CrazyTB's blog

Have you ever looked at what Nokia N95 can do? It has a 5 megapixel camera, with auto-focus and Carl Zeiss lens; it can record videos at 640x480 resolution with 30fps; it has built-in infrared, bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, accelerometers, A/V output, radio, multimedia player... Wow, it has so many things that it might be easier to say what it does not have: it does not have a QWERTY keyboard, and it does not have touch-screen.

The "classic" N95 has a microSD card slot, while the "8GB" model has the microSD slot replaced by built-in 8GB memory. The 8GB model also has a slightly bigger screen, and a bigger battery. Unfortunately, though, people at Nokia removed one important feature in order to make room for larger battery: they removed the lens cover.

Hey, it makes no sense... A great mobile phone, with built-in camera of very high quality... and they thought it was okay to leave the lens open to all type of dirt. It makes no sense, people from Nokia might have gone nuts or something... The lens cover is a very important feature! My current phone is Sony Ericsson K750i, and I chose it because it has a decent camera (2 megapixel with auto-focus and macro) and has lens cover.

Since I got this K750i, I've almost never again used my 4.1 megapixel digital camera. Well, 2 megapixels was enough for most photos, plus, the phone is handy, it is always with me, and it always had enough battery to take many photos. On the other hand, the digital camera is kinda big, it was always "hidden" in some drawer, and I never had 2 AA batteries when I needed. Or, when I had, the batteries were almost out of energy.

So, this K750i became my "official" camera.

Nokia N95, if I was going to buy it, would replace K750i as my new official camera. Heck, 5 megapixel N95 is even more than my digital camera (which is 4.1). This means that no, I don't want the 8GB model. The lens cover is too important for me.

So... The classic Nokia N95 is "perfect", right? Well... almost... I thought so, until my friend Leandro made me pay attention to one little detail: the 3G support.

There are 2 different models of classic N95, and also 2 models of N95 8GB. The difference? One model supports UMTS/HSDPA/WCDMA (or, from now on, 3G) on 2100MHz band, and the other model supports on 850/1900 MHz bands.

Then you ask: "So what?"

Well... Here, some mobile operators use one frequency, while other operators use a different frequency. What's more! The same operator uses different frequencies on different regions of Brazil.

This means that, if I buy N95, I will be tied to one or a few operators where I live, or a different set of operators in case I travel somewhere. Since I was planning to use that phone for at least 2 years (my current K750i is now 2 years old), I don't find this very comfortable. I would be spending a lot of money on a great phone that... would not work well if I travel or if I change the operator. This sucks.

(Note: only the 3G would not work, all other phone features would work well, including 2G or 2.5G, which is GPRS/EDGE)

I'm not a fan of Apple, and also I'm not a fan of iPhone (and I guess I wouldn't be happy with an iPhone), but I have to admit that at least here iPhone 3G is better: its 3G support is tri-band.

Thanks to Leandro de Lima e Silva, who told me about 3G bands before I bought the phone. He pointed me to this table of 3G frequency per operator and region, which he found at a post from Garota Sem Fio blog.

Now, just some videos of what people can do with Nokia N95:

• Phone Fight - an Accelerometer Multiplayer Fighting Game
  
• N95 + NiiMe = Need For Speed Most Wanted.. Owned! (using N95 as a bluetooth joystick, almost like Wiimote)
  
• ShakerRacer - Acceleration Sensor controlled RC car