Nokia N97 Review

[SojIrOu]

Since there are many professional phone reviewers out there giving proper reviews (albeit many are biased) for the N97. I decided that instead of a full review, I would just provide some of my opinions and feelings as well as answer questions anyone might have about the N97.

You are first greeted with a nice textured box that feels grainy (because its recycled)

Just so you know which phone you bought and to show everyone else in the shopping centre

Carl Zeiss lens and a huge 32gb memory being advertised

After raising up the first flap, you are greeted with another flap

Followed by the Nokia N97 as well as its huge battery and miniscule stylus

Just so you get an idea of how big the battery is, I placed it beside my N95 battery

Underneath you find all its accessories including a pouch, micro usb charger, micro usb cable, adaptor that converts the two older types of adaptors to micro usb, a cleaning cloth (very useful) and the headphones with a separate remote (probably leftover stock from the N96/N85).

Here we see everything laid out with the manuals and OVI software (oddly I could not find the Guitar Rock Tour on my phone to play but I guess its not anything spectacular)

The box doesn't feel as luxurious as my older N95 but thats probably due environmental requirements and cost cutting. The main attraction is the phone but still, you feel cheated of the experience of opening a nice box.

The N97 adopts the micro usb standard for both charging and connectivity. This makes it much simpler to use since you can charge while transferring data but you would need to carry the adaptor if you are suddenly stuck without power and need to borrow a charger.

Without further ado, here is the Nokia N97 from many angles.

Front

Back

Flipped open

Camera and volume buttons

Headphone jack and power button

The feel of the phone makes up for the lack of packaging. The plastics feel smooth and solid and the metal edges gives it some added feel. I noticed the power button is not easy to press if you have thick fingers and even if you didn't, it requires you to push with your nail. Also, you can't press the middle of it as it does not respond some times. It works better if you specifically press the back of it.

Flipped open back telling you and everyone about what is included in the N97

The back of the phone with the battery. It has a smart sliding tray design for the sim card and a push and lock mechanism for the micro SD cards in the slot just beside the camera. Unlike older phones, you cannot access the micro SD slot without first opening the back cover which makes it a little bit of a hassle.

I did not manage to take a good shot of the micro usb port and they key lock button. But essentially its like the PSP's UMD tray button where you slide it and it will spring back. It works the same way to lock and to unlock. It vibrates once to lock and vibrates twice to tell you its unlocked. Also, flipping up the phone unlocks it but flipping it back down doesn't. In the flipped up position, it cannot be locked.

The camera lens cover slides smoothly but it's easy to forget that it is left open.

When you first switch it on, the default applications are facebook, OVI, weather and reuters.

Flipped up

Weather app

You can connect to all of them using wifi or 3G/3.5G and you can tell it to go offline once its loaded so that it doesn't constantly update and use up your data.

This is the main menu which you access by pressing the silver button. Unlike the N95 where you have the 'office' and 'tools' folders in the main menu, they can instead be found by going to 'applications'.

Physically touching the screen will cause the phone to vibrate a little while using the d-pad on the keyboard would give the familiar key tone. I feel that over a long period of time you would get annoyed with it vibrating so much and the motor might get worn out very quickly. Thankfully, I bought an extended warranty for AU$29 so I have coverage for 2 years.

I haven't got the phone long enough to comment much on the usability and response but so far its been great. For dialling I would prefer not to use the keyboard because the numbers are laid out 1-9 in a row but for messaging its a dream. The keyboard is laid out in the standard QWERTY format with an offset keyboard and two extra buttons for numeric/symbol mode and to bring up a screen of symbols. Its rubbery and probably prone to getting dirty/yellowish (if you get the white one). When you press it, it doesn't give a satisfying click but it responds fairly well to my input and it registers everything I press.

I find that all those comments (whining) about the space bar being offset are completely unfounded. I have never pressed C or V instead of the space bar. This is mainly because I have never used a keyboard on any other phones before so I have not learnt the "right" way mobile phone keyboards should be. Also, who here has a computer/laptop keyboard that has its space bar in the middle of the letters? It's so much more comfortable on the right side because you actually press it more naturally like you would when typing on a PC. Added to that the touch screen numeric pad that allows you to text with predictive input while its in portrait mode lets me to text like my N95. This makes it possible to text while driving unlike the iPhone (not that I would do that or condone such actions :D).

Applications wise, you have the OVI store to download more applications and the interface is your standard Symbian S60 interface. Its not as pretty or usable as the iPhone but its good enough for me and makes me feel right at home straight out of the box (having used at least 10 other Nokia phones throughout my life).

Also, while testing some music before I slept, I found the N97's speakers to be lacking in bass and not as loud as the N95. It's still pretty loud but it makes the N97 seem like its not designed as a true multimedia phone.

