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Here is the User Agent String of The New Nokia N95 8GB Web Browser aka ‘N95 Mark II’:

It suprises me that its almost identical to the standard N95. The mark II has a different operating system build with what appears to be a much faster CPU and FSB (based on observations of its improved performance). So I expected the OS and Hardware builds to be different.

The default web browser has many new usability features making it feel slicker and if anything, more like Opera Mini. I expected this to be reflected in the Safari or Gecko build but they are the same also.

It seems therefore that Nokia have been able to make large changes to the phone’s hardware, operating system and default browser without much difficulty and that the standard model was simply an early release. Probably for marketing or market research reasons.

I think maybe the MIDP profile could’ve been upgraded to 2.1, bringing it upto the same standard as the Sony Ericsson K850i. But that’s a minor gripe.

The Nokia N95 8GB is an amazing phone! My friend even bought it pre-loaded with Spiderman 3; hi-res in stereo sound!

Here is the User Agent String of The Nokia N95 Web Browser:

As you can see, with the final statement it identifies itself as Safari.

But IT IS NOT SAFARI!!!

Nokia Series 60 (N95 is part of this family) browsers were built using the WebKit tool. Before the release of the Series 60 a hit on a web server from a WebKit browser would almost certainly be from a genuine Safari browser (as few other WebKit flavoured browsers were in wide-spread use). For this reason the too became synonymous to many people.

So much so that even major hit-tracking applications like Google Analytics register Nokia Series 60 / N95 hits as Safari version 413.

If you see any other Safari versions listed in Google Analytics they will almost certainly be genuine Safari hits.

Quite why Nokia have decided to add to this confusion but branding their browser as Safari is unclear. Other portable devices such as the Sony Ericsoon W800 identify themselves specifically as do games consoles such as the Playstation 3.

The decision may’ve been made to prevent browser-sniffing; this is the practise of serving up different pages to different browsers.

A large part of the N95’s appeal to me was its ability to render standard web pages with rich content very well on a small screen. Perhaps Nokia think this functionality would be diminished if it were often served up with streamlined pages written specifically for a phone when the user was expecting a standard page.

Here is the User Agent String for Opera For Mobile on the Nokia N95/Series 60:

Notice how it merely identifies itself as Opera 8.65 and not Opera For Mobile; Opera 8.65 is what your should look for in your hit-tracking if you want to spot Opera For Mobile hits. Google Analytics and several other applications will lump Opera For Mobile hits in with the results for Opera in general.

Notice how it also tries to cloak itself as Internet Explorer 6 (’MSIE 6.0′), this is probably another example a mobile device trying to evade browser-sniffers to ensure they are served up regular webpages rather than ones streamlined for mobile.

Opera For Mobile has a brilliant abilty to render normal pages on a small screen, superior in my opinion to the Nokia N95’s native browser. The impact of this would be diminished if it were served with streamlined pages when the user wanted/expected regular pages.