Nokia N95 (NSeries)
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Nokia N95 8GB Problems Issues and Annoyances
Version 1.007

I purchased the N95 8GB on mid November 2007 from a mobile service provider. It was a big jump from a N-Gage to a 3rd edition Symbian phone.

Needless to say, I was impressed with its array of features. SMS search! GPS! Dual paging! 5 Megapixel Camera! 3.5mm socket! I can go on and on.

As the saying goes, there is no perfect phone. Here are some annoying issues I have come across on using this phone so far.

In no particular order,

01

To rotate the screen, you need to open up the multimedia controls

This can be resolved with RotateMe. It even rotates your screen when you turn the phone!

UPDATE: The latest N95 8GB v20.0.016 firmware resolves this by presenting a auto rotate option in Tools > Settings > General > Personalisation > Display > Rotate screen. But this doesn't allow rotation 270 degrees which RotateMe allows

02

Cannot add MIDI files to Music Player's playlist

Refreshing the playlist in the music player only adds MP3/AAC/WMA files. MIDI files have to be converted to one of the three formats, taking up to 200x the space!

I have heard that this can be solved with a 3rd party software, CorePlayer, which is not free :(

03

GPS can't be used in landscape mode with the numeric pad open

But this can be resolved with RotateMe. It even rotates your screen when you turn the phone!

UPDATE: The latest N95 8GB v20.0.016 firmware resolves this by presenting a auto rotate option in Tools > Settings > General > Personalisation > Display > Rotate screen.

04

Multimedia keys can't be used as gaming keys

N95 multimedia controls as gaming keys?The keys are strictly multimedia. No application is able to bind it for its own use.

The play button fires the Music Player application. The other keys are only used when the music player is running.

Perhaps that is why no application is able to use them. Nokia must have meant the keys to be used anytime, even when gaming, to control the music.

Nokia, set it as an option! The first option should dedicate these keys to music player as it is now. The second option should only use the music keys when the music player is on focus.

If those keys can be used for gaming, it can bring a whole new area of landscape gaming.

Although I have to admit, the buttons are quite hard to press. A tradeoff for an all-in-one device.

UPDATE: The original N95 supports using the multimedia keys as gaming keys in n-gage games! Source

05

Only one way Landscape mode

The phone can only switch to landscape in one way, and not the other way around. If the multimedia keys can be used for gaming, this will provide a much better gaming mode.

UPDATE: The beta version of RotateMe (available only to donors) allows opposite rotation, but the keys do not work properly in some applications.

06

Clock screen saver is too small

Built-in clock in actionI am not sure why the clock has to be so small when the phone has so much screen estate. CClock in actionThankfully, Symbian allows the clock screen saver to be customized.

Personally, I use CClock, which is shown on the right. It is free as well. Download it here.

07

Battery bar behaves like a DB measure

On the first day, with normal use, it will show 5 bars. On the 2nd day, with about the same use, it quickly drops to 2 bars by the end of the day.

Why isn't it consistent? The battery bar should be a measure of how much power is left. But this may be something personal as other people call it as a battery strength meter.

08

Camera sound can't be switched off in some regions

Why is there no silent mode?Due to 'privacy laws', Nokia did not provide an option to disable the camera shutter sound in certain regions.

Fortunately, there is a 3rd party utility that allows this. It is called CCamera and can be downloaded here. However, it is not as good as the built-in camera app as it does not seem to utilise the N95's anti-shake mechanism.

09

Can't reduce brightness of screen further to save battery

The minimum screen brightness is still too bright, especially when used at night. If only Nokia provided screen levels darker than the current minimum, it can save more battery power. Yes, you can reduce the brightness in the Settings, but the point of this post is that the minimum setting is still too bright.

This same issue exists with my Dell XPS M1210 laptop. Or for my Philips 22" LCD monitor as well. The minimum brightness is still too bright.

10

Can't switch off keypad lights permanently to save battery

All of the places I go has enough light. Even if there's no light, I can feel the keys as I am already used to them. Another sure-fire way to save battery, but Nokia does not provide the option.

11

Light sensor can't be disabled to save battery

Ironic. To save battery power, a light sensor that consumes additional battery power is installed.

And it is only used for the keypad lights. It can't be used to adjust LCD brightness automatically.

12

Call Recorder function beeps every 10 second.

Privacy laws again. Fortunately, there are workarounds.

An example is Total Recall. It performs effective beep free call recordings in AMR and WAV formats.

13

Can't move folders to other folders in menu system

Where did the Move To Folder option go to?You can move items but not whole folders.

