Disappointing N96 from Nokia
The last couple of days I’ve been testing the new Nokia N96. It hit the streets in Norway a week ago. So far I’m pretty disappointed when it comes to video and still image quality. Since a part of my job is to educate journalist in mobile journalism, I spend a lot of time testing new phones. I will not dig into all sorts of technical specifications about the new model from Nokia, but I have made a little comparison with Nokia N82.
I put the two phones side by side on tripods. The lightning conditions were not the best, and I had some sharp light coming from behind. These are not unusual conditions and represent working conditions for MOJOs.
You can check out the difference between the two cameras for yourself. One thing to make a note of is that the video files from N96 are much larger than the files from N82. They actually use different codecs. The original file from N82 was 17 MB and the file from N96 was 36 MB. They both where 640×480 pixels with 30 FPS.
Video N82
Video N96
The sound recording on the N96 is also not as good as the one on the N82. When it comes to still images, I think the N82 is much better than the N96.
The biggest advantage with the N96 is the two LED lamps. You can actually use them in a completely dark room, and they will help you record a video that is usable. The N96 also comes with a 16GB storage built in. You can even choose to expand with a Micro SD. This is a very good solution if you use a sound recorder or video recorder on the side with SD card. You can then use the N96 as a modem without having to shut down programs on the memory card.
In my opinion Nokia has produced the N96 for playing music and watching videos. Not so much producing stilling images and videos, witch in my opinion is a pity. It’s been about a year since N82 hit the street, I find it very odd that Nokia isn’t able to up the quality of the video recording. It’s actually lower quality than before. I would not recommend buying the Nokia N96 if you intend using it as a mobile journalist. You get a much better result with the Nokia N82 or N95 8GB.
I almost can’t belive this. I mean, I can see from the videos published here that there is a big difference in quality, but are your certain that you have the settings correct? Will anyone else who have tried the N96 claim the same? In a lot of reviews I have read, the N96 get’s good feedback. I must admit, non of them have focused on the video quality.
This is exactly my experience also. The video quality is very bad. The N96 have been hyped from a lot of mobile sites. I wonder why? Guess some of them don’t dear to step on a mighty company like Nokia. Thanks for having the guts to speak the thruth, it gives you credibility in my eyes. Keep on blogging Frank, I’ll be following you.
I agree. The video taken with the N96 doesn’t look sharp and it also looks like there’s something wrong with the colors. It happened with my first N82. When I got a new one it was OK again. I’m not sure if that’s the case here, but it might be.
A friend of mine told me that Nokia has removed the “mic in” possibility we had with the N95 and the N82. Can anyone confirm that? Is it also true that you can’t edit the videos at the N96.
My plans are to replace my beloved N82 with the N96, simply because I want to play movies on my phone. But if it’s like your writing here, and it’s not possible to use an external mic and edit/cut your clips - I guess an iPhone or something like that may be my best choice.
My experience is exactly the same. I’m keeping my N82. N96 was a disappointment. I guess it’s made mostly for viewing movies and playing music. I also didn’t like the Feature Pack 2. Have to click a lot more times to achive a simple task.
I got my N96 yesterday. Wish I had read this blog before I picked it up. The quality of the images are not good enough. If it’s something wrong with the camera on your phone, then it’s something wrong on mine too. Are we talking about a new N73? The first year it was full of faults.
I also hate the new Feature Pack 2. When I push a shortcut button, I like it to perform a task, not just simply bring up new choices all the time. That’s what the menu are for.
I also tried upgrading the firmware, but the new one is not available in Norway where I live.