The smoke has cleared and the dust has settled; our take on the Nokia N97
Provided you don’t live under a rock, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve seen the big announcement from Nokia World this morning. That’s right folks, the N97 is upon us - Nokia’s savior - the handset that will propel the Finnish giant back to a more comfortable seat at the top of the mobile world after the intense slide it has taken in 2008. Right?
First things first; the inevitable comparisons with the iPhone. Ugh - when will it stop? Aside from the fact that both handsets have a touchscreen, they really have absolutely nothing else to do with each other. The N97 is infinitely more capable in terms of multimedia creation, multimedia consumption and versatility while the iPhone is infinitely more usable and geared toward the masses. Here in the US, the iPhone’s biggest market, the N97 will have absolutely no impact on its market share. Even if by some miracle Nokia manages to score a carrier agreement for the N97, the time frame will mean that Apple’s third generation iPhone will likely have been released (speculation) and we all know that Nokia couldn’t market a free space heater to an Eskimo here in the US.
Abroad, the N97 will do very well. Carrier agreements throughout Europe and the surrounding regions, subsidized contract pricing, advertising as far as the eye can see - it’ll sell like condoms at the Bunny Ranch… But Apple most definitely won’t be losing any sleep over it. The iPhone is a fantastically-positioned device. It’s sexy, the UI is brilliant and anyone, young or old, can pick one up and use it to its fullest extent in a matter of hours or even minutes. By comparison, S60 is dated, clunky and appeals to a much narrower range of users. Sure, for the time being it is far more capable compared to Apple’s mobile OS, but S60 Touch is hardly the revision Symbian needed to catch up in terms of appearance, usability or wow-factor. The new widget-style home screen UI is great but it’s hardly enough. In terms of appearance, S60 is to the iPhone OS as Unix is to Linux Mint.
So bloggers, please stop. The N97 has nothing to do with the iPhone and no, not every touchscreen device is a potential “iPhone killer”. There were touchscreen handsets before the iPhone and there will continue to be touchscreen handsets for decades to come. Apple’s mobile market share will continue to soar long after the N97 comes and goes. Deal with it.
On to the device itself… In a word, the N97 is sexy - there’s really no question about it. The design is fantastic and the size is perfect. Its 3.5″ 640 x 360 pixel display just begs for multimedia and the N97 can most definitely deliver in that area; after all, it is an Nseries. 32 GB of internal memory plus microSDHC support means there will hardly be a shortage on space for media files. Oh, and Slingbox on the N97? Yes, it will be glorious. As far as form factor goes, Nokia also hit this one out of the park. The tilt-up display is great and results in a much more comfortable typing position than flat sliding displays. The keyboard is sizable and the marriage of QWERTY and a touchscreen is what we will come to expect from any capable smartphone. We would like to have seen Nokia take the next step as far as the camera is concerned since its 5 megapixel Zeiss set it very old news at this point but hey, you can’t have it all. No matter though, WiFi and tri-band WCDMA seal the deal and basically guarantee that you’ll find a few of these bad boys floating around BGR HQ next year.
For clarification sake, this is not the Nseries QWERTY device we saw mock up images of almost a full year ago. At the time, our sources indicated that device was scheduled for release in late 2008 so today’s announcement is a pretty good indication that those plans were either bumped or scrapped completely. Rest assured though, the N97 is far sexier than what we saw so don’t shed any tears just yet. While the N97 is most likely the “Ivalo” referenced on the internal roadmap that was leaked not too long ago, we have a feeling the handset we spoke about might still turn up as the “Eitri”.
Lastly, congrats to Nokia on finally keeping a handset under wraps until it was officially announced. Sure, we might have had an idea that a touchscreen Nseries would be announced this year but that’s pretty much the beginning and end of it. In the end, the N97 is definitely going to be a big hit abroad and S60 fans here in the US will swoon over it as well. Is it going to single-handedly reverse Nokia’s slide? No, but it definitely represents the first stages of a good direction for Nokia to head toward. As much as it would like to think of itself as an internet company, handsets are where Nokia must continue to shine for many years to come if it hopes to remain the beast it is today. The N97 is a good first step.
