Features Let’s spend a bit of time going over the major features of the Nokia N90. First off, the N90 is a dual mode phone with support for WCDMA/GSM (WCDMA 2100 networks) and tri-band GSM (GSM 900/1800/1900) coverage. This provides enough coverage for up to five continents around the world – not too shabby.
The phone employs a unique four axis design which allows it to operate in four different modes:
The N90 measures 112mm (L) x 51mm (W) x 24mm (D) and weighs 173 grams. This is not a small phone by any means folks. When you pick up the phone, it definitely carries some heft to it – although it looks a bit heavier than it actually is.
You’ll find two displays on the N90. The external mini display is an active matrix screen with a resolution of 128 x 128 pixels and a color depth of 65,436 colors. The main display on the inside measures 2.1 inches and is an active matrix 262,144 color panel with a resolution of 352 x 416 pixels.
In order for the N90 to deliver exceptional photographic capabilities, it includes a 2 mega pixel camera with a maximum resolution of 1600 x 1200 and autofocus 20 x digital zoom. You’ll find an integrated flash with an operating range of up to 1.5 meters. There are four flash modes – on, off, automatic, and red eye reduction. There are six capture scene modes including Close up Mode, Portrait, Landscape, Night, Sports, Automatic, and User-defined.
Aside from taking digital stills, the N90 is also a capable digital video camcorder providing the ability to capture MP4 format videos. The videos use MPEG-4 for video encoding and AAC-LC for audio encoding. Video capture is performed at either CIF resolutions (352 x 288 pixels) or at QCIF resolutions (176 x 144). QCIF videos can be sent via MMS to other mobile users. There are two video scene modes – Normal and Night.
If you own a PictBridge compliant printer, you can print digital photographs directly from the N90. Photographs can be transferred to the PictBridge compliant printer using either Bluetooth wireless
The Nokia N90 isn’t all about digital photography of course. You’ll find a RealPlayer Media Player application built right into the phone which is capable of playing back a variety of file formats including: MP3, AAC, Real Audio, WAV, Nokia Ring Tones, AMR, AMR-WB, AMR-NB, AU, MIDI, H.263, JPEG, JPEG2000, EXIF 2.2, GIF 87/89, PNG, BMP (W-BMP), MBM, and MPEG-4. You can download and play multimedia files using the RealPlayer Media Player and also stream media files from compatible online media portals. The phone also supports full screen video playback when viewing video clips.
The phone has 31 MB of internal memory which is then used to store all the various data items including contacts, text messages, multimedia messages, ring tones, images, video clips, calendar notes, to-do lists and applications. You can imagine that you’ll quickly run out of room. To alleviate the situation the N90 supports the MultiMediaCard media card and Nokia has included a 64MB MMC card as part of the package.
The N90 has broad messaging capabilities including support for MMS, SMS, and Instant Messaging. You’ll also find a push email client with attachment support within the N90. This naturally leads into the connectivity capabilities of the N90 and you’ll find broad support in the form of Bluetooth
While we’re on the network, you can use the included WAP 2.0 XHTML/HTML multimedia browser to surf the web. There’s support for WCDMA 2100 and EGPRS class B, multislot class 10.
The phone uses Nokia Series 60 platform and includes calendar, contacts, to-do list, and PIM printing. There’s also support for Java and over-the-air downloads of Java applications and games.
Physical Overview
Let’s take a look at the Nokia N90 package.
Inside the package, Nokia includes: Now let’s take a look at the outside features of the phone. The front of the phone looks as follows:
The left side of the phone looks as follows:
You’ll find the charger connection on the left hand side as well as the Pop-Port connector for the Nokia Stereo headset.
The right side of the phone looks as follows:
Nokia has placed chrome plates on both sides of the phone which certainly accentuate the look and feel of the device. Unfortunately the chrome plates also easily attract finger prints so you’ll find yourself cleaning the sides quite a bit.
The back of the phone looks as follows:
The battery pack and SIM card go into the back of the phone. The battery pack cover is removed by pressing the notch and sliding off the cover.
As we mentioned before, the top of the phone is the camera module which houses the Carl Zeiss lens, an integrated flash, the power button, and the speakerphone.
The inside of the phone looks as follows:
You'll notice something important about the Fold Open mode - the clamshell doesn't open up all the way. It took me some time to get used to this and I think some of you will find this annoying. The Camera module prevents the N90 from fully extending into a flat orientation.
From top to bottom, you’ll find:
Usage
Now let’s take a step back for a second. When you look at the Nokia N90, the first thing that comes to mind is the sheer size of this clamshell phone. If it wasn’t for the optics in the camera module, you might actually get a decent sized handset, but the camera module literally changes the whole picture.
Pictures, pictures, pictures..
The best feature on the Nokia N90 is of course the digital photography capabilities. The 2 megapixel image sensor and integrated flash produces admirable shots for a mobile phone. If you’re a frequent photo or video blogger, then this phone would make an excellent companion for your everyday travels. Here are a couple of sample pictures that I took from around the apartment.
Nokia did a great job in creating two separate shooting modes for the N90. The Imaging mode is for serious work – when you want to capture either video or digital stills and you want to work in a format that reminds of a digital camcorder. The Camera mode is useful when you want to take that quick shot and you don’t want to have to deal with Transformer like issues.
