Ye Giant Nokia N97 Review

I’ll admit, when the Nokia N97 was first announced, the first thing I thought was “Holy Crap that thing is awesome!“. It really seemed to be a near-perfect device. A gigantic touchscreen, 32 GB of memory, a decent 5 Megapixel Camera, a sweet little Qwerty Keyboard that slides out in a very cool new form factor that means the Screen is propped up just right, when open.

But after 2 months of using it, Do I still feel that way ?

Well….You’ll have to read on to find out. Make sure you’re comfy in your chair though, its a long read.

First up, we want to take a minute to thank Nokia Womworld for sending us the Nokia N97 White to check out, which went along very nicely with our Black N97. Ah two N97s to play with, means we were a happy bunch.

As we begin this review, we feel its worth mentioning that our format is a bit different this around. Because the N97 has this new unique formfactor, and is the first Nseries with S60 V5 Touch Interface, it bought along with it, a number of firsts and improvements which we’ve posted about in separate articles. Hence, in some cases we’ll have to link back to an article, rather than explain it again here.

Nokia positioned the Nokia N97 as its flagship device. With its very unique formfactor, Full Qwerty keyboard and huge 3.5″ touchscreen with a new widget-ised Homescreen, the device was positioned to appeal to the “Connected” crowd of people who want easy and continuous access and updates from the Internet and Social Networking Sites.

And the N97 definitely had the specs to back it up otherwise, with a 5 Megapixel Carl Zeiss lens (with Dual LED Flash), Built-in GPS, Wifi, Bluetooth, USB-Charging and running the good ol Symbian OS (or S60 V5 to be precise).

Here are a couple of the features that the N97 boasts :

• ARM 11 434 MHz processor
• Symbian OS v9.4 (S60 V5)
• 3.5 inch TFT resistive touchscreen, 16M colors at 360 x 640 pixels
• Sensors such as a Proximity sensor and built-in Accelerometer
• Slide-out Full QWERTY keyboard, Touch Input also possible, including Handwriting recognition
• 32 GB storage onboard with 128 MB RAM and space for a MicroSD card too
• 5 Megapixel Autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Dual LED Flash, VGA/wVGA Video Recording at 30fps
• Wifi and A-GPS built in, built in Compass
• Micro USB v2.0, suppports USB-Charging
• FM and Bluetooth with A2DP support
• Standard 3.5mm Audio Jack with Tv-Out (cable not included)

Phew. That’s not bad is it ? And that’s just a few. You can read the full list of features on the Nokia N97 Product Page.

The N97 measures 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm and weighs in at 150 g. I was personally fine with the overall size of the device, but a couple of my friends (esspecially women) did find it a bit too large.

That being said, the device easily fits in your pocket, and feels great in your hand.

Even in Keyboard-slide-out mode, the N97 feels comfortable, although you’ll have to use both hands to use it properly in this mode.

The overall build quality is pretty good. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the N97 build quality is very very close to Eseries Standard, but not quite there. Both our devices had no creaks or strange sounds at all. The hinge mechanism works great, and is really snappy, even after 2 months with the device. The back panel on our White Euro N97 did feel a bit cheap and creak just a tiny bit though, which wasnt a problem on our Black Asia N97. Another problem was that the silver paint lining (not the chrome paint mind you), along the lower slider seems to be slowly coming off on the White N97. Again, this was not a problem with the Black N97 for some weird reason.

Note : Both the White and Black Nokia N97 units are basically the same. For a comparison between both devices, do check out our Nokia N97 Black & White Comparison post.

Firmware :

We’ve had the N97 through three firmware versions so far. The first devices shipped with V10 firmware, which was in one word “Horrible”. Luckily v11 firmware came out soon and while it fixed some problems, it was still pretty unstable.

Our Review Nokia N97s are now on version 12.2.024 firmware, which is the latest at the time this article was posted. V12 seemed to have fixed a lot of the initial problems with the N97 and is a lot more stable than previous firmware versions.

