Killer Apps for the Nokia N95: A Glimpse at the Future of Mobile Computing
The folks at WOM World have kindly hooked me up with a Nokia N95, Nokia’s flagship smartphone multimedia computer, and I’ve been playing with it almost nonstop for the past few days. Although the N95 software is a bit rough around the edges(there were moments when the phone froze up or experienced severe visual tearing and “Out of memory” errors occasionally popped up), the hyper-connected N95 shone as an excellent hardware platform for the next generation of mobile computing. And, with a few free applications, I was able to make the N95 do some pretty amazing things.
The N95 is without a doubt the most connected smartphone out there. Aside from the usual menagerie of bands (850,1900,etc) and bluetooth, the N95 also has broadband-speed 3.5G HSDPA(useless to us US residents unfortunately), 802.11g Wifi, an integrated GPS(a first for a Symbian smartphone) and even an FM radio. Although the N95 is a fairly capable smartphone/rudimentary PDA in its own right, it truly shines when coupled with a high speed connection. Since cheap and ubiquitous 3G is quite a ways off for those of us in the US,I’ve been using the N95 coupled with a WiFi connection. WiFi hotspots are getting more and more common, and as free municipal WiFi begins to take off, it is not unreasonable to assume that soon we will all be getting online wirelessly wherever we are.
There have already been numerous excellent reviews of the N95, so I won’t bore you with another one. Instead, I’ve tried to look at how, using only existing hardware and software, it is possible to experience a glimpse into the future of mobile, pervasive communication. As one of the most advanced mobile devices to date, the N95 is certainly qualified to deliver such a glimpse. What is now cutting-edge will soon be mainstream. In the near future, we will:
- Never be lost The N95 is the first Symbian smartphone to feature an integrated GPS. Although this increases lock-on times(it takes between 3 and 15 minutes to acquire an initial GPS signal and begin using the GPS), it also eliminated the need to buy and carry around an external bluetooth GPS. The Nokia maps application is decent for basic mapping, but for a much richer mapping experience, check out the free Mobile Gmaps. Mobile Gmaps gets maps and satellite imagery from Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Live Maps. It is also able to use the N95’s GPS to pinpoint your own location. There is something very futuristic and Jack Bauer-like about calling up satellite imagery of your surroundings on your phone and then superimposing live traffic data on top.
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Get all of our media anywhere If you have a smartphone with a semi-capable web browser of any kind, you owe it to yourself to get the free Orb software. The downside if that you need to install the Orb server on a computer in your home, and keep it turned on- if you can deal with that, you’ve got a whole world of media ahead of you. Orb runs entirely in a browser, and streams media like photos,music,movies,and even live TV from the server to whatever device you are accessing it on. The full Orb client is sluggish on a desktop, but the slimmed down mobile version is quick and snappy, and renders well in the N95’s browser. Orb lets you access any file on your server at home and view it on your mobile device. It can open documents and photos, transcode and stream video on the fly, and even take control of the TV tuner of your Media Center PC to schedule recordings and stream live and recorded TV. Forget DMB- that’s light years away for the US. TV on your phone is here now with Orb and the current generation of smartphones. The N95 performed reasonably well with video streams- although streams took a long time to load as they were being transcoded, they played smoothly in the N95’s RealPlayer after initial loading. I did experience severe video corruption at one point, but I assume that was caused during transcoding by the Orb software on the server PC. Although the software may be imperfect, the N95 once again demonstrated itself as a very capable hardware platform for video streaming. Although the N95 itself is quite small, its display was quite usable for watching video, and the stereo speakers produced clear, loud sound.
- Call anyone in the world for free Well… almost free. The N95 is one of the first smartphones to integrate VoIP in the form of standards-compliant SIP telephony. Gizmo, a VoIP application which offers free calls to other Gizmo users and cheap calls anywhere else comes bundled with the N95. I still prefer Skype however, because of its higher userbase and $30 a year for unlimited outgoing calls anywhere to the US. Combine that with $38 a year for SkypeIn, and as long as you’re in WiFi range, you’ve eliminated your cell phone provider for a little over $5 a month. Skype doesn’t currently offer a client for Symbian smartphones like the N95, but the free fring does. fring is easy to set up, and lets you call any of your Skype, Google Talk or MSN contacts. It even sends Twitters, eliminating SMS charges. With the N95’s fast processor, the application is snappy, and over 802.11g WiFi, calls quality is easily equal to or better than cell phone calls.
