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298 of 308 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost perfect phone for even the most discriminating users...almost, May 22, 2009
This review is from: Nokia N97 Unlocked Phone, Touchscreen, 3G, 5 MP Camera, A-GPS, 32 GB, MicroSD Slot, and Integrated Ovi Applications--U.S. Version with Warranty (Black) (Wireless Phone Accessory)
Hello and thank you for reading this review.
I am a phone app developer and have had some 'face time' with the Nokia N97. I'll let you know some of the more in depth details so you can decide if this is the right phone for you or not. There are many positive features about this phone, but a few potential pitfalls for power users as well. Average users will probably never notice any of the pitfalls, but probably will never use some of the best features of this phone either to justify the cost.
This is the new Nokia flagship phone and it packs almost every feature anyone could ever want. It has a DVD quality camcorder with sample videos found here:
http://www.vimeo.com/4352001
Notice how well the mic picks up the creeks of the boats in Monte Carlo, and how rich the colors look. That is due to the Carl Zeiss lens Nokia has put in. The quality is also great and can be sent directly to the TV via the TV out cable, but I would recommend making a DVD from the memory card as the quality of the cable isn't as good as the DVD quality this phone provides. Video starts up quickly, which is an improvement from the previous versions.
The pictures taken by this phone are of very good quality. Many consumers are fooled by 'megapixels' (mp). Well folks, after 5mp or so, mp doesn't mean much. All it does is make your picture size better, it does NOT increase the QUALITY. I assume most of us aren't pro graphic artists that need huge pictures to zoom in on the most minute detail, and if you are, then you probably don't need this review :P
The lens and picture quality of this phone is superb, but not as good as the Samsung 8 sadly. It is by far tho, one of the best mobile phone cameras around. You can notice some problems in darker areas and they went with a dual LED flash instead of the Xeon gas flash. The Xeon gas flash would have provided much better lighting in low light situations, however as a phone enthusiast I feel it's good enough.
View sample images from thesymbianblog.com:
http://vaibhavsharma.wordpress.com/files/2009/05/nokia-n97-camera-photo-sample-01.jpg
and
http://vaibhavsharma.wordpress.com/files/2009/05/nokia-n97-camera-photo-sample-03.jpg
Judge for yourself.
This phone is a TRUE smart phone OS which means you can download apps for it such as VPN software to connect to your office network and apps such as PUTTY or RDP clients to remote control real computers at the house/office. With 3G speeds the potential is limitless.
Now for the bad. Nokia decided to use the old ARM II CPU found in the N85, 95, etc. phones but increased the clockspeed (mhz) slightly. We were looking forward to the new TI cpu which would have provided much better speeds, at the cost of battery life. They also stuck with 128mb ram with about 80mb available after boot up. I don't know about you but after I load up all of my apps and get cranking, I eat that up. I was able to notice some slow down in the pre-build when I:
-opened up several websites w/ flash content
-ran the music player
-opened up 'widget' applications
-tried basic functionality
Most users will probably never do that. If you are a power user, then you probably already know about the Samsung Omnia HD which boasts of similer features, but also the new faster CPU and dedicated GFX chip which means you can play Ipod type 3d games with ease. The final point is with the potentially underpowered CPU, you will not be able to play the super high resolution videos the Samsung can play.
Finally this phone has the slower 3G speeds which don't reach 7mbps, will you need 7mbps? Probably not. I think for 99% of users, the current 3G speeds offered by this phone are fine.
I tried out the phone and pre-ordered, I can't wait to get it. I can't wait to develop some 'widget' applications for it and really see the power of this phone with the newer more stable build.
Thank you for reading this, feel free to respond, yell, scream, or ask any questions!
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77 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beauty and Brains - Together at Last!, June 18, 2009
This review is from: Nokia N97 Unlocked Phone, Touchscreen, 3G, 5 MP Camera, A-GPS, 32 GB, MicroSD Slot, and Integrated Ovi Applications--U.S. Version with Warranty (Black) (Wireless Phone Accessory)
[This is an updated review; some of the issues that existed when the N97 was first released have since been addressed. Also, I have moved some of the more elaborate details of the original text into a new review ("A Guide") that I created for the white version.]
Nokia E- and N-series phones have for some years now had, by far, more capabilities than anything else out there - but they have not always been the sexiest or had the widest mass appeal. Plus, although Nokia sell more smartphones than anyone else worldwide, they have not targeted or marketed the US market very heavily (thanks in part to our combination of non-standard wireless technologies and frequencies, consumers' focus on style over substance, and Nokia's unwillingness to cater to the fairly heavy-handed branding and crippling of functionality demanded by US network providers).
