Nokia N96 Unboxed and Almost Reviewed

Nokia's new Nseries smartphone, the N96, which should be now in stores across Europe and some Asian countries, has appeared in an unboxing video. Moreover, a semi-review (more like a first impression) of the N96 has been spotted on the Web. Thus, if you want to know what you will get after buying an N96, read on.   

First of all, regarding the unboxing video – this might seem a bit boring to some, but Nokia fans will surely enjoy it, so we're posting it at the end of the article.  

More info-packed than the video is the N96 preview appeared over at All About Symbian, together with some live images of the smartphone. The first negative impression is that the N96 is a fingerprint magnet. Furthermore, the handset's back is “plasticky”, but the overall build quality is good.

The camera-key of N96 is apparently a bit stiff, but the 5 MP Carl Zeiss camera is said to take very good photos (although perhaps it should have been an 8 Megapixel one). This is no surprise, though, since all the recently-released Nseries smartphones have advanced cameras (save for the N81 / N81 8GB). The music experience on N96 seems to be another highlight of the device, while its battery, although only a 950 mAh one, is said to have decent performances.

An interesting image is the one of the N96 next to Apple's iPhone and the gigantic E90 Communicator. Seeing the N96 and Apple's handset in the same picture makes me think that the new Nseries phone is the most iPhone-like device built by Nokia so far. The same overall shape, the same metallic trim, the same glossy surface. Of course, the N96 is not a touchscreen device, it has an alphanumeric keypad and it's a bit thicker than the iPhone, but the resemblance between the two is still easily observable.

The N96 is being sold for 550 Euros (790 USD) free of any contract – a hefty price, nevertheless, but Nseries smartphones have always been expensive, and the newest one had to keep the tradition. If it's worth it or not is only for you to decide.

Here is the N96 unboxing video - a lot of grass included: