(Shown with Nokia BH-902 headset, which will be reviewed separately.)

The Nokia N95 was one of the first must-have Nokia smartphones.  A sleek slider with a big screen, a 5 megapixel camera, and a host of features, including Wi-Fi, it was, like the iPhone, a status symbol phone in 2007.  Later on, like the iPhone, it became more and more ubiquitous among the middle class until it ceased to be special.

Nokia followed up on the N95 with the N82, which I also bought.  Thanks to a beautiful Xenon flash and swift optics, it featured one of the best cameras ever in a Nokia phone.  Alas, the N82 was a typical candybar, a slightly altered, and, in its original silver body, slightly girlish N73.  It was not a phone you use to show off.

Enter the N96.  With 16GB internal memory and an 8GB memory card slot available plus strong multimedia features, the N96 is essentially Nokia's attempt at an iPhone killer.  I say attempt because the phone's Symbian OS remains remarkably sluggish and will frustrate anyone who's watched the smooth flow of the iPhone's screen.  Likewise, Nokia's multimedia management software is buggy, and I found myself using iTunes to convert all the music I put on the phone.  Photo management is handled through Nokia Photos, and more than once I found myself screaming at how slow the program was.  I could manually copy via Bluetooth much faster than Nokia Photos could copy through a USB cable, suggesting that the program's database format hinders usability.  Sadly, Nokia should be aware of these shortcomings in their multimedia hardware and software, as they've been present in every NSeries since the N73.

Stylistically, the N96 suggests an illicit affair between the N95 and N85.  It has the heart and functions of an N95 but the stylistic cues of the N85. The rounded corners and piano black-and-silver motif won't be to everyone's liking, but I still think it's pleasing to look at. A nice, if gimmicky, feature is the addition of a small kickstand that lets you set the N96 up on a desk for movie watching. If you're watching a movie on a car or plane, however, the kickstand will be of little use.  The multimedia keys around the navi wheel provide music control which is independent from the rest of the phone, while the light around the navi wheel can "breathe" when the phone is in screensaver mode, which has the unexpected benefit of helping you find the phone in the dark as well as letting you know when you have messages waiting for you on the phone.

The camera is a mixed bag.  It's essentially a throwback to the N95's camera, albeit a bit faster, and it lacks the solid optics (and sexy flash) of the N82.  As such, shots will be hit and miss.  Daytime photos can be brilliant, as shown below:

While good night shots are hard to come by:

And indoor shots have frankly ugly color and graininess thanks to the LED flash:

The camera also features video recording with a continuous dual LED flash light, but my friends found the light extremely annoying, so I usually turned it off while filming.  Video quality is adequate but the sound recording leaves a little to be desired, and the poor color quality remains, as we can see in this clip from a Tianjin club:

Software-wise, the N96 is where most other Symbian phones are.  The N96 has a good browser, nice dictionary features, and some games.  It's nothing too special, and like my other phones I find myself using the simple Converter program more than I'd care to admit.  The biggest improvement in this current version of the Symbian OS is the addition of a predictive text dictionary for Chinese pinyin input.  Similar to Google IME or Microsoft IME, the N96 will suggest longer phrases and recognize multiple pinyin words rather than only accept one pinyin word at a time.  This is a remarkable advance over the Chinese writing system used in older Symbian phones, and has tripled (at the very least) my Chinese texting speed.

The GPS has been upgraded and has highly detailed maps for Tianjin and other large Chinese cities, maps which are unfortunately lacking much in the way of searchable locations.  GPS can tag photos (as shown here), and has its typical uses, but in 2009, on-phone GPS is nothing revolutionary.

The N96 Chinese model may have above-average software, but the hardware is sorely lacking. In addition to the lagging caused by a combination of a weak OS and downgraded processor, the N96 has been stripped of Wi-Fi support thanks to Chinese gov't restrictions.  Nokia fans in China have had to deal with this disappointment ever since the first Chinese N93 came out, and while iPhone fans may not have noticed, the phone WiFi ban -- intended to protect phone companies from competition from VOIP -- is one major reason why the iPhone has yet to legally come to China.  Not having Wi-Fi means that a lot of software, especially multimedia uploading and downloading software, is simply too slow over an EDGE connection.  It also takes away from the "cool" factor of the phone, denying it iPhone-killing power, and to add insult to injury, Nokia doesn't lower the crippled phone's price point one iota.

With smartphones it's always good to talk about the battery, and I can say that the N96 has about a one-day battery going for it, meaning that with one day of casual calling, regular Bluetooth use, some Internet, and lots of texting, I can use up 90% of the battery.  I can squeeze two days out of the battery by using the phone sparingly, but when buying an N96 you should always consider getting a spare battery too.  As they say, YMMV.

Bottom line:  With working Wi-Fi, the N96 would be a strong, four-star phone and a worthy successor to the N95, which is to say that I recommend it to anyone outside of China.  For those in China, however, I'd recommend getting another phone or finding a Hong Kong N96 import that has working Wi-Fi.  The Hong Kong model will also receive firmware updates more frequently than the mainland model, something which is a must for any gadget enthusiast.

Rating:  3.5 out of 5 stars.

Note:  This review is based on the China N96's original 11.018 firmware.  I'll update it with notes on the 12.043 firmware if it noticeably changes my user experience.