All in all I would conclude that Nokia made a fine phone and I'm very satisfied at this point but they could do better in many aspects especially when faced with such competiton.

Feel free to ask me any questions or make any comments. I would love to give a more in-depth review but so far my time with the N97 has been limited.

New Section (08/07/09):

So far after using it for a few calls, I can say the call quality sounds great. I like the use of the proximity sensor. The phone is able to turn off the screen when you put it beside your face to save battery while you're talking and immediately comes back on once you pull it away.

Next, you can add your friends/family to a favourites contact widget on your home screen with their pictures so you can quickly call or text them without going to your contacts. Its a simple feature that saves me time and a few extra presses of the button/screen.

As for the hotly mentioned topic of the touch screen, as I mentioned below, I believe the problem is that everyone is so used to capacitive touch screen that they can't use a resistive. People have gotten used to the simple "touch" of the iPhone that they don't tap the screen or press down on it when it comes to using the N97. As I mentioned earlier, my N97 doesn't exhibit any difficulty in responding to my touch since I tap the screen with a little bit of pressure and not just touch it expecting it to register a key press.

I agree that the Symbian S60 v5 isn't up to the level of the iPhone's OS in terms of looks and smoothness but it offers me some features I require (like saving SMSs to my pc directly, numpad T9 predictive input when in portrait mode for quick one handed usage, physical keyboard that allows faster typing and usage of the full screen) that makes me not regret my purchase. Furthermore, the keyboard on the iPhone makes me feel clumsy because I mistype on it very often and I am limited to typing with just 1 finger that makes it painfully slow to reply a message. I focus very much on the input of the phone because I tend to text a lot.

Back to the Symbian OS, it feels pretty much like a refreshed version of the older ones and nothing comes out at you as being fantastically new and fascinating besides the widget features on the home screen. There's nothing wrong with using it it's very stable and simple to learn (maybe because I am very used to and like the S60 OS a lot). However, it just looks a little bland and dated when compared to all the other smart phones in the market. One noticable problem/issue with the OS is that certain applications require different input when you are required to move up and down a page. Some of them use an iPhone-like flick to go up (like the Web application) while other require you to pull down the bar on the right side (like the Messaging function)

As for the response, I have been using the latest update since I bought it (updated it straight away) and feel it is fast. I can run a few applications (like Web, music player and photos in the background) without it slowing down or skipping (for the music).

I'm going to try to add on more details about the usability of the Symbian S60 v5, the overall experience of the N97 as well as post more pictures if I can.

New Section 2 (08/07/09):

Sorry for the lack of posts I have been having a bad fever but now that I'm all drugged up and feeling better I can give some more updates on my experience with the software of the phone.

The facebook widget is pretty neat. It shows the number of friends online as well as messages in your inbox. When you access the application through the widget, its very simple to use. It lists your home page with all the updates from your friends and any new events coming up that your friends have invited you to. There is a tiny camera button at the top left for you to post new photos that you've taken earlier or you can access the camera to take one straight away and upload it.

Then it has your wall and profile on another button where you can update your status/what you are doing. Next, the friends button lets you see everyone's status and lists all your friends on facebook on another tab. There is a mobile sign (not shown) that appears besides some of your friends status that allows you to call them by pressing it.

The photo button allows you to go to your facebook's gallery where you can see all the photos you've uploaded. It also has the camera button at the top to upload new photos quickly from your phone.

Lastly, you have the inbox button to view all your messages or write one to your friends. I find it just as easy to use with the portrait or landscape mode but I feel the landscape mode works best since you'd want to type with the keyboard and it feels less cramped to me.

The weather widget simply displays the present weather conditions and current temperature. Oddly, it only shows the high temperature but not the low and it also shows how hot/cool the temperature feels (due to humidity and stuff) for only the high temperature and not the current temperature. However, the weather app is really cool. It has forecasts for the week with the standard highs and lows and how those temperatures will feel like.

Using GPS, the app can locate your current position and find the temperature there (not sure if its for different parts of a city or different citys). I didn't test this as its freezing cold outside and I'm not keen in standing outside while it locates my position. It has the hourly forecast for the day as well and a map to show you the location of the city you've set as default.

Then you've got a graph of the hourly temperature and weather conditions as well as a calendar to show the highest temperatures and weather condition of each day for two weeks which is useful if you're planning a trip outdoors.

The reuters widget isn't very useful because it only shows the news events and accessing the application lets you view the latest photos in the news but no story accompanying the photo.

