Since april 2007 the Nokia N95-1 „classic“ is available in Europe. Later it came to America under the name N95-3. In november 2007 it´s successor, the Nokia N95-2 8GB, was published.

But is it worthy successor for the N95-1? This test will find it out!

At first the two boxes:

As you can see, both devices come in a similar box.

Now I want to show you the pre-installed video on each device:

The N95 comes with a neat silver front and keypad, the backsides´ color you can choose by yourself. You can choose either „Deep Plum“ or „Sand“. In the last months Nokia published also other colors like red, white, blue, black, etc.. The lightings of the keypad are blue, and in the area around the navigation-key white. On the batterycover there´s written „Nokia“ in silver.

The N95 8GB comes in total black except the navigation-keys and the camera-body. Under the display there´s written „Nokia“ in silver. The N95 8GB is only available in this black color. The lightings are fully white. On the batterycover there´s written „Nokia Nseries“ also in silver like on the normal N95.

The N95´s gap between the two cover´s of the slider on the right and the left side has also been fixed in the N95 8GB:

I like the design of the Nokia N95 8GB more, because it looks more nobly. I think the most male readers will agree with me, but maybe the female readers like the N95 more because of it´s backcover in „Deep Plum“ and the bright silver front.

The N95´s keypad is only in the upper part, on the slider, different to the N95 8GB´s keypad. The N95 has bigger keys than the N95 8GB in this area, so if you have thick fingers you can use it better. Even I like the navi-key of the N95 8GB more, because you get more feedback if you press it. The multimedia-keys have also been redesigned in the N95 8GB, now you get a better feedback if you press them.

The slider of the early N95´s is very wobbly if you haven´t brought your N95 to a Nokia Service Point yet. The later charge of N95´s have a better slider. If you own a N95 8GB you won´t know this feeling of using a wobbly slider because the N95 8GB has a very solid slider. If you slide the N95´s slider up and down, you will notice a sound when the slider arrives in its endposition. Unfortunately the N95 8GB doesn´t have this sound anymore. I like this neat sound everytime I slide my N95´s slider. Alltogheter I think the N95 8GB has the better handling.

Camera

Both, the N95 and the N95 8GB have a 5 megapixel camera by Carl Zeiss Optics. It´s exactly the same camera-module but the N95 8GB makes worse pictures than the N95. This is because of it´s camera with cheap plastic instead of a shutter in front of the camera. The N95 has a shutter on it´s camera to beware the lens of dirt or damage, this shutter has been removed in the N95 8GB because of it´s bigger battery. Either you like it or not, I definetely don´t like it because the lens will get scratches after a few days in your pocket. Here´s definetely the N95 the winner.

Battery

All N95-users have the same problem: The bad battery. In the first firmware´s of the N95 this was a major problem, because the battery was empty in less than two days, this problem has been solved a little bit, with the firmware´s since v20 your battery takes about four days, not good but better than before. The N95 8GB doesn´t have this problem, because it has a strong battery with 1200 mAh.

At last I´ve made a little list with the main advantages and disadvantes between the N95 and the N95 8GB:

Advantages of the N95 8GB:

• bigger display
• more RAM
• solid slider
• better battery
• better multimedia-keys
• no more background noise while calling because of the speaker
• faster W-Lan

Disadvantages of the N95 8GB:

• plastic in front of the screen (annoying in bright situations like on sunny days)
• no shutter in front of the camera
• flash is sometimes to bright in dark pictures
• worse display-quality because of the same resolution on a 0.2´´ bigger display
• small keys in the area under the display
• no slot for memory-cards

Verdict

The N95 8GB is a worthy successor for the N95-1. But if you can live with a bad battery-life, I think you should take the N95, because it has a more clearly screen and a shutter in front of the camera. It also has bigger keys in the area under the display.

And if you want a black N95, but don´t want to buy the N95 8GB, wait because in Italy there´s an original black N95 yet (the Navi-Edition), I think it will come to the other parts of Europe soon.

Related posts:

1. Update: New slider-version of N95-1: Photo & Video-proof!
2. New slider-version of N95-1: Photo-proof!
3. Nokia E65: My first thoughts
4. N95: Fixed slider
5. Nokia N95 8GB: My final thoughts