Rafe Blandford has got himself one of the very first Nokia N95s and here gives his first impressions, along with sample photos…

The Nokia N95 is an impressive device, and one that is set to become the top high end smartphone for 2007. What impresses about the N95 is that so many features have been packed into a relatively small device. Within a device little bigger than the N73 is a 5 megapixel camera (with VGA video capture too), connectivity options galore (USB, Infrared, Bluetooth, GSM, WCDMA, HSDPA and WLAN), integrated GPS, 150MB of internal memory (expandable via a microSD slot), and a feature packed and application laden software platfrom - S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1. But what’s it really like to use? Here are some first impressions.

On picking up the N95 for the first time, it is evident that this is a smartphone that has gone a diet compared to some of its predecessors. It is light in the hand and, as is typical of slider phones, has short stubby dimensions. The N95 manages to fall into the camp of phones that feel smaller than their dimensions suggest. Compared to both the N80 and N93, the N95 feels considerably smaller. It compares favourably with the Nokia N73 (it’s shorter, but slightly wider). There’s a large 2.6 inch screen which looks absolutely great, below this are the main control keys. First impressions are that these keys are well laid out and easy to use. The big S60 application key is particularly good. A quick push on the bottom of the device pushes the screen up to reveal the full keypad. Each row of keys is on its own ridge and there is good tactile feedback. They feel a little cramped after the large keypad on the N93, but are a big improvement over the N73’s and N80’s keypads.

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