Nokia N95

Hi all,

I am thinking of getting a Nokia N95 mobile phone. Main thing apart from
the phone itself that I am interested in is the 5MP camera & the GPS. I
will
need to use this overseas also. If anyone has any feedback on this phone it
would be much appreciated.

Telstra told me the GPS & maps work overseas, Optus said they only worked in
Australia.

Any info or links appreciated.

Peter

Peter wrote:
> Telstra told me the GPS & maps work overseas, Optus said they only worked in
> Australia.

Normally you can download maps for anywhere, but if Optarse have
crippled their N95 they are probably correct. If you can afford to
purchase the phone outright then you would be better off doing so, just
make sure it is unbranded and Australian stock so it can go to a Nokia
Careless Centre if it needs attention under warranty.


--
The views I present are that of my own and NOT of any organisation I may
belong to.

73 de Simon, VK3XEM.
<http://web.acma.gov.au/pls/radcom/client_search.client_lookup?pCLIENT_NO=157452>

In article <O1I5j.20785$CN4.10395@news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
peter45ozNO_SPAM@yahoo.com.au says...
> Hi all,
>
> I am thinking of getting a Nokia N95 mobile phone. Main thing apart from
> the phone itself that I am interested in is the 5MP camera & the GPS. I
> will
> need to use this overseas also. If anyone has any feedback on this phone it
> would be much appreciated.
>
> Telstra told me the GPS & maps work overseas, Optus said they only worked in
> Australia.
>
> Any info or links appreciated.
>
> Peter
>
>
>

Also, be aware that in Australia, Telstra have just released their
version of the N95 - the N95-RM120 which is NextG compatible. This is a
good thing ;) I've just upgraded my previous N95 (one of the first in
the country) to the new one. The GPS works better than the original
one, even after updating the firmware in the original one. The main
reason for upgrading, however, is that we need it to be able to access
the NextG system in the centre of Tasmania (no GSM up there) where we
have a shack.

Great phone. I bought mine outright, rather than putting it on a plan.

If anyone wants to buy an N95 here in Australia, I'm selling my original
one, complete with the updated firmware. I'll reset it to factory
defaults.

Any serious offers to NightStalker at fastmail dot fm

I'll be putting it on eBay in the next week or so, but offers prior to
that are welcome.

Sorry for the commercial... ;) But the N95 is a great phone - just make
sure you buy a 2Gb MicroSD card for it to get the most out of it with
music, videos etc.

--

NightStalker

In article <O1I5j.20785$CN4.10395@news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
peter45ozNO_SPAM@yahoo.com.au says...

> Telstra told me the GPS & maps work overseas, Optus said they only worked in
> Australia.
>

Oops - sorry, forgot to answer this question. If you buy the phone in
Australia, it comes preloaded with Australia maps - that's probably what
the Optus guy meant. You download the maps for anywhere else on the
planet from the Nokia website (free) using their MapLoader software. It
works fine everywhere. We did a round-the-world trip visiting Italy,
Hungary, Luxembourg, France, UK, Canada, USA (East and West coasts) and
New Zealand. I preloaded all the maps onto a 2Gb MicroSD card before
leaving, and it just worked everywhere. No having to change areas or
anything - it just picked up the map it needed from the card as it
needed it. The updated firmware in the original N95 (which was the one
I took) makes GPS lock-on MUCH faster. It now locks on in 10-15
seconds, instead of minutes.

Highly recommended.

--

NightStalker

Thanks NightStalker, that was just about all I wanted to know about the GPS.
It is the Telstra version I will be buying.

Just a few more questions. Does using the GPS overseas cost anything? (or
in Australia for that matter) Is there a data download charge? Does the
GPS require phone service to operate or is it 'only' relying on satellites.
What is the battery life like, particularly when using the GPS. Does the
camera take good pics - 5MP camera is one of the reasons for this purchase.
Is the flash ok and are pics taken in the dark any good. Any other
information you have would be great as I will probably buy this phone
tomorrow as I go overseas soon.

Thanks again

Peter


"NightStalker" <Nightstalker@somewhere.or.other> wrote in message
news:MPG.21c2784ee72cd0a1989869@news-europe.giganews.com...
> In article <O1I5j.20785$CN4.10395@news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
> peter45ozNO_SPAM@yahoo.com.au says...
>
>> Telstra told me the GPS & maps work overseas, Optus said they only worked
>> in
>> Australia.
>>
>
> Oops - sorry, forgot to answer this question. If you buy the phone in
> Australia, it comes preloaded with Australia maps - that's probably what
> the Optus guy meant. You download the maps for anywhere else on the
> planet from the Nokia website (free) using their MapLoader software. It
> works fine everywhere. We did a round-the-world trip visiting Italy,
> Hungary, Luxembourg, France, UK, Canada, USA (East and West coasts) and
> New Zealand. I preloaded all the maps onto a 2Gb MicroSD card before
> leaving, and it just worked everywhere. No having to change areas or
> anything - it just picked up the map it needed from the card as it
> needed it. The updated firmware in the original N95 (which was the one
> I took) makes GPS lock-on MUCH faster. It now locks on in 10-15
> seconds, instead of minutes.
>
> Highly recommended.
>
> --
>
> NightStalker

GPS doesn't cost anything if using just the satellite GPS unit alone and not
Assisted GPS.

