Touch Diamond vs iPhone 3G vs BlackBerry Bold vs N96
June 26, 2008 by Meraj Chhaya
Filed under Uncategorized
Very soon we will face four new phones. Competition is fierce and consumers are getting confused on what to purchase, and which one is best at this or at that. Here at the Nokia N96 Blog we support the N96, but you always have to compare it with other phones to make sure the N96 is actually the best or not. Perfection is impossible, so let’s see in what features the N96 is better than the competition, and how it gets beaten in some components.
|
|
HTC Touch Diamond |
Apple iPhone 3G |
RIM BlackBerry 9000 Bold |
Nokia N96 |
|
Max data speed |
7.2mbps on HSDPA |
1.8mbps on HSDPA |
3.6mbps on HSDPA |
3.6mbps on HSDPA |
|
User Interface |
HTC 3D TouchFLO |
Multitouch UI |
BlackBerry UI |
S60 v3 FP2 |
|
Thickness |
11.3mm |
12.3mm |
14mm |
20mm |
|
Weight |
110g |
133g |
133g |
125g |
|
Display |
2.8” touchscreen |
3.5” multitouchscreen |
2.2” |
2.8” |
|
Screen resolution |
640×480 |
480×320 |
480×320 |
240×320 |
|
Camera |
3.2 megapixel
|
2 megapixel |
2 megapixel |
5 megapixel with Dual LED flash |
|
Battery life |
4 hours on GSM |
10 hours on GSM |
5 hours on GSM |
3.67 hours on GSM |
|
Web browser |
Opera |
Safari |
HTML |
S60 browser |
|
GPS |
Yes, A-GPS |
Yes, A-GPS |
Yes |
Yes, A-GPS |
|
Availability |
Already available in some markets |
July 11th in 22 countries |
Summer 2008 |
Shipping starts August |
Now that we have the specifications, let’s see:
The HTC Touch Diamond is definitely better in terms of HSDPA speeds. I’m not 100% sure on the Apple iPhone’s HSDPA speed, but as Jobs said that the iPhone 3G will have speeds 3.6 times higher than the first model, I presume it can only go up to 1.8mbps. And yes, the N96 loses the battle, but not the war.
The User Interface really depends on one’s likes. Some say that Apple’s multitouch UI is the most revolutionary one, some stick with S60, here we can’t really compare, can we?
In terms of thickness, HTC Touch Diamond takes the first prize, with only 11.3mm. I can say that it was indeed very slim, as I noted at the launch party. The N96 is the complete opposite with a full 2cm of thickness.
The display size award is taken by the Apple iPhone 3G, with a whole 3.5”, and a multi-touch touchscreen panel.
However, the resolution is best on the Touch Diamond, with VGA resolution on that tiny 2.8” touchscreen.
N96 wins on the camera bit, with a 5 megapixel camera with Autofocus, Dual LED flash, and video recording at VGA resolution at 30fps.
The BlackBerry Bold is the only which doesn’t have A-GPS, which is a big disadvantage in terms of GPS lock time.
The Apple iPhone 3G wins in battery life, as Apple had to tweak it to handle all that music playback timings necessary to conserve Apple’s reputation. The N96 does very poorly, and its battery has already been criticized about as it only has 950mAh.
Web browser again is subjective, although we might be able to leave BlackBerry’s browser behind. Safari is the talk of the town, so again the Apple iPhone 3G takes the crown.
There is a GPS receiver in all phones, so this will be a tie. [thanks for the correction, RussianMan]
Availability date doesn’t really count, but it’s there for reference. The clear winners was the HTC Touch Diamond if you just refer to the specifications table, but I’m when we publish our reviews, you might just change your opinion.