- Share Instantly The N95 has an excellent camera, a built-in GPS, and Wifi. Putting all of those to good use is the excellent free application Shozu, which can use the APIs of some popular services like Flickr and YouTube to upload media from mobile devices. Shozu is an incredibly smooth application- take a photo, press a button, and it appears online in your Flickr account in seconds, complete with geotagging and metadata. Shozu can also send photos and video directly to CNN- as smartphones like the N95, which can shoot 640×480 video at 30fps become more common, expect a lot more live citizen journalism and on-the-scene reporting moments after events happen.
- Get online anywhere Though it lacks a full QWERTY keyboard, the N95 is very well suited for casual web browsing. The browser is full-featured and robust, and even supports Javascript, so I was able to use dynamic websites like reddit without any problems save the small screen. If my phone lets me browse reddit and use Gmail in relative comfort, then 80% of browsing I would normally need a laptop for is accounted for.
- Carry your gaming with you The N93 and N95 are Nokia’s first smartphones that include a dedicated 3D graphics chip as well as TV-out capability. This lets you do some pretty amazing things -aside from rendering the phone’s small display moot, the 3D graphics and TV-out allow for some pretty impressive gaming. The N95 is capable of PS1-like graphics, and with TV-out and a few quality games, replacing your game console with your smartphone does not seem very far-fetched at all.
It is amazing to see how far we’ve come in mobile gaming in just a few very short years. From this:
To this:
Although it suffers a bit from being the first of its kind- it is a little pricey, a little slow, and a little buggy, the N95 is ultimately an extremely capable computing platform. Incredibly, over 2 billion people own cell phones, far more than the number of computer users. As hyper-connected smartphones like the N95 become cheaper and more plentiful, I fully expect a new age of mobile computing to supplant our current tethered, bulky PCs. Mobile computing is going to explode very soon- and if you want an early peek at the coming boom, check out a smartphone like the N95.
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Nice list. I’ll have to try out mobile gmaps. Here’s my contribution to the list: If you want to lookup Amazon.com bookprices, ratings, and reviews from your mobile phone while you’re still in the bookstore you should check out my website www.isbnspy.com from your internet-enabled mobile phone.
ISBNSpy looks pretty cool- thanks for coming by and sharing the link.
[…] is the short list, check out the full post at neomeme.net tagged with: [fring, multimedia device, n95, n95blog, nokia, nseries, shozu, twitter]Popularity: […]
excellent stuff !!
Thats cool, but how much will it cost in data?
Up to now I have been using the already integrated option to upload photos zu flickr, but I will give Shozu a try, thanks for the tip - although most of the time native software runs smoother than 3rd party versions. Does Shozu offer tagging - simple words, not geo-tagging I mean - as well? That’s unfortunately missing from the N95’s own flickr service.
Coops: This was all done over Wifi, which I soon predict will be everywhere. So it costs nothing
Thomas: Yes, Shozu lets you enter tags.
Thanks! I read up on it a little and unfortunately the current version has some problems specifically with the N95, but as soon as there is a fixed version I’ll try it out. And I totally agree - even though I have an additional 3G data plan, WiFi is almost omnipresent…though not always free…or safe…
Yeah that phone rocks! The whole N-line is amazing from the N70-N95. Nokia just keeps improving there phones and making them so amazing to use.
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Very cool list… tried the Gmaps app, its quite amazing what you can do with it! Was wondering of a way of getting google maps on my n95..
You can download GoogleMaps for it - Its great.
Also download the Gmail aswell.
Two Vital aplications.
goto : mobile.google.co.uk via your phone and click download next to them both.
Best thing Ive got for my N95. Aswell as my uploading to flickr in a instant, you can only upload 6 images at a time.
