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June 25, 2009

Nokia N97 review

Product Code: NOKN97BLK_UK

On paper, the Nokia N97 looks as if it could rival the other big phones of this summer - the Palm Pre, the Apple iPhone 3G S and T-Mobile's follow-up to the Android-based G1. It has more memory than the other three, supports a wide range of multimedia files and has a large touchscreen and a full qwerty keyboard.

But the Nokia falls short of its potential, largely because the operating system (OS) it uses - the Symbian S60 5th Edition - lacks the refinement of other OSes. Still, the N97 impresses in certain areas, particularly audio and video.

The Nokia N97 feels good in hand with a matte backing and sturdy body. It is a bit hefty at 150g (heavier than both the Pre and iPhone 3G S). It is also fairly pocketable for a phone with a slide-out keyboard - it measures 117.2x55.3x15.9 mm. Button placement is standard, with glowing Home and Call Send/End buttons below the display. A power button sits on top next to the 3.5mm headphone jack (a must-have for multimedia phones). On the right spine is the volume rocker and the camera shutter button. The left spine has the screen lock switch and the mini-USB port.

The keyboard slides out easily, and the display pops out at a slight angle. While the tilt was nice for watching videos and helped reduce glare outside, we found it annoying when trying to type on the Nokia N97's keyboard. The edge of the display is too close to the top row of keys, and you can't adjust the display's angle or make it lie flat. We also found it hard to press the keyboard's keys; they're simply not raised enough for comfortable typing. The keyboard's layout was also a bit counterintuitive, with the spacebar placed in the lower-left corner.

A navigational touchpad (right, left, down, up, and a centre button to select) on the right side of the Nokia N97's keyboard is supposed to help with navigation, but we didn't use it very often. It was so difficult to press that we accidentally selected apps when we were trying to scroll through them.

The Nokia N97's call quality was very good. Voices sounded loud, clear and crisp. We heard no static or background hiss, either. Parties on the other end gave similar reports. Even while standing on a busy city street corner, our contacts said our voice sounded loud and clear.

The Nokia N97 has a large 3.5in resistive touchscreen with a 360x640 resolution. While colours looked good and the display appeared bright and crisp, we were disappointed by the touchscreen's responsiveness. Resistive touch just doesn't compare to the slickness of capacitive touch technology. Scrolling wasn't very smooth, and the two-touch action required to start an app got annoying after a while. However, we really liked the N97's haptic feedback (a slight vibration when you touch an app), which helped with the navigation.

We blame the Symbian S60 5th Edition OS for why we were unimpressed with the Nokia N97's display. The S60 OS simply lacks the fresh and refined look of WebOS, iPhone and even Android 1.5. The typography and icons are too small, and they fade away into the background of the display.

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Independent customer reviews from

Nokia N97 scored:
7.8 out of 10 100% real reviews

The 2 most helpful reviews based on 546 reviews:

26 Jun 2009 Stewart, Southampton

6

Good Points

This is my first smartphone and touchscreen phone. I had weighed up the iPhone vs N97 and decided to go with Nokia as I have always had Nokia in the past and have always been impressed. The touchscreen is great (took a little getting used to) and the ability to get e-mail, web, music and video all in one little device is amazing! I am please Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync is functional on this phone as that is the system we use at work for e-mail and calendar syncing. Also impressed with the music player, GPS, video. And since this is a phone afterall, let's not forget the voice side of it. I have great signal reception almost everywhere (including in some well insulated buildings) and the voice clarity and touch sensitive screen are great.

Bad Points

The downside of this phone is the same complaint with any new phone ... there are bugs still to be worked out and I would recommend people wait until the first revision of this model. There has already been one software update (although I have not noticed much improvement myself). The list of failings below will, I suspect, all be sorted out in the next release of this phone as they are simple fixes. 1. Only able to have ONE Exchange ActiveSync account on the phone at a time. Bad planning, considering most businesses use this system AND Gmail (a very popular personal e-mail provider) now also allows this form of access. 2. Syncing contacts between multiple sources while also using Exchange ActiveSync was a nightmare because every system had its own field codes and I lost several important notes I kept with some of my contacts. 3. Choosing between Contract Internet, Contract WAP and Wireless is MOST frustrating. Part of my frustration with web access on the phone might just be Vodafone and not specific to the N97, but I am forever having to force the switch between these sources of internet to get my phone to access the web. And getting BBC iPlayer to actually play when not using wireless internet access is almost nil! 4. The accelerometer (screen orientation sensing) is pathetic and the screen layout totally screws up every time I turn my phone around (unless I am using the keyboard, and then the screen layout is perfect). 5. Since this is a new phone release, the most important accessory for any touchscreen - the peel on/off screen protector - should have been the first thing Nokia makes available ... but NO. Only generic touchscreen protectors are available from Nokia and third parties and since the face of this phone is unique with buttons, camera and sensor eyes, this is a disappointing oversight on Nokia's part. 6. Not being able to lock the camera slide cover is annoying.

04 Jun 2009 shaun, barnsley

10

Good Points

stylish phone , easy to use and navigate. had the n95 8gb phone before and this is much better. like the touch pad on front of phone and also the qwerty keyboard accessed by sliding phone up. excellent storage for pics, vids and music

Bad Points

only bad point (which really isnt one ) is the mirror effect front of phone easily gets fingerprinty

See more Nokia N97 reviews on Reevoo.com

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Total reviews: 4,313

  • www.nokia.com
  • 0161 601 8908
  • Nokia
  • £499 inc VAT (pre-order; SIM-free)
  • Free on £40-plus Vodafone contract

See product specs

expert rating

Build quality

3.5/5

Features

4/5

Overall

3.5/5

expert rating

Nokia N97

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