Another complaint is with the camera module itself. The N90 activates the camera mode the minute the camera module is rotated off the axis. This is great if you want to take pictures on the fly but it can get annoying when you realize how easy it is to rotate the camera module away from its axis.
Finally, it takes a bit of time to get used to taking pictures with the N90. You definitely need to hold the phone steady – even with the flash in place. Make sure to use two hands when snapping pictures as Nokia recommends. Taking pictures with one hand won’t usually produce the best pictures from the N90.
Viewing the pictures
You can view your various multimedia files through the gallery application on the N90. Once you select the application, you will be presented with five different options: Images & Video, Tracks, Sound Clips, Links, and All Files. Click on Images & Videos to view images snapped by the N90. You’ll see a rotating gallery of thumbnails representing your images. The user interface is particularly slow here when refreshing the thumbnails. If the images are new to the camera, the UI will take a few seconds for each new image to refresh the thumbnail. This can be painfully slow if you have a lot of pictures and you’re not sure which you want to view.
Despite the slow UI performance, things can be overlooked once you look at pictures using the main display on the phone. The main display is absolutely beautiful with a 2.1 inch active matrix screen capable of 262,144 colors and a resolution of 352 x 416. Because the screen is actually somewhat small, the images appear sharp. The main display has excellent brightness and color saturation – much better than the external mini display. You can easily view the main display in external sunlight while the external mini display suffers outdoors. You won’t have to fuss with brightness controls for the main display since there’s an integrated light sensor on the inside. This will help adjust display controls and also turn on and off the keypad backlighting.
Nokia’s Series 60 user interface certainly shines on the main display. The icons are clear and easy to make out while the fonts are sharp to the point where it’s hard pressed to find jaggies.
But I want some video too..
The Nokia N90 supports video playback and recording in a variety of formats including MPEG4 and 3GPP video streaming. Recorded video can be saved in either MP4 or 3GP file formats. If you plan on sending video clips via MMS, then the files have to be in 3GP format.
You can record video when you're in the Imaging Mode which is the mode that changes the camera's form factor into something akin to a digital camcorder. This is the one mode where everything feels natural - from holding the camera to operating the video operations.
Don’t expect 30 fps video recording with the N90 but its good enough for on the spot captures. You can also upload videos to the N90 using the Nokia PC Application Suite. Nokia includes a video conversion application to convert your non 3GP videos to 3GP format.
You can select your videos via the Gallery section of the N90. The phone will use the RealPlayer application to play your video back. If you do full screen playback, the player will utilize the landscape mode of the phone to maximize the surface area for playback.
Let’s hear some noise..
In order for you to listen to the audio capabilities of the N90, you’ll need to use the included Nokia stereo headphones.
The bundled headphones are ok and should suffice for everyday use. Unfortunately you can only use these headphones because the N90 doesn’t include standard headphone jacks but rather uses the Nokia Pop-Port interface. The interface is covered by a rubber top which is bound to be lost one way or another.
Another complaint – with so much support for audio file formats, why not include stereo speakers? If you play back MP3 files on the N90 without a headset connected, the music will play back using the built in speaker. One good thing about the integrated speaker – it’s actually fairly loud.
Aside from these usability issues, the N90 is actually a pretty good music player. Nokia ships an Audio Manager application as part of their PC Suite to make it easier for users to transfer music to the phone.
Here are pictures of the N90 UI playing back Dave Matthews.
Other tidbits..
I’ll wrap things up with a few other tidbits. The phone supports multiple profiles depending on the situation that you’re in. You can set these phone profiles by pressing the power button on the top of the phone. The available profiles include:
You can edit these existing profiles or create new ones that fit your needs. The offline feature is a nice addition to the profile menu. When you’re offline, you’re not connected to the network but you can still use the phone’s capabilities including the camera phone and various productivity applications. This is particularly useful if you’re on an airplane and you need to make sure reception is turned off but you’d still like the phone itself to be on. The phone also defaults to Offline mode when there is no SIM card installed.
One more thing - notice something missing? There’s no vibrate option folks. The phone simply doesn’t vibrate. I can’t imagine having a phone that doesn’t vibrate when receiving incoming calls.
Aside from that, the Nokia N90 is one sturdy phone. Yes it has two hinges and we all know that more moving parts means more changes for mechanical difficulties. However, the N90 looks like it can certainly take a beating. The added heft that the N90 brings will certainly allow it to survive everyday usage.
On the PC side, Nokia bundles several software applications including the Nokia PC Suite. You can connect the N90 directly to the PC via the USB cable which utilizes the Pop-Port interface. Unfortunately you can not just simply connect the N90 to any PC. Windows will not recognize the N90 without the proper Nokia device drivers installed so you’ll need to install the PC Suite.
Once the PC Suite is installed, you will be presented with the following screen.
You launch different applications depending on your need. These include transferring music via the Nokia Music Manager, or transferring images and videos via the Store Images applications or the Sync application to synchronize Outlook Contacts, Calendar, and To-Do items. Onec the drivers are installed, the N90 will look like a drive under Windows Explorer:
We'll end things with some screen shots of the user interface. Here is a look at the main screen when you open up the phone:
Here's a shot of the text messaging section:
Here's a shot of the contacts section:
Here's a shot of the calendar section:
Here's a shot of the Image Print section:
Finally, here's a shot of all the menu items:
Here are some additional screen shots:
We’d like to thank Nokia for sending us the Nokia N90 for review considerations.
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