It feels like every new phone that’s released recently is branded as an iPhone competitor. “How will this new handset fare against the fabulous iPhone?” Well, in this case, pretty well!

In the red corner… weighing in at 125g, we have the long awaited Nokia N96. An attractive looking phone; sleek, sexy and stylish with a glossy black finish and large 2.8 inch QGVA screen, packed full of must-have features.

In an age of touch screen fascination, Nokia have refrained from utilising this trait. The N96 has the same dual-slide feature as its predecessor. A further addition (for all you gamers out there!) is a pair of gaming keys on an extra slide panel. Perfect for use with N-Gage games.

I love a huge… memory. It’s an absolute must have for me. So if the 16GB internal memory isn’t enough, the N96 has the capacity for a further 8GB via its microSD card slot. With the possibility of a ridiculously large 24GB, no other phone is going to beat the N96 in this arena.

If you love surfing the web, you can access the internet with ease and speed thanks to the 3G HSDPA technology and Nokia Web Browser with Mini Map. Mini Map provides a full page view, with easy selection of the area you wish to focus on; click to zoom in and the text size adjusts accordingly.

Get to where you need to be quickly with integrated A-GPS and Nokia Maps 2.0. Enjoy enhanced features with Nokia Maps, like voice guidance, real-time traffic feeds and dynamic re-routing. Mark your favourite places on the map and share with friends via MMS, SMS, Email, Bluetooth or infrared.

You can enjoy watching high quality video on the large screen, and watch live TV with DVB-H technology. The built-in 3D stereo speakers with great sound quality are landscape oriented, and with the small kickstand at the rear of the handset, viewing couldn’t be easier.

The camera, like the N95 is 5 megapixel and uses award winning, state of the art, Carl Ziess optics. Now you can take great quality photos and videos with all the little extras you need, including an improved duel-LED flash, to ensure perfect results.

With all the hype around this new handset and following the N95’s success, I have a sneaky feeling the N96 may well be very popular. So is it time to jump back off the iPhone bandwagon? In the lead up to Christmas, only time will tell.

Check out the Phones4U promotion here.

Check out Gaj-It’s review here for more details and specs.

Image source: Nokia N96 @ Phones4u

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