MoBile MaNia

Rumoured for a few weeks now as the N95's successor in waiting, the mighty N96 dual slider has gone all official on us at Mobile World Congress today. Though the phone it replaces is still a beast by any measure, the N96 pushes the envelope further by packing a solid 16GB of storage internally in addition to a microSD slot, something the N95 8GB lacks. The 5 megapixel autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss Tessar lens carries over, but there are now two LEDs doing flash and video light duty. The 2.8 inch QVGA display will come in handy for the integrated DVB-H mobile TV tuner, while a 3.5mm headphone jack, A2DP, and integrated stereo speakers should handle audio with aplomb. Other features include WiFi, AGPS, and morphing lights on the smaller second slide that hook the user up with game controls when it's time to relax with a little N-GAGE action. Unfortunately, the first version of the N96 (and the only version announced thus far) supports HSDPA only on the 900 and 2100MHz bands, but we imagine the strength of the spec sheet should still be enough to sell a few of these stateside when it launches in the third quarter for €550 (about $797).


Technical specifications
Operating Frequency

• WCDMA2100/900 (HSDPA) / EGSM900, GSM850/1800/1900 MHz (EGPRS)
• Automatic switching between bands and modes
• DVB-H Class C, 470-750 MHz

Dimensions

• Volume: 92 cc
• Weight: 125 g
• Length: 103 mm
• Width: 55 mm
• Depth:18 mm, locally up to 20 mm

Memory Functions*

• 16GB internal flash memory, plus microSD memory card slot (hot swappable) for expandability and flexibility
• Approximate dynamic memory capacity indication with 16GB storage:
  -Video: 40 hours**
  -Music: 12,000 tracks***
• 128MB RAM, 256MB system memory (operating system plus dynamic user data area)

Video Codecs and Formats

• MPEG-4 Part 2 (H.263/SP), up to VGA 30 fps, hardware-accelerated codec, scaled to max QVGA on device screen, or max SDTV on TV-out
• MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264/AVC), up to VGA 30 fps, hardware-accelerated codec, scaled to max QVGA on device screen, or SDTV on TV-out
• Windows Media Video (WMV9), up to CIF/QVGA 30 fps, hardware-accelerated codec, scaled to max QVGA on device screen, or SDTV on TV-out
• RealVideo QCIF at 30 fps
• Flash video support in browser
• DRM support: OMA DRM 1, OMA DRM 2, WM DRM

Live TV

• Broadcast Television (DVB-H) capable
  -DVB-H based mobile TV with internal antenna
  -DVB-H Class C, 470-750 MHz

Browser-based video access

• Support for download, streaming and progressive download
• Support for Flash video