(To get the most out of this article, please watch the video above and then read the text below. If you have any comments or questions, please click on the comments link at the end.)
Nokia N93
What's it like in real life?
Well, rather bulky to be honest as it's very large for a phone, though once you realise this is also a TV quality camcorder it doesn't seem as big.
The main physical feature of the N93 is its unique swinging screen which allows it to be placed in three main positions for various purposes: a clamshell/flip-phone position, a computing/PDA position and a camcorder position. You can see all of these in the video above and the photos below. When it's not being used the N93 folds away into a fairly neat package.
Despite its moving parts, it's actually quite a solid phone, partly because the hinge which allows the moving is absolutely huge. The N93 feels very robust, with a partially-metal casing.
Perhaps the main annoyance physically is the lens cap, which is attached by a cord to the phone and clips onto the camera lens to protect it. This has a habit of falling off, and it looks cheap and improvised. It does its job, but surely Nokia could come up with something a bit neater like an integrated lens cover?
A similarly cheap-looking feature is the memory card cover, which is essentially just a rubber flap that is attached to the phone. It's awkward to open and close, and it feels like it's going to fall off at any minute (though it never has). You can see it being opened and closed in the video above.
How is it as a phone?
The N93 is fine for calls, up to the usual high Nokia telephony standards. It was easy to get a signal, and there were no dropped calls. The physical size of the phone does make you feel a bit self-conscious using it in public though, it seems very large in its phone mode.
Texting is extremely easy on the N93's large chunky keypad, the buttons are nice to press and have a satisfying click. The middle column of buttons is lower than the sides, which helps you find buttons by touch alone.
The direction pad of the N93 is excellent, it's large enough for all purposes with a very wide rim and a separate button in the middle. It's also EXTREMELY good for gaming when using the phone in horizontal mode.
The phone's screen is nice and bright, and it's also physically quite large though the N93's general size hides this fact. You can use the phone's screen in both vertical and horizontal mode, with the screen switching automatically as you twist the phone into position. Some applications (for example the Snakes game) also automatically switch to the new orientation if you twist the phone while using them.
The N93 was one of the first phones to use the Symbian S60 3rd Edition platform which brought higher resolution displays (QVGA in the N93's case), more features and a generally more flexible interface. However, perhaps because it was one of the first, the N93's menu structure is rather confusing with many items not where you'd expect them to be. Later version of S60v3 did a lot to correct this using a more intuitive structure, but as the N93 hasn't had a firmware update in a long time it's stuck in the past.
Music Player and Radio
The N93 comes with the old version of the S60 music player which uses an annoying column of icons. You have to move the selection up and down this column to select anything, and then click on whatever you select to activate it, which is far slower and less intuitive than modern Nokia phones' d-pad based controls.
Audiowise the N93 isn't great, the external speaker is loud but mono and low quality. There is no direct audio jack at all, no 3.5mm or 2.5mm, and the only way to listen in stereo is to buy a 3.5mm headphone adaptor to plug into the N93's Pop Port socket. This works, but it's an inconvenience and extra expense, and prevents you easily listening to the N93 while it's in your pocket.
There's an FM radio receiver which includes support for Visual Radio. You have to have a SIM card in the phone and headphones attached for the radio to work.
You can also listen to internet radio, using the Streaming Links section of the Gallery application. You need to enter the RTSP address of the station you want to listen to, and it will be saved as a preset for later use.
Camera and Camcorder
Now, THIS is why you would buy an N93. Despite being two years old, it's arguably still the best camcorder phone in the world.
The N93 can shoot video at VGA resolution with 30 frames per second, which (as the adverts remind us) is close to the quality of DVD videos. Videos shot on the N93 are good enough to watch on a television screen. There's a genuine optical zoom included in the Carl Zeiss optics, and unlike any other phone the N93 has two microphones, one either side of the camera, so you can shoot video in stereo sound. Thanks to the TV Out feature, videos can be played back at full resolution on any television set directly from the phone (the TV Out cable uses composite plugs, but you can also use it with SCART using a cheap composte-SCART adaptor).
It's also very pleasant to access these features, because with the N93 in its camcorder configuration (see the video above or photos below) you can very easily point the lens at a particular object with the lens facing away and the screen facing towards you. There are special dedicated buttons and a second direction pad along the side of the phone for use in camcorder mode, which let you control all the main camera-related functions including flash, optical zoom, and menu navigation. You don't need the main keypad at all, the camera controls are right next to your thumb when holding the phone as a camera.
In short, the N93 really is a viable alternative to a dedicated camcorder, it does pretty much everything they do. This phone has been designed primarily as a camcorder, and succeeds. What's more because it's pocket-sized and a phone, it's much more suited to spur-of-the-moment filming when you wouldn't necessarily have a dedicated camcorder with you.
