[Hands0n]

I recall that, when the Nokia N80 hype hit the streets they always showed it alongside a Credit Card to convince us that it was a bit of a tiddler. It was only a few weeks ago that I actually had one to own courtesy of the firm I am working for at the moment. My first reaction was "Bleedin 'ell, its 'kin huge!". You could not accuse the N80 of being svelte. Its a bit of a proker from all angles except directly in front.

I've been the happy owner of a Nokia 6280 from T-Mobile and always thought that it was quite tiny, if not just a bit on the thick side (I don't mean stupid). But it certainly feels smaller than the N80.

This week saw the arrival of a new Nokia N95, and it looks fairly large. I think that is mostly due to the huge screen that it sports. Everything else is tucked away under the dual slider mechanism. But tonight, seeing all three of them on the table it occurred to me that there was a bit of an optical illusion going on. Stacked up side-by-side there is hardly anything in it. A few millimetres at most, with the 6280 being the narrowest.

But in terms of thickness and length there truly is nothing in it at all worth mentioning! I was surprised. It does rather seem that these S60 smartphones are destined to be behemoths in comparison to the likes of the Sony Ericsson W880i. So, is this just Nokia?

Apologies for the quality of the image, I rushed it and the phone camera flash is not the best form of illumination but you get the idea I hope.

[Ben]

God that N80 screen is tiny! :D Big screens transform the usability of mobile phones. The N73's screen is just dribblesome, when the backlight decides to actually switch on, and I'd imagine the N95's is even more imposing.

The E65 S60 smartphone would knock the socks off that lineup, mind. It's powerful, very thin and very very sexy in red. Mmm :D No GPS or thuper-spec-camera, though, but then thin and light never did eat up on features.

[Hands0n]

Yea, I was quite staggered at the sheer lack of real estate on the N80 screen. In the hand the N95 puts it to shame, as does the 6280 even! The illusion is perfect wit the 6280 though - until you line it up with its Nokia cousins.

I agree totally on the screen size - bigger is better, within the confines of what anyone would be prepared to stick in their shirt or jeans pocket. I think these three begin to set a standard where screen dominates the handset with much of the button-work hidden beneath - hence the unavoidable thickness of the handsets. I'd like to see handsets go this way - particularly the likes of the iPhone with its virual buttons - now that could give way to the entire screen being for display - bringing up context-driven virtual buttons at screen taps as and when needed .

[miffed]

I agree , large screens make the all the difference , for this reason I have found the e61 to give the best browsing experience I have ever had in a mobile device - or at least it would be if it weren't for a few strange quirks (I suppose it IS a Nokia after all ......) ...hopefully these will be ironed out in the e61i and we will have the ultimate mobile browsing machine
.....having said that , havent had a chance to try the n95 properly yet , but I honestly can't see it being better than the e61

[Hands0n]

The N95 browser is a completely different animal to that in earlier S60 devices. It does seem to render images and text so very much better. It is easy to behold. Contrary to you [miffed] I have not tried the E61 properly, although have had one in my hands to do some serious work for the Guv. I've not been anywhere near the N73 that Ben waxes lyrical about. But it does seem to me that these three Nokias have set a new standard in screen real estate and browsing capabilities.