... I had a few different phones in mind, the Apple iPhone, Nokia N97, Nokia 5800 Xpress Music and the HTC Touch Pro, in the end I chose to buy the new Nokia N-Series phone. It was a clear choice over the iPhone because of the price, also you do not have to buy the phone AND pay a monthly contract ... Read review
Advantages: 32gb Internal Memory, Nice Looking, Full QWERTY Keyboard, 5 MP Camera Disadvantages: A Little Bulky, Price, Small Processer Makes The Phone Slow
...in mind, the Apple iPhone, Nokia N97, Nokia 5800 Xpress Music and the HTC Touch Pro, in the end I chose to buy the new Nokia N-Series phone. It was a clear choice over the iPhone because of the price, also you do not have to buy the phone AND pay a monthly contract fee with the N97.
== Buying The Phone ==
After choosing the phone I decided that I wanted to switch to contract instead of pay as you go. At the time the phone ... ...* Nokia N97 * BP-4L 1500mAh battery * Charger * USB data cable * Earphone-remote handsfree kit * Manual and warranty docs * Nokia Ovi Suite installer * Wipe cloth * Detachable stylus you can loop into the phone
'''Design -''' In my opinion the N97 looks similar to the iPhone, just a little chunkier but overall smaller in size. The exact measurements are 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm (18.25 mm ... more
Intro
Being the previous owner of a Sony Ericsson w850 for over 2 years, I decided that it was time for a mobile phone upgrade. I had a few different phones in mind, the Apple iPhone, Nokia N97, Nokia 5800 Xpress Music and the HTC Touch Pro, in the end I chose to buy the new Nokia N-Series phone. It was a clear choice over the iPhone because of the price, also you do not have to buy the phone AND pay a monthly contract fee with the N97.
Buying The Phone
After choosing the phone I decided that I wanted to switch to contract instead of pay as you go. At the time the phone was only available on the Vodafone and Orange networks, but I believe that you can get it on most major networks now. I had previously been with Orange and wasn't too impressed with their service, so I chose Vodafone, they also had better deals for the N97.
I am on a pay monthly plan of £45 p/month (18 months) which includes unlimited texts, unlimited internet and 1200 free minutes. However you can now get the phone for £40 p/month with the same plan, or a cheaper option at £35/month with 900 minutes. Whichever plan you choose the handset is completely free. These deals are straight from the Vodafone website, you can get cheaper deals if you pay partly for the handset on other websites and networks, or even pay for the handset itself and pay as you go.
Insurance from Vodafone is optional at an extra £5 per month, I personally didn't choose insurance for my phone, but a close friend who has the N97 did and wasn't overly happy with the service she received when her screen broke. She still had to pay to get it fixed, the insurance didn't fully cover her, so make of it what you will.
The process was easy and fast through the Vodafone website and I received my phone within 5 working days.
The Phone & Its Specs
The phone arrived in a neat little black cardboard box, with 'Nokia N97' in silver writing embossed on the front.
Included in the box was:
* Nokia N97 * BP-4L 1500mAh battery * Charger * USB data cable * Earphone-remote handsfree kit * Manual and warranty docs * Nokia Ovi Suite installer * Wipe cloth * Detachable stylus you can loop into the phone
Design - In my opinion the N97 looks similar to the iPhone, just a little chunkier but overall smaller in size. The exact measurements are 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm (18.25 mm at thickest point) and it weights 150g including the battery. In my opinion the phone is a little too bulky for my liking. My phone was black but you can also get it in a sleek white. The 3.5 inch screen takes up most of the front of the phone, at the bottom end is a silver menu key and send/end touch keys. Around the sides of the phone is a chrome look strip which looks very stylish and compliments the black very well. The USB connection and key lock are on the left side, the up/down volume buttons and image capture button are on right, and finally to the top of the phone is the on/off button and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Not forgetting the main camera and its cover on the very back of the phone which we will look into further on in the review.
