Communication Breakdown
Communications from the world of, er, communications. And other stuff.
Thursday 4 June 2009, 5:31 PM
First impressions of the Nokia N97
I haven't spent too much time with the N97, so can only give a very sketchy first impression. And, sadly, it's not a great tale to tell.
First, some of the good news. The widgets on the home screen – the N97's big selling point – work very well. RSS feeds scroll across informatively and the Facebook app updates automatically, and the whole homescreen works as it should.
It just doesn't look very nice. Compared with the sense of order conveyed by the iPhone and Pre, the N97's homescreen looks a bit like a small, blue, magnet-covered fridge door. Perhaps that's a matter of personal taste, but if it's going up against the iPhone in particular, the N97 may be a hard sell when it comes to sheer intuitiveness and, well, cleanness.
The handset is also, in the words of a colleague, "well chunky". It reminds me quite strongly of my old T-Mobile Vario II (now three years past) in its girth. The finish on this particular version is chrome, but it's not the stainless-steel slickness of my Nokia E71, for instance. The build quality is not bad per se, but not iconically great either.
On the plus side, the keyboard slides out smoothly, and the keys are actually quite good. The handset is fairly responsive, but switching from portrait to landscape mode involves flipping out the keyboard (and enduring a noticeable lag). Recent handsets tend to do this much more naturally and intuitively using the accelerometer.
The screen is a bit of an issue. Being resistive was all good and fine three years ago, but capacitive screens are so much smoother to use. You have to push quite hard on this screen, and I kept finding myself hitting things I didn't want to hit.
I suppose another thing that bothers me about the N97 is the fact that Nokia is currently open-sourcing Symbian, which will end up as an entirely new operating system. This will probably see fruit next year, and the N97 feels a bit like a stop-gap between the past and the future.
I wanted to love the N97 – I really did. And it's not a bad phone at all. It's just that, for a £500 handset that's going up against what will probably be a worthy revision of the iPhone (and perhaps a very good Pre – need to check that out) I just feel a bit disappointed.
Anyway, it goes on sale here in the UK on the 19th of this month. And, who knows, perhaps a lengthier play with the N97 would reveal its hidden awesomeness. But for now, with a heavy heart: "Meh."
PS - I should add that I was no fan of the N95 or N96 either, particularly because of the plasticky builds. The N97 feels better than those handsets, but it can't match the elegant solidity of the E71 - the handset that made me like Nokia smartphones again.
PreviousComments on this post
A lot of personal tastes in yr article, u wernt a fan of N95 yet it sold 7 million+
Another thing to add now is "The worthy revision of the iphone" isnt that worthy after all, the 3G S falls short of N97 in so many areas - just compare the specs!
As I said above, this is a sketchy first impression, and a device as personal as a mobile phone will always be subject to personal opinion.
Worth noting, nonetheless, that even the top-spec iPhone 3GS is cheaper than the N97. It has a much better screen and it'll give you access to many more good apps, too.
On the other hand, the N97 probably has a better camera - it certainly has a flash, unlike the iPhone - and has expandable memory.
Just thought i chip in this info
"even the top-spec iPhone 3GS is cheaper than the N97"
N97 unlocked (32GB) costs £499.99 on play.com (releasing soon)
Top spec Iphone 3G S (32GB) will cost £538.30 on 02 (trustedreviews.com News): Therefore locked iphone costs more than unlocked N97 (Ironic also since unlocked phones generally cost more)
On an 18 month Contract (via same webst)
Top Spec Iphone 3G S (32GB) will cost £175.19 on £44.05/month o2 Tariff
N97 (also 32GB) will cost FREE on £45/month Vodafone.co.uk 18 month tariff
Although they are on different carriers, the 3G S is significantly more expensive than N97.
"It has a much better screen"
Although I havnt used it, N97's 640x360 resolution seems better than last year's 480x320 iphone 3GS resolution at least on paper.
I agree, in retrospect, with the comment about cost - I wrote that before seeing the actual SIM-free cost of the iPhone, and had initially thought it would be cheaper.
On the screen, however, resolution is not really the issue. The N97 uses a resistive touchscreen, while the iPhone's is capacitive. Having used both, the iPhone's screen is more responsive and generally easier to use. Having to push down on a resistive screen feels a little old-school by comparison - plus it doesn't do multitouch.