Tags: N97, Nokia, Nseries, QWERTY, S60, slider, Symbian, touchscreen
Hey look, it’s the HTC Tilt. Oh…it’s a Nokia phone.
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Crap, now my next years phone buying decision will be even harder.
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You can buy 2 netbooks for this price !
If it was around 400 i would consider it.
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Finally Nokia have made a phone that beats the Nokia 7710 in every way… up to now, all Nokia phones have been basic and had small square screens, I just hope its not gonna cost a lot.
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Hi Zach,
How can you be so sure that the N97 will sell well in Europe? Personally, I don’t see it selling well here AT ALL. It won’t be out for a good few months yet and quite a lot of people looking will be in the middle of their contract duration. The reason why the N95 sold so well in the UK was because of the camera. Seriously. It was one of the devices with a 5MP camera and that’s what attracted people to pony up for it. When people see that this has the same camera from their now almost 3 yeard old N95 and how large the device is, they’ll move on to the phone with the highest megapixel count. Come to the Carphone Warehouse and you’ll see it happen many times a day with the N96.
Who knows? Maybe you’re right in the end but unfortunately, I don’t see this selling as well as you think it will.
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Well, unlocked smartphones have always been in that price range. Besides, while it may be more than a netbook, this phone can do more and will always be with you, whereas a netbook may not be even though it’s more portable than a notebook.
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Heh, half the article is dedicated to the iPhone. Typical BGR…
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Funny how he states to bloggers to stop the iPhone comparrasions but a good 1/3rd of the article is doing just that.
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@Zach
“So bloggers, please stop. The N97 has nothing to do with the iPhone and no, not every touchscreen device is a potential “iPhone killer”. There were touchscreen handsets before the iPhone and there will continue to be touchscreen handsets for decades to come.”
Thank you… thank you… thank you!! I couldn’t have said it better myself!
I hate that EVERY single touchscreen phone since the iPhone has been compared to it.
I’m not in any way saying anything bad about the iPhone - it’s an awesome phone - for certain people. But honestly, when the only thing two phones have in common is a touchscreen, can you really compare them to one another?
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N97 is going to be huge – price’s no object here. When N95 came out a few years ago, it had a $1k price tag, but it sold like hotcakes, why? Because, thank God, not everyone is as, shall we say, unsophisticated as an average US consumer (no offence here, blame the carriers) who doesn’t see anything better than a ubiquitous Iphone – lame 2 mp camera, lack of basic messaging functions, no flash support (yet another bag of hurt for Mr. Jobs, I suppose) — yuck. I agree with the post: Iphone is no contender to N97 just because these two play in different leagues. Plus, N97 is an unlocked phone – no tempering with the menu, no ugly logos, no AT&T ringtone by default and that’s definitely worth $800 (also, let’s not forget that Iphone’s monthly service fees over two years add up to something way more than $800).
Anyway, looking forward to the phone!
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@JustMe:
Ok I’ll answer this one. I’ll answer your question with some questions.
When other phones started coming out with 5 mp cameras, who were they compared to? Nokia. They were the bench mark.
When any phone talks about ‘push email’ who is it instantly compared to? That would be the folks over at RIM. They are the benchmark.
So despite how much you hate it, when you mention touchscreen these days, it won’t be the Android, or the S60, its going to be Apple, because for the moment, when it comes to touchscreens, they are the benchmark.
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Thanks for the coverage Zach.
Will you get one from WOM World?
I’m going to wait for whenever S60 5th comes to eseries with SMP [ A9? ] so until then it’s E51 and E71 for me.
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Dang Malfoy made a good point. Touchscreens before were stylus-dependent affairs. iPhone kind of did away with the stylus (not saying they did it 1st, just saying they’re the ones who called attention to it).
