Nokia N93 Review-A Mind Blowing Set

Nokia N93 Review

Introduction

The Nokia N90 was the first auto-focus camera phone for the Finnish company and we were really impressed by it. Now the N93 ups the ante and brings 3x optical zoom in a phone to the masses. Running on the 3rd Edition of the S60 user interface and equipped with a 3.2 megapixel camera sensor, the N93 is set to rock the world of mobile phones. As if that's not enough, the N93 also features TV-out, which you can use to display your pictures and videos on your home TV. Users of the N90 will be glad to know that the N93 has the vibrate function missing from the old N90. The N93 is a dual mode phone, featuring WCDMA (2100MHz) and tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900MHz) coverage.

Physical Aspects

Unlike the N90, the new Nokia N93 does not have a twistable lens barrel. It is a chunky clamshell with larger dimensions than the N90, but with smoother curves. The lens barrel is huge, and the top portion of the phone is connected via the right side of the barrel. There are three ways to open the N93 - view mode, imaging mode, and phone mode. The view mode is done by way of twisting the screen open rightwards from closed. This causes the screen to be in a landscape orientation and is a better way of watching videos or surfing the web, as you get a much wider screen. You can access the imaging mode by flipping open the phone 90 degrees and then twisting the screen anti clockwise (with the screen facing you). You then hold the phone like you would hold a camcorder. Left handed people might find it difficult to hold, since they will have to switch or cross their hands to access the two soft keys on top of the screen. Phone mode is when you open the N93 like how you would with any other clam shell phone to answer calls and such.

The N93 is made entirely of good quality plastic. The N93 is solidly built, and I could find no creaks or squeaks anywhere on out. Even the hinge feels solid and should be able to withstand the twisting and turning of the flip. One complaint would be the total lack of a spring mechanism in the hinge. This made opening the phone a bit troublesome since I had to use both hands all the time.

On the front of the N93, you will find the small external display and the loudspeaker. On the right side of the phone, the camera shutter button is located on the hinge. The zoom lever circles this button just like you would find on a normal camera. A 5-way navigation d-pad is located next to the camera and LED flash buttons. On the left side of the phone, the huge lens is located just above the LED flash. Nokia has provided users with a lens cap that can be attached with a string to the phone. The lens cap was an annoyance and was a pain to remove from the lens, though it can be detached from the phone easily. The mini SD card slot, charging port, and Pop-Port connector are all located on the left side of the N93. The power button is located on the top of the N93, and an Infrared port is placed on the bottom of the phone, on the top portion of the flip. There is nothing on the back of the phone except for the battery cover release button.

Flipping open the N93, the forward facing camera is situated above the screen alongside the earpiece and light sensor. The white backlight keypad is huge and is divided into three sections, each surrounded by chrome borders. The topmost section contains the 5-way navigational d-pad, flanked by the right and left soft keys, along with the call and end keys. The middle section is where you will find the edit, menu, multimedia, and clear keys. The bottom section is the biggest, and this is where you will find the large numerical keypad of the N93. I'm very glad to report that the N93's keypad is a joy to use with such big keys. They offer excellent tactile feedback and I must say that this is truly one of the best keypads out there right now. The Nokia N93 is certainly a huge phone. Measuring 118.2mm x 55.5mm x 28.2mm (4.65" x 2.18" x 1.11") and weighing a hefty 180g (6.34oz), many will be put off by this giant. However, the solid build of the N93 and professional looking color scheme make it a pretty good looking phone, a slightly fat one.

Multimedia

Display

Nokia created the N93 with the intention of putting the convenience of a camcorder in a mobile phone. The handset features an auto-focus Carl Zeiss lens with 3x optical zoom, and displays pictures and videos gloriously on its huge 2.4" QVGA (320x240 pixel) resolution TFT screen that is capable of showing up to 262k colors. The screen is fantastic and fonts are sharp and clear - I could set the font size in the browser to a miniscule size and it was still readable. The external screen, on the other hand, is a tiny 1.1" widescreen capable of displaying up to 64k colors. Although small, it displays more than enough info, such as missed calls, incoming messages, battery bar, network signal strength, and of course, the time and date.

