Review of the Nokia N98 Features and Design
Introduction
If there really is a Nokia N98 then there are two schools of thought about the direction that Nokia would like it to go. The Nokia N98 might take the direction of the Nokia N8 in terms of operating system and general design. The problem with that idea is that there are rumors that the Nokia N98 is to be released before the end of 2010. Now, with no mention of it at this time, and considering the Nokia N8 has just barely been released, then the time frame is too short for it to resemble the Nokia N8. So the other idea is that the Nokia N98 would take after the Nokia N97 or N97 mini in several respects.
Let’s speculate about what kind of device we might expect the Nokia N98 to be.
Design (5 out of 5)
The Nokia N98 is expected to be a full QWERTY slide design phone with a screen measuring 3.5 inches and a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels. The device would measure 113.5 x 59 x 12.9 mm and have a multi-touch screen. It would appear in an assortment of colors similar to that of the Nokia N8. The Nokia N98 would have a non-replaceable battery somewhat like the Nokia E7. It would have ports for external microSD cards, USB ports, TV out including HDMI, and a 3.5 mm audio jack. The back of the phone would be fitted, probably with a 12MP camera that emulates the imaging power that has already been introduced into the Nokia N8. There would also be a video conferencing secondary camera to rival iPhone 4’s video call features.
Features (5 out of 5)
The Nokia N98 would come with features that make this another successful and adored phone from Nokia. It would have features that allow it to have push mail and other messaging features. The phone is going to be social networking aware with easy access to all the popular social networking services. There would be Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G on the Nokia N98 with 3G downloads exceeding 10Mbps. There would also be Bluetooth 3.0 and capabilities to connect to your HDTV set using the TV out HDMI connector.
The Nokia N98 would be perfect for photography with its 12MP camera which supports Geo-tagging and sharing features. It would also include face and smile recognition and a powerful photo and video editor. The Nokia N98 would also feature the capability to create movies directly on the phone by merging images, video and sound clips into a single video file. HD support on the Nokia N98 would be no less that 720p quality video.
Internal storage is expected to be 32GB with additional external support for up to 32GB using microSD cards. Music and video can be listened to on the Nokia N98 using either the external stereo speakers or using the 3.5mm audio jack. An FM radio with RDS would also be included in the Nokia N98 probably with an FM transmitter. Users would have access to content on the Nokia Ovi Player with a free subscription service that allows the user to download unlimited music from the Nokia Music Store. There would be a Dolby Digital Plus via HDMI, a MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+ music player (Ovi Player) and a DivX/XviD/MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV video player.
GPS would have full support from Ovi Maps with free for life voice guided turn-by-turn navigation and third-party services included. A digital compass would also be available in the Nokia N98
With QuickOffice installed, users would also have the ability to view Microsoft Office documents on their Nokia N98.
User Interface (4 out of 5)
The Nokia N98 will come with the Symbian^3 as the underlying OS. This would allow it to support multi-touch features. Other ways of interacting with the interface would include handwriting recognition and finger tapping. There would also be a soft full QWERTY keyboard in addition to the hardware keyboard and a numeric keypad. Kinetic scrolling and swiping would also be supported in the Nokia N98. The menu system is going to be simple with full access to applications through tapping icons in the menu.
Performance (5 out of 5)
Performance on the Nokia N98 would be second to none. With the the built-in 3D graphics accelerator and the 680 MHz ARM 11 processor it will be great for graphics and audio visual content. The Nokia N98 is expected to be very responsive. With support for high quality video and audio, watching video and listening to audio will be very pleasant as the sound and picture quality is bound to be great.
Connectivity on the Nokia N98 should be above average as with other Nokia models before it, there should be no problems with connecting to networks. When using GPS, unless using Assisted GPS through the cellphone network then you are bound to have some waiting time before getting a fix on the satellites. Internet connectivity is very fast as this phone would be capable of high 3G speeds.
The picture quality especially in good light conditions and outdoors is going to be well above average. Based on the history of Nokia, there is not too much expected out of the camera as this is something Nokia is yet to perfect.
All in all the Nokia N98 would be a great performing phone with loads of hours of battery life to make all your calls and enjoy the multimedia features.
Verdict (4 out of 5)
The Nokia N98 will be a great phone to have with features that are expected to be state-of-the-art in all respects. The Nokia N98 may be designed to fix the shortcomings of the Nokia N97 and build on the successes of the Nokia N8. This is going to be the phone with a personality to fit the user that wants to make a statement. This is a smartphone I would recommend getting once it hits the market. Well, that is if it will ever hit the market.
Bright Hub cannot be held accountable for any wrong or defective information about the Nokia N98 as there is as yet no concrete information on the Nokia N98. This is pure speculation…but you would want one wouldn’t you?
