The ‘N’tertainer

November 20, 2008

Home → The ‘N’tertainer

One is a bit spoilt with choices in electronic and portable gadgets these days – the plethora in the market entices even those with absolute no interests in it, to tinker and become, out of their own free-’will’, fashion victims.

I can already see the Pussycat Dolls {in my mind} grinning away in the corner, as I type these words. But I’m not talking of the most recent one that took the world by storm. It is difficult to please me – in this era of personalization, I reckon purchasing gadgets online would call for an extensive user-catalogue. I hope Nokia will embark on it soon – I’m certain there are many users who’d like to mix and match the functionalities of any given model within a certain range, and personalize their own mobile gadget sans problèmes bien sûr {transliterated: without problems, of course!}.

Albeit that’ll put Nokia in your face 24/24/365 – and most likely win an award for being innovative… and creative. In this era, a business needs to constantly be in the forefront. Entice, and engage the audience! Creating devices that connect socially with the world makes it extremely attractive! And with OVI, you’re one step away from connecting with the world.

I absolutely adore the E series – but there’s always something missing there – like things you’d find in an N-Gen. I do not dislike the N series but would prefer a meaner gadget to please my geeky lifestyle {which may sometimes include – working on a system without having to recourse to a 12” portable book!}. Nokia certainly pushed its buttons this time – I’m almost defiantly contemplating not returning the device – but I do want to test all the newer ones which I could easily fall in love with, next!

I’m also expecting Santa Nokia to drop me a goodies bag in time for Christmas! {Hint!}

If you’ve always dreamt of a great lightweight device {its only 125gm} – and plays good music without breaking its stereo surround-sound speakers, game-compatible, and takes fantastic audio, and still images – you’d most likely beg the N96! It is one of the most, if not the most attractive device in its genre! and it retails at only RM 3,338.

What I love about the N96…

The sound system is to die for. If you love adding tunes to your device, please do not opt for anything less than an N device. The N96 spots a set of stereo speakers emblazoned on the sides, and makes for a cool music player! Turn on the Digital TV, or record it and have it synchronized to your N gadget, and before you know it, you’ll be in Media Heaven! Nokia has certainly designed the N96 as an entertainer, and entertained you’ll be!

The screen is wide enough and crystal clear even for the ‘over-the-hill’ X-Gen boppers! Keying-in a number will have the numbers displayed on the panel in an almost 18-point sans-serif font that will make anyone shortsighted see clearly even at midnight! Watching movies, and playing N-Gage games call for a bit of finger-flextime. I’m literally, a PC Gamer – and thinking of playing Tetris or any other device fit for 12, and above, is certainly not my forte. I love my gaming machine as big as possible – like an adult-sized Maserati, or an Aston Martin! Besides my fingers spot an octave and above range, and they are big.

The gorgeous in-built camera is a whooping 5 mega pixels Auto focus and mind you at 2592 x 1944 resolution, your blogs will never look amateurish anymore. Shots are saved in jpg, mp4… or the 3gp extensions. That’s not all – you can even tag your shots with keywords and add capture location information! This device is equipped with two cameras – one for taking hi-resolution images and videos, the other for making video calls. If you really want to use the N96 as a digital recorder, you’d have to get use to pressing the button. I almost dropped the device over the balcony when attempting taking shots, and video of Seri Selangor Golf Course.

The Blue tooth Stereo Headset is an added plus! Sleek avant-garde design, it streams both media tunes, and calls. If you’re really into getting entertained, you should opt for the Blue tooth speakers! As I was scrutinizing the device I noticed, after about three days later, a minuscule chrome button which is not just design  but when pressed, displays the Multimedia menu. What a sleek little thing – cool functionality!

Voguish is an understatement with the N96!

The designers thought of almost everything. This device when connected to say, the Nokia Video Centre {NVC} allows you to download and stream clips – you can also synchronize clips from your PC using WLAN! You can also subscribe to AV Casts – and trust me, once you’ve into that you’ll never want anything less. This mean device comes solidly designed with… a Digital Video Broadcast {Say what?} yeah … with Live TV you can access and watch both mobile TV and radio services.

If you’re a content producer, you’d likely upload your content over air – the N96, makes for a great Christmas {or birthday!} present for your loved ones. Make sure its stuffed in a stocking somewhere by the 23rd.

Sexy Specifications

Music Features*

• Digital music player – supports MP3, AAC, eAAC+, WMA, album art
• Playlist editing and sharing
• Equalizer and visualization
• Search, browse and purchase songs online in Nokia Music Store – with support for Windows Media DRM protected files

* Nokia Music Store availability varies by country.

Radio*

• Stereo FM radio {87.5-108MHz, 76-90MHz} with support for RDS, Visual Radio™ and use of FM radio in offline mode
• Nokia Internet Radio

* The FM radio depends on an antenna other than the wireless device antenna. A compatible headset or enhancement needs to be attached to the device for the FM radio to function properly.

Main camera

• Up to 5 megapixel {2592 x 1944 pixels}
• Carl Zeiss Optics: Tessar™ lens
• Auto-focus, auto-exposure
• F-number/aperture: F2.8
• Focal length: 5.2 mm
• Focus range 10 cm to infinity
• Dual-LED camera flash, video light, recording indicator, auto-focus assist light

Secondary camera

• VGA {640 x 480 pixels} sensor

Video Recording

• Video capture in MPEG-4 up to VGA at 30 fps
• Digital Video Stabilization
• Video clip length: limited by storage
• Video file format: .mp4 {default}, .3gp {for MMS}
• Settings for scene, video light, white balance, color tone

Photography

• Still Image resolutions: up to 5 Megapixel {2592 x 1944 pixels}
• Still Image file format: JPEG, EXIF
• Location tagging: automatic insertion of capture location into images
• Settings for scene, flash, sequence, self-timer, color, white balance, contrast, exposure compensation, guides