Next, the Ovi photo sharing widget shows the photos of either your most recently uploaded photos, your friend's photos or your recently commented photos. Clicking on it accesses the uploading application which lets you quickly upload to your favourite/preferred website. When you start it it has ovi, flickr and vox listed. I'm sure they'll get around to adding more websites you can upload to. It remembers your login details so you only need to type it in the first time and you can upload away.

It also warns you that using these services will use up a lot of data so there is an option to disable cellular transfer and roaming transfer (useful when you're not in your home network but have an unlimited/large data plan). You can further configure it to select one of them as your default (if you use more than one) and change the size of the photos you upload (small/medium etc.).

The youtube app is just using the web browser to go to the youtube page and it allows you to use either the flash video player or the built in video player (real player I believe). Using real player to playback lets you scale the video to different aspects (but the quality isn't great) while the flash player is limited to a 4:3 aspect with a bar below. On my home network videos load very fast but I suppose watching on the 3G network won't be as fast.

I feel that video playback and file support on the N97 could be a lot better. I tried playing a few mp4 files but it didn't work. I probably need to convert it to properly play it back. (Read new section below for newer comments) Playing youtube videos on the real player looks similar to playing any other video (like below).

Photo galleryon the N97

Controls for zooming, MMSing, deleting and so on

Messaging in portrait mode

Touch numpad surprisingly good to use and coupled with the vibrating feedback when you touch lets you know you've pressed something.

Messaging with the keyboard is pretty good although the keys don't give a solid click

Nokia Ovi Store. It is pretty disappointing to use the Ovi store because some of the prices and items listed were just not worth the time and money. For example, those Michael Jackson ringtones were AU$6.60 for a file less than 200kb. The were few apps that caught my attention as well. Although, the interface/usability is pretty decent to use.

More to come (if I ever get better and don't have swine flu).

New Section (14/07/09):

Here are some pictures I took with the N97. It looks pretty good for a handphone camera especially since it was a gloomy day when I took it.

Also, I noticed while playing around with it that I had the effects for the themes turned off the whole time. I believe that it comes as "off" as default. After turning it on I noticed the menu slides out rather than pops onto the screen and the screen fades out and fades in when you rotate it. This adds a nice touch to an otherwise bland interface.

I finally managed to convert some videos (music videos and tv shows) for my N97 using the Videora program (which I use for the PSP and iPod touch as well) designed for N97 and 5800. It looks great quality wise, the colour is rich and playback is smooth (unlike the demo video they provide which doesn't showcase any of this and has really blocky playback). I like it even more than the iPod touch because the screen fits all my videos' aspect ratio perfectly.

Edited July 14, 2009 by SojIrOu

[Unto Darkness]

Nice pictures.

What was your experience like with the new S60 OS? Did it feel unpolished in any way?

[+John. Subscriber¹]

Nice, balanced review. Thanks!

I think there's a firmware update out, so install that and then comment on the OS, because I'm also interested.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Great review. In case anyone was wondering, the Nokia N97 uses S60 5th Edition (S60v5). It's also used in the Nokia 5800/5530 XpressMusic. I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't all that much different. Of course, the Nokia N97 has a few unique user interface features. Overall, it's a nice phone. The fact that it comes with 32GB of memory is quite astounding but also understandable, especially when you consider the price.

It's a high-end phone for the high-end crowd. After all, it's Nokia's flagship model.

[Soldiers33]

the phone looked very nice, but after seeing detailed pictures, im actually more pleased with the design of my n96. I think ill stick with it, thx for the small and useful review

[crazzyyfool]

Stylus? :x

[t0mbi]

About time you got this! Let us know about feel and how the OS goes. Its probably the main thing that people will look for in new touch phones. If the touch abilities are any good, then i will def pick this up..or im going to get an Android phone! (HTC HERO!)

[bbfc_uk]

Great review. In case anyone was wondering, the Nokia N97 uses S60 5th Edition (S60v5). It's also used in the Nokia 5800/5530 XpressMusic. I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't all that much different. Of course, the Nokia N97 has a few unique user interface features. Overall, it's a nice phone. The fact that it comes with 32GB of memory is quite astounding but also understandable, especially when you consider the price.

It's a high-end phone for the high-end crowd. After all, it's Nokia's flagship model.

I've got a few friends who have the Nokia 5800 and i'm not a fan of it, not one bit. I find the touchscreen very hard to use - you really have to press down for it to respond, but that could because i'm used to the iPhone. I'm also not a fan of Symbian - I find the it slow, outdated and not very user friendly.

This is my opinion, others may vary.

[SojIrOu]

I replied your comment above on the other N97 thread. lol. I believe thats the problem. Everyone is so used to capacitative touch screen that they forgot about resistive. My N97 doesn't exhibit any difficulty/slowness in responding to my touch since I use a tapping method (like I do on the iPhone but with a tiny bit of pressure).