Videos are recorded onto microSD memory cards, so it's best to use the highest speed card you can find because this will produce smoother pictures.
The one serious drawback with the camcorder is the N93's relatively small battery, which restricts how long you can film for between charges.
The N93 is also a 3.2 megapixel still camera, with autofocus, optical zoom and Carl Zeiss optics. The camcorder control buttons can also be used for taking stills, and there's an optional tripod accessory available from Nokia if you're serious about photography with the N93.
Other Interesting Stuff
This isn't talked about much, but the N93 is arguably the best gaming phone ever made. Its gaming abilities are probably as significant as its camcorder abilities.
In its PDA mode, the N93's controls are laid out very much like those on a Game Boy Advance SP. The N93's direction pad is probably the most gaming-friendly d-pad of any phone since the N-Gage QD, and all of the phone's keys are right next to it while the phone's screen is in horizontal mode. You couldn't ask for a better gaming layout on a phone.
If Nokia ever wants to make another gaming-oriented device, they ought to base its physical design on the N93 as it really is brilliant in this regard.
As well as gamer-friendly controls, the N93 includes a 3D graphics acceleration chip which can be used to produce the kind of graphics you'd normally see on a PlayStation Portable. The System Rush demo included with the N93 (or available from its "Download!" icon) uses this 3D chip and is rather spectacular. You can see it in action in the video at the beginning of this review.
The icing on the cake for gamers is that the N93 can be attached to a television set so you can play the games on a big screen. Although QVGA sounds too low res for TVs, games generally work very well.
Nokia has said the N93 will be made compatible with the new N-Gage gaming platform in the near future, which would be great because it would be the best phone games on the best gaming phone, but unfortunately this just hasn't happened yet. However, there are plenty of S60 and Java games to get through, and they are great on the N93.
Who would like this the most?
Despite its age, the N93 is STILL possibly the best phone in the world for two groups: phone users who want to shoot video, and phone users who want to play games.
For these groups, there simply is no direct replacement for the N93.
Yes, a lot of Nokia's more recent phones have a similar quality video camera, but they don't have the same dedicated video controls or the stereo microphones. The N95, N82 and 6220 all have VGA 30fps camcorders but they're designed primarily as phones, they're not laid out to be used as camcorders, and they have no dedicated camcorder buttons.
As far as gaming is concerned, there are still no phones that combine such high powered gaming hardware with such a pro-gaming key layout. The N81 perhaps comes closest, and the N95 has multimedia keys which can be used as gaming buttons, but the N93's layout solution is by far the best and requires no extra gaming keys at all. The N93's direction pad is also an excellent controller.
Overall
The N93 is very old now, its interface is rather confusingly structured compared to modern S60 phones, it's lacking modern features like 3.5G or SDHC support, the amount of free RAM is limited, and there haven't been any firmware updates in a very long time.
However, the N93 camcorder function is SO well designed that it still remains probably the best option for those who are serious about shooting video with their phone. In fact even ignoring the phone side completely, the N93 makes a very good pocket-sized camcorder, and its Wi-Fi compatibility means you can access the internet to upload your videos without a SIM card, or you can transfer them to a computer via Bluetooth and USB cable.
The N93 also has a near-perfect layout for phone gaming, with a physically large screen and 3D graphics hardware to match, plus TV Out for playing at home. If Nokia eventually makes it N-Gage compatible, in the Nokia Duck's opinion it would become the best phone gaming device in the world.
The Nokia Duck Says: Quack Quack Quack Quack
Photos (click to enlarge):
Technical Details:
Year of Launch: 2006
Weight: 180g
Battery Life: Talktime 5 hours (2G) or 3.5 hours (3G), standby 10 days.
Phone: Triband GSM 900/1800/1900, 3G/WCDMA/UMTS 2100.
Screen: 240x320, 262 thousand colours, 2.4" physical size.
Camera: Main camera has Carl Zeiss optics including optical zoom, 3.2 megapixel still photos, VGA 30 FPS video, LED flash, secondary camera above screen for videophone calls.
Memory: 50 megabytes built-in storage, 22 megabytes of free RAM for running your own applications, miniSD memory card slot for cards up to 2 gigabytes.
Connections: Pop Port (with adaptor can connect to USB, 3.5mm audio etc), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Infrared, FM radio receiver, TV Out.
Platform: Symbian S60 3rd Edition.
Software Compatibility: Symbian S60 3rd Edition, Java J2ME, Flash Lite 1.1. N-Gage compatibility due to be added in the near future.
Other Notable Features: Multiple physical configurations for different purposes, with phone, camcorder and PDA/gaming modes. TV Out allows connection to any television set with composite inputs (or SCART sockets with a cheap adaptor).
Click here to see the full official Nokia N93 technical specifications.
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