David, your bias against this device is astounding. I've done a lot of research on this device, and have found several genuine weaknesses, but you've chosen to simply focus on negative aspects of the design while ignoring the positive. For example, you take issue with its resistive touch screen, but ignore the fact that capacitive screens have serious drawbacks such as: capacitive screens contribute to cost and power consumption (even while the device is "sleeping," it's sucking up 70 micro amps of energy, which contributes to a lower battery life, which is a serious shortcoming with the iPhone since as we know, Apple doesn't allow its users to swap out spare batteries).
You also ignore one big advantage of resistive screens: no direct skin contact is necessary. You can use a stylus or other input device, which allows people who may be physically challenged to use the device. Not to mention it has a physical keyboard, which is infinitely more precise than floaty touch-screen technology (capacitive or otherwise).
You claim that you wrote the comment about cost "before seeing the actual SIM-free cost of the iPhone" and that you had initially "thought it would be cheaper." You mean you wrote that before doing any research about the actual SIM-free cost of the iPhone, and you made assumptions about the cost based on your preconceived notions and biases.
Your dig at Nokia's commendable move to make its operating system Open Source seems like you're trying hard to find flaws with the device and company, which I don't have a problem with (you're entitled to your subjective opinion), but you don't even back up your grievance with Open Source with any cogent reasons for disliking it. You simply state that the OS "will end up as an entirely new operating system." Is that necessarily bad? Why or why not? You didn't even attempt to answer this question, only left the reader asking more questions.
This is a poorly written and sloppy article.
A screen drawing 70 micro amps would take roughly 2 years to drain a pretty-much-standard 1200mAh battery, so not all that significant in the scheme of things. Not showing a little bit of bias there yourself are you? ;-)
Thanks for your comments, maddox_bpitu.
Some people may like stylus input on a small-screened handset, but I've not met many of them - almost everyone I know sees a stylus as an unnecessary complication when a phone should be easily workable with one hand.
I do agree that physical keyboards are a good thing, and - as my post says - the N97 has a very good implementation of this, too.
Fair cop on my assumptions about the iPhone 3G S's price - I wrote that comment just hours before I found out the true cost (keep an eye out for more stories on that subject, by the way). Still, £500 is a lot to pay for the iPhone, and it's certainly a heck of a lot to pay for the N97.
I have no grievance whatsoever with open source - as a cursory glance through previous posts of mine would show - nor with Nokia going open source. I think they're doing absolutely the right thing.
My point was that the N97 is the last flagship device that Nokia will be releasing using Series 60 as we know it. Firstly, this makes me go 'aw, I wish we were playing with the new open source OS instead' - especially given Android's current in-store existence - and secondly it makes me wonder whether developers will bother to address a device like the N97 when their new apps may not carry across to the next generation.
The tone of my post does not reflect bias, but rather disappointment. I wanted the N97 to make me go 'wow'. It did on paper, but not in the flesh.
The "new" iPhone 3GS (oooooo they added an "S") is really a major anticlimax.
It looks the same as the old iPhone, does pretty much the same stuff, and adds nothing revolutionary into the mix.
A 3MP camera, more memory and 3G does not make the iPhone anything more than the Nokia N95 8GB was to the original N95.
On that note - having been an N95 owner and user for 2 years now, it is an incredible phone which in my opinion STILL gives the iPhone something to think about. The Carl Zeiss 5MP camera alone is reason enough.
In my opinion the iPhone is all hype.
It is essentially a device that can FINALLY copy and paste, and FINALLY record video, years after such features were to be found on the N-Series and other worthy smartphones. And whats that I hear, still no video calling?
The Apple website says of the iPhone 3Gs: "Record video in portrait or landscape"!!!!! WOOHOOO!!! Oh wait, I could already do that on my N95.
So if the N95 could put up half a fight, the N97 will trash the iPhone hands down.
Of course loyal Apple iPhone fans will blah on about how the iPhone looks so sleek and cool and oooohh look at how I can zoom into Google Earth with 2 FINGERS!!
And thats about all that the iPhone has going for it.
