It is compatible with the N-Gage 2.0 gaming platform and has a DVB-H TV tuner and AV output.

[3] However, critics had negative views on the N96's battery life and user-unfriendliness[4] and its downgraded CPU clock speed raised questions.

The general UK release date for the N96 was 1 October, although London had a separate date of 24 September, where the phone went on sale exclusively at Nokia's flagship stores on Regent Street and at Terminal 5 of Heathrow Airport.

[12] Additions: Removals: In 2008, a video commercial advertising Nokia N96 Limited Edition Bruce Lee, became viral in the internet.

The video, produced by the Beijing office of the J. Walter Thompson (JWT) agency and targeting a Chinese market, shows what looks like archival footage of Bruce Lee doing various tricks with nunchaku (playing table tennis, lighting a cigarette in another person's mouth and extinguishing thrown lighted matches mid-air).