The verdicts are starting to roll in for Nokia’s red-hot new Nseries N95 handset, and the word is that while the phone’s wi-fi, camera, internet capabilities are great (although the N91 is apparently better for music), its battery life leaves more than a little to be desired. Several sources are reporting that the handset needs charging on a daily basis, and even if left switched-on and totally untouched is highly unlikely to run for anything like Nokia’s claimed 9.5 days standby time.
We’d love to hear from any Pocket Picks‘ readers who’ve picked up Nokia’s mighty new beast, to find out just how good/ bad the situation is.
(Via RingNokia, Mobile Review, MobileBurn)
I picked up the n95 last Wednesday. Having had a few series 60 devices I knew roughly what to expect but the battery life is worse than even I thought it would be. I DO have to charge every day and if I want to play with the GPS and/or WiFi for more than a couple of minutes I generally find I’m charging again overnight.
One thing just jumps out as an obvious reason for the battery drain; it’s all to easy still to leave an app running in the background using up juice. Holding down the menu key still brings up a list of running programs so I’ve already found I’m in the habit of checking to see if every thing’s closed when I’m done playing games or fiddling with new software.
AsciiSmoke
So that’s basically twice a day if you use it heavily…? I’m sure Nokia must have struggled with battery life-versus-features-versus-cost during the phone’s development, but it seems like a real shame that such a lovely bit of kit is let down by something so ’simple’ as its battery life.
I have the same problem with applications not quitting when I think they have on my old 6680; my Mac lets me do something similar - I can close all the windows for an application (even if there is just one) but it keeps running. There must be a reason why Nokia and Apple do this… but I’m a bit lost as to what it is.
Maybe it’s to do with wanting to speed up the feel of using the phone by always keeping the apps in memory - but then, it’s not like there’s a lot of difference in the speed of launching versus the speed of re-opening a Nokia S60 app anyway… Strange..
(By the way, do all Nokia smartphone - and I think a few other models too - owners know you can check which apps are currently using up memory by holding down the menu key to bring up a list?)
With light to medium use I think that you can get two days out of it. Heavy use and yes its daily charging. It’s not the worst power draining phone I’ve had - that’ll be the Samsung Z500.
I think a lot of Nokia smartphone owners know about the Menu key because they tend to discuss the details of the phone more than non smartphone users. But yes it’s easy to forget what’s running.
Still, I’ll be trying out some of those fancy 3D racers and seeing how the phone performs.
The battery life very poor for a smart phone in this day and age. I had it for less than a week, and i’ve charged it 5 times already. I would not say that i use the phone that heavy eithier as most of my calls come via my work mobile (Nokia 6230i) which has a brilliant battery life!
I think i get rid of this phone, and get Blackberry 8800 or 8300 (sorry Nokia, you lose this time).
I agree the battery life is poor. Previously I have had orange SPV phones which run similar features without the battery life problems.
It’s such a shame other wise the phone would be perfect!
Eleni44
I had the Orange SPV’s too, while the battery was bad with a memory card in the C600 this is silly.
Got it on Tuesday, I’ve charged it twice already (Wednesday).
It does help if you turn off WIFI scan and Bluetooth though, but I imagin all my efforts will be wasted when I insert a memory card…
I’d like to see the new Orange SPV but I suppose its a bit late for that now… unless I ring good ol’ Business Rentention.
The new SPV sounds promising - runs Windows Mobile 6. We’ve been holding out on posting until Orange sets some prices, but in case you want a quick look it’s here:
http://shop.orange.co.uk/shop/show/handset/orange_spv_e650/detail/pay_monthly
How much is a spare battery for the N95? Sounds like it’d be a worthwhile investment just to be able to carry that around and swap it in instead of taking the charger with you (or having multiple chargers).
Battery charging problem:
I’ve had my N95 for two weeks, and I love it. Yesterday I managed to update it (took a few PC/phone restarts). Today, when I plugged in the charger, nothing happened. No response. And that battery doesn’t last long! Anyone else with the same problem?
Hi, I’ve had my phone for one day, did the first 16hr charge and started using it. The next day I went to put the phone on charge and…….. nothing. The phone is now being replaced under warranty but would you expect this after one day?!?
Each new gadget is like a tamagotchi, you play with it until it dies. 5x more functions, does not mean 5x more battery capacity.
Sadly when your mobile phone runs out of power, people get cranky. Call it emotional illogic. The battery is fine, comparable to other products. A full battery does 90 minutes of video recording, 3,5 hours of video playback, 8 hours of music through headphones or the standard 10 days standby. Very reasonable for a pocketsized phone!
