Nokia N95

The N95 is so loaded with high end features that it sometimes seems as if it dropped out of a time warp from the future. Perhaps its astronomically high $749 price won't be worth much in future dollars, but right now, that is a lot to pay for a cell phone. Still, for power users, it is worth the extra expense.

It's the first 5 mega pixels camera phone to hit U.S. shores, the first decent camcorder phone, the best music phone it have seen yet, and the only Symbian smart phone I've used that feels really, really fast. As if that wasn't enough, it also shoots video that's good enough to burn to DVD. But wait, there's more.

The phone's GPS mapping is gorgeous, its Web browser sublime, and its 3D games will knock your socks off. It plays sweet music, too, with a Napster or Rhapsody subscription. Oh, and it also makes phone calls.

For such a groundbreaking device, the N95's looks, at first glance, are that of an ordinary Nokia slider phone. Weighing 4.2 ounces, it's a little chunky, at 2.2 by 3.9 by 0.8 inches, but not unpleasantly so, and it still fits easily into pockets. The handset is handsome too, with a curved purple back and a silver face. Slide down the keypad and you'll find somewhat small, but nicely domed keys unlike Nokia N73, nobody will find this hard to dial.

The quad band N95 gets very good reception on both Cingular's and T-Mobile's networks. The ear piece isn't all that loud, but it's clear, with subtle and pleasant in ear feedback. Transmission is very good, too, with good blocking of background noise it can sound a little tinny in noisy situations, but it's fine at other times. The speaker phone uses the N95's powerful stereo speakers, an effective combo.

The handset worked well with the Plantronics Bluetooth headsets use for testing. That said, the N95 uses Nokia's somewhat perplexing voice dialing system, which isn't as easy to operate as the VoiceSignal and Nuance systems you find on other phones. Sure, the N95 is a perfectly fine phone, but that's not why it's so expensive.