Nokia N93 gets put through its paces

With S60 3rd Edition, UMTS, a 3.2 megapixel camera with optical zoom, WiFi, miniSD slot, and QVGA display, Nokia's N93 dual-pivot clamshell pretty much does it all -- at the cost of some considerable bulk, that is. Mobile-review had a chance to spend some quality time with the beast, and if you can get past the portly 188 grams of mass in your pocket, they appear to come away liking the device for all that it does. As flimsy as it may look, we're told the stalk connecting the display to the remainder of the phone is rock-solid: "Even if you shake the phone with all your strength, there is no way the halves will move towards each other." Triband GSM plus UMTS 2100 make the N93 a tough sell in the States, but everyone else seeking out a worthy N90 replacement can expect Nokia's latest superphone to drop this month for around €600 ($765).

[Dylan @ Jul 7th 2006 1:24PM]

Well done Nokia, we know you can make cool phones but whats the point if you dont sell them, I've been waiting on the N91 to drop for over 6 months.

[Leemo @ Jul 7th 2006 1:35PM]

Erm, this was added to Mobile Review in May? Why is this being reported now?

[Khakionion @ Jul 7th 2006 2:21PM]

What? It's not coming Stateside?

Help a mobile-newbie out--if it's GSM, it should work with Cingular, Alltel and others, right? Just not Sprint/Verizon, because they're CDMA?

[rishi @ Jul 7th 2006 2:24PM]

looks good feature wise, but when you get to looks, it's going back to the brick ages

[Mystech @ Jul 7th 2006 2:52PM]

And yet they still couldn't include anything vaguely resembling a decent keyboard?

[Mystech @ Jul 7th 2006 2:53PM]

And yet they still couldn't include anything vaguely resembling a decent keyboard?

[xbit @ Jul 7th 2006 3:51PM]

Dylan: The N91 is out now. My friend has owned one for a couple of months now.

Khakionion: Correct, GSM phones won't work on CDMA networks and visa versa. However, it gets more complicated because GSM operates on a range of frequency bands. The US uses 850Mhz and 1900Mhz, whilst the rest of the world uses 900Mhz and 1800Mhz. This phone supports three of the bands (hence "tri-band") - 900Mhz, 1800Mhz and 1900Mhz.

This phone will work on Cingular, T-Mobile, etc. as long as they're using the 1900Mhz band in your area.

[cellfone @ Jul 8th 2006 6:37PM]

"Even if you shake the phone with all your strength, there is no way the halves will move towards each other."

Hmmm... It is now when phone is new like that, but I would like to wait few months and see used Nokia N93 then. When I look at that stalk, I must recall old Ericssons.

[Will @ Jul 10th 2006 7:57AM]

@Dylan ("Nokia, we know you can make cool phones but whats the point if you dont sell them")

Don't worry, Nokia will sell boatloads of the phone. The cellphone markets of Europe and Asia are way bigger than the US, so of course GSM has the advantage for the manufacturer.

[Brad @ Jul 24th 2006 11:11PM]

Several Nigerian companies are advertising the high end Nokia phones for sale on various article comment boards; one was on a previous Engadget article on the N93. Please don't purchase from them; a relative of mine got sucked into sending them $270 through Western Union. "Someone", other than the intended person, picked up the money order. They actually tried to get him to send the money again... Stick with reputable companies.