




Review:
The Nokia N97 is definitely the phone that should blow the nearest competition away. It features a full touchscreen QWERTY keypad and a massive 32GB of internal memory. This does place the phone in a totally different league. The Nokia N97 features a decent sized 3.5″ LCD display with a brilliant resolution. The camera, always a Nokia strong point, is a 5.0 megapixes with the high quality Carl Zeiss optical lens. That should ensure that you dont have to carry another camera with you again. Connectivity is excellent, supporting high speed internet via Bluetooth, GPS and ofcourse Wi-Fi. The Nokia N97 is turning out to be a multimedia masterpiece and gives you unrivalled power and features all right at your fingertips.
The massive 32GB internal memory does ensure that your whole music collection travels with you all the time. You can expect to store around 8,000 full length tracks on the phone. Ofcourse the memory can be further increased by a further 16GB if needed with the Micro SD slot, to end up finally with a mind blowing 48GB.
The 3.5″ LCD display is a treat to watch full lenght videos and seeing your high resolution photos.
The GPS is a handy tool for those lost in the town centre or to locate the nearest sushi bar. Handset now comes preloaded with maps. The Maps also have an enviably huge database of restaurants, petrol stations etc inbuilt onto the phone.
The sliding mechanism to expose the QWERTY keyboard on the phone is quite unique as well. It does look like its hacked up bit, but the mechanism is quite sturdy and should last the phones life.
The N97 is the latest in the N-Series of phones, which have been hugely popular the last few years. It is also the first to feature both a touch screen and a full QWERTY keypad.
All new Nokia phones now use the Symbian operating system. So you will be able to download the latest versions of loads of Symbian supported softwares onto the phone. Including Skype and Fring. Skype will let you talk to your friends on the phone without having to use up your inclusive minutes. Fring is another software that works on the N97 which is a mashup of all the existing VOIP providers. (Do note that some providers in the UK, including O2 & Orange, do not support VOIP on 3G. You can use the full features only when in WiFi. The Three network does let you use all the features on its 3G network, data package permitting ofcourse.)
The N97 also hooks straight into the Nokia Ovi store. The Ovi store provides content and apps to Nokia supported phones. The Ovi store recently took over the role of the N-Gage gaming platform, which means you can now download games straight from the Ovi.
Pic: Ovi loading on Nokia N97
iPhone 3GS vs N97:
The N97 and the iPhone are both built with a different philosophies in mind. So comparing the two, one on one on features would not be the right way to compare them.
The N97 is way ahead of the iPhone as far as technical features are concerned. However the user experience on the iPhone is better.
It is important to note that the Nokia N97 supports multi-threading. The Symbian that runs on the N97 is a ‘proper’ operating system. The operating system on the iPhone is a bit primitive.
What that means in lay man terms is that, when you open a software (say Skype) on the N97 and minimize it, the process then runs in the background and does not exit. It is a surprising but true fact that the iPhone 3GS does not yet support multithreading. So if for example you log into Skype on your iPhone and then say move to browsing, technically the Skype process is killed off and you are logged out of the Skype. You will need to log back in explicitly to Skype again if you want to use it. The iPhone has now come up with the concept of notifications where a process can notify you of any events that might have occured whilst the process has been deactivated. This is especially a problem when handling incoming VOIP calls. Well you would not receive it on the iPhone if you have not physically opened the software and hence made it active. The notification feature though, is as yet miles away from solving this major issue on the iPhone. Apple does work hard to keep this problem neatly hidden from the external users, by compelling the iPhone app developers to ensure that this issue is not too clearly made known to the user.
However it should be noted that the iPhone does the simple things it does really well. The GPS on the iPhone that plugs into Google Maps is a lot easier to use than the N97 maps (especially with the compass showing you the direction of sight). The iPhone once you start using it, is highly addictive and tough to let go off. The Nokia N97 unfortunately does not have this wow factor.
Video tour of Nokia N97:
Specification:
- Full touchscreen and QWERTY keypad
- 3.5″ display screen
- 32GB internal memory
- 5.0-Megapixel Camera with Carl Zeiss Optical Lens
- A-GPS and rich maps facility
- Wi-Fi
- Dimensions: : 117.2 x 55.3 x 18.33mm
- Weight: : 150g
- Talk Time Up To: : Up to 400 minutes
- Standby Time Up To: : Up to 430 hours
Features:
- 32GB internal Memory
- Touchscreen
- QWERTY keypad
- Accelerometer sensor for Auto Rotate
- 5.0-megapixel camera
Summary: Great phone. Technologically way ahead of the crowd. Will it be an iPhone beater? Well only time can tell. Watch this space.
Click here for Nokia N97 deals from OBIL.co.uk
| SAR: : tbc |
Dimensions: : 117.2 x 55.3 x 18.33mm |
Weight: : 150g |
Talk Time Up To: : Up to 400 minutes |
Standby Time Up To: : Up to 430 hours |