When you select an item, there is a option to "Move to Folder".

When you select a folder, that option is not there.

14

No way to control Java applications' audio volume

And if the game selects to play the music at loud volume, there is only way way to end it - hit the red button. Java games do not follow the volume of the ring tone so even if you have set it to Silent mode with Warning tones On, the game can blast at max volume.

15

Switching off Warning Tones switches off Java sounds as well

Perhaps Nokia wanted to provide a one-off switch to turn off java sounds. Why can't they provide a general volume controller setting like "Java Sound Volume". Better still, java sounds should follow the same volume as the ring tone volume.

More better still, there should be an option for the user to choose which way java volume should be controlled by.

16

Web browser has its quirks

The built in web browserThere is no way to change the user agent to a WAP browser or specify a hosts file to browse local intranet addresses.

You cannot go 'forward' and the browser does not work properly with many sites that depend on the user agent.

Otherwise, it is a great browser that provides many options such as increasing text size and disabling JavaScript.

17

When selecting a ring tone, it shows every single MP3 in the flash memory

Selecting a ringing tone in ProfilesIf you need to select a ring tone in the Profiles, and you have heck lots of MP3s in the flash memory, be prepared to scroll through a long list of all the audio files in your device.

There is again, no search.

Fortunately, there is a workaround. The Gallery. Locate the song in the Gallery and use the menu option "Set As Ringtone".

18

When selecting a SMS tone, you are forced to scroll through a long list of mp3 files

Selecting a message alert toneNot so for the message tones and the video ring tone.

There is absolutely no search function.

You are forced to scan through the entire list if the tone you want is in the middle.

A workaround is to change the first letter of the file to start with the letter 'M'. This will place the file among the Message tones as the list is sorted alphetically.

19

Odd Restarts, Freezes, Hangs every once in a while (does not happen with v20 firmware)

Incidents which have caused the phone to stall in various ways

  1. Extended usage of the camera
  2. Extended usage of the web browser

It does not always happen - but the point here is that it does happen. At the least expected moments. Imagine, you are in a overseas call, you plug in the ear piece and... WSOD! (White Screen of Death).

UPDATE 11 JANUARY 2013: Yes folks, I am still using this phone! However, recently it started to restart once every five minutes, sometimes continously. I have tried many things such as clearing web cache, messages, images, chkdsking the flash drive but no use. Finally, I changed the battery to the one that originally came with the phone and the phone appears to work great now. Hope it helps someone!

20

No easy way to view the full name of a file in File Manager

Long file names end with a ...Select any file with a long name in the file list in File Manager (Tools). The only way you can view the extension and full name is to go to Rename in the Options.

The expected behavior is for the row to scroll horizontally so that the user does not have to do two presses to view the full file name. This is a problem with all my long named mp3 files.

21

Cannot Record Radio

No record button for recording radioI can't see why this is left out.

My classic N-Gage had this. Furthermore, in high quality AAC format.

And almost all other portable mp3 players come with this basic function. Why does the N95 not have this?

22

Music Player Volume is Soft

There is either some hard coded limitation in the volume or the N95 music hardware just sucks. My old N-Gage Classic beats the volume level output anytime. So does my brother's cheapo flash MP3 player.

Most of the time, I am listening to my music at 100% volume. With my previous N-Gage, it is normally at 8/10.

Has nokia locked the volume of the device? Like the iPod?

A workaround for this is to enhance the music files volume by using the free Audacity (expect to take lots of time as you have to do it for each file). Or you can spend some money and use Musicmatch's Burner with DFX to apply sound enhancement to a MP3-DVD and copy the resultant MP3 files in the DVD to your N95.

23

Can't control volume using directional pad

I find it very hard to press the side volume buttons. Furthermore they are disabled when the keypad is locked as the keys are not easy to press, it should not be locked along with the other keys when Keypad Lock is activated.

My previous N-Gage allowed the volume to be controlled by pressing the left/right keys in the directional pad. Of course, the Music Player must be on focus.

24

Balance Control is not sensitive enough

Nokia has been thoughtful to have provided a balance control for the Music Player for those having unbalanced hearing issues. Unfortunately, for people like me, it just reverses the problem.

Sound balance Control is not sensitive enoughWhat do I mean? Say you move the notch to the right so that your right slightly hearing impaired ear can hear more. Now it becomes that the left is lacking audio and the right has too much audio.

The N95 sound balance control changes the balance too much for just one notch left or one notch right. It would have been better if the balance control allows less balance change for each notch as I find that one notch shifts the balance too much.

25

No Balance Control in Radio Mode

For some reason, you cannot adjust the sound balance in the radio application.

