Coming Soon, Nokia N95 with US 3G Support
After a long morning at Cupertino on Tuesday, I spent much of the afternoon taping The GigaOM Show for this week. We invited Blake Krikorian, CEO and co-founder of Sling Media, to come on and talk about all things newteevee.
The conversation was lively, but what was most interesting was that Blake walked in with a Nokia N95 and started showing off the streams off his cable box. I was surprised because my N95 can barely stream audio on the herky-jerky EDGE. And here I was watching smooth video with perfect audio.
It was an early trial unit with the ability to support the U.S. flavor of 3G (HSPDA-High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), according to Blake. A few calls to well-placed sources after the taping confirmed that Nokia (NOK) has plans to release the U.S.-optimized N95 this September. That would be a good catalyst for U.S. sales for N95, because this is a device that shines on 3G networks. I took it along on a trip recently and found it quite useful.
N95 has been a monster seller for Nokia. Nokia’s chief strategist and chief technology officer, Tero Ojanperä, told me that it was one of the top sellers in the UK even with a $750 price tag.
As for the show, you’ll have to wait ’til Thursday. As per your suggestions, the show is available via iTunes in both small and large screen formats.
Interesting to see Nokia n95 competing with iPhone. See the comparison chart of these phones here Compare iPhone vs Nokia N95
um. yeah baby! I need to get me some of that! I like my N95, but would throw it out to get US 3G on a new one…
Dang, if they fixed battery issues and 8GB or higher micoSD cards can be had at a good price, this will be my new phone.
Awesome! (and there’s a typo: HSPDA->HSDPA at least you got the acronym expansion right)
Who cares, it still baffles me why no carrier will pickup this phone in the US.
Definitely would be popular with the anti-iPhone crowd. And it would be only the third GSM handset with GPS offered by a U.S. carrier: http://www.thegpsinsider.com/2007/08/09/coming-to-america-nokia-n95-with-3g/
Got the full sales flyer, showing the killer new battery and redesigned backplate, as well.
http://symbianguru.typepad.com/welcome/2007/08/us-3g-nokia-n-1.html
Well my buddy thefloyd wrote a nice piece for me today – Why you should save your money and NOT buy an iPhone – which one reason of course is the 3G support (his #1 reason). The phone he is currently playing with (HTC Cavalier) seems really nice. N95 would be great here, but still a bit pricey.
http://rexduffdixon.com/?p=3003 – to read thefloyd’s breakdown/rant on the iPhone.
Rex
so can the ability to use 3G be enabled with a firmware update or do i have to buy a new n95?
I dont understand. I am in australia and my N95 uses HSDPA just fine. Does USA use diff 3G frequencies?
Matt, yes the US does use different frequencies than much of the rest of the world. Over the years GSM radios have advanced to support a very wide range of frequencies, so the same part can be used in phones regardless of market. This is not yet the case for UMTS radios.
[...] to the post at GigaOm, the Nokia N95 with U.S. flavor of 3G is coming soon! Blake Krikorian, CEO and co-founder of Sling [...]
GigaOm On the Next Generation of N95’s in The USA
GigaOm has a scoop about what may be new in the N95 with HSDPA added….
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] to Om Malik, there is already someone out there with a Nokia N95 with US 3G. In simpler words, the new Nokia N95 will now have even faster data connection in the United [...]
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
Coming To America: Nokia N95 With 3G?
Most folks in the U.S. who have shelled out $750 for an unlocked N95 have been disappointed by the slow EDGE data speeds. But according to a rumor from GigaOM it looks like Nokia is prepping a version with HSDPA, the American flavor of 3G. The updat…
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life! [...]
[...] One of our big knocks against this beast of a phone was the lack of 3G Stateside, so it’s nice to see them take care of that more-than-niggling issue. If they could do something about the $750 pricetag while they’re at it (possible, if they have a carrier on board), then they might see sales really pop. [GigaOM] [...]
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] 3G Nokia N95 coming? [...]
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments [...]
[...] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments [...]
[...] and functionality that no other device has and it is soon to get even better! Om Malik from GigaOM had a piece up on the Nokia N95 will be getting US 3G Support. He had a [...]
[...] Haz, 2008 Nokia GigaOm has a scoop about what may be new in the N95 with HSPDA [...]