[image: Nokia N97: Powerful and Has Great Features] Nokia N97 [Review] Powerful and has great features
Expert Rating: [image: Rating] Powerful, Good Looks, Good High-Res Screen, 32GB internal memory, 5MP auto-focus Camera, Slide-out form factor, QWERTY keypad, Proximity Sensor, 3.5mm jack, Audio Quality, Widgets, Battery Life Odd QWERTY keypad, Touch-Scrolling, Touch Response, No TV-Cable Provided It was only a couple of days back that I gave you my first impressions about the Nokia N97 after spending a little time with it, and as promised we are back with a full review of the phone<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614.html?source=tt_dl&email=jaxc...@gmail.com#>. Today you shall have the answer to whether the N97 is a killer phone and not specifically an iPhone<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614.html?source=tt_dl&email=jaxc...@gmail.com#>killer. Without wasting too much time let's begin. *Bundle* - Nokia N97 - 3.5mm Stereo Headset (3.5mm adaptor) - Lanyard/Stylus - USB Cable - Cleansing Fabric - Charger - Charging Converter - Software CD & Manual The bundle is adequate but even though the N97 has TV-Out function there is no cable provided in spite of its premium pricing. The Nokia N97 is by all means an exquisite looking handset. The phone<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-2.html#>is light and doesn't feel heavy at all given its dual-form factor. The N97 feels good to hold and rests comfortably in the palm<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-2.html#>of your hand. On the face of the phone we have the large (3.5-inch) high-res (360 x 640 pixels) screen. Above the screen there is the earpiece of the handset along with the proximity sensor, the light sensor and the secondary video camera for video calls. There is a slick branding of the Nokia beside the top left corner of the screen. The sunlight legibility of the screen is good and you can read and operate the phone comfortably. Toward the bottom end of the screen we have a Main Menu button and the two calling buttons. The calling buttons are touch-sensitive buttons. The Main Menu button has a notification LED ring around it which breathes faster when you've missed a call or received a mail or SMS<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-2.html#>. However, this notification light is very dull and hardly noticeable. To the right of the phone there is the volume control and the Camera shutter button. Both these buttons protrude from the body of the phone. They have a metallic build making it easy to access as well as durable. On the left side of the phone we have a hold switch to lock the device and it is placed in the center of the left side so it is easy to access. There is an exposed micro-USB port with an LED just beside it. The micro-USB port is multi-functional as it is meant for connectivity to the PC as well as charging. The LED indicates charging status of the phone; it glows white when charging. The back of the phone sees the 5MP camera optics hidden behind a smooth camera lens cover. The battery cover of the N97 opens in the most unfriendly way especially for a Nokia and even more so for a premium handset. It's a mix-n-match of hooks at the top and clips spread on the sides. This means you have to get it open with your nail sliding through the sides of the phone. On the inside you notice the memory card<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-4.html#>slot that is hotswappable, a large battery pack and a SIM card tray where you're SIM sits. On sliding it open the QWERTY keypad of the phone is exposed. The sliding mechanism of the N97 is something to feel and experience. The smooth movement of the mechanism with just a nudge is really cool. Even when sliding it back to close into a bar-type device the screen descents on the QWERTY keypad smoothly. This design doesn't leave any trail marks on the keypad, as we see on keypads of most slider form factor phones, in spite of opening and closing it numerous times. This slide out form of the N97 leaves the screen at an angle. This is a good reading angle; you can have the phone in your hand or placed on the table. The view of the screen is great thanks to the angle at which it slides out. The keypad of the phone is oddly designed. Compared to the E90 or most QWERTY keypads we have the five-way D-pad placed on the left side. The ideal placement is on the right, but this can still be dealt with. The placement of the spacebar towards the right is not very comfortable. The QWERTY keypad of the phone is far better than the one seen on the E75 and exceptionally better than the keypad of the E90. The keys are soft and well spaced out but I found them to be a bit tiny. The compromise of size comes because of the screen, which doesn't slide up straight but instead slides up at an angle. The N97 is quite the durable 'Nokia' phone. Except for its screen I can tell you that the phone has a really good build. The screen doesn't seem to capture fingerprints all that easily but placing it against the side of your face while answering a call is going to leave it greasy. So overall we have a phone that is built very well. The interface of the N97 is similar to that of the Nokia<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-5.html#>XpressMusic 5800. It is a Symbian Series 60 5th edition device and of the same version i.e. v9.4. The difference though lies in the finish of the two. While the 5800 seems like it has a lot missing the N97 showcases the true potential of a Series60 5th edition device. The N97 compared to the 5800 is a much more powerful device. It has a 434 MHz ARM 11 processor with 128MB of RAM<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-5.html#>. This makes the N97 one of the quickest Symbian devices the company has. It is much faster than even the N95s and that is commendable, especially after the slow and sloppy N96. The Nokia N97 even pushes the internal capacity of mobile phones<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-5.html#>to 32GB along with the possibility of expanding it further via a microSD card. The N97 accepts up to 16GB card taking the total capacity to a whopping 48GB. That is huge and will provide with enough storage to carry your huge audio and video collection. Including images and videos captured from the optics of the phone. A very powerful device indeed let's now see how easy it is to operate and put all of that power to use. *Touchscreen* The Nokia N97 is a touch device. Unlike