The Camera

Let's move on to the camera. First up, it is slow. But the camera UI is still painstakingly slow. It takes slightly more than 2 seconds for the phone to open the camera interface when you twist and turn your way into the phone's imaging mode. This might cause users to miss opportune photographic moments, which might be much more than just an annoyance. Focusing times and shutter lag, there are plenty of design issues worth commenting on, too. Having the camera module as part of the main body of the Smartphone is more robust than the N90's multiple-hinge design, but it also limits what can be shot. In order to film something you've got to lift the Smartphone, open it out into the vertical and then keep the device's lens pointing straight ahead. While this all sounds sensible, it's worth noting that the N90 allowed shooting at almost any angle (including behind you) and also allowed photos while the clam shell itself was closed. Thus the N93 seems a lot more restrictive in this regard, but putting it into perspective with humbler smart phones, at least the screen itself can be angled, so that you can position the N93 up high or down low and still be able to use the screen as a viewfinder.

The main shutter button is positioned directly behind the lens, meaning that the very act of pressing it (gently at first to kick off the auto-focus, then harder to take the image) tends to nudge your aim downwards. With practice you can allow for this and brace your grip, but it's disconcerting at first when taking photos. Video recording merely requires a press to start and a press to stop, of course, so it doesn't really suffer from the same problem. The N93 comes with a clip-on lens cap. I haven't lost mine yet, though it tends to pop off somewhat violently and I'd guess that Nokia will be selling packs of 3 replacement caps on its web site shortly. There's a little lanyard in the box, but to be honest it's best just to stick the cap in your pocket when the camera's being used. There's also an even more fiddly Pop-port cover that's, alas, even more losable.

The 3x optical zoom is operated via a ring jog dial that circles the shutter button. This works well as you easily adjust the zoom before taking a photo. Beneath the shutter button there is a four way navigator. It is used to change the camera settings via a series of pop out icons. These settings include shooting mode (automatic, user, close-up mode, and landscape, night and night portrait), white balance (automatic, sunny, cloudy, incandescent and fluorescent), exposure (+2 to -2) and color tone (normal, sepia, black and white and negative). This secondary navigator effectively duplicates the main four way navigator of the phone. However, in camera mode only this secondary direction pad can be used.  Due to its position on the side of the phone, it's necessarily small and is a bit fiddly to use. Further options can be reached using the options menu, accessed used the second soft key button. Although the buttons are on the opposite side of the screen to the other controls, it's more intuitive than you might think, as you’ll be holding the device in two hands most of the time anyway when taking pictures or videos.

In this camera mode, the options menu includes sequence mode, self timer mode (2, 10 or 20 seconds) and other settings, including captured image size. In video mode, the settings include both video size and an on/off toggle for video stabilization and audio recording.  Beneath the secondary navigator are two buttons (camera/video mode and flash mode). Pressing the latter in camera mode cycles the flash mode between automatic, on and off. In video mode, the button turns the flash LED light on or off. As a bonus, it also works as torch when the phone is closed, a function that's surprisingly useful.

To use the 3.2 megapixel camera, you must swivel the screen through a right angle, with this action starting the camera application. However in any other mode, 'Camera' uses the secondary (VGA/video calling) camera. It is a shame that you cannot switch back to the main camera, to take candid images and videos to your left hand side. One related annoyance is that when you rotate the screen back into clam shell mode, after using the camera, the application stays active but switches to the secondary camera, meaning that you're taken from your peaceful photographic experience of your subject to seeing an image of your own face - which can come as a bit of a shock! There’s no way the N93 is good enough to displace a standalone digital camera of similar specification for even semi-professional use. The lens and CMOS array are just physically too small and the handling of extremes of light and dark just isn't flexible enough. In very bright light there are slightly washed out colors, and in dim conditions (e.g. indoors) there will be lots of picture 'noise' and blush on any moving objects. Contrast this with a standalone camera, which will have a large enough lens and enough sensor intelligence to gather and cope with an awful lot more photons of light.

Video recording

The same applies to video recording, where movies captured on the N93 will be fine for inclusion on home movie DVDs or for transcoding and putting up on web sites, but for any kind of semi-professional use you'll be disappointed. Quite apart from 'only' being VGA resolution and not employing focusing (so you can't shoot anything closer than a metre away without it being blurred), the MPEG-4 encoding used by necessity means that dark areas of the video picture show all kinds of compression artifacts - fine for showing your friends but distinctly unimpressive when showing off a short video to your boss. There are also minor issues when zooming, with the 'steps' in the zooming mechanism very visible optically and audibly (there's a slight 'rat-a-tat-a-tat' noise).