Of course, all N97 owners are waiting for the upcoming V20 firmware, which is rumoured to bring a whole lot of new features to the device, such as Kinetic Scrolling everywhere, longpress usage of the keyboard symbols, ram improvements and phone memory improvements, etc.

Firmware is also another reason why our opinion in certain parts of this review will be different from our First Impressions of the Nokia N97.

On with the pictures !

Front View :

Slider Closed :

You can see the new Nokia Nseries Design elements with the N97 when looking at it in landscape. The “Nokia” engraved in a Metal sort-of-tag. The “N97″ written in the corner (upper right) of the screen.

This new Nseries design is also carried onto the Nokia N86 and no doubt upcoming Nseries devices.

You’ll also notice the new slanted Menu button. It really wouldnt have hurt Nokia to put a tiny Menu symbol or even tiny text saying “Menu” perhaps. While this isnt a problem for the owner of the device (who will no doubt find that button eventually), whenever a friend checked out the device, the first question they asked was “Uhh…where’s the Menu button ?“.

The button also does look like the now-extinct Multimedia key that briefly appeared on some Nseries devices earlier, which adds to the slight confusion when previous Nseries owners, or Newbies check out the N97 for the first time. No big deal though, but the less confusion the better, yes ?

The Menu button also pulsates in a very not-distracting manner.

As you can see you can change these options if you wish.

An occasional Pulse just to show that the device is switched on, two pulses every minute for a new Text Message, Email, Missed call, etc. You can set this option up in the Settings Menu.

You can also select which events to be notified for.

Another point to note is that the Green and Red Calling keys on the N97 are also touch sensitive (some say capacitive ?) and work fine.

At the top of the N97 we have the sensors and Earpiece.

On the left side, we have the proximity sensor, which shuts off the touch screen when you place the N97 near your ear during a call, so that your ear doesnt try to make any calls of its own.

In the center we have the Earpiece. The Earpiece volume is fine and we’ve had no problems with it at all. Network Reception though, on the N97 appears to be slightly less powerful as our aging Nokia N82, which means there are instances where calls were dropped, in situations where the N82 would still manage to hold onto the call.

On the right side we have the Front Facing VGA camera for Video Calls, etc. You also have a light sensor here, which dims or brightens the keyboard lights, etc to keep it eligible. Both work pretty well, no complaints here.

The Touchscreen is incredibly responsive for a resistive touch device. Its way more sensitive than the Nokia 5800, but still nowhere as good as a capacitive touch device.

The screen is really really bright. The Black N97 in the picture is on its lowest brightness setting and still looks as bright as the White N97 in the picture which is on its highest brightness setting.

The screen is also very legible in sunlight. No complaints there.

Slider Open :

Its funny that when most people see the N97, they are immediately impressed with the Giant Touchscreen. So much so infact, that most people I met did not even notice that the N97 could slide out to reveal a Full Qwerty Keyboard.

It was at that point, when I’d slide out the Keyboard, that I’d get a lot of “Ooo”‘s and “Aaaahh”‘s at the device. The N97 definitely looks like it means business when you slide out the Qwerty Keyboard.

Admittedly, using the N97′s keyboard does take some getting used to. Esspecially if you’re used to another Qwerty device like the E71 or E75 before. The fact that the space bar is placed on the right side of the keyboard might seem like a poor decision.

But after 2 months of using the N97 I can definitely say, you’ll definitely get used to the keyboard, and be typing out letters as fast as …well..as fast as you could on a phone’s Qwerty keyboard. You’ll find that the spacebar is actually placed at a very smart location. I cant speak for lefties, but if you’re right handed, your right thumb occupies the space over the spacebar button naturally, and you’ll find yourself getting used to it, really fast.

I found the feedback on each key to be a bit annoying at first. Its not quite there, but at the same time is there. In the beginning there would be situations where I’d press a key, then think the press hadnt registered because of the odd feedback, then press the key again, only to see that both key presses registered.

2 Months later, i’m definitely used to it, and dont have that problem at all anymore. I’d say it takes about a week or two before you really get over the strange feedback on the Qwerty keys of the N97.

