Where am I?
Another worry for the handset was the inability to get Nokia Maps functioning properly. The GPS chip was unable to locate us no matter where we were; a host of other handsets' GPS worked fine, so we have to just hope that's a one off.
The Maps function over a data connection was pretty fast though, but missed the 'My position' function. In fact, anything without Google Maps is hard to stomach these days, but that could just be what we're now used to. Though it's hard to see how you can beat simplicity.
The internet was the usual decent Nokia fare... it shows web pages nicely, scales as and when you want, and load-up times were fairly impressive.
However, the internet is something that benefits from a touchscreen in the absence of a mouse, and this was one of the first times we were lamenting our inability to poke the screen and make things happen.
Snap it up
After that, it comes down to preference: if you love Nokias like many seem to do, then you'll very much enjoy this handset. It does it all (thanks to the 5MP camera amongst other things, which takes some lovely snaps due to the Carl Zeiss lens and dual LED flash, by the way) and then some... in fact, it's hard to criticise anything but the Maps function, which may just be a one-off handset error.
For those devotees to other brands: well, you might feel like you're cheating on a loved one when you use this handset. You'll want to hate it, but won't be able to unless you just can't digest its size (not literally).
The N96 is nothing exciting... which may be a downside for some people. But for those who enjoy a good, solid all-rounder with immense power under the hood, you could do a lot worse than head to your local retailer and plump for this ninja of the mobile world.
