For some time now Nseries users have been complaining about the slow speed when transferring files using the USB cable.  As indicated in this previous post, this slow performance was caused by the 0.8MB/s transfer speed when reading/writing to either internal memory (N95 8GB, N81 8GB) or memory card (The rest of the Nseries). Even The Symbian Guru indicated this in this post right here. Stating that: “Unfortunately for the N95-4, syncing media is usually a torturous experience. This is primarily due to its inability to transfer data above USB 1.1 speeds. What that roughly translates into is a “slow as a slug” data transfer rate. USB 1.1 data syncing through the mini-USB cable is single handedly the most crippling aspect of the N95-4 and Nokia should’ve known better than to release a Flagship Nseries handset with such limited data syncing bandwidth.”  In comes the N96, which reportedly has improved performance quite a bit. Let’s find out if any of this is true.

First up is the N96’s built-in 16GB memory. Using HD Tach, this is what we get:

This clearly shows how dramatically the N96 has been improved when it comes to transfer speed, beating even the Internet Tablets. With an average speed of about 8.5 MB/s  and even a burst speed of 9.2 MB/s , it’s fast!

Let’s see what type of numbers we can get once we use a microSD card.  I used the 2GB microSD card that was included with the N82, since my N96 sample didn’t come with the included 8GB microSDHC card. I also didn’t have my  16GB microSDHC card with me, but this test will be updated soon.

Even with the slow 2 GB microSDHC card, we still see the N96 lead the pack at 5.2MB/s. My guess is that with faster cards you will actually see higher number. So, with the N96 it actually makes sense to buy one of those faster “Ultra” branded cards.

Conclusion

Nokia has dramatically improved the N96 data transfer speed via USB, this is for both the internal 16GB and memory card, beating all previous Nseries devices, including the Internet Tablets that, that until now held the performance crown. If your planning on getting the most out of  the N96,  it actually makes sense to buy one of those “Ultra” branded cards as the N96 will definitely squeeze every drop of performance out of it. Hmm, I wonder how the N85 will perform…