[bbfc_uk]

My mam is wanting a new phone and is looking at the Nokia 5800 but i'd rather she got the Samsung Blade as I think it'll be easier for her to use.

[vip]

The last nokia phone I used was an old candybar nokia, when tmobile was VoiceStream ... I thought I was the ish because I could buy and change the case to different colors, haven't had nokia since then! This phone does look nice, but I will just stick with Android, love the OS. Pre-ordering the mytouch3g(HTC MAGIC) tomorrow

[bbfc_uk]

The last nokia phone I used was an old candybar nokia, when tmobile was VoiceStream ... I thought I was the ish because I could buy and change the case to different colors, haven't had nokia since then! This phone does look nice, but I will just stick with Android, love the OS. Pre-ordering the mytouch3g(HTC MAGIC) tomorrow

I used to love changing the covers of my Nokia 5110 - I had a whole range of them. I had a really nice metallic silver cover with a slide down front and one that flipped out. I must have spent a fortune! Then there was the Nokia 3210 and the 3310. If you didn't have one of those phones at school you were a nobody! :p

Edited July 7, 2009 by bbfc_uk

[carmatic]

how's the software side of things....

the Ovi store, the widgets, Messaging... have you used Qik on it yet? apparently the n97 is the only phone which can get 'near hd' video with it...

[powerade01]

I had the Nokia E70 and was looking at this the Nokia N97 as its replacement but kept the Nokia E70 as it was working OK.

It got stolen yesterday :( I would replace it with the Nokia N97 but I have 0 cash and right now no way to get cash. :(

Once I have, this will problably be the logical choice (even though Im seeing the Nokia N95 as $329 and it is a 2 year phone....)

[peacemf]

there is still nothing to replace the n82 :(

whilst i do love the n82, its sooooo bland compared to the rest :( but it does everything i need!

is the qwerty keyboard really worth it on a phone? cos its small right? so it must be hard to use compared to the number pad on a normal phone

[SojIrOu]

is the qwerty keyboard really worth it on a phone? cos its small right? so it must be hard to use compared to the number pad on a normal phone

well i feel that having a physical keyboard (even if it is slightly small) on a touch screen phone the best option because it doesn't have the drawbacks of using up the screen space for the digital keyboard. you can also use the touch numpad as well if you don't fancy using the keyboard much which makes it a win-win for me.

[Dick Montage]

Love to see some screenshots of text entry with the on-screen keyboard?

[SojIrOu]

Hang on :) they're coming right up.

[Fabian-]

How's the camera quality? Do you have any pics taken with it?

[Vandalsquad]

my heart jumped a beat then. on 3 and in australia. thought they had the phone out then, waiting for this to come on 3 so i can upgrade my contract my n95 8gb is getting a bit old. :)

great pictures but.

[Digitalx]

my heart jumped a beat then. on 3 and in australia. thought they had the phone out then, waiting for this to come on 3 so i can upgrade my contract my n95 8gb is getting a bit old. :)

great pictures but.

You'll want to buy it on vodafone. It's already available because highly unlikely it will be going to 3 as they're closing down and merging.

[SojIrOu]

How's the camera quality? Do you have any pics taken with it?

Sorry for the long wait. I was away on a road trip and just got back a few days ago. I added a small bit to it with 2 pictures I took on the trip but unfortunately I have posted so many photos that I've reached the maximum amount of pictures I can add to a post.

[Cask1]

Great review. Is it me or the S60 OS really looks old? I mean, the phone looks very nice, but the OS looks ancient. The font has been the same for ages, and there are too many square boxes all over the UI. It looks worse than WebOS, Android, iPhone OS and even Windows Mobile in my opinion. I have not personally used this phone but I have used the 5800 which uses the same OS and I didn't like it at all. Touch screen was unresponsive, scrolling and selecting stuff is nowhere near as smooth as an iPhone, icons looks like they're taken from Win 95. I really didn't like the S60 OS at all.

[SojIrOu]

I know. :D S60 looks so dated compared to the rest. I always feel that it could have been better but I decided against many other phones simply because I wanted a Nokia. :laugh: (well the keyboard made me choose it over the iPhone 3GS and I had the 3G so it was nothing special to me)

You should try the N97 with the latest firmware. It feels quite smooth now but still no match for the iPhone/HTC Magic/Pre because the resistive screen holds it back. For example, it does not offer multi-touch (there's a game that manages to do multi-touch on it so perhaps sometime in the future there might be an update) and dragging your finger on a resistive screen is not as smooth as capacitive screen because you need to constantly apply a slight pressure.

[powerade01]

The question:

Is it worth the cash?