The Nokia N96 has a reputation to live up that the N95 has created, jampacked with superb specifications. Yet, you can agree with us if we say that it seems to turn out to be about the same phone with a different new look.

Like any other phones from the N Series, Nokia N96 uses the Symbian operating system, Symbian S60 Edition 3. One advantage of Symbian is the fact that it enables installing external software, which everyone likes because it enhances user experience.

The Nokia N96 features a gorgeous screen which is a 2.8 inches QCVGA LCD TFT monitor for clearer and brighter displays. It also has the capability to rotate the screen automatically when watching videos or cable television. What’s interesting is that this phone has a built in DVB-H tuner for mobile TV which offers live broadcast TV with an automatically updating program guide with a ‘kickstand’ on the back cover that allows for handsfree viewing.

Like its older brother, the Nokia N96 is certainly no featherweight. Measuring a chunky 103mm x 55mm x 18mm (4.1″ x 2.2″ x .7″), the N96 is wider and taller than the N95, though slightly thinner. At 125g (4.4oz) the N96 is also 5g heavier. Gerared up with camera features like a Carl Zeiss lens with 5.0 Megapixels, flash and video light, that makes it superior in this area compared to other 5.0 Megapixel cameraphones, has a whopping 16GB internal memory, plus a memory card slot which can hold another 8GB microSD, and soon the 16GB microSD will be made available. Transferring is fast with high-speed USB 2.0 connection and WLAN and HSDPA.

Other features include media keys, a 3.5 mm headphone connector and built-in 3D stereo speakers. Nokia Maps offers urban details and satellite views with upgrade options such as City Guides, turn-by-turn pedestrian mode and voice-guided car navigation as well.

Not to my surprise, the Nokia N96 has all the possible connections that you need- Bluetooth, WLAN/WiFI, GPS and microUSB. Then no doubt, this phone is made of win.