Truly gone are the days of monochromatic PCN-only phones with no predictive input and Ni-Cad batteries that were charge-phobic. Today's mobiles are all-in-one machines, and while the technologies of 3G, phone imaging and multimedia playback continue to develop, eager beavers looking for the definitive convergent device now have one new option to consider--the Nokia N90. But is the N90 up to the mark?

Design
We'll say it from the off: The N90 is huge. At a hefty 173g and measuring 112 x 51 x 24mm, this handset isn't pocket- or (in some cases) palm-friendly by any means. Due to the length of the handset, the microphone is positioned a tad too low to effectively pick up our voice during calls, while the bulk and weight of the handset make it somewhat uncomfortable to hold, particularly for those with petite hands.

The N90 certainly feels top heavy when opened, and trying to flip open the clamshell with one hand is a test of dexterity in itself, especially since it locks slightly when at a right angle before you can open it fully. Despite several moving parts, build quality is still commendable. On the other hand, the swiveling camera section tends to be accidentally twisted a little too often for our liking, especially when trying to flip open the phone or remove from our pockets.

Decked in a classic Nokia silver-black combination, the N90 looks perfect for corporate briefcases. The build itself is similar to those of Nokia's Communicator series fame, which translates into sturdy, high-quality construction. A rubber bung at the base of the phone prevents damage to the screen when closing the handset.

Somewhat similar to Samsung's P730, the screen of the N90 can be twisted perpendicular to the handset to mimic the operation of your camcorder. Give the screen a quick swivel and the camera mode is activated. In this mode, the two soft keys above the display are dedicated to menu access.

Of particular note is the additional five-way joystick located on the side of the handset together with the dedicated camera button. This joystick enhances the phone's extra operations, including opening and reading of incoming messages, changing user profiles, controlling volume and navigating camera menus. However, it feels slightly loose and is probably more susceptible to wear and tear.

Apart from the usual calling and incoming alert information, the 65K-color, 128 x 128-pixel external LCD display also scrolls the song currently being played on the RealPlayer software, with support for track names in other languages such as Chinese. The internal 2.1-inch, 352 x 416-pixel screen flaunts menus and photos in excellent 262K colors, though considering the size of the handset, the display could have been larger to fully maximize the real estate.

While the logically mapped buttons are mostly flushed yet clearly separated by raised ridges between keys, they can be pretty stiff. Also, the tactile feedback felt upon pressing a key doesn't always mean the button press has been registered by the phone. As a result, sometimes you get missing inputs or mis-spelt words during texting.

Lacking a camera lens cover, dirt and fingerprints may collect at the groove and surface of the lens glass. Also, the rubber cover for the headset and data cable is fully detachable, so occasional cleaning may be necessary.

Features
Similar to Nokia's other high-end 3G phone, the 6680, the N90 boasts an active standby screen feature. Taking a cue from Windows Mobile-powered PDA-phones, you can preset five programmable shortcut icons to your favorite applications, as well as view events on your calendar and the current running applications. As with other Symbian-based phones, you can access current running applications by holding onto the blue menu soft key below the pad.

In terms of PIM applications, you get the default spread of functions such as calendar, contacts, to-do list and alarm clock, as well as a push email client with support for opening of attachments such as JPEG pictures, PowerPoint slides and Word documents.

Unfortunately, the biggest gripe we have with the N90 is also a major one. Succinctly put, the phone is surprisingly slow. Simple, everyday actions like navigating through menus, typing messages and opening applications seem laggy and unresponsive. Having taken excellent pictures, our audience had lost interest by the time the gallery is loaded and ready to be viewed. At least video and audio playback does not seem to suffer from the same issues. All in all, the experience of using the phone is significantly dampened since the ease of use and user-friendliness of a mobile depend a lot on the operating system and its speed.

The 3G-enabled N90 supports automatic switching between 2G/3G modes and triband GSM networks, which basically means you're all set and connected almost everywhere in the world. The experience of 3G Web surfing here is comparable with other 3G-enabled phones in the market, such as watching online videos and news broadcasts.

To do video calling, you have to wait until the video call is put through before twisting the screen into camcorder mode so the opposite party can see you. Video calling with our test unit (Sony Ericsson Z800i) was generally smooth and enjoyable despite its slight audio lag. Intelligently, the powerful photolight automatically turns on during a video call when there is insufficient light. Like the 6680, the N90 also supports video sharing for one-way live video or video clip sharing within the voice call. This means that users can start a voice call with another 3G-enabled party and then add a video feed in the midst of the conversation. (Note: The video-sharing function may require activation by the service provider. Please check with your respective mobile operators for more info.)

While the N90 isn't the first camera-phone capable of 2-megapixel snapshots (1,600 x 1,200 pixels), it employs the much-renowned Carl-Zeiss lens also found in digital cameras such as Sony Cyber-shots. Together with autofocus, 20x digital zoom and an integrated flash, the picture quality is excellent by today's camera-phone standards and rivals those of other high-end peers like the Sony Ericsson K750i. For real close-up shots, the macro mode does the job, too. You can also set brightness, self-timer, white balance, color tones and scene settings like Scenery, Portrait, Night and Sports.

Note that when taking self-portraits by swiveling the camera lens toward you with the clamshell closed, you'll find yourself controlling the camera using your fingers instead of your thumb since the external joystick is now on the left side of the handset. Video recordings at CIF resolution (352 x 288 pixels) in MP4 format are smooth and definitely viewable on a computer, if somewhat grainy. Throw in video and still image editors and the Movie Director software, and you have one mean multimedia machine.

The proprietary Nokia headset is meant to be worn hanging around your neck like a necklace, and the lengths of the wires are adjustable. Music playback using the preinstalled RealPlayer supports multiple formats including the de facto MP3, AAC, Real Audio and WAV. Sadly, you cannot control music playback unless it's the active application on the main screen when closed. Even then, only the volume can be raised or lowered, not the skipping of tracks or stopping the music. While the tunes turn out lacking a little bass, overall sound quality is decent and should be good enough for most casual listeners who just want music on the commute. The lack of an FM tuner is a slight letdown, though.

Connectivity options are another strong asset of the N90. Nokia's XpressPrint software supports direct printing via Bluetooth to a compatible printer, or via USB cable to a PictBridge-enabled printer. We didn't encounter any problems when using the N90 with our test printer the HP Photosmart 475.

Photos can also be easily transferred to a computer when stored on the included 64MB RS-MMC card, which supplements the internal 31MB of dynamic shared memory for your contacts, messages and applications. Note that this hot-swappable RS-MMC slot is of the dual voltage variant, which means that while you can use the packaged card on other phones using RS-MMC, the N90 can use only dual voltage cards.

The preinstalled 3D snooker game runs very smoothly and is rather engrossing, though it lacks any tournament mode for continued progressive play. The N90 also features voice commands, voice recorder and an integrated handsfree speaker, with all functioning well. While push-to-talk functions are available on the N90, the feature has yet to be supported by local operators.

Performance
Besides video calling, normal calls are faultless as usual and volume is sufficiently loud. On the negative side, the 760mAh Lithium-ion battery seems underpowered for such a multimedia-heavy phone. True enough, during the testing period which included roughly an hour of MP3 playback on the train and the odd gaming and surfing session, the battery rarely lasted over two days before going flat in a jiffy.

Conclusion
Surely you didn't expect this phone to come cheap, and you'd be right. At S$1,188, only the tech-hungry and well-to-do need apply. For that money, what you get is a beast of a mobile, jam-packed with the latest technologies and all the bells and whistles. If you can look past its sluggish operating speed and sub-par battery life, the N90 may just be your ticket to phone heaven.