The Screen & Keypad - As said previously the touchscreen is 3.5 inches in size and resistive. The resolution is 640 x 360 pixels, up to 16.7 million colours. I think that the touchscreen could have been better, it certainly isn't as responsive as the iPhone in that category, I sometimes find myself having to click the screen multiple times before it registers what I am trying to do. Image quality makes up for this. The phone has a full slide out QWERTY keyboard which is very useful if you are a text addict like me. The keys are also well spaced out, I hardly ever press buttons by accident because they are just the right size. The keys are well lit with a backlight, great for texting in low light conditions. In general the keypad slides out effortlessly from the main phone and I am yet to have any problems with it.
Battery Life - Something I'm not too thrilled about is the battery life, I find myself having to charge the phone every few days if not more often, I didn't have this problem with my W850 however I appreciate that the N97 needs more battery to 'do its thing'. Charging is easy, just plug the wall charger in and use the usb connection on the phone, it usually charges fully within 3-4 hours.
Memory - The phone has an amazing 32gb internal memory which can be expanded up to 48gb with a microSD card. Unfortunately the phone can't handle running multiple applications, along with widgets and everything else that comes included with the phone, I think this is down to the CPU which sometimes makes the phone slow and sluggish to use.
Sending & Receiving Texts - As said before you can send texts efficiently with the full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, you can also use the on screen touch keyboard if you prefer. There's no need to worry about deleting your important text messages, there's lots of space to keep them all, just make sure you are saving to the mass memory and not the phone memory. I made this mistake and it slowed down my phone to the point where it was near impossible to use. Overall I am impressed with the ability to save all these texts and how fast I can send them with the keyboard.
Music Player - Another one of the phones highlights, with the 32gb internal memory you can't go wrong when it comes to music. I use it as a substitute to my iPod, I can store just as many songs on the phone and upload them from my computer just as easy as I would with my iPod. Along with the Nokia music store where you can download songs from thousands of artists, which is basically iTunes but ran by Nokia themselves. There is a widget which you can download from the Ovi Store free of charge that allows you to operate the music player from your homescreen. The 3.5mm headphone jack and outer volume controls make this one of my favourite parts of the phone.
Camera - You can take photographs and shoot video with the N97, which I have found to be considerably better quality than most phones. The camera is 5.0 megapixels and takes fantastic pictures which can easily be viewed through your photo album. There are a variety of scene modes to choose from including an impressive macro mode, you can also change the contract, sharpness, brightness, flash etc. It has Carl Zeiss optics, auto focus, dual LED flash, up to 4x digital zoom and a secondary camera for video calls. You can upload your photos straight to facebook, flickr and your ovi account. I don't think there are any negative things to say about the camera.
Internet - A useful tool, especially if you have unlimited internet as part of your plan, most webpages load effortlessly and I haven't had any problems so far. The only downside is I think the browser doesn't support javascript? I have trouble loading YouTube videos and flash. The best thing about the internet connection is the constant Facebook and Twitter updates on my homescreen!
Games - Not something I use very often but I will try my best to comment. I think my phone came with a game or two included for free, possibly a guitar hero game? You can use the touchscreen or the keypad to play games. You can download games for free from the Ovi Store or pay for better quality ones such as Sonic etc.
Applications & Ovi Store - There's a good collection of applications available for the N97, most of which are free! Just sign onto the Ovi Store and see what you can find. I mainly use the 'Fring' application which allows you to connect to MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger etc on your phone, very useful. There is also an application called Qik that allows you to use the camera on your phone as a webcam.
Other features worth mentioning are: - Maps/GPS - Calendar - Bluetooth - Email - TV/video - Contacts - Clock/alarm - Calculator/currency converter - Voice recorder
Conclusion
I am overall happy with the Nokia N97, I just wish it was faster and the screen was more responsive, I think these are the only two things that make the iPhone more appealing to me. Saying that I would probably still choose the N97 anyway because of its 32gb memory and 5 megapixel camera. I have dropped the phone quite a few times now and it still isn't showing much wear and tear. The screen is extremely hard to scratch, I have even convinced myself to remove the plastic cover with no insurance on my plan! I would give the phone an 8/10 and have already recommended it to many people. There are no end of features on the phone and the widgets/applications are top notch. I look forward to seeing how Nokia can beat the N97 with their next N-Series phone!
Advantages: Good Looking, Durable, Huge Memory, Very Very Good QWERTY keyboard Disadvantages: Tiny processor leading to lag and application crashes
== The Nokia N97 ==
Nokia have announced the follow up to their 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen phone. The Nokia N97, which utilises a 3.5 inch touchscreen and slide out QUERTY keyboard.
