Big screen, dedicated gaming keys, landscape orientation and tv-out: such gaming delights one can get from a mobile device. As I have mentioned from my previous post, the N95 8gb really looks and feels like a true dedicated gaming console. Sounds perfect, but there are still some letdowns which made me scratch my head and crossed eyebrows.

After playing games (N-gage, vBag, Global Race and a few more) with it, here's a short list of my thoughts:

• The dedicated gaming keys are really nice but can be troublesome for button-mashing games (N-gage's ONE for instance). They are hard to push and do not provide good tactility feedbacks. I found it hard repeatedly pressing these keys, especially when on the verge of gaming. For instance, when playing ONE which requires fast combination of buttons, I only use the dedicated gaming keys if I just want to show off to friends landscape gaming with the phone. But for serious fights (i.e to beat up my brother, lol), I always switch to portrait and use the keypad instead. I win fights easier that way :).
  
  
• Another thing about the gaming keys is that my thumb does not feel comfortable on the narrow pad where the gaming keys are on. My right hand was craving for more space to deal with the keys.
  
  
• The dpad is great to use and the 2.8" screen is just awesome.
  
  
• I have experienced errors with N-gage such as "Memory low: Quit other applications.." kind of messages and game crashes. Also, N-gage games tends to be laggy at times, especially if you have background running applications. But these instances are very rare, which only lowers the gaming experience by a very tiny margin. It can be easily addressed either by the N-gage application update, or a firmware upgrade of the device itself. With regards to other third-party games, everything went smoothly.
  
  
• Games that utilizes the N95's 3d-accelerated graphics chip (like Global Race, 7 Days and Oval Racer) look nice and feastful in the eye through TV-out. But as expected, when I played Crash Bandicot and ONE which rely solely on the software for triangle drawing and processing, noticeable were the stretched out pixels and frame skips. The graphics and animation is definitely smoother on the phone's screen. But as a whole, gaming with a tv-screen is really fun. You can even use a Nintendo Wii remote control or a bluetooth keyboard for a cooler and a more enjoyable gaming experience.
  
  
• With vBag, the N95 can become a suitable replacement for a GAMEBoy without having the need for cartridges. You'll get a massive storage space for lots of gba games plus tv-out!. The only problem is that the dedicated gaming keys are not supported. So you will have to do key mappings through magic keys for you to really enjoy landscape gaming of gameboy games.

Problems that some may also experience is feeling uncomfortable holding the *bulky* device for hours of gaming and dealing with the gaming keys. But in general, the N95 8gb does excel as a great gaming device. For me, it's the best in gaming from Nokia so far. Big screen, dedicated gaming keys, dual cpu, plenty of RAM, and 3d graphics hardware accelerator chip. Do you own an N95 8gb? What do you think?

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image from mobile88.com

I was not at home the day when the N95 came last December. As soon as I got home, I immediately made the unboxing while my family was watching television. I pulled out the device and they were like "whoa!" and "cool" and "nice" and stuff. They instantly loved its design, by the way they look at it and their praising words.

The device was a Spider Man 3 edition, and watching the movie on the N95 8gb's glorious screen was the first thing I we did. They were not really surprised that we can actually watch full-length movies on a mobile phone since they know a lot about the N82, but I myself felt a lil bit sorry for my N82's smaller and dimmer screen. And they all threw questions and made direct comparisons of the two, all of them asking why I chose the *cough*unappealing*cough* N82 over a sexy N95 8gb. And so I gave them my answer.

After several minutes, a few cousins and friends came, and them as well had their eyes glowing on the N95, while ignoring the presence of my N82 which is lying quietly on the table.

Almost all the people whom I showed both devices with, the treatment was like, the N95 8gb as a high-end device, and the N82 as just your average regular mobile phone. The N82 was easily ignored while with the N95 8gb, they will at once recognize it as a "powerful" device and instinctively ask about the on-board features. After I recite the list, they will not be amazed that the N95 can do all of this and that but will rather be amazed whenever I say, "The N82 can do the same things". Wha? Proves that the N82 really is a wolf in sheep's clothing. You'll never be able to appreciate it as a beast until its secrets are exposed.

My brother admired the gaming experience on the N95 but reckons it has a plasticky and cheap feel as oppose to my N82 being solid and firm. Also "The screen is more vivid and the N95's speakers are louder. The dual sliding mechanism is damn Cool!".

While the N95 8gb is definitely an apple in the eye for most people, the case was different for some of my friends. During our christmas party, sort of a college reunion, the major reaction was that the N95 is too bulky. One of them even frankly informed me that she would never be attracted to an N95. She does know what it is capable of but the device's size turns her off. She was like "Never!".

A black N82 owner told me that the most remarkable for her was the N95 8gb's screen. "If only the N82's screen was as good as this..". She added that considering it being bulky, its nice that the device was lighter than she expected it to be. Furthermore, she conveyed that she feels more comfortable holding her N82 especially when it comes to usage of both devices' keypads.

As for me, it's really worthy being called a "multimedia computer". But I say the size of this stunning slider is one of the major deal breakers for me I guess. One would prefer putting it inside his/her bag or carrying pouch for much convenience. But if you are like me, who loves mp3s while walking or on the bus, and who's pockets are enough for everything I bring with, it's utterly annoying pulling out a Nokia N95 8gb from my jeans whenever I receive calls or text messages. Add the fact that the audio port is on the side, it's a pain in the neck to pull it out when listening to music, even more when in sitting position. Before riding the bus, I set my preferred music volume so that I don't need to adjust it anymore during the ride, and I try to ignore text messages until I'm at my office (bummer).

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Hands down, the N95 8gb wins the heart of most of my family and friends, maybe even most of all the users in the world. Its design is one of the key factors why the majority of nokia fans ditches out the N82's Xenon Flash for a gorgeous slider.

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