Latest Mr. Mobile video reveals the prototype of a modern Nokia N95 remake

Stipe | 07/11/2020 | Nokia, Phones | 1 Comment

In his latest episode of “When Phones Were Fun” series, Michael Fisher aka Mr. Mobile talked about the Nokia N95. The N95 was Nokia’s smartphone announced months before the first iPhone and it was marked as a device that can replace your phone, music player, TV, navigation and gives you access to the internet.

When Nokia Mobile found out what Mr. Mobile was planning to do, they sent him a prototype of a Nokia N95 remake in form of a modern smartphone.

Check out this awesome piece on Nokia N95 from @theMrMobile! We looked at a remake of this icon and also considered a vertical slide concept but the major issue here was that you could not access cameras and the speaker at the same time. Check out the sketch. What would you do? https://t.co/uIHewym3YG pic.twitter.com/7WbUawT3ld

— Juho Sarvikas (@sarvikas) November 7, 2020

The N95 smartphone prototype, that never made it to the stage of being a commercially available device, features a horizontal sliding mechanism that hides the front camera and speakers. The ring around the ZEISS-branded rear cameras cleverly takes the role of a stand, allowing the user to easily watch movies or do conference calls without the need of holding the device.

I like this idea of a device. I wouldn’t call it a new Nokia N95, but maybe say that it is inspired from N95. HMD’s CPO Juho Sarvikas in the Tweet embedded above also mentioned a vertical slide concept that Nokia Mobile considered. The question is how much value would such a form factor bring to the table? For some users it would be practical, but considering there are cases out there with kickstands it is a questionable addressable market. On the other hand, it is an interesting form factor (there are phones out there with different sliding mechanisms) and a lot of folks would appreciate some form factor smartphone diversity.

In any case, what do you think of the old and new Nokia N95? Do you think a smartphone version is a good idea? 🙂

Thanks everyone for the tips. 🙂