Nokia N93i — The ‘i’ is for improved, greatly improved

Nokia has updated its imaging-focused N93 with the new P39,990 N93i version. The good news is, the N93i is considerably smaller (about 20 percent slimmer) than its predecessor. That’s not to say it isn’t still on the large side, but at least it now has some chance of fitting in your skinny jeans pocket. At 163 grams, it’s also lighter by 17 grams. Other physical improvements made on the N93i include a less fiddly joystick rather than a D-pad for the side (camera mode) controller; a recessed lanyard mount on the bottom of the device to minimize thickness; a flush-fitting and more secure miniSD slot cover; a tethered cover for the Pop-port connector to keep it from getting lost (but still no tether for the lens cover); relocation of the speaker to the base (again to save space); a new battery cover that’s a lot easier to remove and attach; and an easier-to-use SIM card recess.

The four-way form factor (shut, flipped open, camcorder mode, mini-notebook style for landscape viewing) is the same as before, albeit with a new silver/dark gray finish highlighted by a mirror-like exterior front panel that hides an OLED screen underneath. Cool. Like the N93 the phone is structured around a hinge at the top of the device, which also stores the 3.2-MP digital camera.

That camera allows you to shoot footage in MPEG4 VGA video capture at up to a DVD-quality 30 frames per second. The phone also supports stereo audio recording and offers digital stabilization so your films won’t be shaky. Opening up the Nokia N93i reveals changes, too, both positive and negative. Most obvious is the flush, RAZR-like keypad — a necessity given the slimmer overall size. There are rubber dividers to give you a better sense of where the key boundaries are in the dark. Unfortunately, there are no dividers between the Call/Edit and Cancel/End Call keys, making it easy to go for "C" and hit the End Call button by mistake, thus ending the application you’re in.

Its 3rd Edition Series 60 Symbian interface is the same as the N93’s and the phone still allows you to upload videos directly to the Internet. I had issues with the slowness of the N93’s menu navigation; happily I didn’t experience any similar problems with the N93i. It simply jumped from one app to another with almost no waiting.

Other plus points include Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, the superb Carl Zeiss lens with 3x optical zoom, the TV Out lead that lets you play videos shot on the phone on your TV right away, and the LCD screen that automatically shifts from portrait to landscape viewing with a twist of the phone.

Pound for pound, the Nokia N93i is probably the best multimedia phone in the market today. — Manny de los Reyes