3A_Day_6._Sub-Aqua_Capture.html
N95 8GB: Day 9. Photo &amp; Video30_N95_8GB%3A_Day_7._Bath_Time%21.html
N95 8GB: Day 10. TV In - Sling Box31_N95_8GB%3A_Day_8._Nokia_Music_Store_Live%21.html
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N95 8GB: Day 10. TV In - Sling Box../11/30_N95_8GB%3A_Day_10._TV_In_and_The_Flying_Finn%21%21.html