My trial of the Nokia N95-4 has been a great one so far - the main reason being is the North American 3g internet speeds. I knew that if anything were to pull me away from the Nokia N82 and the Xenon flash, it would be the 3g speeds of the N95-4. Little did I know the temptation would be this strong.

If you haven't noticed I'm a huge fan of the Nokia N82 for multiple reasons, but here in the states we don't have the luxury of having 3g speeds at our fingertips like the European N82 users do. We have to settle for a slow Edge connection which I just recently found out is about seven to eight times slower than 3g speeds. Before I started using a Nseries phone about 8 months ago I had experience with 3g on a non-smartphone Samsung handset, specifically the A707. I knew it the 3g was fast, but I didn't use the internet nearly as much as I do on a Nseries phone. So I didn't get a true test of 3g. So the Nokia N95-4 is my first experience with North American 3g and Symbian S60. And so far it's been amazing.

It's not just the big internet data transfers that impresses me. It's mostly the small things. The most common and noticeable improvement is the speed of email retrieval and downloads. I use the built in email application to keep my Gmail inbox in sync via IMAP. The email connection is never interrupted, even when on a call. 3g can share data and voice at the same time. Then when I get a new email and want to retrieve it the message downloads in about 2 seconds as apposed to the average 8-10 seconds over an Edge connection. This makes the email client exactly how I've always wanted to be - fast and instantaneous. As close as possible to a real desktop email client on a S60 phone.

I have also found myself browsing the web a whole lot more. My favorite hockey website is www.tsn.ca/nhl. It's a very media rich website with lots of images and video previews. With a 3g connection the site loads in just under 20 seconds. On an Edge connection it reaches 40 seconds then I have to give up. Checking scores, reading news besides RSS feeds, and just normal internet use is no longer a pain. I can now get real good use out of the amazing S60 web browser that can load just about any website.

I still use the Mobitubia application to get my Youtube fix which isn't so bad even on an Edge connection. But now there is no need to save those videos that I like to my memory card. Now I can just save them as favorites and they load within seconds over 3g. Transferring photos over Share Online 3.0 is another area where I see drastic improvement in transfer speeds. The limit for share on Ovi is 6 images at a time. That now takes under a minute when before it would take about 3 minutes. I am also more likely to upload a video to Ovi when before I couldn't cuz it would take up like 10 minutes and I risked a phone call interrupting the upload. Other things like streaming live video to services such as Qik or Bambuser is also now possible. With an Edge connection its not even worth it.

So obviously I'm having a great experience with this phone. I feel like I'm carrying around my laptop, but of course much smaller and more convenient. I have a true feeling of always being "connected". Not having to worry about my Slick IM program being disconnected during a chat over AIM is a huge plus. It's little things like this that is making the Nokia N95-4 a joy to use. I really can understand now why North American users would choose this phone over the N82, but I am not yet fully convinced that 3g outweighs Xenon flash, at least for me.

For North American Nseries fans, this is the perfect phone for consuming media. I bet AT&T are really hating N95 8gb users that have the unlimited data plan. With an Edge connection I can easily it 80mb a month of data transfer. Who knows how much I can consume with faster internet speeds.

Keep checking back for more parts of my review of the Nokia N95-4. Please leave your questions or comments below. What are other ways I can benefit from 3g speeds that I haven't mentioned.

Related Posts

Widget by Hoctro | Jack Book