the iPhone<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-5.html#>it is has a resistive type screen which isn't so much thumb friendly and you will need to use the stylus from time to time. Almost every other manufacturer has aimed at creating a touch-device, but only two - HTC and Samsung - have made something commendable. Nokia showcased their touch device with the 5800 giving a glimpse of what they were to release on a premium level. The N97 hasn't really changed from the 5800. The touch responsiveness and the feedback is more or less the same. There is no real upgrade. The amount of pressure is required for a touch to register is variable and hence you aren't able to get accustomed to its touch responsiveness. Touch scrolling through menus or web-pages is quick and smooth but you are mostly unsure if it is going to scroll or click a link or button. This is something that is easily possible in a capacitative screen. The only resistive type screen where we can see the best of it is in a couple of HTC handsets. The Nokia N97 comes with several application pre-loaded. There is a set of Office Apps under the Office folder while the rest of the applications sit in the root of Applications Folder. Office Apps include Quick Office, Adobe PDF, Active Notes, Zip and the standard Dictionary, Calculator and Converter. Listing the apps in the root applications folder; Real Player, Location (Digital Compass), SW Update, Drawing, FM Transmit, YouTube, WaveSecure, Traveler, JoikuSpot Premium (30day trial), AcceWeather, Amazon, AP News, Bloomberg, Facebook, Hi5, Slideshow, Boingo, Qik and several other standard apps. The Nokia N97 supports the N-Gage gaming platform and comes bundled with Guiltar Rock Tour. The Nokia N97 holds up to its name of being a Nokia device and has a good hold over the network. With the Online Widgets continuously getting updated on every change the N97 sure can provide with strong network connectivity. *Audio * The Nokia N97 has good audio quality. The phone comes bundled with standard headsets but plug in a pair of good headphones and you'll notice the quality. The phone has a good sound chip and delivers clear and good sound. The music player of the device is very Series60 and the above images will prove the same. The additional feature of in the audio department of the N97 is that it comes with a built-in FM transmitter. So now you can beam your songs onto a frequency and have it play over a system<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-10.html#>or on your car audio. The FM transmitter is not so strong and I wouldn't really suggest trying it in a small room on an MP3 player, as it loses the signal pretty easily. *Video* The Nokia<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-11.html#>N97 supports just the basic mobile video formats; MPEG4/WMV/3gp/Flash video. There is no third party software available at the moment to harness the power and capacity of the device and play XviD or DivX files directly. With the converter provided in the software CD of the phone<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-11.html#>you can covert files. Also bundled in the phone are some videos that are encoded at the best quality. The video playback is smooth and given the angle at which the phone slides out it is great for watching video. Just wait for a third party software to enable playback of DivX/XviD directly on Series 60 5th edition devices. The Nokia<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-12.html#>N97 is powered with 5MP autofocus optics for a camera. The camera has a flash LED assistance as well. The quality of images delivered by the N97 is good. It doesn't have a Macro mode but the sample images below will show that its autofocus works well to capture even close-up shots. The images do undergo processing and this reduces the speed of the camera operation at times. However, the processing does produce good results and it's worth the wait. On the other hand you'd have to wait a couple of seconds more before you can hit the camera shutter to capture another moment. The N97 can capture videos at VGA resolution and at 30fps. The quality of video capture too is good. *Sample images * *Battery Life* The Nokia N97 has a 1500 mAh battery. The battery is said to deliver nine hours and 30 minutes of talktime over a 2G network<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-14.html#>and 40 hours of music playback. The phone<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-14.html#>in reality lasted me for two days easily. The two days would include continuous GPRS<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-14.html#>usage thanks to the widgets, about four hours of talktime, three hours of music playback and about an hour of Wi-Fi usage. This is good battery life from the powerhouse. It is always necessary to back performance with power and that's exactly what Nokia have realized and done to their now flagship device the N97. *Price & Verdict* * * The Nokia N97 is expected to sell for around Rs.35,000 with a one-year warranty. The phone's pricing is premium. If it turns out to be any more expensive it would spell doom for the initial sales of the phone until it gets a price correction over time. Coming to the value aspect of the N97, the phone is powerful and has great features. The 32GB of memory, the high-res touchscreen, the QWERTY, the 5MP camera, the widgets, fast processor etc., all are good but there are a few drawbacks too. At a slightly lower price tag, say around the 27K mark, the phone would be a good buy, but anything above and you're just paying a premium. The N97 is a great device compared to touchscreen devices like the iPhone<http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Nokia_N97_Powerful_and_Has_Great_Features/551-103146-614-14.html#>and the Omnia. I would consider this for sure because it is better in many ways, but not all. You need to be specific about what you seek out of the device. If it's a plain 'do it all' device you're looking for then the Nokia N97 would be a good choice. If you want a bit more style and smooth flow of interface, the iPhone is what you should go for, especially if you wish to stay connected all the time. * <http://twitter.com/techtree>* * േസ്നഹേത്താെട ജഗ്ഗു :) With Love JaGGu :) http://theppupetty.blogspot.com/* --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MTA0406" group. To post to this group, send email to mta0406@googlegroups.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