Specifications courtesy of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc
Forum Discussion
RussianMan on Sat, 5th Jul 2008 3:42 am
You are wrong Blackberry Bold does have GPS http://www.blackberry.com/blackberrybold/features/#gpsmaps
Meraj Chhaya on Sat, 5th Jul 2008 8:53 am
Thank you, it’s corrected nwo
Vladi on Mon, 7th Jul 2008 12:14 am
guys at onestopshop.co.uk saying that N96 is coming to UK market ‘’shortly” and their review of the handset will be coming up soon. heard something about 31st july release date myself.
on the other hand guys at CPW saying october as the date when n96 will be available in UK, dont know what to make out of all this…
Meraj Chhaya on Mon, 7th Jul 2008 1:06 pm
The only thing we can do is await official information from networks
Nokia N96 to launched in UK soon! | Nokia N96 Blog on Fri, 11th Jul 2008 6:13 pm
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Nokia N96 vs newly released iPhone | N96Blogs.Com on Sat, 12th Jul 2008 10:49 pm
[...] worth reading are here : CNet Australia article – from March 08, highlights the battery issue N96 vs Touch Diamond vs iPhone vs Blackberry – an interesting quadruple comparison CNet photos – photos comparing the N95, N95 8GB, N96 and [...]
andy on Fri, 18th Jul 2008 5:46 am
the iphone 3g has an html only browser.
assuming the successor to the n95 is going to have the same browser, it supports flash.
the html only browser is superior to flash/html?
Meraj Chhaya on Fri, 18th Jul 2008 3:38 pm
What I have heard is that the Safari browser is the same as in MAC OS X, except the flash bit. And suposedly, it’s super fast in processing. But you got a point there, I will have to do more research before stating such opinions!
howard on Thu, 24th Jul 2008 6:59 pm
The HTC def is top of the pops though… really dissappointed in the thickness of the N96 so it needs to have rave reviews that justify a brick
Meraj Chhaya on Thu, 24th Jul 2008 9:12 pm
16GB memory, 5mpix camera, 3.5mm jack…isn’t that enough?
Andy Traynor on Mon, 28th Jul 2008 12:16 pm
I spoke to one of the helpdesk at 3 last week and they said the N96 should be available on 5th August. I had to threaten to leave as my contract is up to get that info though!!
Meraj Chhaya on Mon, 28th Jul 2008 12:20 pm
Helpdesk of what company?
Andy Traynor on Tue, 29th Jul 2008 8:23 am
3 http://www.three.co.uk
Meraj Chhaya on Tue, 29th Jul 2008 12:09 pm
That’s great. But if you look at our recent post, they said it’s for September.
http://nokian96.net/2008/07/22/3-uk-network-announces-n96-release-date-for-september/
Alex on Fri, 1st Aug 2008 12:37 am
The N96 has a 5MP dual xenon flash, not an LED flash.
Meraj Chhaya on Fri, 1st Aug 2008 11:46 am
Oh really Alex? And where did you read that?
Solipsism on Sat, 2nd Aug 2008 1:38 am
The iPhone’s HSDPA radios can do 3.6Mbps like the other radios, but what Jobs said in the keynote and what AT&T stated (1.4Mbps) are what you can expect from the carrier, not the theoretical speeds of the protocol and chipset.
You should also adds categories for which phones have GPS as well as A-GPS, the processor speeds, the amount of RAM, the screen size after the resolution followed by the ppi (pixels per inch), built-n storage capacity and if they have an SD slot.
daniel carpo on Sat, 2nd Aug 2008 8:04 am
i want to now about the speed of procesor of phones i read n 96 have the speed only 264 in my opinion is very slow if compare whit n 95 8 gb 334 or htc diamond 528 or bold 628 or iphone same speed of 628…thank you very much
Meraj Chhaya on Sat, 2nd Aug 2008 2:49 pm
Solipsism, we haven’t got any official information regarding the HSDPA speed of iPhone as that. If you can get it, we will update promptly.
I have updated the A-GPS fields. I haven’t got all processor speeds, or RAM. I will update the resolution/display size later, and include the memory card slot field. Thank you for the tips!