Don’t be disheartened and think that we're being unduly negative. The N93 is still the best camera/camcorder Smartphone we've ever used, by quite a margin. And that alone makes it worth considering if you've got plenty of stuff to shoot in addition to your normal Smartphone requirements. For the majority of people, the results produced will be more than good enough, either for display as desktop wallpapers or in slide shows or as paper prints. The N93 out performs budget digital cameras in most areas. What you shouldn't underestimate is the 'always with you' factor. While a digital camera may often be left at home, the N93 will not and as such you are much more likely to be capturing everyday life with the N93, not just the camera-ready staged moments.

The vintage 6630, last year's N70 and N90, and N93. Resolution, quality and detail increase as you'd expect, though the difference between the 1.3 megapixel image from the 6630 and that from the N93 is so marked that you wonder how anyone could be satisfied with the smaller camera. Yet, to put things into perspective, the Nokia 6630's camera is leagues ahead of the 1.3 megapixel cameras used in many competing feature and Windows Mobile phones, making the N93's quality even more obvious.

Thanks to the size and quality of the main screen. Video playback is in Real Player, as usual, but it seems to have been tweaked since the last time I looked around its menus and things like starting playback in full screen mode are now a firm option, thankfully. As with the N90 predecessor, there's basic editing support for both pictures and videos accessible from the Gallery application. Photos can have the usual N-series gallery of effects applied, including Sepia, Negative, Brightness, Clip-art, Sharpness, Contrast, Re size and Red eye reduction. Each effect has an appropriate slider or options gallery and applying each effect is fairly quick. Keen photographers will have plenty to see here, while waiting to get back to their desktops for greater control.

Built-in video editing functions include cutting (cropping) footage, merging clips together, adding a new soundtrack (from a previously recorded file or music track), adding text titles (very, very slow to render), a 'slow motion' effect (with configurable speed) and the horribly slow (within the video editor at least) 'movie' system. You'll almost certainly be doing most video editing on your desktop though, so on-device editing will in most cases be limited to simply cropping clips to delete wasted footage and preserve disk space. Still, it does offer an impressively complete on-device editing solution. A simpler form of video and image editing is the creation of movies, styled video clips which mix videos, photos, graphics and text. The output can be quite effective and can, optionally, be optimized for MMS output which can result in something which is actually worth sending as an MMS message.

Gallery also includes an Open online service entry in its options menu. This is for the Flicker integration that was touted at the device's launch. The online service uses the Atom publishing protocol and will work with other compatible services such as Type pad. Once you have configured the application with your Flicker account details, photos can be uploaded by adding them to a 'post' which is then sent to Flicker. This works well for sending one or two photos, but is time consuming for many photos. A better option may be to Conigma's  Shozu application which is more flexible in its destinations and allows for automatic uploads.  The N93 copes reasonably well in pitch black conditions (owl example), but the flash is not very strong so the subject must be close to the camera. Where there is some ambient light available results may be better using night mode rather than the anemic flash. The optical zoom allows detailed shots of objects further away (weather vane and duck examples). It compares very favorably to other camera phones where cropping or use of digital zoom is necessary.

The user interface on the camera is good, and is an updated version of that which we saw on the N90 and N80. The N93's mini 5-way navigation d-pad on the side of the handset is used to move up and down on a series of icons that sit on the right hand edge of the display. These icons give quick access to the shooting mode, white balance, exposure, and color tone (black and white, sepia, etc.). Switching between still photo and video modes is now done via the button next to the mini d-pad. The flash is also controlled by a dedicated button on the side. The ISO settings found on the N73 aren't found here. Not that I should complain, since the N93 does a good job with taking photos, but more manual options would have been much better.

The auto-focus system worked well most of the time and I had no problems with close-up shots with the macro mode. The automatic white balance system worked very well in most situations, performing better than the manual settings in most cases. Pictures taken were sharp and clear, almost on par with dedicated digital cameras. While noise is very apparent in low light conditions, the N93 takes excellent photographs when lighting is decent. When in night mode, pictures tend to look over exposed and grainy. I have included sample photos of the same subject in normal and night mode (available in the camera samples section of this review), I'll let your eyes be the judge. The optical zoom works well but the lens takes a much longer time to focus when in telephoto.

