In the tightly fought battle for smart phone supremacy, Nokia's N-series has been making inroads in popularity. Having recently taken the Apple iPhone 3G through its paces, we were especially interested to see how the newest addition to the N-series, the N96, measured up.

The first thing that stood out was the interesting slide design, with the phone being able to slide both up and down. The screen also grabs your attention immediately, closely followed by the worry over the smudges that would inevitably appear on it.

However, the screen itself is rich in colour and of high quality; from the menus to the video playback, everything looks stunning.

The keypad is another area that many phones fail to excel in. The N96 has large, easily accessible keys for those of us with fat fingers. The one niggle is that the keys around the end call/red button is too close. This might not seem like a big problem but occasionally one can accidentally hit the red button when using an application, resulting in it closing down.

Whereas Apple has opted for definitive stylish approach, Nokia's N-series is more focussed on the features — and the N96 has plenty of those.

These include GPS, which is quickly becoming a standard feature on smart phone much as the camera had earlier. The GPS functionality also has a backup mode that makes use of cellphone towers.

Then there's the addition of a kick-stand on the phone to prop it up when watching videos. This is a welcome and useful feature — not only for video playback, but for digital TV as well. First seen on previous iterations, the built-in digital TV tuner allows one to pick up DSTV mobile — provided you have a subscription of course.

For those wanting to use the N96 as a modem, there's the option of HSDPA, 3G, EDGE or good old-fashioned GPRS. The N96 also features a full html web-browser for those wanting internet on the go.

Storage is another area that cellphones are making leaps and bounds in. With 16GB of memory, there is more than enough space on the N96 to record hours of video and thousands of pictures.

As far as battery life goes, the N96 isn't exactly phenomenal when you use it constantly, but standby duration should be more than enough for most users.

All taken into consideration, the N96 is a great addition to the N-series and should be a serious consideration for those looking for a smart phone. With a variety of applications available to download in both Java and Symbian flavours, the ability to watch digital TV and the wide array of other features, the N96 certainly has a head-start on other smart phones.