And, sad to say, most my fellow Americans DON’T know about all the tech prior to the iPhone because most of them were ga-ga’ing over a lame piece of junk like the Razr.
Americans’ un-sophistication in regards to cell devices is to be blamed on carriers, not us.
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Yes, and this has more solid state memory, gps, WWAN, two cameras, etc.
Do I even need to mention that it’s way tiny? It costs money to do that. Plus, a $350 netbook feels like a child’s toy, a $700 cell phone will ooze quality.
Thank you Nokia, thank you so much. I can’t wait to ditch my iPhone and I’ve already ditched my plans to work a Nokia N810 WiMax into my already gadget-cluttered life. With a screen that high res and decent text input, I won’t need a MID
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@Malfoy: That was VERY well stated. The comparison of any product, electronic or otherwise, has always been a habit of any good shopper. You must compare products features, build quality, warranty, reputation, etc. before you can make an educated buying decision.
I think that you can compare touch screen devices without one having to be a “killer” of the other. Coke and Pepsi have been battling for decades and there still seems to be room in the world for both. I think there is plenty of room in the world for Apple, Nokia, RIM and HTC products.
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I like the fact that you did the whole iPhone dialogue when addressing this phone. Now maybe people can just realize that and move on.
@ Malfoy Great comment. Though they were not the first they certainly are the benchmark now. And now that this has been established maybe we can make comparisons without having to always say this is will “kill” another device.
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As a daily user of both a Nokia S60 phone (N95 8GB) and an Iphone 3G (i carry two numbers, one personal and one business) I would just like to make a couple of points.
The Iphone is a great device for web browsing, music and video playback - and it has perfectly usable phone features. The App store is a real unique and significant strength for the iphone.
The Nokia S60 phones have better cameras, video calling, mms, dvd video recording, slingbox player support, simple out of the box TV out (cables supplied) and proper turn by turn navigation. They have better phone features (advanced call management) and better network reception than an iphone - and while web access is better on an iphone it is still reasonably good on a Nokia S60 phone (flash is supported for example) .
Design is subjective, i prefer the look of the iphone, but the N95 8gb is smaller and easier to carry. They are both good for games (N-gage, S60 and Java options on N95, and massive developer support for the iphone).
The S60 OS is not clunky in any way - my father is in his 60s and can find his way around an S60 device easier than the iphone. The problem is that the S60 OS is highly configurable with the use of folders so similar phones may have features in different folders.
The N97 looks good and if it is was available today - i would buy it. The fact that it is S60 should not and would not bother me.
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The price will effect who buys it the way the world economy has been. I agree with BGR there is no need to compare this phone with the iPhone.
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God bless HTC for coming up with the design that Nokia later borrowed. Too bad HTC didn’t copyright the slideout and tilting keyboard.
So basically, this can be compared to my HTC Kaiser…
meh.
-Mc
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The design looks similar to Nokia n810. I expect Nokia to announce a new Linux based product soon.
The maemo platform have a lot of potential.
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uhhh, BGR, some of us actually like S60 for what it is, and don’t think that it looks outdated. In fact, that whole “look” of the iPhone’s OS isn’t that great. Yeah, it probably could use a complete tear down and rebuild tot make it move faster, but there are plenty of us that actually really like it.
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Why can’t we compare Apples to Oranges…lol. The reason the iPhone is always mentioned, is because its a revolutionary phone. Nothing has yet to come up against its mass appeal. Sure the iPhone has its issues, but its still one of the best new phones out there. Just think, everyone used to talk about the Razr until something better came out…now nobody cares about it. At this price point and the features named, its going to tank. Too bad, its a beautiful looking case. OS and GUI look terrible though. Sure, its got 32GB+ and 5mp camera, but if the iPhone felt threatened, it would too. Steve Jobs may appear to be an idiot, but he’s just trying to make a buck like everyone else(on a larger scale of course). I think everyone is suprised at the jump from the 1st gen to the 2nd gen iPhone. Usually that kind of change would take 2 jumps in the Apple world. Just goes to show you there are technologies out there creeping up on the iPhone. Nokia could have made this phone something to talk about, but instead its utterly forgettable. In the end, we, the end user, will win in this striving to be the best.