The N93 can record videos at a maximum resolution of 640x480 (VGA) at 30fps. However, this takes up a lot of memory, and users might want to upgrade their mini SD card to a larger capacity one in order to capture longer videos in maximum resolution. A sample video recorded with the N93 can be found here. I must admit, the quality of video is fantastic for a camera phone and audio is captured perfectly. The only downside would be the mechanical sound of the optical lens zooming in and out being so audible when recording. Other than that, the N93 is a really good imaging phone. Throw in the ability to share your videos via the TV out feature and you really have a capable camcorder in a mobile phone.

Memory

The music player application on the N93 works very well, and appears to be exactly the same as the one found in the N73. The player can organize your music by track, artist, album, genre, and playlist. M3U playlist files can be easily created directly on the device, or copied over to the N93 from a PC via a card reader or the USB cable. With the supplied ear buds, music sounded crisp and clear, although lacked in bass. The Nokia N93 ships with about 50MB of available storage space built in to the device, along with a 512MB mini SD card. I used our test unit with a 1GB mini SD card and had no trouble at all.

User Interface

The Nokia N93 makes use of the same S60 3rd Edition user interface seen on the N73. This means that the overall system response is much faster than we have come to expect from earlier S60 devices, which is certainly good news. Unlike the N73, however, the N93 feels much faster in almost every aspect except for the camera application, where there's a lot that needs to be done.

Active Standby screen

The Active Standby screen is found on the N93. For those who are not familiar with it, Active Standby allows you to configure a row of shortcut icons near the top of the display when the phone is idle that you can navigate through and select to access your most commonly used functions. S60 3rd edition adds a couple more icons to the row when compared with 2nd edition devices with the same screen resolution. Below those icons, your upcoming calendar appointments are listed, as well as a summary of your to-do list state, and the name of the currently playing music track, if there is one. You can scroll down to those items and select them to run the associated applications.

Otherwise, programs and most phone functionality are accessed through the main menu. Pressing the dedicated menu button will bring up a 3x4 icon grid main menu. The menu is organized into items and folders. The order and placement of everything can be changed to suit the user, items can be moved into or out of folders, and new folders can be created as needed. You cannot, however, create a folder inside of another folder. The main menu and the contents of folders can be navigated to with the d-pad or with the keypad. The number and */# keys are each linked to a position in the main menu, since they are also in a 3x4 arrangement.

In general, when using the N93 the left soft key will bring up the options menu. The first item of that menu will typically duplicate the functionality of pressing the centre button of the d-pad without having brought up the options menu. The rest of the menu options list other tasks that can be accomplished. Sub-menus can be opened by navigating to them and selecting them or by pressing right on the d-pad, and can be closed by pressing left on the d-pad. The right hand soft keys are nearly always linked to an exit, back, or cancel function.

Applications and major sub-sections of the N93, such as the Settings app, make use of a dual-mode list/tabbed interface. For example, the Standby Mode item in the settings menu, located under General and above Display, can be navigated to and selected with the joystick as you would expect. But once in the Standby Mode section, you will see tabs at the top of the display that indicate that you can use the joystick to go left or right to access the General or Display sections. The same tabs system is used in the Bluetooth application and other parts of the device. It is pretty easy to use and understand.

New message alerts and missed call alerts will be shown in the same popup at the same time, one beneath the other. This is one of the more important updates in the 3rd Edition S60 interface, and we at Mobile Burn really do appreciate it. No longer will you exit out of a new Voice mail popup alert only to be accosted by an alert telling you that you missed the call that lead to the voice mail in the first place. Little things like this show that S60 is finally approaching maturity. The UI is now just as flexible, but far more usable and user friendly.

Phone Functionality

Voice quality

The N93 delivered excellent voice quality during calls. I did not experience any dropped calls or poor reception. The volume of the earpiece was adequate, not deafening and not too soft. I primarily use the GSM 1800MHz band, but when tested, the N93 also performed well in the 900MHz band.

Contacts system

Like other S60 devices, the N93 has a great contacts system. Users have the ability to store phone numbers, multiple email, web, or street addresses, and even notes and birthdays. Like a Windows Mobile device, the N93 can store pretty much any data point that is found in Microsoft's Outlook application for desktop PCs. Numbers for video calls and Push-To-Talk can also be entered into a contact record. In terms of accessing those contacts, the search function matches multiple characters on both the first and last name of a contact, making the process fairly simple.