The only annoying problem about the N97′s Keyboard is that you cant Long-press a key to get the Blue symbol on that key. You HAVE to press the function key first, then the key with the symbol you wanted. Nokia has mentioned that long-press of keys might be coming in the upcoming v20 firmware for the N97.

It’s worth mentioning that once you slide out the keyboard, the entire screen of the N97 changes to landscape to suit the orientation of the device.

The Dpad on the keyboard definitely helps navigate around the device’s menus and icons quite a bit. The Dpad is really only essential for playing N-Gage games on the device. Otherwise you probably wont use it much.

The Back of the N97 in Slider-open mode shows off the list of features on the device.

As you might have already noticed, in slider open mode, the N97′s screen also gets nicely propped up at a roughly 30 degree angle for optimal viewing.

This is really thanks to Nokia’s new formfactor thats used on the device, and the strong alloy hinge that holds the screen up.

Other than the hinge, the only real thing connecting the top touchscreen with the Lower keyboard part of the N97, is the Flexi-cable hidden deep inside.

Disappointingly, and unlike the E75, the N97 doesnt allow you to automatically open an application or play a tone when you open or close the Slider.

Back View :

The Back of the N97 contains the Back Matt-Colored (which means no fingerprint smudges) Plastic Panel and the 5 Megapixel Carl Zeiss Camera. The Camera has a sliding lens protector, which you think would be a good thing right ?

Right ?

Wrong.

You see, somehow Nokia managed to mess up something as simple as a Camera Lens protector on the N97. What you get is a camera lens “protector” that grides dust or sand particles against the Glass Lens when you slide it open or close.

After I came to know about this problem, and seeing it happen on the Black N97, I took special care with the White N97 to try to make sure it didnt happen again.

The result ?

Even worse. You see, dust will somehow get into that lens protector no matter how hard you try against it. And if it gets in, you can be sure the Camera protector will manage to scratch the lens by grinding these aforementioned dust particles against it as you slide open and slide close, the camera lens protector.

Note: The good news though, is that Nokia have said that this was a design flaw, and the newer batch of N97′s should (hopefully) not have this problem. If you already own a Nokia N97, you can give it to your local Nokia Service Center to get the lens glass replaced, and a proper fixed camera lens protector module installed.

Now the reason this is a big deal ? Not only does it make your camera lens look horrible, but the moment you take any images with that Dual LED Flash at night, it’ll wash over the camera scratches and result in a really really bad image.

For example :

Notice how the flash (which is on the left side of the camera lens) washes over the scratches on the camera lens, and ruins the left side of the image.

Of course if your lens isnt scratched, you’ll be able to take some pretty okay images in low light situations. Nowhere as good as a proper Xenon Flash would do. But good enough that you could maybe notice who or what those odd shapes in the image are.

That being said, you cannot take the N97 to a club, or party at night and expect to come out with any decent pictures at all.

Of course pictures without the flash, in ample light are pretty decent, and what you’d expect from the 5 Megapixel Carl Zeiss Lens.

Of course since the N97 isnt a Camera-focussed device, the Camera cant take as good images (but its pretty close) as the aging N82. It’s definitely on par with its predecessor, the N96 though.

For more about the Camera, do check out our Nokia N97 Camera Review post.

The MicroSD slot is under the back cover. Mind you, its not under the battery, so you wont need to switch your device off to use it, and with 32GB of memory onboard, you might not need more. But it’s there anyway, and its in an awkward location.

Top View :

The top of the device is pretty minimalistic, housing the standard 3.5mm Audio Jack and the Power button.

The 3.5mm jack works with all standard headphones and line in cables, as expected. The N97 also supports Tv-Out via the 3.5mm audio jack, but does not ship with the required cable, unlike Nseries devices before it. Nokia’s idea of lowering costs perhaps.

Bottom View :

Here, the minimilistic look carries on from the top of the device, housing only the tiny Microphone hole. The slot you see at the center is from where you pull off the back panel.

Left View :

The Left side of the N97 has its stereo speakers at either end. The speakers themselves are pretty loud. They’re a notch below the 5800 and N96 in loudness but definitely louder than the N95, N82 or any Eseries device.

