Nokia’s N96 could be considered as one of the most awaited phone of this year. After 8 months of its announcement Nokia N96 was finally released in September 2008. Neglecting the delay it could be said that this successor of Nokia N95 has just got better.

With double built-in memory and DVB-H this multimedia monster is packed with a long list of unique features. Some of its unique features are listed below:

• 2.8″ display screen 16M-color TFT LCD with QVGA resolution
• Dual slide design with dedicated audio and gaming keys
• Symbian OS 9.3 with S60 3.2 UI
• Keypad locking slide key
• 5 MP autofocus camera with AF assist light and dual-LED flash
• Massive 16GB onboard storage
• Built-in DVB-H TV tuner
• Stereo FM Radio with RDS
• Built-in GPS with A-GPS functionality and free voice-guided navigation for 3 months
• Built-in accelerometer for UI auto-rotation
• VGA video recording at 30fps
• One free Transformers movie and N-gage game preloaded
• TV out
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• microSD card slot with microSDHC support
• Quad-band GSM support
• Dual ARM 9 264 MHz CPU and 128 MB of RAM
• Wi-Fi with UPnP technology
• 3G with HSDPA support
• USB and Bluetooth v2.0
• Car charger in the retail package

Beside the above unique features check out the general specifications of Nokia N96:

• Color: Black
• Dimensions: 103 x 55 x 18 mm, 92 cc
• Weight: 125 g
• Display Screen Type: 2.8 inches, 240 x 320 pixels, 16M colors, TFT
• Memory: 16 GB internal memory, microSD (TransFlash), up to 8GB, 128MB RAM, 256MB storage memory, Dual ARM 9 264 MHz CPU
• Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 950 mAh (BL-5F), stand-by up to 220 hrs and talk time up to 3hrs 40mins
• Phone Book: Unlimited entries with unlimited fields and Photocall
• Call Records: Detailed and stored up-to 30 days
• Bluetooth: Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
• USB: Yes, v2.0 microUSB
• 3G: HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps
• Edge: Class 32, 296 kbps; DTM Class 11, 177 kbps
• Browser: WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, RSS reader
• Camera: 5 MP, 2592×1944 pixels, autofocus with Carl Zeiss optics, flash, video(VGA 30fps), secondary VGA videocall camera
• Other Features: Dual slide design, DVB-H TV broadcast receiver, MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA player, 3.5 mm audio output jack, Push to talk, Stereo FM Radio with RDS, TV out, Office document viewer, Built-in GPS receiver, Voice dial/memo, Built-in handsfree, Organizer, Preloaded Nokia Maps of 3 countries, etc.

Even this multimedia monster is not flawless; some of the major disadvantages of Nokia N96 are listed below:

• N81-inspired design
• Inadequate battery life
• Camera lens without protection
• No charging via USB port
• Cheap looking keypad
• No office document editing out of the box
• Terrible camera key
• Unreasonably heavy price tag

Nokia N96 is an ultimate treat for all the diehard fans of Symbian and for others it is great software package. Though the ergonomics of the device are not that good but device is completely user friendly. The kickstand option gives a comfortable video watching experience. Other features that makes Nokia N96 unique are music keys on the front panel, dual LED flash and Navi wheel.

With average style and finesse Nokia N96 could be considered as an upgraded model of Nokia’s multimedia series. But for all the geeks out there Nokia N96 surely is a special phone to have. This multimedia monster comes with a price range of Rs.35, 000.

This is one of the lengthiest reviews I have written till date; still I feel that there are many features of N96 left untouched. Hence it’s a sincere request to all the readers to check all the details before purchasing the handset. And here’s a request to all Nokia N96 users to leave their personal reviews and views of this heavily priced multimedia monster in the comment section.