Profile support

Profile support on the N93 is quite good overall, but lacks the timed profile feature that you would expect in a high-end device from Nokia. There are five profiles that can be used normally, and one dedicated offline mode for using the camera or playing music while on a plane or in other areas where phone use is prohibited. All can be tweaked in a wide variety of ways ranging from ringtone and vibration options to a feature that uses the N93's speech generation system to announce the name of a caller that it recognizes from the device's contact records. This new feature is great for Bluetooth headset and car kit users, as it allows them to know who is calling without needing physical access to the N93 itself.

Supports

The N93 supports both voice dialing/command and speed dialing. Our N93 was fully capable of taking verbal commands for switching profiles and activating and deactivating Bluetooth and such, but as usual I had difficulty in getting the N93 to dial Asian names in my phone book. Otherwise, the system worked pretty well. The visual speed dial app works perfectly and keeps users from needing to remember which contact has which speed dial assigned to them. Contacts with photos will make use of the photo instead of the default text rendition of the contact's name in this application. Speed dials can be accessed by long-pressing the corresponding keypad number key when at the standby screen as well.

UPnP

The Nokia N93 is an UPnP device (Universal Plug and Play). UPnP is a set of computer network protocols set by the UPnP forum aimed at allowing networked devices to connect together seamlessly and exchange information. In the case of the N93, it is used to share and control multimedia stored on the phone or on other UPnP devices on the same network via the phones WLAN connectivity.

In the Connect folder there is a 'Home network' application. This allows you to set your home Wi-Fi network, and whether to share image, music and video files. You can turn image sharing on and off, and this is effectively turning UPnP on and off. Once activated, other UPnP devices can see the N93 and access its files. Additionally an extra category is added to Gallery (Home Network) which allows you to access the content of other UPnP devices. This works by browsing a series of folders (the content of each remote device), and from the menu you can choose to copy multimedia to the N93 (a convenient way to get new content to your device) or show it on the UPnP device in question. This second function acts a little like a remote control allowing you to control (a slide show of) images shown and music played on the remote UPnP device directly from the N93. Unfortunately you cannot choose to play playlists, only to view them, which limits the usefulness of this remote function for music (to play back multiple songs on the remote deice you must select all of them first via a multi-select technique).

For multimedia stored on the N93, there are extra entries in Gallery's menu; these include the option to copy a multimedia item to another UPnP devices, move an item (deleting it from the N93), and show it on your home network. The first two functions are useful for manually moving multimedia off your phone, but there is also an automatic transfer function which should allow you copy all the images and videos off your device in one go. However, we could only get this to work with small files, not the MB images or multi-MB video files captured by the N93.

This last failure reflects a general problem with UPnP. It needs manufacturer support and is not yet widely used. UPnP devices do not always work with each other and can be slow to initiate actions. At times, the UPnP implementation in the N93 did not work (e.g. other devices could not be seen or transfers fail), although it is rarely clear whether this is the fault of the local or remote device. The problem is compounded by the fact that there is no definitive list of compatible devices (our Net gear 101 worked only partially with the N93). Furthermore, although most Wi-Fi routers now ship with UPnP support it is often turned off by default for security reasons. The cumulative effect may be frustration for end users. 

For most people the immediate problem will be the lack of another UPnP device. Windows Media Connect (as used by the Xbox and now shipping with Windows XP) is a UPnP server for Windows, but it did not work with the N93. Fortunately Nokia have provided an alternative. On the N93's CD is an UPnP server/client for Windows XP PCs called Home Media Server (a branded version of Simple Center). Using Home Media Server you can retrieve media from the phone and copy new media to the phone. You can also remotely control media shown on the PC from the N93, whether it is stored on the PC itself or on the N93.

TV-out

The TV-out function is much simpler than UPnP (just a Pop-port to 3-way RCA 'composite' cable to connect) and works very well. TV out function is made possible by the new graphics chip set in the N93 and its most common use will be for showing of images and videos captured by the phone. Settings can be tweaked via the TV-out application, but this should work out of the box for most people. Captured videos, in particular, are impressive and it is great fun to shoot a video and immediately be able to play it back on the TV.

In fact, the screen exporting works with any application (it is a great way to demo S60 to people). Other potential uses include playing games or browsing the web on your TV. Any application that involves viewing information of the screen as a primary concern can benefit from being connected to a larger screen. It also opens up new possibilities, for example with the TV-out function a video call can be shared more easily with more people. Using the N93 in this way might make for a good budget video conferencing system. The on board game, System Rush Evolution, is very playable on a bigger screen and gives a very positive pointer towards the next generation N-Gage gaming platform.