At the center is the (very appreciated) Sliding Keylock switch, which turns the whole screen of the N97 off to prevent any accidental keypresses, say if the N97 is in your pocket, etc etc.

Towards the left side, there’s the MicroUSB port. This port is used to charge the N97, as well as to transfer Data to it using the supplied Nokia USB connectivity cable.

Its worth noting that Charging via USB connected to a Computer takes much longer than Charging via the supplied USB Charger that comes with the N97.

There’s also a nice little tiny white charging light next to the microUSB port. It lights up while the device is charging, and turns off once its completely charged.

Right View :

From left to right, we have the dedicated Camera button, and the Volume increase and decrease keys (which double as Zoom in and out keys in camera mode).

The Camera button has good feedback and we had no problems with it at all. Same for the volume keys.

The Battery :

The Battery of the N97 is the BP-4L 1500 mAh battery. Under our tests, it could easily last almost a day and a half with the N97′s display on maximum brightness, with semi-active use.

Might even be longer if you turn the brightness to its lowest setting and turn off the haptic feedback.

The Box :

The Nokia N97 box has a completely new design scheme to it, compared to Nokia Devices in the past.

For a more detailed look at what the retail package ships with, please check out :

- Our ASIA Nokia N97 Black Unboxing Video

- Our EURO Nokia N97 White Unboxing Video

Curiously, the Euro Variant of the N97 we received shipped with a “Standard Nokia Charger Pin to New Nokia USB Charger Pin” converter, that for some strange reason wasnt included in the Asian Retail package of the N97 we have.

This little accessory will be very useful for those of you with Nokia Car chargers or other chargers that have the standard Nokia Nseries charging Pin, and not the new microUSB charging pin that the N97 needs.

Also, curiously the Asian retail package included a (rather cheap looking) Nseries branded cover for the N97, that isnt included in the EURO retail package.

Ah well.

The S60 V5 Touch UI, Menu and HomeScreen :

The N97 uses the S60 V5 OS (also called Symbian^1) that’s seen on newer Nokia Touch devices like the 5800, 5530, etc. However this is the first Nseries Iteration of the OS, so there are some extras that you wont see on non-Nseries Touch devices.

One of them is the new Widget-ised Homescreen on Nseries Touch devices.

This is what you’ll probably see when you first boot up your N97. You can basically turn that^ into this :

Using the amount of Widgets (there’s a Facebook one, The Gravity Twitter app has one, etc) some built into the device and some downloadable from the ovi store, you can eventually customise your N97′s homescreen to be “Your Own” and give you the sort of information you need.

For instance, I usually like to see my ToDo list for the day, so I have my calendar widget on my Homescreen.

I like to know the weather so I can decide on whether I can take out my Motorbike for the day, or should I use my car ? Whoops looks like rain, I’ll have to take the car. The Accuweather Widget can be really useful, and is on my Homescreen.

It’s really easy to edit your Homescreen. You have one customisable shortcut on the right softkey (default set to Contacts), and on the left softkey is your Options tab. Just click the Options, and go to “Edit Content” to customise your Homescreen.

Once you do that you’ll notice the whole Homescreen goes into “Edit Mode”.

You can click on any of the 5 available Widget slots, and add or remove a Widget. There’s a pretty neat list of widgets that are already on the device, that will grow with the more widgets you download.

Using these widgets you can customise your N97′s homescreen to suit yourself.

And one swipe and they’re all easily hidden away.

While the Homescreen implementation seems good enough, we cant help but feel like there are instances when you’d want more than one homescreen or more than just 5 Widgets to select from.

Also, the problem with the Widgets on the homescreen are that they are all restricted to show info in that tiny little rectangular box. The Calendar widget only shows two rows of info and cant be customised to, say maybe take another slot and show the next two notes for the day, etc.

The widgets also seem to have a mind of their own sometimes. Sometimes they work great. Sometimes they’ll refuse to connect, or need to be restarted or refreshed to display info again.