Hope Nokia does something about this.

Questions, Errors and Queries?

This document is Copyright(©) 2007-2008 by G.Ganesh. Visit Bootstrike.Com (http://bootstrike.com).

Last Updated 11 January 2013.

49 comments RSS of last 10 posts

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Unregistered Anonymous I have a problem When i text it says General: Memory Full. Close some applications and delete some data first" Can anyone help.
posted 18 Aug 2012 - show 1 replies - Reply - Permanent Link
Admin Administrator Admin 1st try restarting the phone.
if that does not work, backup and clear unnecesary text messages including other folders.
posted 18 Aug 2012 - Reply - Permanent Link
Unregistered Anonymous My N958gb right now totally "OFF",during installation the new version last night.Do you have any idea what is going on with my phone and any suggestion to solve the problem........
posted 16 Apr 2012 - Reply - Permanent Link
paulflightuk (1 posts) paulflightuk hi there having trouble with my camera on my n95 it will not open when i go into my menu and click on camera theres nothing there any one have any clues
posted 18 Aug 2010 - Reply - Permanent Link
vijay (1 posts) vijay hi,i remove my mass memory nd all data frm thr.nd in my phone only mass memory.wht i do pls
posted 17 Aug 2010 - Reply - Permanent Link
Unregistered Anonymous my nokia N95 was dead rite, then i charge but i dont no how to turn it bac on. i tried pressin on the end button but stil nothin. is there another pwr button 2 turn it on?? i really need help or cant use fone.
posted 6 Aug 2010 - show 1 replies - Reply - Permanent Link
Unregistered Anonymous there is a button ontop of the phone, hold that button down untill the phone turns back on,,if it still doesn't turn back on, then your phone is corrupted
posted 22 Nov 2012 - Reply - Permanent Link
Stina (5 posts) Stina Yay, thnx !
But I also have another problem :(
My call won't end just when I close the flap. How can I change it ? It's so annoying to have to push the red button every time. :S

xcuse my english, I'm estonian , so I don't speak english quite well
posted 2 Jun 2010 - show 1 replies - Reply - Permanent Link
Admin Administrator Admin see #194 ...
posted 2 Jun 2010 - Reply - Permanent Link
Stina (5 posts) Stina How can I get my phone to lock the keyboard automaticly, when I close the flap ?? :((
posted 2 Jun 2010 - show 1 replies - Reply - Permanent Link
Admin Administrator Admin http://www.bootstrike.com/NSeriesN95/faq.html
see #70
posted 2 Jun 2010 - Reply - Permanent Link
Avinash (1 posts) Avinash when i took my nokia n 95 8 gb phone to nokia clinic to clean the dust which was visible in the mainscreen, the scustomer care guy took the phone to clean the dust, but when he returned back, the display had gone, only the phone was functioning, it is total black now, i cant see anything,, th eshopkeeper is saying it is not his fault..plz tel me what should i do..FYI..the phone is not under warranty now...is it the shopkeepers fault ?
posted 21 Apr 2010 - Reply - Permanent Link
Unregistered Anonymous my new nokia n95 8gb was jammed when i open...what can i do?....
posted 5 Feb 2010 - Reply - Permanent Link
Unregistered Anonymous I am not able to watch video in youtube in my phone it says that i have to download the latest version of flash player. I cannot even play onl;ien games in my phone. because i didnt have the latest flash player.. huhuhu
posted 18 Nov 2009 - show 1 replies - Reply - Permanent Link
viktor (1 posts) viktor u have to download ,,you tube videos,, from internet from nokia.com store it helped for me
posted 18 Jan 2012 - Reply - Permanent Link
Unregistered Anonymous y does t switch off wn i'm playing music as on the radio? it jus freezes then restarts....REALLY upsetting. also, is there a problem with switching battery 5f and 6f? mine needs recharging everyyday. What's up wit dat? otherwise....well done, nokia 4 this lovely gadget.
posted 7 Nov 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
Azad (1 posts) Azad I just turned on the Auto rotate option from the setting but after that set is continuously restarting (N95-8GB). I can't use the set anymore. Can you please help how can I fix the problem?
posted 7 Nov 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
maker JR (1 posts) maker JR hi there guys.. i have a major prob with my nokia n95 8gb.... when i put a sim card in it goes to(continue using phone in offline mode) but if i press no! it freezes????? and if i use it in offline mode- then if i push any key it goes to music and freezes?????? please help ppl
posted 29 Oct 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
kah (1 posts) kah i jz buy nokia n95 but cant connect wif my computer..
it say..an error occured when installing this hardware
i try many time but oso cant..hu can tel me how to fix it?
posted 29 Oct 2009 - show 1 replies - Reply - Permanent Link
Unregistered Anonymous maybe your USB cable has problem
posted 18 Nov 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
Murphy (1 posts) Murphy How to set call cost settings for nokia n95 8gb?
posted 10 Aug 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
rlj86 (1 posts) rlj86 I was browsing on my n95 8gb today and the phone just went off and I cannot get it back on at all, there is nothing there. It also doesn't acknowledge when I plug the charger in. It has done this a couple of times before but has come back on after around 10 mins or so. Is it just a case of a replacement battery needed or could it be something else. I have the firmware replased a couple of months ago so I think it is up to date.
posted 10 Aug 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
sourav ghosh (1 posts) sourav ghosh I thinkN95 8GB should include the 3d function in music players' audio setting
to have reberbration effect
posted 3 Aug 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
Weng (1 posts) Weng I cannot send messages because it says that it's memory is full while I still have 7671 MB unused memory, and it says that I have an open application which is there is a call on standby and wlss. keyboard open... Help! Icannot find where to close those application after having checked it with my manual.
posted 28 Jul 2009 - show 2 replies - Reply - Permanent Link
Admin Administrator Admin press and hold menu key to view open apps. see http://www.bootstrike.com/NSeriesN95/faq.html
posted 28 Jul 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
Kee (1 posts) Kee By default the fone uses the internal memory for messaging. Either delete some messages or change it to Mass memory in the settings.

