GSM/UMTS-smartphone Nokia N95 8Gb

• Handset
• Battery (BL-6F, 1200 mAh)
• Charger (AC-5)
• Wired stereo-headset (HS-45) and remote (AD-54)
• USB data cable (DKE-2)
• Video connectivity cable (CA-75U)

Positioning

The Nokia N95 8Gb has been around on Nokia’s roadmap for quite a while, but when the original Nokia N95 started shipping, they bumped into a number of flaws and rushed to rectify them. This patching has brought life to two new products – the Nokia N95-2, a variation of the original Nokia N95 for the North-American market, and the Nokia N95 8Gb. The stateside model is similar to the Nokia N95 8Gb in terms of design and materials used, however its software department is very close to the original phone, which makes it an in-between solution, whereas the Nokia N95 8Gb is the real upgrade.

Recently Nokia has been running with a new indexing system for duos, where all basic editions get standard indexes, while enhanced versions come with suffixes standing for their storages. The Nokia N81 was the first device to exercise this approach; we will also see this for other models down the road.

The most important thing you need to realize is that the Nokia N95 8Gb is not a brand-new handset – on the contrary, it comes in as an update to the original phone, albeit it’s different hardware-wise. Incidentally, the Nokia N95 8Gb’s firmware doesn’t get along with the Nokia N95.

This also stems from this phone’s positioning. The difference between its price tag and that of the Nokia N95 doesn’t make any difference for this price bracket (Nokia N95 goes for 1 Euro as long as you get an 18-month contract with it) – around 70 Euro – which is pretty much what you’ll see with the Nokia N81 and its 8Gb variation. As long as carrier-driven markets are concerned, the only obstacle consumers might encounter is availability of the model in their carrier’s range. For truth’s sake, let us note that Nokia is currently focusing on carriers and pays way less attention to free markets, like Russia, which doesn’t seem outrageous from the perspective of business – carriers place much bigger orders, even though they normally put fewer models on offer.

So the big picture appears to be somewhat complicated. Let’s see what some of the NSeries products will cost you and compare their wholesale prices:

While this comparison could really use the Nokia N93i as well, it is still a very niche product, and it’s better to overlook it here. At the same time, the Nokia N81 and the Nokia N95 are two phones craved by the masses, and in their price-brackets they are definitely sought-after offerings. This way, the new generation of Nokia’s phones is ushered in by the N81, the most affordable phone in its class. The Nokia N82 is almost a hundred Euro steeper, which comes as no surprise, since many see it as probably most popular smartphone, jam-packed with features and on top of all that, the flagship in imaging, just like the Nokia N73 was some time ago. And the Nokia N95 turns out to be very close to the Nokia N81 and the Nokia N82 price-wise, which completely dissolves its positioning strategy and puts it into a situation when it has to battle two other models pushing from below and also a higher-up, the Nokia N95 8Gb. And in these circumstances the Nokia N95’s sales don’t seem as stellar as they were before the aforementioned handsets have stormed into the market.

And carrier-driven markets couldn’t be happier – any operator can pick a model for his retail network and avoid bringing two competing models onto its shelves, while open markets are about to experiences a completely opposite effect, when the Nokia N95’s sales will go down in favor of other Nokia-branded solutions. Is there any gain for the manufacturer? There most definitely is. Here we need to take account of the Nokia N95’s service expenses (the problem with its casing) and mostly negative perception of its plastic by consumers. And while it is a burning issue in all regions, when you can grab a contracted phone for free it gets easier, right? Especially compared to, say, Russia, where everyone will need to pay the N95’s full price and still deal with all these flaws.

So based on all the above, the Nokia N95 8Gb is meant to vary the maker’s range and steal some prospects from the N95. This was Nokia’s original plan and the plastic problems on the Nokia N95 have made the company more determined to roll it out.

Speaking of other bits and pieces, Nokia has always positioned its N9x devices as phones with prowess in some particular fields, be it imaging, music or something else. With the N95 they made an attempt to get everything under one hood; however the major focus was imaging, in other words, the handset’s camera. And in its turn the Nokia N95 8Gb is a video-savvy device.


source : http://www.mobile-review.com