rohan_mhtr
Most wanted
After about a months research and examining many different music phones I have decided to go on with n91 8gb.
Anyway, I’m here to give a very short review about the N91 8Gb music edition – my new polished handsome toy.
I’ve been using the N91 8GB for approximately 4 weeks now . Earlier I had used Motorola l6,Motorola l7i and Samsung e250.The l7i was a good budget phone at that time but cannot be compared with todays midrange phones.
Weighing things up and looking in the world’s reality, we don’t see people shooting pictures all day long with their handsets – instead, all but headphones connected with their devices on the move regardless of their phone models. This is why I stress more for the phone to be a good music player then the camera. So some of the phones that were in my list were SE w580,w950,nokia 5700,5310,5610,Motorola e6,k810 etc. All these phones cost almost the same with minor differences of about 1-2k.
Now here goes the review….
1. THE LOOKS
Of all the phones I had, N91 ME is the best built by so far and of course, the 8800. IT is one of the heaviest phones I have ever used. It is sturdier and has denser built. At first, when I saw the black color on the web, I really don’t like it. Maybe because of the poor picture quality on most of the sites. But I was wrong. The shinny black colour looks really cool and is really eye-catching. Many people have complained that the phone is huge and heavy but actually using it , it fits perfectly in my jeans and also is comfortable in hands .The multimedia keys are large enough but the number keys are really small and long texting can be a problem.
2. MUSIC AND PERFORMANCE { The real part }
I plugged my N91 to my pc and used Windows Media Sync Option. With Windows Media Version 11, I transferred some songs which I frequently listen . Synching music with Windows media player 11 is simple and straightforward. Each song took 4 to 5 seconds to upload using the USB 2.0 port. I was overwhelmed by the sound reproduction. Better than my cousins ipod shuffle. The undistorted deep bass at higher volume is awesome. High and low frequency channels are reproduced and handled very well. The included headphones are good but Sounds great with my own headphone (creative ep-630). Even rocks when connected to my sony hi-fi system. I want to try the Bose in ear headphone or Sennheiser but they are quite expensive . The music rendition is almost perfect and the combination of the instruments used in a particular song is decoded, reproduced, separated and delivered harmonically. There are some equiliser settings and you can also custom create your own setting. Stereo-widening and loudness setting are good options. Also, the visualization animation is cool too. Needless to say, it sounded perfectly when on headphone mode but average loudness on phone speaker-mode (still prefer the loudness of n73 me and 6233 when in phone-speaker mode) although the N91’s sound is more defined but not that loud in phone speaker-mode. Anyhow surely, when in headphone mode I prefer the N91 no doubt. If u get bored then u can always listen to the stereo fm radio.
I compared the sound quality with my relative’s w960 which is SE’s flagship walkman model. To my surprise the n91 outperformed it with better bass and loudness. 80% volume of n91 = 100% volume of w960 , infact the n91 was even louder then the Ipod nano and even at high volumes the sound did not crack. I checked all these devices with same headphones and really the n91 was the clear winner.
I haven’t experienced the sluggish issues commonly found on N91 threads. Maybe because of the upgraded firmware . Access to the 8GB hdd when listing songs is also fast. Honestly speaking, it never hanged since the day I bought it. My hdd is about 4 gb full but it hasn’t slowed down to a great extent. Applications take about 5-8 seconds to open and sending sms take 4-7 seconds depending on its length, which really isn’t a big problem. Battery life can be better but is not disappointing . I listen to 2-2.5 hours of music with 4-5 calls some sms’s and java applications and I have to charge it daily even though some battery remains on the indicator. On normal use it can last for 2 days.
I found some tips on the internet on organizing songs inside the 8GB hdd. Organize and limit each folder to 50 songs to make reading and playlist buffering fast, thus avoiding sluggish performance.
3. MASSAGING, ORGANIZING, AND PHONE OPERATION, CONNECTIVITY, GAMING etc
Sending sms is same as in other n-series phones but the small buttons on the keapad can be annoying. Access to menus is also good enough. Boot time takes approximately less than 20 seconds . Calendars, themes, phone management etc, etc are approximately and closely the same with other NSeries. Gprs is good and the inbuilt s60 browser is excellent. Signal reception and call clearity is good . I haven’t tested the wifi function yet but soon going to test it since our engineering college is getting wifi enabled from next month onwards. I have few latest games like asphalt 3 3d demo and fifa 07 3d demo both of them run fine enough but your fingers will tier if you play for more then 15-20 minutes.
4. IMAGING/VIDEO
N91 captures descent images but only during daylight. Even the entry level SE phone like k550 can beat it in this department not a problem for me since I use my cybershot for taking pictures. And also one should remember that it is a phone not a camera. When it comes to video playback, I can conclude that it’s a video performer on average level since most MPEG4’s videos image quality are recorded at 352x240 and this is not a problem and with the addition to great sound reproduction during movie playback. The display size (2 inch) and low resolution(176*208) dosen’t make it good for video playback but I prefer to watch movies on my home theatre .
6. WISH LIST
Of course there are ups and downs in the N91, but ALL has. These are the things I wish N91 had
1 Battery. More power . I wish the unit is charging while in USB mode like other phones .
.
2. The screen is a little-bit primitive. I wish the screen was slightly larger with higher resolution But listening to great sound reproduction is all about the ears, not the eyes.
d. 2-megapixel is adequate. I wish there is an auto-focus feature.
CONCLUTION
[FONT="]Its been more then two years since the launch of n91 but it is still the best music phone till date . If you want to buy a good music phone or even an ipod less then 8 gb then the n91 8gb is the phone for you .It retails around 11.5 to 12k depending on your location. For this price it is really a great buy for the features it provides.