[…] American market(no US carrier has picked up recent comparable smartphones like the N95 ), the iPhone is something quite different and revolutionary. Attempting to cut through the […]
Here it costs for about $666.67 to $800. I just purchased an N95 here in the Philippines just last July 10, and the phone really satisfies what I need and I do use it to browse sites on the internet just like the typical PC’s and laptops (I did bought it at the price of $659.56, well not bad because I’m impressed and satisfied by of its many features and it takes me 1 week to be familiarized of all of its contents. And up to now I’m still having little troubles of remembering some of its features, of whether “Where did I saw that specific feature? Where could I find that again?”, and I would open up all folders and subfolders. Well user guides are still dependable.) And its true what did Nokia said in the commercial “These what computers have become of.”, and it is. Its really fast, efficient. Just don’t use the phone memory in storing up files rather use the memory card for the phone won’t hang up. And a good tip just like when you have a PC or laptop, do download an anti-virus for your phone won’t be bugged by an viruses, its free on your local Nokia site.
where did u get ur free software etc from?
Battary is tooooooo week.
This is a quality overview and i appreciated the introduction to Fring. I thought Fring was easy to set up and worked well with what I am currently using. I work a lot with WiFi and I’m always looking for ways to expand it’s uses.
Dear Sir,
You need you kind help. I mistake in my life to buy N95. The shop I bought he told me I can use Skype on N95.
But I found from Nokia Team Service one email they said I can’t use skype on Nokia N95.
Please teach me how I can download skype in N95 is very very appreciated.
Regard’s.
Imran.
Imran: You can use Fring(see above) to make Skype calls.
What I really want to see is SkypeIn for my N95 …
Nice, I don’t have N95 yet, planing to buy one. But I will definitely check this out on my friend’s N95.
Hi guys!! Just got my N95 a few days ago and damn am i impressed. Ok i knew that i was gud phone nd wanted it long b4 ads were aired in south africa. But godddammmnn the N95 rocks. And is 4sure the best phone out nw. Nd the 8gig N95 2 come. Wow. Iphone.??? Wots that. No comparing the 2. Thanks 4 the tips guys. Njoy ur N95’s as i will. Can any1 tell me wer i can get a third party photo editor. If it is beter than the standard editor. Or any other intresting software. “I have a thing in my pocket its not a living thing but if u feed it, it will grow.” “Its what computers have become” Thats no understatement !!!! A very well done nokia.
Nice post. Thanks for sharing.
Hey everyone, i have an n95. Really a great phone. i’m wondering though, i’m a medical student and i wanted to know how can i use my phone as a PDA? Like to read files and stuff. I’m realizing that most of the things out there are for palm or windows mobile.
Any help? It would be greatlyt appreciated.
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Mobile Gmaps… Thats just sick! I remember back in the day when just lugging around a huge block cell phone was cool. People would have never imagined a no namer from way back like Google would have such an adverse effect on all of us.
I own a nokia N95 and I have to say that I totally agree with your review. Some of the games you can buy are amazing… and when coupled with the on-board gps can be really interesting.
excellent stuff, thanks
Excellent information, I will get some tips. Bookmarked!
I like Nokia’s but they have become too big and bulky nowadays. That’s why last 3 of my phones were Samsung.
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Wansind, unfortunately, have your blog previously not seen very informative.
Spint my N95 to time.
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That was very interesting. Gathered a lot of new. Thank you!
n 95 nice phone, i like wi-fi
very informative, thanks
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The functions are great, but I don’t like the look of the phone very much.
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I just got the 8Gb version of the n95 and im really glad i bought it. I have the LG viewty and although its a great camera phone (better than the n95), but it doesnt have wifi capabilities. Its a great phone all by itself but with killer apps this phone is just amazing!
I went to www.getjar.com fo my apps
For the FRING APPS does anyone know if you can use the call feature for skype???
i love my n95. I had the original n95 but bought the 8gig when it came out and threw my original in the bin lol. Everything about the phone is brilliant. Only problem is with over 2000 songs on my phone its really hard to choose a ringtone lol
Nice. List. Do you have anything for Samsung mobile phones?
Nice blog, i have added it to my favourites, greetings
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were did you see the good list guys its got nothing except some boring stuff go to symbian freeware thats a good list
Some cool apps there thanks!
It is amazing how technology has transformed our lifes in the past decade. Could anyone have forseen this 25 years ago?
I shudder in anticipation what we’ll see in the next 20 years. Flying cars anyone ?
I must say regarding phone models - I have never got along with Motorola. Nokia was always my prefferred choice but now Sony Ericcson really has come along way and I prefer theor phones - give them a go if you get a chance!.
Nokia N95 is not compact phone. .it’s a brick you know. . very hard to use that . .