Nokia’s N95: The cure for iPhone envy

Suffering from iPhone lust? While the media have been abuzz over Steve Jobs’ so-called Jesus phone, Nokia has recently released a fabulous gizmo that’s actually a much better phone.

It’s the Nokia N95.

As a member of the Nokia bloggers program, I’ve had fun over the past year testing out the latest cool toys that the Finnish company has dangled in the U.S. marketplace. Liked the N91 and N70. Found the N73 and N80 handy. Loved the N93 and N90.

But I adore the N95, which sets a new standard for gotta-have-it mobile eye candy and rockin’ features, even if its interface still needs work.

In the Silicon Valley circles I run in these days, I’ve begun spotting the N95 with increasing frequency. Dan Gillmor has one. So do videobloggers Andrew Baron of Rocketboom in New York and Steve Garfield of Boston.

I decided to pass on the iPhone because the N95 and my MacBook Pro meet my mobile wireless needs (for now), so I can’t do a true side-by-side comparison. But here is how their features stack up:

Phone features

Nokia N95: You have a full choice of carriers, and the N95 supports 3G, which is a huge advantage over AT&T’s Edge. The device is smaller and lighter than an iPhone (4.2 oz. to the iPhone’s 4.8 oz.) and conveniently slips into a shirt pocket.

iPhone: You’re locked into AT&T and its pokey Edge service for two years, a poor experience for downloading multimedia files. And it takes four to six steps to place a simple phone call.

Multimedia

Nokia N95: The N95 is helping to usher in an age of citizen media, with video captured in MPEG-4 at a big, fat 640 x 480 pixels. These videos look good! Here’s my interview (taped indoors) with attorney Colette Vogele, done on an N95.

It also takes good photos, especially outdoors, in 5 megapixels up to 2592 x 1944 pixels.

iPhone: You can watch video on its luscious 3.5-inch screen in glorious H.264 MPEG-4. But you can’t shoot video. You can, however, take pictures with its 2-megapixel camera.

Other features

Nokia N95: The N95 plays music decently with a headset, though I’ll admit I haven’t spent time trying to figure out how to transfer my mp3s onto the device. Web browsing is something I frankly don’t do on a cellphone screen. The gadget also sports an alarm clock, a mapping service and other nice little extras.  The N95 also supports texting, instant messaging, visual radio and even video telephony. You can slip a big microSD memory card (not included) into the memory slot, and its battery won’t need servicing after a year. Finally, the N95 has GPS (tied to the mapping service, covering most of the globe), though I haven’t spent time trying to figure out how to use it.

iPhone: Web browsing on a decent-size screen is, to me, the iPhone’s killer app. Being able to call up an entire web page and zoom in on the story you want with a flick of the finger is nothing less than a revolutionary advance. Naturally, the iPhone doubles as an iPod and lets you play mp3s and AAC music files. The iPhone has texting but no instant messaging.

Coolness factor

Nokia N95: The N95 has a cool factor all its own, with a pleasant little jolt that signals the phone is ready to use. Awesome glowing blue buttons. Wonderful form factor: generous-size screen that slips open to expose the numeric keypad for dialing.

iPhone: Steve Jobs is God in a mock turtleneck. Can’t get much cooler than that.

Price

Nokia N95: Sells for about $700 (see Froogle).

iPhone: Retails for $499 (4GB) and $599 (8GB).

JD Lasica is a former columnist for Engadget. Have you used an N95 or iPhone? Add your own observations.

JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.