Daniel, the N95 8GB has 332MHz. I feel that the software is tweaked on the N96 so that the device can perform flawlessly under that speed. I don’t think it might be a minus
simon on Sat, 2nd Aug 2008 8:36 pm
thank you for you help guys with this as i am thinking about having the HTC,its good to know all of your views to this phone
Meraj Chhaya on Sat, 2nd Aug 2008 9:46 pm
It’s what we love doing Simon!
Solipsism on Sun, 3rd Aug 2008 2:18 pm
@ Meraj,
It apears the Inferion chips I thought were in there could very well be incorrect. This site litss the breakdown and links but it’s quite confusing. Does it have HSUPA at 10Mbps(?) or HSDPa at 7.2Mbps or just some supporting chips that allow for this faster throughput.
• http://www.techonline.com/product/underthehood/209000013?pgno=1
Meraj Chhaya on Sun, 3rd Aug 2008 7:42 pm
I see Solipsism, perhaps those chips are tweaked to a lower level. We will need some official tests conducted in Europe where networks support 7.2mbps
vedant on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 12:42 pm
yeah!htc diamond wins the crown
Meraj Chhaya on Thu, 21st Aug 2008 1:01 pm
And why are you so happy?
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IPs on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 7:09 am
I really like nokia N96 over i phone, Features, Reliability and Durability.
We don’t know about iphone. lots of features are not available, who cares touch screen!
udit on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 10:24 am
N-96 is more effective than the iphone.
Meraj Chhaya on Fri, 22nd Aug 2008 10:29 am
What’s missing on the iPhone, IPs?
Why do you say that the N96 is more effective, udit?
sreenidhibs on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 3:07 pm
what is the processing power of nokia n 96
sreenidhibs’s last blog post..Apple iphone 3G ?? is it worth the hype it is getting??
Meraj Chhaya on Sat, 23rd Aug 2008 10:14 pm
http://nokian96.net/n96-full-specifications/
We have a specifications page for that
SACHIN on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 6:20 am
we know that htc diamond is best in over all features but we must except that its camera is not so good and it should has some of the features of multimedia phones as softwares and games of this phone is not easily available…….so htc should make his authorised website for softwares and games for other important thingss……
Meraj Chhaya on Sun, 24th Aug 2008 11:37 am
You are right, HTC sometimes behaves like a business smartphone company (that’s what it was)
General on Tue, 30th Sep 2008 4:55 pm
Hi there, I have got a N96 and looks like some times it’s block. I Have to restart the mobile do go out of the crash. There is good functionalities, is user friendly, ease to work, good song and video quality. The photo can’t be better. The way I connect the phone to TV is perfect.
Meraj Chhaya on Tue, 30th Sep 2008 5:12 pm
Do share your problems at the forum, I’m sure the members will be able to help you there.
Have you considered formatting or even firmware update?
iPhone vs N96 on Wed, 15th Oct 2008 12:36 am
In my personal opinion, iPhone has a easier to use and more responsive user interface.
Sunil Mathew on Tue, 21st Oct 2008 8:42 am
Hi ..
on the nokia site i did a comparison of the N96 and N95 8GB. many of the fields under n96 were blank(as in speaker) were as N95 had yes written against it. Is the blank because all the features in N95 are available in N96.
Heres the link
http://www.nokia.co.in/comparephonesconsumerindia
Also upto what memory size can the N96 support in expandible memory?
Thanks in advance. I am in need to buy a new phone.. which shud i go for n96 or HTC diamond. i need a mixture between business, and entertainment.
jeanne on Sun, 22nd Feb 2009 1:50 am
i like th diamond’s camerea, and it seems to cleqrer than the i phone. i like the email bette4r on the blackberry. its hard to decide which is the best
aman on Sat, 30th May 2009 2:25 pm
Nice Comparison.. I feel out of there N96 is the best