The N95 should be shipping next quarter in the U.S. With a 5MP auto-focus camera, Nokia has a clever solution to the user ergonomics in the different modes of use. There are three different ways to hold the N95 with button placement to match:

1) camera mode. It feels like a normal pocket cam, held horizontally. On the bottom camera image, the slider would actually be pushed in flush, and the blue shutter button is on the top right where you would expect it with a camera.

2) media playback mode: the top camera image shows the slider face that reveals the nav buttons for a side grip

3) telephone use: not shown here. The slider face can slide on its rails off to the left (as well the right) to reveal the dialpad, oriented for a vertical hold of the phone.

2007-2008 should see a flurry of higher quality cameras in phones. In the slim form factors, 3MP with autofocus should lead, and then shutters, zoom and image stabilization will follow.

24 responses to “Nokia N95”

  1. drona Avatar
    drona

    I’m waiting for the button free iPhone (as are a million other consumers if you were to believe AT&T’s marketing folks). Should be interesting to see how Apple’s innovative CHI group would manage the UI for it.

    Reply
  2. trumpetflickr Avatar
    trumpetflickr

    Steve all the advances you mention are the result of technical improvements or "evolution" nothing earth shattering, just more and more miniaturization and power.

    Apple’s iPhone is the only new development I see in this space, that is truly innovative. Apple had to innovate otherwise in a couple years the "cell phones" would made the iPod unnecessary… now the pressure is on them. I love competition, but most of all, real innovation that makes our life better.

    Nokia by the way is bound to be around for a long time in this game, they were smarter than everyone else, they created their own OS!

    Reply
  3. Automatt Avatar
    Automatt

    5MP zeiss camera lens + separate video lens = all kinds of cool.

    Reply
  4. complexify. Avatar
    complexify.

    Glad to see cameraphones are finally approaching pocket camera quality levels. I can think of many Flickr-worthy missed photo opportunities I could have captured if I had had a 5MP phone in my pocket.

    However, as cool as the N95’s slide-out keyboard is (see below), I’d really miss having a QWERTY keyboard.

    Similarly, the iPhone’s lack of a physical keyboard will likely keep me from getting one, unless the multi-touch technology works well enough to outweigh the lack of tactile feedback.

    Reply
  5. craig1black Avatar
    craig1black

    The iPphone isn’t for me. I hate my iPod for the fact your can’t easily operate it without easily looking at it. (It isn’t tactile) I don’t look at the keyboard as I type on a computer — but if the keyboard were on a touch screen you would have to look at it. That’s just no good for me. I can type very quickly on my BlackBerry, on my Motorola RAZR V3xx and on my computer. When I try to type my email address on the keyboard on the copy machine at work (using the touch-screen) I find it next to impossible.

    Oh yeah, and this Nokia rocks. I hope they release it in the US with 850/1900Mhz HSDPA support. My RAZR V3xx is 3g and I’m addicted!

    Apple does make slick devices sometimes, but I find they often sacrifice form over function. I would like factile volume up and down buttons on my iPod like I had on my Rio Karma. I had to buy the apple wired remote to get that. (And for $50!!)

    Reply
  6. Johan of Denmark Avatar
    Johan of Denmark

    I’ve been looking at the N95 virtually since it’s concept-stage, and feature-wise, it’s a solid machine for sure! I have yet to manipulate one myself, but reports I’ve heard state that it’s superior builld-quality, and that everything just seems to work – except the camera, which has (unacceptable!) lag-time when snapping: from click to actual snap = almost 4 seconds? That’s not a satisfactory interval between shots… :-/

    Hope a software-update can fix this! Oh – and you totally forgot to tell about the GPS-function, Steve! Shame on you… *grins*

    —
    Seen in my contacts’ photos. (?)

    Reply
  7. jonrawlinson Avatar
    jonrawlinson

    did you get yourself one of these?

    Ive been trying to get my holds on one of these for ages.

    Reply
  8. Todd Huffman Avatar
    Todd Huffman

    Does the video support live video conferencing?

    Oh, and they let you use memory cards too? They better… one of my frustrations with some cell phone cameras is how difficult it is to get the pictures off!

    The GPS funciton (thanks @Johan) would be a great. Cell phone + video conferencing + GPS + internet connection has a lot of interesting social network potential.

    If they give you an extra one, feel free to send it my way. 😉

    Reply
  9. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Jon: no, I was meeting with a Nokia exec.

    Johan: right. The camera lag is noticeable. And yes, there are a lot of cool features and technology packed in there; I am just commenting on camera++ UI which interests me, especially since smart teams somehow release brain-dead ergonomic designs:

    Antithesis of Apple Design

    Looking at the Nokia, you can see how they had to find a way to allocate precious surface area. As the device becomes smaller, surface area becomes more precious, and the classic tradeoff of keyboard and screen becomes acute. When you also include multi-modal use, hand position and lens position add more constraints, and the N95 reconciles all this with product rotation and a sliding face. With one screen, they went with two cameras, the big one pointing away from the screen for photography, and the small one facing the user for videoconferencing.

    Craig, David: The lack of tactile feedback on touchscreens is a big issue for me too. People are very sensitive to this, with lessons going back to the Sinclair and IBM PC Jr. keyboards.

