I've been using Nokia's N95 cellphone over the past few weeks (see July 2007 NZ PC World for a full review). There's no denying the engineering achievement of packing 3G Broadband cellular, Bluetooth, wi-fi, FM radio and GPS chips into a mobile that weighs a mere 120g (a Palm Treo 680, by contrast, is 154g). It's a genuine James Bond gadget (with genuine Martini pricing: $1599).

And that camera! FIVE megapixels, or a million more than my splashy Panasonic Lumix FZ10. Actually, speaking of the Lumix, it's jumbo size Leica lens means I don't usually pack it for casual outings, and I've been in the market for a compact camera. But do I even need one now that I've got a Nokia N95, with its 5mP camera? Especially given it's got frills like four ISO settings?

Well, yes. The N95's weak flash means you need excellent lighting conditions to get photos that look like they've been taken on a 5mP camera. But the thing that really got me was the shutter lag, or having to wait a second after you click for a picture to be taken. This was a big issue for early digital cameras, but hasn't been for so long I'd forgotten about it. Speed is the N95 Archilles' heel overall. All software menus take just a beat too long to appear or refresh.