Another problem was that the Ovi Store doesnt have a seperate “Widgets” section, so its almost impossible to find new widgets on it. And that’s the only place where Nokia says you can get new Widgets. Eeesh.

Still, this is a lot more useful than some of Nokia’s other Homescreen implementations *cough* like the Nokia 5800′s useless Homescreen *cough*, so its definitely appreciated.

For more about the Homescreen, please do check out our Nokia N97: All about the Widgetised Homescreen post.

The N97 uses the new Nokia Ovi Icons, which are pretty nice I guess.

Of course, just like in the E75 (which also uses Ovi Icons), there are instances here where an Icon is actually a folder, and you’d have no idea when you first use the phone. Eventually you do get used to it, but the first couple of times, you might not even know that a particular icon was actually a folder full of other icons.

S60 V5 on touch devices, admitted does look a bit dated compared to the other Touch OS’s around. The N97 is a particular case since it has no Theme Effects at all (off by default) save for one effect when you swipe the Homescreen.

Otherwise operations around the Menu are pretty fast. It might take a while to load a folder full of stuff though. For example, the Applications folder, which comes filled with apps, might take a whole second or two to load.

Also another annoying thing (that you can see in the screenshot above) is the scrollbar in S60v5. You have to use this scroll bar to scroll any kind of list, and its a total and complete pain. Thankfully, Nokia have said the N97 will get Kinetic scrolling in its next firmware update, so this shouldnt be a problem for long.

But S60 V5 is still a solid OS and has a number of advantages to it, which is why I still prefer it to other Touch Operating systems.

The N97 also has a “Software update” app that alerts you to new updates for apps or software features on your device (if you start the app up and let it check for updates).

Definitely useful.

This is similar to the Firmware-over-the-air (FOTA) feature of the N97, that allows you to update its firmware to a newer version if present, wireless using WiFi.

Memory :

The N97 is the first device that we’ve had to make a “Memory” section review for. Normally Nokia devices have about enough phone memory, and noone ever needs to complain.

But oh boy the N97. I said it before and I’ll say it again. Whomever decided to stick 32GB of memory on this thing, then give the user only 40mb of usable memory, should be fired. Thats it, just fired, no hesitance.

You see, normally phone memory isnt a problem. My N82, for example, came with about 120mb of phone memory, out of which I still have about 90 mb free after more than a year of usage. And when you first hear that the N97 has 32 GB of memory, wondering about the phone memory, wouldnt be a thought in your head at all.

But now the N97 is here, with its 32 GB of memory. And only 40Mb of Internal memory.

The reason this is a problem ? Well, I have N-Gage, Nokia Messaging, Ovi Maps v3 and Ovi Contacts installed on my device. All these Nokia apps install directly to phone memory without giving you a choice. And now, I have barely about 10mb Free on my N97.

10Mb, thats it.

It might get even lower if you surf the Internet a lot on your device and dont clear the browser cache periodically.

Also, N-Gage games store their save game files on Phone memory, so it can get even lower.

My Asia N97 on the other hand, only has 5Mb of phone memory free somehow, after all these official Nokia apps, and updates.

Now this wont be a problem if you dont want to download and Install N-gage, or Nokia Messaging, or Ovi Contacts or the new awesome Ovi Maps v3 on your N97. The N97 also comes with all of its Widgets pre-installed on its (d’oh) phone memory. So one way to free up phone memory would be to uninstall these widgets, then hunt for the installation files for these widgets on the Ovi Store, then re-install them to the 32GB Drive.

But geez, why make us go through all the trouble ? Would it really have hurt to have atleast 100mb of phone memory on the N97 ? Come on Nokia.

The lack of phone memory, is ultimately the N97′s downfall in my hands. This one oversight, bugs the crap out of me.

Ovi Store :

The N97 ships with an Ovi Store Client built in, so that you can start using it to download app right from the start.

The Ovi Store works like you’d expect it to. Nothing really new here.

There’s a ton of free and paid content for the N97, with new content being added almost every week or so. There’s useful apps like the Nokia Photo Browser and Shazaam, to completely useless “fun” apps like the Spin-the-bottle app or the Duck-call app.