    One of my partners experienced a touch screen from a Chinese OEM with a clever “haptic fake” that vibrates the phone in a precise way so the user thinks they’ve pressed a real key (they “feel” it depress and hear the click). He describes it as spooky real.

    Trumpetflickr: yes. But nevertheless, I like it when someone gets the UI right. This phone is thick because the 5MP camera is similar to other pocket cameras, not thin camera phones. To shrink the camera module to a few millimeters on each side requires some clever engineering. Autofocus, optical zoom, shutter and IS require moving parts and feedback. One cool new feature of these forthcoming tiny 3MP camera modules is hyper-fast focus, so that, like the eye, they focus on whatever you point at, with no perceptible delay when you pan across foreground and background subjects. It’s always in focus as you frame the shot.

    Reply
  10. nhr Avatar
    nhr

    An interesting take on how a sliding keyboard and a navigation pad can be combined with a camera and a tactile screen on a UMTS 3G HSDPA + Bluetooth + 802.11b/g PDA: the Sharp S01SH

    Reply
  11. iphone000 Avatar
    iphone000

    This is going to be the best product launch in 2007. Finally hardware is catching up with the quality of digital services that makes life recording easy. I’m really excited about this phone.

    Reply
  12. benjiman Avatar
    benjiman

    I’m interested in the physical usability of these new hybrid devices. So many hidden doors and sliding keyboards, it may be time to reference The Transformers!

    This is why the iPhone seems so fresh: it does an end run around so many of the more annoying aspects of current gen hybrid phones. The UI does the dirty work of transforming the device from one task to another.

    So many fail because they try to be too many things to too many people. Jack of all trades, master of none etc. Maybe they are finally catching up with the original concept.

    Reply
  13. Johan of Denmark Avatar
    Johan of Denmark

    Steve, I hear ya on the smart teams and braind-dead ergonomic designs! 🙂 My first digital pocket-cam was a Pentax Optio S – where the genii at Pentax had decided to:

    a) place the on/off button on top of the camera
    b) place it right next to the shutter button
    c) make the power button stand out by giving it a bezel

    = everyone I handed the camera to would without fail turn off the camera the first time they tried to take a shot. Excellent. 🙂

    But yes: looks like Nokia engineers have excelled with what limited surface space they were allocated by their design-team… 🙂

    Reply
  14. Nell M Avatar
    Nell M

    Steve, I saw you at Consumerist 🙂

    Have a nice day!

    Reply
  15. silyld Avatar
    silyld

    I wonder if they’ve sorted the battery issues out though ?

    I’ve had a N80 for 8 months now – 3MP, dual camera, music player, wifi, BT, etc…. and it will rarely keep its charge for a day if you ever wander out of a strong signal strength area 🙁

    Reply
  16. silvio_gabbana Avatar
    silvio_gabbana

    Nice phone but , the battery gives up in less than 24 hours.

    Reply
  17. Ross' Digicam Avatar
    Ross’ Digicam

    I don’t know what’s the hype with iPHONE.

    iPHONE looks like iPOD. There’s nothing new there. Except, it’s a phone from APPLE.

    N95 is far more superior than iPHONE. Compare the features.

    Reply
  18. AM08098 photography Avatar
    AM08098 photography

    lucky id give anything for an N95 that things scary cool

    Reply
  19. Colby Stuart Avatar
    Colby Stuart

    I’m just getting used to my new N95. The camera and video quality is amazingly strong. Once I learn how to manage building and accessing my content and contacts better, I’ll feel more comfortable. I love the screen size and being able to turn it lengthwise. Having WiFi changes my relationship with internet access – wow, access anywhere you can search and find WiFi.

    There are always a few "quirks" that come with a new edition of something – and the N95 has lots of them. One big downside = the battery is quickly used up.

    I recommend it, but be prepared for a heavier mobile phone. It’s like a mini-digital camera size.

    Reply
  20. _CJRomero_ Avatar
    _CJRomero_

    me gusta el color se ve elegante

    Reply
  21. pejman_2012 Avatar
    pejman_2012

    well if you want to know i think the device i want wont anounce since 2010
    you the big problem is the battry life another problem is the very very low memory (at least 200 gb it must be)
    and no touch screens

    Reply
  22. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    I just heard some interesting tidbits from an ex-Nokia exec (different person from the one I mention above):
    Nokia makes 1.1 million cell phones every day, with no inventory and negative working capital (they collect two days before paying suppliers).

    They also have the majority of the smart phones out there, but people are not using the functionality.

    Apple has achieved what Nokia has been trying to do for years… Amazingly, in Europe, if you exclude traditional SMS and MMS, the iPhone already represents 80% of all data services traffic!

    It reminds me of the Mac vs. DOS in the early years…. The graphical UI makes it easier to discover and explore new applications.

    Reply
  23. agahran Avatar
    agahran

    Thanks for making this great photo available via CC license. I just used it to illustrate this post about Nokia USA’s service/support gap in the US:

    urltea.com/35t6

    Curious about what you think about that issue from a business perspective…

    – Amy Gahran

    Reply
  24. John Nickolls Avatar
    John Nickolls

    Hi, I’m an admin for a group called Mobile Phones of the world, and we’d love to have this added to the group!

    Reply

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