Nokia N95 hits the UK
[intro]The most feature-packed smartphone in the world is finally here... but it ain't cheap[/intro] Good news everybody! The N95 megasmartphone is a
Good news everybody! The N95 megasmartphone is apparently shipping, according to Nokia. And they should know.
The oh-my-god-it-does-everything handset will be available for the eye-watering price of £599 SIM-free. So will it be worth it?
I hope so. After all, that’s a lot more than the iPhone, which will retail at $499 or $599 in the US (I’m expecting the rip-off Britain prices to be around £350 for 4GB or £450 for 8GB). But, of course, the N95 is technically superior to the iPhone; it features a 3.5G connection, Sat-nav and a 5MP autofocus camera, compared to the iPhone’s 2.5G, maps and 2MP fixed focus.
The big question is whether it will share the failings of my previous smartphone fave, the N80. Great phone, but its battery struggles to last for more than a day, and a number of readers have reported technical problems with the phone freezing or becoming unbearably slow. Insiders at Orange even tell me the phone was dumped from their range due to the high number of returns, but I’ve no idea if this is true – they also told me that Nokia has ceased production, which definitely wasn’t true.
But hey, the N95 is a new phone, a breakthrough phone in fact, and I’m really looking forward to my review unit arriving. I’ve already spent some time with a preproduction unit (see my preview here), and it’s hard not to fall for its charms. I’m not sure I’d be rushing out to pay £600 for it, but hopefully this will turn out to be an early adopter tax that will fall in a couple of months. Because, technically advanced as the N95 is, it’s still a phone. Whatever Nokia may say.
Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