Internet Browsing :

The N97 uses the latest S60 Browser which has several improvements under the hood, is faster, and has an automatic Fullscreen mode that works pretty well.

And for a change, the N97 is one of the few Nokia devices I’ve seen without a whole bunch of useless bookmarks built in.

Browsing is decent enough. Just type an address and press go, and you’ll see the website load.

The N97 seems to be able to handle Mobile versions of Websites with no problem at all. Some non-mobile websites though wont always work. For example, I tried to view the PC version of Facebook on the N97 and the browser just gave up and crashed.

However, most websites should load fine provided they arnt too full of flash or videos, I guess.

The N97 loads up the page, and while it loads, or finishes loading the page, goes to Fullscreen mode.

In most cases the page loads up fast enough and the browser goes to fullscreen and is scrollable, while the page loads completely.

After the page loads completely, the little “loading” bar you saw at the top vanishes to complete the fullscreen effect.

To get back to the main menu, a previous page or get to the options menu, you can just tap the little arrow icon on the lower right side of the screen.

Calender :

The N97′s S60 v5 OS uses a version of the Eseries Calendar app thats been optimised for touch. All the usual bells and whistles that you’re used to in the Calendar app in S60v3 are in there.

And of course you can change the default Calendar month view to by week, etc :

Make new entries for Meetings, ToDo lists, etc.

And change the main Calendar options.

Like I said, all the usual Bells and Whistles.

Music :

The Music Player application on the N97 is your standard Nokia S60 affair. Nothing new in the software aspect. There’s even an FM radio, Podcasting Client and Sound Recorder if anyone was wondering.

Noticable absent is the Nokia Internet Radio client.

As usual you have your Music library organised by Artists, Albums, etc.

And you have your playlists section. You can create your own playlists too.

The annoying “feature” where you have to refresh your Music Library every time you add new songs to your device, is still there.

New songs arnt detected otherwise.

For more on this topic, you can check out our Music on the Nokia N97 post.

There’s also an FM Transmitter built into the N97 which we think, is one of its best features.

Definitely a useful feature, that should be standard in all new Nokia Nseries.

For more on this topic, you can check out our Using the FM Transmitter on the Nokia N97 post.

The Gallery :

The N97 has a separate Image Gallery called “Photos” and a separate video gallery called “Videos and TV”. About freakkin time ?

The Image Gallery sorts your pictures by Captured (by the N97′s camera), by Months, Albums, Tags, Downloads and Share Online. Curiously absent is an “All” section. Any Images you transfer to the N97, or get from other friends via Bluetooth, etc are stored in the “Downloads” section.

The Image Gallery though is pretty much the same as the one on the 5800. Images are shown by their thumbnails, in a grid pattern.

This is okay if you have a few images. But anything over 30 Images can be a headache to search through. Also, for some weird reason, videos are also shown in the Photo Gallery, in different sections.

So much for that distinction eh ?

The Videos and Tv app contains exclusively your Videos.

You can see your last viewed Video, or play any videos right from where you left off. Pretty neat.

Connectivity :

The N97 has a range of Connectivity options from Wifi or Bluetooth or USB. Infra-red is absent, but isnt really a major factor in this day and age.

Office :

The N97 has a bunch of Office-related applications on board. These are pretty much good enough solutions for a person on the move.

The QuickOffice application onboard is only a Trial though, but lets you view various Office files like Word Documents, PPTS, Excel SpreadSheets, etc.

Touch and Keyboard Text Input :

The N97 has pretty much the same Messaging app that we’ve seen on S60 devices before. Nothing really new here.

However, the N97 has a nice slide-out Qwerty keyboard that really helps with the typing. But it also has touch capabilities for those moments where you may not slide out the keyboard or use both hands to type.

It also has a T9 on-screen keypad that appears when you try to type a message with the slider closed. There is also handwriting support.

Nokia decided not to include the On-screen Qwerty keyboard that we saw on the 5800. So that unfortunately isnt an option.