People need to become more aware of power.
I bought the phone two weeks ago. I was getting horrible standby battery life with everything turned off i.e. Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth, Camera ,only on GSM Standby and no apps running, I had phone shut down after only 8 or 9 hours. which is totally unacceptable that was about 4pm after overnight charge phone was removed at 8am. In addition I also had the problem with Screen Making rather loud hissing like noise when held against my ear like on a phone call.
I am in USA, fortunately the phone had USA warrantly I called nokia and they asked that I send it in for repair. I had to send the phone to one location for repair and battery to another location for exchange. It has been a week and I am waiting for it to return. Any ways I have had nokia for 5 years now, 6620, then 6600 and now this N95. I have never had any problem with the older models as a matter of fact they have taken quite a bit of abuse from my kids like dropping it etc. I am hoping that there was something wrong with the phone or more likely the battery for it to have standby battery life of only 8 hours. My older 6600 still has about at least 3 days of standby battery life and at least 2 days with bluetooth on with a year old battery.
On the postive note the phone replaces my Bluetooth GPS Ipaq Pocket PC (For wifi and email Navigation) Camera (I frequently need to take pictures for work) my older nokia 6600. So it is a convenient package but I do need my phone to work at least 12 hours with out needing a charge and with some mild use.
I can not beleive such a phone had this terrible battery.
I spent more than 700$ on it so I must charge 2 times a day!
I`m so sorry fo myself!
Got mine 2 weeks ago and the battery life is amazing for what it does! I’m forever surfing the web via wifi, playing 3d games, listening to music, installing random crap that i’ll never use, etc. and it lasts me about 2 days. I think like people have said before, you have to make sure you close things when you’re finished with them, and secondly, if like me you don’t use 3G or don’t live in an area where 3G is available, SWITCH IT OFF (Menu > Tools > Settings > Phone > Network > Network Mode > GSM).
- Javawag
Got mine a couple of weeks ago and until yesterday it has been fantastic. Battery life not so brilliant but expected, about 2 days with light use and about 18hrs with heavy use. Yesterday it started making the dreaded hissing noise from the speakers, as though it was playing a blank sound file, or the volume was up full blast. This also happened to coincide with its first software crash and immediate battery drain. I ran an prog i installed that crashed the phone, i had to switch off and on again to get it to respond. The phone had just come off charge with a full battery about 10mins before the crash and after switching the phone back on its battery dipped to its last bar!. Since the crash ive had that annoying hiss, i tried everything i could find on the web, switching key tone off (they were anyway!) all the rest (screen saver etc) . i did a factory reset (code 12345) and alls well now (appendages crossed!)
I got mine about a month ago and verdict is that it is a great device BUT the battery is really poor. My old Sony T630 is 4 years old and the battery lasts me about 3 days. The N95 doesny even make a day. It is like stepping back in time batterywise. Shame on you Nokia, ebay is about to get another N95!!
I had my phone for about a month (paid 2 bills).
At first my battery lasted 3-4 days this was with heavy usage as it was new and I play with my new toys.
However now I use the Wi-Fi like once a day for a few minutes, no bluetooth check no open apps a few calls a day the useual but my battery is getting flat in about 12 hours.
If I don’t use the Wi-Fi or make a call it lasts about 14 hours, called up o2 and they are gona swap it tomorrow for me (well I gota post it for them).
I lost my previous phone (SE K610i) and as there was not much choice of SE here I went to the Nokia shop and buy N95 convinced I buy the best… but it is total disappointment. Yes it has so many and nice functunalities… but you must have a battery to use them. The battery lasts about 24 hours just on standby - let’s say 10-15 mins talk and no BT, WiFi or GPS ussage. It’s good Nikia not to forget that the main functions of the cp is to make phone calls… Today I charged it in the morning 8 am, then at work synchonized the contacts (using a cable), transfered the some pictures and at 10 am one dash has already gone. For example K610 battery lasts at least 4-5 days. It also charges the battery when connected to the USB - very useful feature when I forgot my charger traveling and was still able to charge it connecting it to the laptop through USB cable (A feature I think is not so difficult to be implemented by Nokia). For the rest of the day I made one call of 11 minutes and at 4 pm the N95 already started to cry for power. A BIG DISAPPOINTMENT. And if I use any of the GPS or BT ot WiFi features - one dash is gone in 10-20 mins.