[/FONT]
Anyway, I’m here to give a very short review about the N91 8Gb music edition – my new polished handsome toy.
I’ve been using the N91 8GB for approximately 4 weeks now . Earlier I had used Motorola l6,Motorola l7i and Samsung e250.The l7i was a good budget phone at that time but cannot be compared with todays midrange phones.
Weighing things up and looking in the world’s reality, we don’t see people shooting pictures all day long with their handsets – instead, all but headphones connected with their devices on the move regardless of their phone models. This is why I stress more for the phone to be a good music player then the camera. So some of the phones that were in my list were SE w580,w950,nokia 5700,5310,5610,Motorola e6,k810 etc. All these phones cost almost the same with minor differences of about 1-2k.
Now here goes the review….
1. THE LOOKS
Of all the phones I had, N91 ME is the best built by so far and of course, the 8800. IT is one of the heaviest phones I have ever used. It is sturdier and has denser built. At first, when I saw the black color on the web, I really don’t like it. Maybe because of the poor picture quality on most of the sites. But I was wrong. The shinny black colour looks really cool and is really eye-catching. Many people have complained that the phone is huge and heavy but actually using it , it fits perfectly in my jeans and also is comfortable in hands .The multimedia keys are large enough but the number keys are really small and long texting can be a problem.
2. MUSIC AND PERFORMANCE { The real part }
I plugged my N91 to my pc and used Windows Media Sync Option. With Windows Media Version 11, I transferred some songs which I frequently listen . Synching music with Windows media player 11 is simple and straightforward. Each song took 4 to 5 seconds to upload using the USB 2.0 port. I was overwhelmed by the sound reproduction. Better than my cousins ipod shuffle. The undistorted deep bass at higher volume is awesome. High and low frequency channels are reproduced and handled very well. The included headphones are good but Sounds great with my own headphone (creative ep-630). Even rocks when connected to my sony hi-fi system. I want to try the Bose in ear headphone or Sennheiser but they are quite expensive . The music rendition is almost perfect and the combination of the instruments used in a particular song is decoded, reproduced, separated and delivered harmonically. There are some equiliser settings and you can also custom create your own setting. Stereo-widening and loudness setting are good options. Also, the visualization animation is cool too. Needless to say, it sounded perfectly when on headphone mode but average loudness on phone speaker-mode (still prefer the loudness of n73 me and 6233 when in phone-speaker mode) although the N91’s sound is more defined but not that loud in phone speaker-mode. Anyhow surely, when in headphone mode I prefer the N91 no doubt. If u get bored then u can always listen to the stereo fm radio.
I compared the sound quality with my relative’s w960 which is SE’s flagship walkman model. To my surprise the n91 outperformed it with better bass and loudness. 80% volume of n91 = 100% volume of w960 , infact the n91 was even louder then the Ipod nano and even at high volumes the sound did not crack. I checked all these devices with same headphones and really the n91 was the clear winner.
I haven’t experienced the sluggish issues commonly found on N91 threads. Maybe because of the upgraded firmware . Access to the 8GB hdd when listing songs is also fast. Honestly speaking, it never hanged since the day I bought it. My hdd is about 4 gb full but it hasn’t slowed down to a great extent. Applications take about 5-8 seconds to open and sending sms take 4-7 seconds depending on its length, which really isn’t a big problem. Battery life can be better but is not disappointing . I listen to 2-2.5 hours of music with 4-5 calls some sms’s and java applications and I have to charge it daily even though some battery remains on the indicator. On normal use it can last for 2 days.
I found some tips on the internet on organizing songs inside the 8GB hdd. Organize and limit each folder to 50 songs to make reading and playlist buffering fast, thus avoiding sluggish performance.
3. MASSAGING, ORGANIZING, AND PHONE OPERATION, CONNECTIVITY, GAMING etc
Sending sms is same as in other n-series phones but the small buttons on the keapad can be annoying. Access to menus is also good enough. Boot time takes approximately less than 20 seconds . Calendars, themes, phone management etc, etc are approximately and closely the same with other NSeries. Gprs is good and the inbuilt s60 browser is excellent. Signal reception and call clearity is good . I haven’t tested the wifi function yet but soon going to test it since our engineering college is getting wifi enabled from next month onwards. I have few latest games like asphalt 3 3d demo and fifa 07 3d demo both of them run fine enough but your fingers will tier if you play for more then 15-20 minutes.
4. IMAGING/VIDEO
N91 captures descent images but only during daylight. Even the entry level SE phone like k550 can beat it in this department not a problem for me since I use my cybershot for taking pictures. And also one should remember that it is a phone not a camera. When it comes to video playback, I can conclude that it’s a video performer on average level since most MPEG4’s videos image quality are recorded at 352x240 and this is not a problem and with the addition to great sound reproduction during movie playback. The display size (2 inch) and low resolution(176*208) dosen’t make it good for video playback but I prefer to watch movies on my home theatre .
6. WISH LIST
Of course there are ups and downs in the N91, but ALL has. These are the things I wish N91 had
1 Battery. More power . I wish the unit is charging while in USB mode like other phones .
.
2. The screen is a little-bit primitive. I wish the screen was slightly larger with higher resolution But listening to great sound reproduction is all about the ears, not the eyes.
d. 2-megapixel is adequate. I wish there is an auto-focus feature.
CONCLUTION
[FONT="]Its been more then two years since the launch of n91 but it is still the best music phone till date . If you want to buy a good music phone or even an ipod less then 8 gb then the n91 8gb is the phone for you .It retails around 11.5 to 12k depending on your location. For this price it is really a great buy for the features it provides.
[/FONT]
