If you remember my previous post, Fabulista had anticipated the arrival of touch screen mobiles from Nokia's N-series. Well, here it is - the N97. It's the latest flagship model for the N-series of phones from the Finnish maker that runs of Symbian. It will be unleashed upon the Asian world on the first half of 2009. Here's the review from CNetAsia:
Unveiled at the recent Nokia World event in Barcelona, the N97 is touted as the latest flagship model in the Nseries lineup. In fact, Nokia calls its new handset the "most advanced mobile computer". While we are still reluctant to agree with the company's concept of equating a phone to a mobile computer, we can most certainly concur with the "advanced" tag. From GPS and Wi-Fi to a 3.5-inch touchscreen display and 32GB onboard memory, the N97 has just about everything you can find on a mobile phone today, and more.
Upside:
As advanced as the N97 may be, the most distinctive features of the handset are its slideout keypad and tilting touchscreen display, a design combination which shares an uncanny resemblance to the HTC TyTN II. According to a Nokia spokesperson, the 35-degree tilt of the display is designed such to make it easy to view the screen while typing.
During a quick hands-on with the demo unit of the N97, we found the keypad relatively easy to type on. The longish design of the N97 was also quite comfortable for one-handed operation when the keypad is retracted.
While having a generous 3.5-inch, 640 x 360-pixel display is always great for Web surfing or GPS navigation, the screen's 16:9 aspect ratio makes it ideal for watching widescreen movies on-the-go, too. The use of widgets on the large touchscreen display also seems fairly intuitive, though we'll have to test this out further when we get the review set.
What's also noteworthy about the N97 is its onboard memory which, at 32GB, is probably one of the largest storage capacities available in mobile handsets today. Adding to that is a built-in microSD slot which can support up to the largest 16GB cards. This means the phone can potentially store a whopping 48GB of data, a feature that would definitely appeal to those planning to use the N97 as a mobile entertainment device.
As the flagship model in Nokia's Nseries lineup, it didn't come as a surprise to find an arsenal of wireless capabilities on the N97, including GPS, Wi-Fi, HSDPA and Bluetooth with AD2P. Also onboard are useful features such as a 3.5mm audio jack, VGA video capture at 30fps, an electronic compass, and a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and dual LED lights. The N97 runs on the latest Series60 5th Edition operating system.
Downside:
One of the major concerns over a device with so many wireless radios and a large touchscreen display is battery life. It will be interesting to see how the N97, with its high-capacity 1,500mAh battery, copes with daily usage.
Sadly, due to the beta firmware, we were unable to test the responsiveness of the touchscreen user interface, though the N97 will face an uphill task matching up to the iPhone's seamless multitouch UI.
Unlike the TyTN II which allows users to view the display tilted or flat when the keypad is slid open, the N97 doesn't have the option of not tilting the screen. Depending on how you hold the device, some users may not find the tilted orientation of the screen as comfortable to view when typing.
Outlook:
Whichever way you look at it, the N97 is a truly impressive handset that's already creating quite a buzz among mobile users. On paper, it has all the features you can expect from a top-of-the-line cellular offering. Its success in the market will, however, depend largely on the implementation of the touchscreen interface and the ease of use of the onboard software. The N97 is expected to be priced around 550 euros (without subsidy and taxes), or roughly US$699, when it starts shipping worldwide in the first half of 2009.
| Model name | In a nutshell |
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Availability: Worldwide, first half of 2009; 550 euros (before tax, subsidies) |
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