Most of the time the TV will show the same as the phone's screen. The exception to this is when viewing images or videos in Gallery - on the TV; these are displayed full screen even when browsing thumbnails on the phone. The TV-out cable can also be used to connect the N93 to most audio systems (via auxiliary inputs). This means you can play MP3s from the phone, controlled from the Music application, over your home Hi-Fi system in full stereo sound and it makes the N93 even more versatile. The quality of audio output is excellent, making the N93 an impressive digital audio player.

Battery life

Battery life was average. The phone lasted about 2.5 days before having to be recharged. This was with roughly 30 minutes of calls each day and quite a lot of SMS messaging, taking pictures, and GPRS usage. However, using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi frequently brought that duration down to about 1 day. Heavy users might want to recharge their N93 every night or get a spare battery to ensure no interruption in usage

Connectivity

The Nokia N93 supports GPRS and EDGE networks where available, and has an Infrared port and Bluetooth v2.0. Setting up for GPRS was easy, as you just have to choose from a list of service providers and everything will be set up accordingly. I was unable to test out the N93 on a 3G network, but did make use of the EDGE data support often. Download and browsing speeds were quite good. Not as good as a 3G connection would have been, but perfectly usable, all things considered.

Bluetooth

The Bluetooth system in the N93 is version 2.0 and it works well. It supports PC Suite, Headset, Hands Free, OBEX access, and Dial-Up Networking. I encountered no problems at all during the time that I used the N93.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi access on the N93 is very well implemented. The system is stable and supports WEP and WPA encrypted networks. Wi-Fi access was quick for a handheld device, and downloading email or browsing websites was a breeze.

USB

The N93 also has support for USB 2.0 via the Pop-Port connector. This results in fast synchronization of data, and also works well when using the N93 as a modem for your laptop or PC. You are better off using a card reader instead of the USB Mass Storage functionality though, as it is still much slower to access the mini SD card via the Pop-Port connector.

Messaging

SMS

The SMS system is well implemented and allows for the insertion of user-defined template text in order to help speed up sending messages. Users will be pleased to know that delivery reports pop up briefly on the display before getting filed into a separate folder where they don't get in the way of regular text messages. Received text messages can be forwarded to another user, saved to a user created folder, or even printed when connected to a compatible Bluetooth printer.

MMS

The MMS system in the Nokia N93 is equally nice. Users can create messages with multiple slides that contain video clips, sound files, and images, as well as text. The text can be positioned before or after the multimedia content in each slide, and the user has the option, once again, of using templates for the text entry. The only option that I could not locate was one that would allow me to alter the timing of each slide in the presentation. As has always been the case with S60 based devices, text and MMS messages can be created while the phone has no network access without issue, since the N93 will simply defer sending until it has a proper signal. This means you can create your messages even while riding the subway since they will all be sent out when you reach the surface.

Email

The email support on the N93 worked very well. Multiple accounts can be defined, and each can be accessed without the need to switch the 'active' account. The active account designation does determine which account is used when new messages are created, though. Depending on whether POP or IMAP is being used, you can tell the N93 to download only headers, a predefined size in kilobytes of each message, or the entire message with attachments. Automatic email pickup can be enabled for each account separately. Users can specify which days of the week email should be picked up on, between which hours, and how often.

Throughout all three messaging subsystems, as well as most of the phone's UI, the T9 predictive text input system is available. Text input is quite fast, and access to special symbols and language settings is quick thanks to the dedicated edit key (the one that looks like a pencil, located next to the menu key). The only thing I would consider missing is access to the N93's user dictionary. As it stands, if you mistakenly enter an incorrectly spelled word in T9, the N93 will save that word and assume it is valid - possibly recommending it in the future.

Applications

Calendar

There are quite a number of interesting applications that came with our N93 out of the box. Apart from the fully featured calendar/to-do list, you'll find things such as a world clock with alarm, a calculator, unit converter, Word/Excel/PowerPoint compatible viewers, and the truly amazing Nokia web browser. There is also an Adobe PDF reader application and a bar code reader application. I couldn't get the barcode reader application to read any of the bar codes I had available, and both the user manual and on board help file was not useful in providing me with more information on how to use the application.

The calendar application is like that found in earlier S60 devices. New appointments of several different types can be created. Start and end times and dates can be set, where appropriate, and alarms can be configured to remind you before the appointment takes place. The calendar can be viewed in either month or week view, and when a particular date is highlighted by navigating with the joystick; the appointments contained therein will be listed at the top of the screen in a small pop up box.