Can take up to 30 seconds to get a satellite lock though. Doesn't work
inside very well due to low signal strength (same with most GPS units)

Assisted GPS sends a signal over the mobile network to identify position
using he mobile masts.

As such a data charge is applied, this helps speed up the lock but is not
required.

You can download all the required maps to the phone using the Nokia Maps
loader PC software as long as have you plenty of flash memory.
Only need to load the countries you will be in really rather than whole
world.

The camera is very good in good light (with auto-focus), the flash is quite
bright for an LED and in close shots in is pretty good.
Not that great for large landscsape shots more than 3m away in the dark but
better than most phone cameras.
In bright daylight, camera rivals that of a small compact dedicated digital
camera.

Web is very fast using built-in brower or downloadble Opera 4 Mini browser.

Note I have the N95-2 8GB version. Excellent phone (has all the features you
would ever need). The ability to install programs and customzie the way you
want adds more value e.g

Call Recorder
Full Screen Photo view for Caller Display
Voice to Text message system
Currency Converter
Calcium calculator (best interface on any small caculator app ever)
Games, Games, games....
+ plus thousands more apps and utils.

If you can get this over the orginal N95 I would go for that.

Hope this helps.

"Peter" <peter45ozNO_SPAM@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:jER5j.21031$CN4.16098@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> Thanks NightStalker, that was just about all I wanted to know about the
> GPS. It is the Telstra version I will be buying.
>
> Just a few more questions. Does using the GPS overseas cost anything? (or
> in Australia for that matter) Is there a data download charge? Does the
> GPS require phone service to operate or is it 'only' relying on
> satellites. What is the battery life like, particularly when using the
> GPS. Does the camera take good pics - 5MP camera is one of the reasons
> for this purchase. Is the flash ok and are pics taken in the dark any
> good. Any other information you have would be great as I will probably
> buy this phone tomorrow as I go overseas soon.
>
> Thanks again
>
> Peter
>
>
> "NightStalker" <Nightstalker@somewhere.or.other> wrote in message
> news:MPG.21c2784ee72cd0a1989869@news-europe.giganews.com...
>> In article <O1I5j.20785$CN4.10395@news-server.bigpond.net.au>,
>> peter45ozNO_SPAM@yahoo.com.au says...
>>
>>> Telstra told me the GPS & maps work overseas, Optus said they only
>>> worked in
>>> Australia.
>>>
>>
>> Oops - sorry, forgot to answer this question. If you buy the phone in
>> Australia, it comes preloaded with Australia maps - that's probably what
>> the Optus guy meant. You download the maps for anywhere else on the
>> planet from the Nokia website (free) using their MapLoader software. It
>> works fine everywhere. We did a round-the-world trip visiting Italy,
>> Hungary, Luxembourg, France, UK, Canada, USA (East and West coasts) and
>> New Zealand. I preloaded all the maps onto a 2Gb MicroSD card before
>> leaving, and it just worked everywhere. No having to change areas or
>> anything - it just picked up the map it needed from the card as it
>> needed it. The updated firmware in the original N95 (which was the one
>> I took) makes GPS lock-on MUCH faster. It now locks on in 10-15
>> seconds, instead of minutes.
>>
>> Highly recommended.
>>
>> --
>>
>> NightStalker
>
>

In article <xQY5j.3899$wD5.3875@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net>, nexus@nospam.com
says...
> GPS doesn't cost anything if using just the satellite GPS unit alone and not
> Assisted GPS.
>
> Can take up to 30 seconds to get a satellite lock though. Doesn't work
> inside very well due to low signal strength (same with most GPS units)
>
> Assisted GPS sends a signal over the mobile network to identify position
> using he mobile masts.
>
> As such a data charge is applied, this helps speed up the lock but is not
> required.
>
> You can download all the required maps to the phone using the Nokia Maps
> loader PC software as long as have you plenty of flash memory.
> Only need to load the countries you will be in really rather than whole
> world.
>
> The camera is very good in good light (with auto-focus), the flash is quite
> bright for an LED and in close shots in is pretty good.
> Not that great for large landscsape shots more than 3m away in the dark but
> better than most phone cameras.
> In bright daylight, camera rivals that of a small compact dedicated digital
> camera.
>
> Web is very fast using built-in brower or downloadble Opera 4 Mini browser.
>
> Note I have the N95-2 8GB version. Excellent phone (has all the features you
> would ever need). The ability to install programs and customzie the way you
> want adds more value e.g
>
> Call Recorder
> Full Screen Photo view for Caller Display
> Voice to Text message system
> Currency Converter
> Calcium calculator (best interface on any small caculator app ever)
> Games, Games, games....
> + plus thousands more apps and utils.
>
> If you can get this over the orginal N95 I would go for that.
>
> Hope this helps.
>

Yup - what he said! :)

Agree with all of the above. But the 8Gb version doesn't connect to
NextG if you need that ability. The only one that does that is the N95
RM-120 sold through Telstra shops, and labelled as the NextG version.

I needed that ability, but you may not if you live in the city and don't
travel out into the bush etc.


--

NightStalker