The touchscreen is responsive enough, and you can choose to re-calibrate it whenever you feel like it isnt quite hitting the right buttons are your finger.

Likewise you can also configure the Handwriting settings to your liking.

The N97 comes with a Stylus but we’ve really never needed to use it.

If you prefer handwriting input though, you might want to carry the stylus around to help, unless you want to use the tip of your finger all the time.

For more about this topic, you can check out our Typing and Text Input on the Nokia N97 post.

GPS & Compass :

Like most of Nokia’s latest Nseries, the N97 also has built in GPS, and ships with the Nokia Maps Application to use it.

The GPS reception on the N97 isnt quite as good as on the N82 and N95. Or even its predecessor the N96. It does have a compass built-in to help you know which direction you’re going in, which is always useful. Unfortunately it looks like they didnt really include a seperate compass app, so you’ll have to start up Nokia Maps if you want to use it.

Another grievance, is that you have to calibrate the compass every single time you start up Nokia Maps, or any app that uses the compass.

Accelerometer and Sensors :

The N97 has a built in accelerometer, and hence has a couple apps that make use of this feature. One such app is built in, under the settings menu, under “Sensor settings”.

Here you can choose whether to auto-rotate the display from portrait to landscape and vice-versa depending on the phone’s orientation.

You can also choose to flip your phone over to silence an incoming call or alarm.

Profiles :

The N97 has the same basic Profiles app as S60 devices before it, and the 5800. Thankfully though, the N97 has Timed Profiles too.

Personalizing your Profile and editing it, is basically the same as the 5800.

All sorts of settings and options for Tones and the Haptic feedback vibration levels, etc.

There’s one important little “improvement” in the N97′s profile list though that I’d like to point out.

Usually when you’d go into profiles and try to select a ringtone, you’d have to wander through waves of songs and ringtones, as the S60 OS would natively list all the music files on your device in a list, instead of separating your ringtones, videotones and Music files.

With that thought in mind, I thought “Gosh navigating through 32 GB of Music and Video files in the profile settings. Darn that would be insane!”.

Luckily though, thats the improvement on the N97. When you try to select a ringtone from the profiles menu, it takes you to neatly organised folders, through which you can look around for the ringtone or videotone that you wanted.

Much better than searching through a giant list. I hope all S60 V5 and V3 devices get this little “Improvement” in the future.

N-Gage Gaming :

The Nokia N97 supports the N-Gage Gaming platform, but there isnt an N-Gage Client built in (yet) atleast on the current firmware. You’ll have to go to N-Gage.com and download the N-Gage Client for the N97, or use the Software updater app that we spoke about earlier in this review.

For more about this topic, you can check out our N-Gage on the Nokia N97 post.

Conclusion :
Rating:

Okay here’s the thing. The N97 isnt for a power user.

What does this mean ?

If you’re the kind of person to just pick up a device, and use it without really installing much stuff, then the N97 is totally for you.

I’ll admit the N97 lived up to its “Stay connected to your Social Networks” bit. Kinda.

The Facebook app works great, along with its Widget which works (sometimes). The Widget-ised homescreen was really useful for me, and Gosh I loved that Qwerty Keyboard, even though it took a little getting used to.

And dont even get me started on how useful that 32GB of Memory is. I kept dumping songs onto my N97, taking videos, transfering videos, all without a care in the world because you have so much memory at your disposal !

But would I recommend the N97 to a friend ?

Eesh.

I’d probably tell my friend to wait till the supposed wonder firmware v20 comes out in October, and if it fixes the low phone memory problem (which was my main irritant), now THEN the N97 would probably be worth it. And it’d probably come down in price by then too.

And by then they’d probably (and hopefully) have fixed the Camera Lens Scratch issues too.

Otherwise there’s always the N97-Mini (which apparently is rumoured to have 120Mb Phone Memory) or even the N900 (which costs just a tiny bit more than the N97 at launch price) to consider.

The N97 is a great little piece of technology. Its just these little oversights that ultimately make us think “Great device….but its not quite there yet….“