The application running issue is probably due to some faulty applications. I had this problem too when i installed SMS preview from Ovi. Try uninstalling some applications.
posted 2 Aug 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
ramesh (1 posts) ramesh my nokia n95 display problem it is blank when the slider moves up some light comes up and completely gone within a second can u help me what is the problem

Last edited by ramesh 8 Jun 2009 .
posted 8 Jun 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
gajer76 Unregistered Anonymous why when i download more than 7 or 10 software application in n95 8gb...when i used the internet like friensdter did show the small letter of words..only the main tittle and picture or photo will show...
posted 9 May 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
Anthony Unregistered Anonymous The sound on the n95 is terrible. I use the mp3 player for listening to pod cast and it is an absolute strain to keep up with what is being said. While the sound is adequate for music, for speech it is an absolute joke. I refuse to use the phone as it such a frustration not being able to use the mp3 function. After all it is the main reason I purchased the N95. Surely a software update can be applied to allow the volume to be adjusted via a parental security code. My understanding is that he ipod has a similar type function. Nokia bad form, don't take user choice away. If someone has a solution please let me know via this portal.
Regards,

Anthony
posted 28 Apr 2009 - show 1 replies - Reply - Permanent Link
PaulM Unregistered Anonymous I feel your pain bro. If you ever find a suitable answer, please let me know...I have scoured the web w/ no luck...!
posted 28 Jun 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
John Unregistered Anonymous The camera focus button makes beeping sounds during a call when accidentally pressed. Way too soft. I wonder if all the n95 8gb's are like that.
posted 22 Apr 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
danny Unregistered Anonymous pls can some one help me i can not switch on n 95 ,its fully charged and i pressed power,call and * switch together.dont know what to do
posted 16 Mar 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
jd Unregistered Anonymous Phone is rubbish..have two of them within family and both have gone into Nokia Service within 6 months of purchase. Have lost photos and music because of faulty memory card.
Really not happy and now at the point of changing phones and no doubt having a stand off with a certain mobile shop
posted 13 Feb 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
jono Unregistered Anonymous heyy my nokia n95 8gb wont refresh my music how can this be solved?

maybe i have 2 much music on
posted 12 Feb 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
Aaron Unregistered Anonymous It's true that what you've said, I faced these problems too, and it should be more inconvenience problems. Furthermore, regarding the "
09 Can't reduce brightness of screen further to save battery",