Browser

The N93's browser is similar to the one found on most recent S60 phones. Websites are rendered the way they were meant to be, so what you usually see on your desktop PC will appear just the same way on this fantastic new browser. A transparent window called the Mini Map helps you tell where you are on the page when moving the pointer around. When pressing the back button, you will be shown thumbnails of all the previous pages found in the cache. This helps you to visually select the page you want to go back to. This is an excellent browser and other manufacturers should use it as a benchmark to improve their own browsers.

What I liked:

1) Finally a powerful ARM11 (OMAP2420) processor running at 330 MHz in a Symbian OS Smartphone! Read: great performance, very short system startup time

2) 2D/3D accelerator with PowerVR MBX technology means GREAT 3D graphics

3) Recording VGA resolution video @ 30 fps; quality comparable to low-end, amateur camcorders

4) 3x optical zoom, high quality Zeiss lens

5) High quality display with anti-reflective layer

6) TV Out connector letting you connect the phone to a TV set and plays games / watches movies / run presentations; the connector can also be used to connect N93 to a HiFi audio system

7) UMTS, EDGE, WLAN, UPnP

8) Good build quality; feels very robust

9) $100 worth Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0 bundled with the phone

10) Dedicated LED Flash button can be used to enable the LED even when the phone is closed; finally a one-touch torch

What I didn't like:

1) Too much noise when taking pictures / recording videos in dim light

2) Noisy and unsmooth optical zoom drive

3) 18 MB free RAM is certainly too little for such a powerful device

4) Pop Port (as a TV out connector) located on wrong side of the phone; with the TV cable connected makes holding and operating the device quite inconvenient.

Final Words

The Nokia N93 is a fantastic phone, and apart from the slow camera UI, I really have nothing much to complain about. Although some might be put off by the sheer size and bulk of this behemoth, those who don't mind it will find the N93 a truly capable imaging phone.

With 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, the N93 is definitely the all-in-one Smartphone to get. I have no qualms in giving this phone a Highly Recommended rating, but if you feel that the price tag is too steep, and you don't need all the bulk and connectivity, you might want to take a look at the Sony Ericsson K800i or K790i.

 Specifications

General	2G Network	GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900
	3G Network	UMTS 2100
	Announced	2006, April
	Status	Discontinued

Body	Dimensions	118 x 55.5 x 28.2 mm, 133 cc
	Weight	180 g

Display	Type	TFT, 256K colors
	Size	240 x 320 pixels, 2.4 inches, 36 x 48 mm (~167 ppi pixel density)
		- Second 65K colors display (128 x 36 pixels) - Twist and rotating screen - Downloadable themes

Sound	Alert types	Vibration; Downloadable polyphonic, MP3 ringtones
	Loudspeaker	Yes
	3.5mm jack	No

Memory	Card slot	Mini SD, hot swap, 128 MB card included, buy memory
	Internal	50 MB storage, 64 MB RAM

Data	GPRS	Class 32, 107.2/64.2 kbps
	EDGE	Class 32, 296 kbps; DTM Class 11, 236.8 kbps
	Speed	Yes, 384 kbps
	WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
	Bluetooth	Yes, v2.0
	Infrared port	Yes
	USB	Yes, v2.0

Camera	Primary	3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, 3x optical zoom, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, LED flash
	Video	Yes, VGA@30fps
	Secondary	CIF video call camera

Features	OS	Symbian OS 9.1, S60 3rd edition
	CPU	332 MHz Dual ARM 11
	GPU	3D Graphics HW Accelerator
	Messaging	SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
	Browser	WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
	Radio	Stereo FM radio; Visual radio
	GPS	No
	Java	Yes, MIDP 2.0
	Colors	Black, Silver
		- Video download - UPnP technology - Push to talk - WMV/RV/MP4/3GP video player - MP3/WMA/WAV/RA/AAC/M4A music player - Predictive text input - TV-out - Voice command/memo - Organizer - Printing - Photo/video editor

Battery		Standard battery, Li-Po 1100 mAh (BP-6M)
	Stand-by	Up to 240 h (2G) / 240 h (3G)
	Talk time	Up to 5 h (2G) / 3 h 42 min (3G)

Misc	SAR US	0.69 W/kg (head)     1.23 W/kg (body)
	SAR EU	0.54 W/kg (head)

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