Nokia N91

Nokia N91
3G phone with 4GB of music storage (08/06/2006)Nokia's music phone, the N91, is big in two senses. It has a huge (for a phone) 4GB of internal storage, and physically it's a large beastie.

Dealing with the latter characteristic first, dimensions of 113mm tall, 55mm wide and 22mm thick make the N91 feel like something of a blast from the past in the hand and the pocket. The weight, at 164g, puts it on the heavy side for a handset too.

If size and weight are not the most positive of characteristics, the large amount of built-in storage is precisely the opposite. The N91 is first and foremost a music phone, and that 4GB of storage capacity is enough for hundreds of tunes.

Running the Symbian Series 60 software has not stopped Nokia catering for media synchronisation through Windows Media Player 10. You can also use Nokia's own PC Suite to share music and synchronise with Outlook, or simply connect the N91 to your PC with the provided USB cable and drag and drop files between handset and computer.
On-device music controls are placed on the front of the handset beneath the screen and are large and easy to access. Slide these down and the number pad is revealed.

Music sound volume and quality are both excellent for a mobile phone. The headset comes in two sections, with a remote controller and voice call microphone separated from the earbuds themselves, and both using 3.5mm connectors so you can substitute your own preferred headset.

Music playback pauses when calls come in and carries on from where it left off when you end a call. There is even stereo output via Bluetooth if you have a headset that caters for this.

It isn't all about music, of course. A 2-megapixel stills and video camera sits on the back of the casing, an FM radio with twenty presets and Visual Radio support is built in, and all the usual Series 60 fare for managing contacts and calendar items and suchlike is also here.

The N91 is a 3G handset, but there is no front-facing camera for video calls. This seems like a weird omission in what is in other ways such a multimedia-rich handset. We find it hard to believe that Nokia couldn't have found room for a front camera in such a chunky handset.