== Appearance == The overall design of the N97 is not at all unique, looking like the lovechild of a Google G1 and Apple iPhone, comparisons have also been drawn to the AT&T Tilt, and rightly so. Despite Nokia's lack of imagination the N97 is a nice looking thing, ... ...who is familiar with recent Nokia handsets will be aware of the Symbian S60 OS, which in the N97 has been revised for the fifth time, sadly though, not completely successfully. There has been a noticeable improvement since the N95 and N96, but the reoccurrence of lag and navigation bugs leaves it falling behind the slicker iPhone. The cause of this is likely to be the lack of power provided by a processor of less than 500MHz in what is quite literally ...
Luc2oo9 01.07.2009 (13.07.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Nokia N97
...owner and user of the nokia n97 i can say i am overall very happy with the improvements that nokia have made on previous models i.e N96 and N95. Lets face it all of us who went from owning an N95 to what nokia seem to believe was a better model (N96) were extremely dissapointed as although looking good on paper the N96 failed to meet the standards of its pre- deccesor but i am glad to say nokia have redeemed themselves on the launch of the N97. There ... ...all been waiting for has nokia created something that can match up to the all powerful i-phone well the answer is unfotunately not although this is by far the best phone nokia have produced, the apps are all excellent although still few and far between they all work well on the phone and very easy to download and install. The widgets are very useul to have on this phone and as a loyal nokia user appreciated the benefits of these but once again there ...
peltonboy123 30.09.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Nokia N97
Advantages: good function, qwerty keyboard, high storage capacity (32Gb) Disadvantages: the sceen can breaks easily if handle carelessly
...i am talking about is NOKIA N97, which nokia corporation introduced into the market. This phone has bridge the gap between computer and mobile by adjusting to the world around us. The design of N97 was based on the combination of 2G and 3G network, weigh 100g as gross weight. The Tft resistive touchscreen of N97 give this phone a unique display. The presence of sensors for auto turn-off and auto-rotate, qwerty keyboard make it to be different from ... ...which make the mp3 format or polyphonic format of sound files blast sound like the home theater which bring sound quality to your ear. Amazing, its camera is 5mp with led flash, autofocus and can even record quality video for several hours. Other features that made me to buy N97 are presence of radio, can play any format of sound, wap for internet, and it even has built in GPS with map you will use to locate your bearing in an area or other region. ...
solomon028 22.04.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Nokia N97
Advantages: great screen, camera, storage Disadvantages: cost
...comes standard with all the nokia qwerks, such as n-series games etc, which also gives you the choice of getting one free full version :)
BATTERY
not incredible, but for a phone with this much goin on, its pretty darn good. we're talking about 5 hours talktime, and about 200 hours standby. again, not going to win awards, but it is fairly good for a touchscreen with all these features.
EASE OF USE
as with all nokia, its fool-proof. easy menu layout, ... ...i would definately recommend this to a friend if they have a lot of money. personally speaking, i have a smartphone and find it invaluable, but if you arent going ot use the full internet or microoft office, its a bit of a waste. expandable memory is very good, and a very clear screen, which one of the best cameras a smartphone will offer, so i would give it an 8/10
dont forget to rate! :)
cheers
dave marken ...
climberdave 14.05.2009 (16.05.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Nokia N97
Advantages: Good camera, easy to use, decent range of apps on Ovi Store. Disadvantages: Can be unresponsive, touchscreen has poor sensitivity
...playing on the go. Nokia also included a standard 3.5mm headphone jack so you can use any headphones to listen to music. The N97 features a 5.0 MP camera with a Carl Zeiss lens. The photo quality that the phone produces is really good and it is actually functional as a camera. Due to the large storage space, you can also record large quantities in footage and each clip is limited to around 1.5 hours of footage. The video footage can be rather grainy ... ...This further not helped by Nokia making the sidebar scrollers rather narrow which can make scrolling a pain. The other gripe is that the phone can become unresponsive, particularly when using certain apps. On my phone, the internet explorer app can be slow on particular pages and the facebook app grinds to a halt if there's too much text within a single conversation. I've heard that the latest phone software (v. 2.x) fixes this but at time of writing ...
