I'm not a big fan of product facelifts or minor upgrades. But in the case of the N95 8GB, Nokia seems to have addressed many of the elements overshadowed its predecessor's "almost perfect" standing.

Physically, this "enhanced" model looks and feels pretty much the same as the original N95 release - with the exception of a notably-bigger display (the sides of the top slider section is now flush with the lower), slightly-modified designs for the nav-pad (the set of buttons below the LCD) and media controls, and the moving of the LED flash to the left hand side of the Carl Zeiss lens (most probably to improve illumination performance). In short, these changes can only mean a better product for the end user.

On the inside, the 8-gigabyte worth of storage is the obvious headline feature here (if you hadn't noticed) - but does away with the ability to use external memory cards with smartphone. As irrelevant as the latter may be, given the vast amounts of internal memory available to the N95 8GB, losing the ability to work with 'memory cards' in general - especially for the phone's camera application - can be a bummer, and an inconvenience, for some.

With the exception of the aforementioned, the N95 8GB retains the same outstanding features of its predecessor - with the addition of the following enhancements:

• a new 2.8-inch (viewable diagonal) display (up from 2.6"), and supporting up to 16 million (24-bit) colours;
• support for a higher-capacity battery cell (BL-6F @ 1200mAh) - up from 950mAh for the BL-5F used for the original N95;
• the pre-loading of the new N-Gage application, providing access to the new online gaming service (to be available globally in November 2007); and
• an 8-gigabyte internal (flash-based) memory area for media-based content (for other content, such as PIM-based data and applications, these are restricted to the phone's 100MB dynamic memory area).

An ETA of Q4 has been given to the "second edition" N95. For those who've held off on the first-gen model, this is most definitely a worthwhile consideration. And as for existing N95 users, like myself, upgrading to the 8GB version is a probable option - but probably not worth the while, given the high price tag of this reigning Nseries flagship.

Resources: General product pages (Nseries.com) | General product pages (Nokia.com) | Technical specifications

At Nokia's 'Go Play' gatherings in London, Guangzhou and Singapore (did I miss any?), Nokia pulled off another first. But this time, it was the type that lacked the "wow" factor expected of such events...

Just as the rumour mills had predicted several weeks ago (being information that I'd rather keep to ourselves until it becomes official), Nokia was going to bring to life two new Nseries models - specifically, the N81 and N95 8GB. While the second one may sound like a likely upgrade to an existing model, with the rather-curious "8GB" suffix, it is the first model - or two models - that should raise some eyebrows.

The N81 isn't just "a" model - it's two! Yep, that's right - a straight N81 with external memory (microSD) support, and a N81 8GB with the described internal memory (flash-based) - just like what the N95 upgrade gets too. And this is the one and only feature that differentiates the two apart.

Why two models and not just the one? A valid question - but the answer may simply be "choice". While the N81 8GB comes with a vast amount of internal memory only, and to be sold at a slightly higher price point (of around 430 Euros), the straight-flavoured version will allow for a choice in memory capacity and be priced 70 Euros less. I guess "take your pick" would be Nokia's intending statement here...

So, anyway, what makes the N81 range so special? For starters, many may feel this is an upgrade to the now-rather-pathetic N80 model - which, I believe, is partially true. Nokia has passed some of these features along to this latest release, as well as the following editions:

• a 2.4-inch QVGA (240-by-320-pixel) display showing up to 16 million colours, and usable in both portrait and landscape (camera / gallery / gaming) modes;
• a 2.0-megapixel camera for imaging, and supporting QVGA @ 15fps video recordings;enhanced D-pad offering additional music playback controls, which also illuminates accordingly;
• integrated stereo FM radio receiver (with Visual Radio support) and stereo handsfree speakers;
• a multi-purpose 3.5mm jack compatible with the included multi-functional headset (as well as standard audio ones) and the optional Nokia-issue AV cable;
• USB 2.0 connectivity - done through the N81's new Micro USB interface, a smaller-sized socket variant - and supporting Mass Storage Device support too;
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR and A2DP (wireless stereo audio) support;
• user interface upgraded to Series 60 (S60) Third Edition, Feature Pack 1 - which includes a vast list of improvements;
• built-in N-Gage gaming experience - thanks to the pre-loaded app and the online service going live in November (possibly, by the time the N81 makes it to market); and
• two additional soft buttons, located just above the display on both sides of the earpiece, which have been specifically implemented for gaming use.

And not forgetting, of course, the external-memory-only nature of the 'N81' (supporting microSD cards of up to 4GB in capacity), and the 8-gigabyte internal-only memory configuration of the 'N81 8GB'.

Take note also, for those who are wary of data support - the N81 Family knows nothing about HSDPA (or 3.5G), which came as a rude shock to me. No matter how Nokia wants to see it, I just can't think of any logical reason why they chose such an exclusion. If it came down to differentiation, my response would be: "it's an Nseries smartphone, no HSDPA?!"

Both the N81 and 'N81 8GB' are expected to ship sometime during the fourth quarter.

Resources for 'N81': Nseries.com | Nokia.com | Technical specifications
Resources for 'N81 8GB': Nseries.com | Nokia.com | Technical specifications