Connor Bevans

Thanks to Nokia, I was able to get my hands on their latest Nokia N95 8GB smartphone. Let’s get down to this thing they call, um, what is it again? Oh yeah, a review.

Media and Look

Well, I’m sure you’ve seen a few shots of the phone before, but it comes in Silver and Black and is about 4 inches long, 2 inches wide, and insanely thick. Like, literal Candy Bar thick, not Candy Bar phone thick, approximately .82 inches thick. That’s no joke, people. The phone’s a slider, which takes a bit off the length, but the huge phone is made up for by a nice 2.5 inch screen.The built-in speakers are quite impressive for a phone, but still aren’t anything amazing. It works in landscape and portrait mode, but you have to actually have to slide the slider one of it’s two ways to make it change mode. For landscape, slide out the multimedia tab which includes basic media controls, and for portrait, slide out the keypad tab. It includes two cameras, a 5 megapixel camera with flash which takes great pictures which are generally the quality of a point and shoot camera from a few years back. There’s also a front-facing camera which is about 2 megapixels. Another nice thing is the face that it actually has a 3.5 mm stereo jack included right on the side.

Feel, Operating System, and Technical Specs

The N95 runs Symbian OS, and can use great apps like Qik for live video from your phone, twibble for mobile twitter, or Fring for all of your IM and VOIP on the go. However, I’ve experienced a few problems with the phone. For one, it locks up occasionally. It will freeze and sometimes it just needs to load something, and other times it entirely stops working and forces me to pull out the battery. Overall, the OS looks and feels nice though, and the apps are welcome and work great. The system has a great big 128MB of ram, which definitely packs a punch and aids in it’s impressive gaming section. It comes with integrated GPS, however I haven’t been able to connect to it, because of Rogers’ network. It uses 3G, which definitely makes a huge difference in speed.

Conclusion and the (Inevitable) Comparison to the iPhone

So, where do we go from here. We’ve found out it’s a nice phone. We’ve found out it has 3G, GPS, multimedia, and downloadable apps. Sounds like a product that’s recently been announced? Yes, as expected, I’ve come to the comparison between it and the iPhone. The iPhone 2 has all of the features and more that the N95 has, and more, at a lower price. The only real reason to get an N95 over the iPhone is if you really care about the camera in your phone, and have some sort of love for really thick objects. I have a digital SLR, if I use the camera in my phone, it’s for quick little action shots at times where I wasn’t carrying around my camera, or was really bored. The N95 isn’t next generation for mobile phones other than the fact that it’s got good specs, 3G, GPS, and a great camera. It doesn’t have something comparable to multi-touch or the amazing web browser  of the iPhone. It doesn’t step up it’s game. And now, there’s been rumored replacements for great camera phones, for instance Sony’s apparent 8 megapixel camera. It’s got custom apps, the iPhone has the App Store, a single place to get all of these apps. It’s got multimedia, the iPhone has the classic and loved iPod interface. It’s got 3G and GPS, so does the iPhone. The iPhone has twice the RAM the N95 has. The iPhone is better in almost every aspect. The iPhone, unfortunately, leaves the N95 in the dust. However, I’m excited to see what Nokia pulls out their sleeves to try and compete with the iPhone now.

Well, this title could mean a lot, and quite possibly was in an episode of Star Trek, but it’s not what you think. As some of you may know, I recently bought two games, Rock Band and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I also, as some of you may know, have become completely addicted to these games. In fact, for the next few days I probably won’t even be online a lot during the day, because I’ll be playing them.

It’s a 5/5 for both of them, and I think you know why. For Rock Band it’s the team play, and darn it, it’s just so gosh darn fun! For Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it’s the multiplayer, and…Darn it, it’s just so gosh darn fun! For some games, there isn’t exactly a way to explain how it feels, it just IS fun. And sometimes you JUST about have your finger on it, and then the game slaps your hand and tells you “Hah! You’ll never find out the secret spice mixture that makes this game so fantastic!” Exactly, Mr. Italicy (get it?), well, except for the spice mixture part, but good effort!

Anyways, both these games are sure to keep you going for days, Rock Band goes for $179.99 at Best Buy (funny, for once it actually is the best buy) and Super Smash Bros. Brawl goes for 49.99 (Amazon.ca) Note - All prices are in Canadian Dollars.

PS - 3 (Get it?) But by the way, right before I begun writing this posts, I was actually playing Rock band and Super Smash Bros. Brawl…I know, I REALLY need to quit…Well, anyways I’m going to make no effort at quitting and play some more right now…

Okay, just to get things clear, this post is not on a drug, it’s on something much, much worse. It’s on a game. That game, is Army of Two, and luckily I’ve been able to pull myself off of it for long enough to write this post. It’s an amazing game. Four out of Five. Why? Well, it’s got beautiful graphics, runs extremely smoothly, and it’s gameplay is some of the best I’ve seen in awhile. But why isn’t it Five out of Five? Well, it’s not SUPER original. It’s basic game mechanics come across as Gears of War with teamwork, upgrading and buying of new weapons, and a setting in the real world. However, there is one “bug”; One core problem is that in order to continue to the next area, you must first kill all of the enemies in the existing area. I still love it though…Must…Fight…Urge…To play…Agh! Can’t fight it. See you guys later, I’ve got some gaming to do!