Nokia provides the option to control the brightness and there is third party solutions like "LightCtrl" can solve the problem.
posted 6 Nov 2008 - show 1 replies - Reply - Permanent Link
Mathew Unregistered Anonymous You can adjust the screen's brightness. I discoverred this by going through the settigns on my nokia n95 8GB. You first have to go to the menu, then to tools. next to settings. In the settings go to General and within that go to personalization. In personalization go to display. In display you will see "Light sensor" click on that and then once in move the slider to the left to make the screen dimmer and to right to make the screen brighter.
posted 19 Jul 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
zl Unregistered Anonymous after about 5 months of using my n95 8 gb, suddanly the display lost brightness, i can see just the menue, near to a light source. any idea? do i have to replace the display? even after going back to the initial factory setup, or doing update , nothing changed. each time tring to open it, the display is slightly flickering , then, saty almost blac....
posted 3 Nov 2008 - show 2 replies - Reply - Permanent Link
Admin Administrator Admin backlight dead - you will need to go back to nokia care center
posted 3 Nov 2008 - Reply - Permanent Link
fell4mheaven (1 posts) fell4mheaven ribon problem buddy
posted 2 Jun 2009 - Reply - Permanent Link
woot Unregistered Anonymous Ive plugin my n95 to tv, but there's no audio.. can this be solved?
posted 24 Jul 2008 - show 1 replies - Reply - Permanent Link
Admin Administrator Admin please post in the forums
http://www.bootstrike.com/Forums/
posted 24 Jul 2008 - Reply - Permanent Link
chatty Unregistered Anonymous why is the camera light of my phone always on? the only time that it's not is when the battery is not placed..but as soon as there's the battery, even if the phone is off, the light will turn on again. :(
posted 24 Jun 2008 - show 1 replies - Reply - Permanent Link
Admin Administrator Admin It is not normal - I think a visit to a nearby Nokia Care Center is in order
posted 24 Jun 2008 - Reply - Permanent Link
nathan Unregistered Anonymous when recording video you canot turn off the anoying red record light
posted 16 Apr 2008 - show 1 replies - Reply - Permanent Link
Admin Administrator Admin no you can't - it is a privacy 'feature'
posted 16 Apr 2008 - Reply - Permanent Link
Gord Unregistered Anonymous Hi! I agree with most on your list, but would add the following from personal experience:
02) I'm very glad that midi files aren't added to the music library. They are good for ringtones and nothing else!! It would annoy me no end to have my ringtones played as part of my music listening.
11) Light sensor is used for the main display brightness as well as the keypad lights.
13) You can move sub-folders as described in this link: http://www.fwrnando.com/blog/?p=94
16) With the inbuilt browser, use the "8" key for effective scrolling around the page. It's not at all bad when you get used to it.
17) No help for the N95 8GB, but with the original N95 you can just remove the memory card, select your ring tone, then replace the card.
18) As 17.
20) Use ActiveFile. The inbuilt file manager is rubbish!
22) Bluetooth headset helps a lot with this.
23) As 22.
But yes, I agree with the vast majority of what you have observed.
Still the most amazing phone I have ever owned despite the problems you mention, by a LOOOONG way!
Have fun :-)
posted 16 Jan 2008 - show 1 replies - Reply - Permanent Link
Hair falling Unregistered Anonymous 1. Sound

When they give u 8gb, they should expect u use it! After I have stored some thousands of songs (recording of sound bits etc), the choice ringtone function ceased to function properly!!!!!
I dug around the net and ended up, after reading Item 17 above, it dawned on me: it is simply incapable of displaying, say, 3,000 titles, each time I tried to set a new ringtone, alarm sound etc.

Now it can't even show any of it's pre-installed ringtones either!


2. Sound (again)
I have subscribed to the local mobile TV (FoneTV by Smartone, Hong Kong), which worked fine on my N80 and PDA. But with this N95 8gb, something very odd happened:

If I log on to the mobile tv through a certain embedded webpage and watch it in a small embedded Realone screen, it works fine.
However, if I log on thru the dedicated address, and try to utilize the fullscreen function...
1. the screen-saver and power saver fail to disable automatically, and the screen keeps dimming, of course;
2. the sound control is disabled (they disable the wrong function?) and the sound kept at a minimun level!
3. the reception would then become unsteady too! And the streaming pauses every 15 seconds (or shorter!)

(Once again: those problems didn't exist on my other machine with the SAME card, and don't exist on my friends' other models! So it DEFINITELY is the phone's problem, not the service provider or the user (i.e. me)!)

(I have stayed up several nights to try to fix the problems, and now literally feel hair falling off my scalp -- does that count as another problem?)
posted 30 Mar 2008 - Reply - Permanent Link
Jack Unregistered Anonymous dude.. u need to know that "u gain something u lose something" esp nokia with their lousy policy. is the battery really that bad? using e61i now with batt power 1200mh, n95 8gb is 950mh. my e61i last very long. but i am interested in the n958gb.
posted 4 Jan 2008 - show 1 replies - Reply - Permanent Link
Admin Administrator Admin yep battery is bad, alot of other reviews also mention this
posted 4 Jan 2008 - Reply - Permanent Link

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