Nokia N97 now shipping but has Nokia done enough?
By The Prodigal Fool, published on 12 June 2009
Nokia clearly thinks that the N97 represents some sort of comeback against the likes of the iPhone and Pre – see the ad below in case you were in any doubt – but now that the N97 is shipping and the first lacklustre reviews are coming in, we have to ask: has Nokia done enough?
We said back in January how the 2009 line-up of upcoming smartphones had left us excited but also indecisive. We’d expected to be putting the N97 at the top of our shopping list but, now that the Palm Pre and N97 are out and that the details of the next Apple iPhone (the oddly named “iPhone 3G S”) have been announced, we’re not so sure.
The problem is that Nokia simply haven’t done enough to compete. We haven’t yet tested an N97 but there a number of things worrying us about it:
- Resistive screen: anyone who’s used a Palm Pre or iPhone knows how much more responsive (and therefore pleasing) a capacitive screen is. And no, Nokia, we don’t buy the argument about being able to use the phone with gloves on.
- Operating system: say what you want about the improvements Nokia has made to S60, it’s simply never going to have the ease of use and intuitiveness of WebOS or the iPhone’s OS.
- Apps: the email experience on S60 (whether with Nokia Mail or the older Messaging app) is still dire when you line it up next to an iPhone or a Pre. Same can be said of the web browser and PIM applications.
- Quality: we moaned recently about out E75 having dust under its screen right out of the box. Dust also built up under the screen of our E71. We’ve also had a bunch of software glitches with our Nokia phones of late (re-boots, memory leaking and so on). The fact is, things never went wrong with our iPhone. Nokia’s quality control is simply not up to the best in the market.
- Lack of muscle: despite what the advert below would like you to believe, the N97 is a little puny next to its opponents: low RAM, slow processor.
- Keyboard: Make up your mind Nokia. If you settle on a physical keyboard then you need to make sure it’s at least as good as those on Blackberry devices or even your own E71 or E75. If you’re going to do a software keyboard, the iPhone is your benchmark. Doing both in a mediocre way just isn’t going to cut it.
So, once again, we’re undecided. The Pre and iPhone are starting to look more complete, more innovative and – crucially – more of a pleasure to live with. But then again…
Nokia N97 now shipping but has Nokia done enough?
Nokia clearly thinks that the N97 represents some sort of comeback against the likes of the iPhone and Pre – see the ad below in case you were in any doubt – but now that the N97 is shipping and the first lacklustre reviews are coming in, we have to ask: has Nokia done enough? [...]
3 Responses to “Nokia N97 now shipping but has Nokia done enough?”
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Like your page, good reading, thanks.
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[...] other huge disappointment in 2009 was Nokia’s N97: a device with such incredible potential was let down by some odd hardware decisions and some truly [...]
Maria
24 June 2009
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that I’ve really liked browsing your blog posts. Anyway
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