Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Nokia N97
The Nokia N97 is Nokia's first touch screen smart phone, and enough to keep nokia fans from switching to the coveted iPhone.
Phone Highlights
- 3.5" Touch Display
- 32GB internal storage + 16GB optional storage vis flash card
- 5 Megapixel Carl Zeiss Lens
- GPS
- WIFI, Bluetooth
- 3.5G
- FM Radio
Widgets are popular these days. Samsung and Sony Ericsson are big believers of Widgets, but the N97 has the best homepage widgets implementation that I have seen so far. On many phones, widgets are messy, but Nokia has done a good job at maximizing the use of screen space. I like the default homepage that includes Facebook, but I noticed that the widget was often out of sync with the real-time content (this is true for Exchange as well). That should be fixed. It would also be nice if we could interact with the widgets directly from the homepage, like updating a Facebook status or a Tweet from the homepage.
The Nokia N97 has a good browser, it worked with pretty much all the sites that went to, including Yahoo Finance and Google Docs. Y! Finance is usually an interesting site to try on a phone because it's hard to render on small displays. The N97's resolution is high enough to display it correctly, so that's a win. It is possible to log into Google Docs and view text documents, but sheets did not work, even in read-only mode. Adobe Flash Lite is supported. You can go on YouTube, follow links to YouTube and do things that you would normally do on a computer, without going through a YouTube "app".
During the test, I found the that average battery life was about 1.5 to 2 days with my usage (see "context" up there). Obviously, this will vary a lot depending on your own usage, but the bottom line is that most people would charge it daily, but if you forget it, you won't have a dead phone in the morning.
Nokia is playing catch up in a market that has become extremely competitive in the past couple of years. In that game and at that price, there's only one thing that really counts: the user experience. The Nokia N97 is not a "bad" phone and it doesn't deserve the some of the harsh reviews that I've seen recently. In fact, it has good hardware, great storage, and nice design.
The user interface (UI) is mostly OK, although I wish that it could be used solely with the touch display. There are inconsistencies that should be fixed and Nokia should seriously think about upgrading its user interface design by making it be more intuitive and look more modern.
Nokia fans who were anxiously waiting for the N97 will probably forgive its shortcomings, but I'm personally having a hard time to be really excited as there are excellent alternatives out there (at attractive prices). If you are already in love with the N97, I bet that you won't change your mind in light of this review and that’s OK. For those who are on the fence, I guess that you will stay on the other side.
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