This is a top-notch phone,excellent sound,great camera and all the extras you would wish for.It looks good and performs brilliantly.I have recently upgraded to the 8 meg version and can thus store far more info.In my opinion this is probably one of the best phones on the market .From my point of view the N97 has everything the camera produces images that are as good as my stand alone digital camera,indeed it my be said that it is a camera with a phone attatched.Video quality is also excellent.I think that it is also very good for internet usage and I personally have never had any problems surfing the net.The GPS facility far from being a novelty has also proved most useful tto me.In summing up I cannot praise this phone highly enough and would recomend it to everyone. ...
sanos 04.08.2007 (24.10.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Nokia N95
Advantages: Superb Interface. App store access. Compass GPS. Disadvantages: Expensive. Very Expensive.
keyboard.
I have recently also bought the NokiaN97. Which is good fun and it does quite a few things a lot better than the iPhone. But then in the normal world I think the iPhone still wins. ...
Advantages: Touch Screen, lots of widgets, looks good Disadvantages: Scratches easily, rubbish battery, unresponsive touch screen at times
My first touch phone, thought it was going to be pretty amazing which it was but not all its cracked up to be. Its functional and practical but not very interesting all i do it call and text of it, nothing else seems to reel me in. But it is a very good phone compared to the normal keypad phones. I was torn between this phone and the nokian97, but i chose this phone mainly because i thought the advert so really cool. But it has nothing to do with the advert at all. But overall it is a very good phone and is worth what you pay for it, i would just want some more apps on it and maybe things you could download more like an iphone if thats the type of look therre going for. ...
Transition black, ( the image of the product displayed may be of a different colour )
Product Type
Smartphone
Width
55 mm
Integrated Components
Digital camera, 2nd camera, digital player
MPN
002L3W7, N97, 002K161
Cellular
Additional Features
aGPS, QWERTY keyboard layout, TV Link
Bluetooth Profiles
Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)
Wireless Interface
IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
Speakerphone
Built-in
Voice Recorder
Built-in
Conference Call Capability
Yes
Call Timer
Built-in
Polyphonic Ringer
Built-in
Vibrating Alert
Yes
Aerial
Internal
Phone Design
Slider
Band
WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Technology
WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM
Communicator features
Synchronisation With PC
Built-in
Operating System
Symbian OS
Messaging & data services
Messaging / Data Features
RSS feeds
HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access)
Built-in
JAVA applications
Built-in
Internet Browser
Built-in
EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates For Global Evolution)
Built-in
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)
Built-in
Mobile Email Client
Built-in
Cellular Messaging Services
MMS, Nokia Smart Messaging, SMS
Multimedia features
Downloadable Content
Audio files, video files, themes, games, ring tones, screensavers, wallpapers
Playback Digital Video Formats
MPEG-4, H.264
Digital camera
Video Recorder Resolutions
640 x 480 (VGA)
Camera Light Source
LED light
Lens Aperture
F/2.8
Sensor Resolution
5 Megapixel
Organiser
Calculator
Basic
Reminder
Built-in
Calendar / Event Reminder
Built-in
Alarm Clock
Yes
Display
Features
LCD touch screen, wallpaper, screen saver
Display Illumination Colour
White
Colour Depth
16.7 million colours
Colour Support
Colour
Diagonal Size
3.5"
Display Resolution
640 x 360 pixels
Technology
TFT
Type
LCD display
Digital player (recorder)
Supported Digital Audio Standards
WMA, AAC, MP3
Memory
Supported Flash Memory Cards
Micro SD Card
User Memory
32 GB - shared
Connections
Connector Type
1 x headset jack - mini-phone 3.5mm
1 x Micro-USB
1 x audio / video out
Miscellaneous
Included Accessories
Power adapter
Battery
Standby Time
Up to 430 h
Talk Time
Up to 400 min
Capacity
1500 mAh
Technology
Lithium Ion
Manufacturer's product description
The N97 packs a 3.5-inch, 640 x 360 pixel (that's a 16:9 aspect ratio) resistive touchscreen display with tactile feedback and QWERTY keyboard into this sliding communicator with an "always open" window to favorite internet or social networking sites. Nokia calls it the "world's most advanced mobile computer."