Much of that is changing with the N97. As you can see it definitely has the visual appeal. Also, its main enhancements over the most recent N-series phones (such as the N95, N96 and N85) are user interface centric:
>> 640x360 WVGA LCD
>> Touch screen
>> QWERTY keypad
>> Faster CPU (ARM11 at 420 MHz vs. 332/369 MHz in the N95/N85, and two ARM9 cores at 265 MHz in the N96)
>> Configurable widgets for the home screen
There are a couple of other improvements as well:
>> 32GB of built-in storage, µSDHC card slot for up to 32GB more (Nokia always advertise only the tested configuration, 16GB)
>> Additional sensors: Magnometer (electronic compass), Proximity
So, yes, Nokia have finally bit the dust and moved onto the post-iPhone touch screen bandwagon. But whereas Apple borrowed quite a few UI elements from the Motorola Ming, and other manufacturers in turn tried to copy the iPhone look and feel, Nokia has taken a decidely different approach: They have taken most of their new design elements from their own Internet Tablets line (e.g. exchangable home screen widgets, keypad layout, etc). They have also done so while keeping the underlying OS from their previous smartphones, Symbian/S60.
I don't care much for this direction. To this day, I would take the E90 any day over the N97, had it been released with support for North American 3G (UMTS) bands. The E90 does not have a touch screen, but does have a numeric keypad on the outside in addition to the QWERTY inside the shell -- this allows you to "type" with one hand using the native T9 predictive input, and mostly keep your eyes elsewhere while dri... eh... walking.
As it is, Nokia ended up with touch screen phones (starting with the 5800 XpressMusic) kicking and screaming - it kindof shows. The user interaction paradigm is a little odd at times -- probably mostly due to the S60 legacy. [Lipstick/pig joke deliberately omitted here]. For instance:
>> You need to double-tap on icons (once to select, once to open)
>> They still retain "soft keys" on the side to access menus an the like (though now they are located on the display itself, and occupying quite a bit of space). The home (previously "standby") screen has three soft keys; the left and middle are always "Options" and a a dial pad, while the right one is configurable ("Contacts") by default.
There are some other usability issues with this phone as well:
>> Copy & Paste functionality is a bit more cumbersome. There are no keypad shortcuts; with the keypad open, cut/copy/paste are only available via the menus! Moreover, not all text input screens have such a menu available - in which case you need to close they keypad in order to bring up a virtual numeric keypad with a context menu at the top of the screen. Or, if you use an external Bluetooth keyboard, you can press Ctrl-X/C/V.
>> The keypad layout is a little unusual at first. The navigation keys are on the left (which some gamers like, but I don't). The space bar is in an odd location on the right. Mixed alpha/numeric input is cumbersome because the digits 0-9 are "shifted" via a key on the right side of the keyboard, while the standard shift key is on the left. Plus, in some dialogs you get a helpful numeric keypad on your screen, but it defaults to text input (2=abc, 3=def, etc) rather than give you quicker access to digits! (Why, Nokia? You already have the keyboard? What are you thinking?). That said, the tactile feedback is good, not too "firm" or "clicky", but with a good feedback.
>> There is a nice E-mail status widget for the home screen, but you can only have one of these. If you have multiple e-mail accounts (e.g. for work/home), you can only monitor one of them. The same goes for some of the other widgets too.
>> Direct media controls are gone (the N95/N96/N85 had a dual slider design giving ready access to play/pause/previous/next). There is a home screen widget available, but it is hardly as convenient (e.g. if you are using an application, typing a mail, etc).
Some other limitations that I found so far when compared to their previous N-series phones:
>> The amount of available RAM (dynamic memory) available for applications is low (around 55MB, versus about 75MB in the N85/N95). UPDATE 2009-07-01: This may not be an issue after all. With the latest firmware update from Nokia, the available memory seems to have increased to about 65MB - and in general, the only time I have had a "out of memory" error was while running RoadSync, which explicitly warns that it is not compatible with this phone.
>> Adobe Reader is no longer included in the price of the phone. It is still preinstalled, but now only on a trial basis. If you want to continue using it after some days (about 3 weeks I gather), you need to purchase it - similar to QuickOffice.
>> The number of applications available for this phone is somewhat more limited; this is only the second Nokia phone to use the new S60 5th edition user interface w/touch-screen support. Although most of the older applications will still run on it, there may be some that don't. Notably, Nokia Internet Radio is not included, nor is it available for download yet. :(
>> Synchronization of phone contacts/events/todos is not yet supported on the Mac, as Nokia have not as of the time of this writing released an iSync plugin for it. (You can still synchronize with Microsoft Exchange, use the built-in "Switch" application to copy contacts from another Nokia phone, or you can transfer contacts as vCards from another phone).
>> Getting Bluetooth Stereo Audio (A2DP/AVRCP) to work with your Bluetooth car stereo is hit and miss. More on my experiences in this regard in the "white" model review.
>> The UI is generally a bit "sluggish" - moreso than my previous phone, the Nokia N85, despite a faster processor. The touch UI probably has a lot to do with this. (Then again, both the N95 and certainly the N96 did not break any speed records by any stretch of the imagination).
All that said, most of these issues are software/firmware related, and will improve over time. As it is, the N97 is perhaps the most capable phone on the planet today -- a jack of all trades, if you will. It certainly has improved over previous N-Series phones in a number of ways as well:
>> E-mail reading is dramatically improved - especially in clients with HTML support (e.g. System SEVEN). Also, because most of these integrate into the "Messaging" application, messages are listed much more nicely in the mailbox -- the larger screen is used very well here.
