Hot Toys November 2009
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Review Nokia N97 Smartphone – What matters most in a cell phone? For the single parent, it is no secret that you will need a device to keep in touch with your children and your ex-spouse. Typically, you would be shopping for a smartphone that has great texting capabilities, a decent camera, and is overall easy to use.
Apple’s iPhone may be the obvious choice these days, but there are interesting alternatives as other manufacturers are trying to catch up. We have had a chance to play with Nokia’s N97 smartphone, which imitates key characteristics of the iPhone and packs the most features you can buy in a cell phone today. At $600, it is also one of the most expensive cell phones you can buy. But is it worth it?
I have to disclose upfront that I am no big fan of the iPhone, but I admit that Apple certainly changed the way what we believe cell phones should do and how they should look like. And since the introduction of the iPhone back in 2007, virtually all major manufacturers have been trying to replicate the iPhone’s fancy look and smooth user interface in one way or the other. But so far, I haven’t seen any true alternatives.
I have been waiting for Nokia to come up with a cell phone that exploits the weaknesses of the iPhone, such as a missing keyboard and the fact that, if you use the iPhone as an iPod, that you are really limited to purchasing music from iTunes.
The N97 comes with all cell phone features money can buy these days. Nokia recently reduced the price from $699 to $599, which brings the device in line with the most expensive iPhone, if you purchase it outright without a binding 2-year contract.
Those $600 for the N97 buy a touchscreen phone that is slightly smaller, thicker and heavier than an iPhone. It comes with a slideout keyboard, a high-resolution 5 megapixel camera, a massive 32 GB of storage space, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, advanced GPS mapping, music and video playback (including YouTube) capability as well as a pre-installed application (“Ovi”) store.
We have used the N97 for nearly three months and it has left us with mixed feelings. It is a fantastic multimedia device with a screen that shows clear and crisp colors. It is great for texting (you need both hands to text), but there are a few shortcomings that should be fixed by Nokia, including a touchscreen that cannot be used as effectively as the iPhone’s screen and Internet access that is much more complicated than it should be. In fact, if you have played with an iPhone before, you will be disappointed how slowly the Nokia’s screen reacts and how difficult it is to navigate through menu items and application content.
Especially annoying was the camera button placement on the right side of the device, which is almost automatically pushed when you hold the phone up to your ear. Then you are stuck in camera mode, you may be taking pictures and, during long phone calls, you are draining the battery much more than necessary.
The N97 has often been described as a phone that has flaws, one of which is the moody “unlock” button. The phone goes into a locked mode after a certain time, which is not a bad feature as it prevents you from making calls when the device is in your pocket or purse. However, the virtual “unlock” button on the touchscreen stopped working after some time and the physical unlock switch on the left side of the device turned out to be quite stubborn. As a result, I was not able to accept many incoming calls and had to resort to calling back.
The decision for or against a smartphone often has to do with personal taste. And it seems that Apple has managed to attract the interest of the masses in a way that even quite significant shortcomings of the device are overlooked. A few days ago, someone told me that he has to turn off his iPhone once a day to make sure it is working properly, but he loves his iPhone nevertheless and would not give it up for any other device. From the perspective of pure technology, the N97 is just as good as the iPhone, lacking some capabilities such as the iPhone’s multi-finger touch support, but exceeding the iPhone in others, such as video recording with a TV-out port.
One feature that you simply cannot overlook in smartphones today is software. Apple has pioneered the concept of applications that can be downloaded to your phone in a convenient way. At this time, there are about 75,000 different software titles available for the iPhone, which is substantially more than what Nokia offers through its Ovi store. And given the growing popularity of cell phone applications, these iPhone applications might be 75,000 reasons why there is simply no competition for the iPhone at this time.
No matter how you look at it, the N97 is a capable smartphone, and if we overlook the nose-bleed price tag, any single parent will certainly like the testing, picture and video features. Overall, however, I do not consider the N97 as compelling enough to challenge the iPhone as the device so many consumers want. Nokia needs to fix two basic features: The button layout and touchscreen functionality. As much as I dislike the iPhone (yes, a matter of personal taste), I believe that Nokia needs to do better if it wants to offer its own iPhone.
I will save the discussion of the price tag of smartphones as well as carrier plans for another column. However, neither the iPhone nor the N97 or any other smartphone on the market is especially cheap and I recommend that you do not hastily jump into buying such a phone.
Carefully choose a phone you feel comfortable with as it may cost you more than $1200 per year just in operational cost.
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Rick
