The Nokia N95,the latest product from Nokia, is a somewhat large slider form handset. It’s size is 100mm x 53mm x 20mm (3.9 x 2.1 x .8) in size and weighs121g (4.3oz). The front of the N95 has a normal looking silver paint finish, but the sides and back of the device make use of a soft touch style deep burgundy color paint that has a very nice feel to it. Nokia has done so far a better job with the slider mechanism on the N95. On top of that, the slider on the N95 moves in two directions, exposing the keypad when slid one way, and a series of 4dedicated media playback keys when slid the other way.
The media keys don’t have the best feel to them, and can not be located by touch alone since they consist of only markings on a plastic strip.Still, they are fine for their intended purpose. The regular alphanumeric keypad has its own issues, though. The keys are very stiff and located even lower on the slider than on the N80, which makes them a bit of a tough reach for somebody with large hands. The keys are also fair bit smaller than those on the N80, making things all the more difficult. For their part, the d-pad and its dedicated center select button work very well, as do the rest of the dedicated keys that surround them.
On the right side of the device a dedicated two-stage camera shutter button can be found (half press to focus, full press to snap the photo)and a photo playback/gallery button that is similar to what one would expect to find on a dedicated digital camera. Pressing the button once will display the last photo on the screen, pressing it again will bring up the photo gallery. Also located on the right side of the N95 are the volume rocker switch and one of the two stereo speakers. The other speaker is located on the left side of the phone, along with the 3.5mmstereo headset jack, the Infrared port, and the covered microSD memorycard slot.
Finally, I feel Nokia has done a good job on the physical front of theN95. The size, weight and keypad wise, I can feel they can improve further.