>> Web browsing - what a pleasure. This was the main attraction of the iPhone - but I think the N97 surpasses it. Kinetic scrolling, variable zoom, and quite a speed improvement. Of course the previous strengths are there too - the way the "Back" button brings up snapshot views of your previously viewed pages, Flash, etc.
>> The phone has quite a "solid" feel to it, without feeling like a tank.
To be sure, there are phones out there with better cameras (e.g. Samsung Pixon), more newbie-friendly user interfaces (iPhone), better support for a variety of corporate e-mail standards (Blackberry), and so on - but hardly any that have the combination of all these features in one device. The closest may be the close cousin Samsung Omnia HD, which:
>> runs the same OS, has the same screen resolution and many other features
>> has a better camera (yeah "megapixel blur" but also optics), HD video recording
>> faster CPU (600 MHz vs 420 MHz)
but:
>> does not have good support for U.S. 3G frequencies, and
>> does not have a keypad (QWERTY or otherwise).
These two shortcomings pretty much kills the Omnia HD as an alternative for me.
Also, aside from the N85, the N97 is the first Nokia phone to support tri-band UMTS ("worldwide" 3G). This means that you will get 3G speeds (mostly) where they are available: 850/1900 MHz for AT&T Wireless and other carriers in the Americas, 2100 MHz elsewhere (including Japan). That said, for complete worldwide coverage you would need "penta-band" UMTS, with the additional inclusion of 900 MHz for Europe, and 1700 MHz for T-Mobile USA. No phones currently support all of these bands. NOTE: There is also a "standard" version of the N97 for international markets, with...
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54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding phone, June 12, 2009
This review is from: Nokia N97 Unlocked Phone, Touchscreen, 3G, 5 MP Camera, A-GPS, 32 GB, MicroSD Slot, and Integrated Ovi Applications--U.S. Version with Warranty (Black) (Wireless Phone Accessory)
After having this phone, I do not know what else can possibly be done. I am a former Nokia N95 owner, and probably one of the few Nokia phone fans in the USA. Sure this phone is $6-700, and yeah it is not an iPhone but in the long run, you are paying it anyway if you are in the USA. Having an unlocked phone is fantastic because you can pretty much do whatever you want with it, use it anywhere on earth, and not have some carrier crippling your apps etc. I bought it from the nokia flagship in NYC, but I will be buying another from amazon.
The Good Stuff:
The GPS has improved over the already good GPS on the previous high end smartphones. The maps suite works good now, and if you dont like it you can always download google maps. The GPS captures fast, and works inside vehicles better than the one on my n95.
The screen is beautiful, and the phone is pretty much a little laptop. Typing takes a little while to get used to because of the offset space bar, but I got used to it in minutes. The combination of touch and keys does the best of both worlds. Touching is good for UI navigation, but lets face it typing on a touch screen really blows.
The camera is excellent as always shooting DVD like video and the 2 leds put out much more light than the previous 1. A xenon flash would be far better though, but I dont really mind. The camera has a cover that when moved, it activates the camera. Carl Zeiss lens and 5 megapixel resolution. Also a secondary camera for video chat.
The hinge sliding mechanism is very good and well engineered. I dont foresee it breaking. The battery life all depends on how much you use it and how much data you have on. If you have Fring running and doing gps etc it is going to probably only last 10 hours or so.
The web browser is great, it does flash and javascript properly. Web browsing experience is probably the only thing the iPhone has on this though.
There are a ton of unrestricted apps, and the ovi store is a good step.
The bad:
The UI sometimes bogs down. The iPhone feels slick and fast even though it is just as slow, but they are smart and make the animations smooth. The n97 just jumps from screen to screen. I am a programmer, and the one thing you do in UI is always keep something moving. There is some flack about the processor and ram, but I would prefer battery life. However it would be better if Nokia put in a higher speed processor and throttled it down when not needed.
Some key apps are missing. Sports tracker I had to find somewhere, and it is an older version but I got it working. The new version does not work. I love this app and it shows the power of Nokia phones but they foolishly left it out. Same with internet radio. I cant believe the phones do not ship with these, they are amazing apps. Not only do they not ship with them, they do not even have versions for the N97.
These gripes though I think will be fixed with firmware/time. That is the reason for the 4 star. If you want a phone that does absolutely everything conceivable, is not restricted, and does stuff years before the iPhone get this. I compare the iPhone because it seems in the USA if you do not have an iPhone you have some knockoff in other people's eyes. This is no iPhone knockoff, it beats them in most ways. The biggest thing for me is multitasking. I cannot believe the iPhone does not run apps in the background. Next year there will be iPhone 4.0 which will probably do it, and everyone will be in awe like they invented it. It is about the same dimensions as an iPhone but thicker. Slingplayer worked fine on n95 but it seems they do not have the n97 version out yet. Rest assured that when it does come out it is not going to have that stupid ATT restriction that barred it from the iPhone app store of using only wifi and not the 3g.
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