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Just add a 4th row to the keyboard and an 8MP camera, and this would be perfect to me.
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@ Shaun,
Thanks for such a good comment. I don’t agree with you on the browser comparison, though. How is a media phone’s browser better than another’s without Flash, when half the web is videos, animation, and Flash? How can you be considered the best media phone when your browser lacks access to most web media? If speed’s the issue, isn’t Opera Mini 4.2 EXACTLY like the iPhone browser, only faster??
And its good at video playback?? I play most common video formats in enormous resolutions and filesizes via third party software, and accelerated video via the default player. Can the iPhone do that? I think you should say its good at .mp4 video playback, but nothing else. In fact, since the N95 supports more audio and video filetypes with the same automatic screen rotation as the iPhone with TV out to boot, I don’t see how you came to your conclusion.
But to each his own. The iPhone does what it does well. The Nseries does everything the iPhone does, all at once if necessary, and much better, in my opinion. I’m glad you tell the truth about S60’s UI. It IS simple, even if very in-depth, and if you can read, you can use it in minutes. Nothing beats its utility.
@ Cartel,
I agree on your price point. But the fact the iPhone is the exact same price as the N97 unlocked, they deserve to be compared. Plus, carriers just may decide to carry it in America. T-MobileUSA already subsidizer the latest unlocked Nseries and Eseries S60 devices via its Premium Collection at Best Buy, and at&t carries the E71x and 6650, so carriers are beginning to demand Nokia and S60 devices. What’s to say this device isn’t offered at either American GSM carrier for $229, even $189. Nokia just announced a $150 million budget to market its Nseries models. That just may be enough to start the real US smartphone revolution.
Honestly, you guys at BGR have been some of the iPhone’s biggest supporters, cheerleaders, even. Whenever any Nokia or Android news came out, YOU always pointed out how it wasn’t the gloriousness of the iPhone. I always point out how superior my N95 8gb, and most other Nseries devices, to be honest, is to the iPhone, and always hear you guys and your readers rebut uninitiated chatter. This device is obviously better now that it has a touchscreen, but its basically still S60, which was better all the time. Most us Symbian Freaks are more happy about the screen resolution and social networking Active Standby plugins, and battery. The touchscreen is what drew the comparisons to the iPhone from YOU guys, and not the T-Mobile G1, HTC Touch Pro, Sony Ericsson XPeria1, and the at&t Tilt.
But I prefer you compare the iPhone too. Then users will realize more powerful devices and capable OS’s exist. Not everyone wants simple, and if you told them devices with far greater features exists than the entry level iPhone (in terms of what most people globally recognize as and expect from smartphones), a more sophisticated user base will be birthed. Everywhere else, people want more features. Many tech bloggers like looks and simplicity.
Its time to admit something. Just because we blog about tech, we don’t mirror the global consumer desires. S60 is the global OS of choice. 40% of us love it. About 15% want an iPhone. Nokia’s Nseries sell far more than the iPhone. And the iPhone sells 50% of its devices in the US, where its been hard to get Nokia S60 devices, though that has started changing. So without the US market, the iPhone only has an 8% global marketshare. Nokia would have about 46%.
So the world knows enough to not take all advice from bloggers, the iPhone is just as mainstream as the better-selling N95’s, and if Nokia gets a carrier agreement similar to the iPhone, which is nearly identically priced, the N97 WILL KILL THE IPHONE BUZZ. And BGR will be jocking the N97, S60, and the Nseries for the next couple years. Believe that!
Symbian Freak For Life! ;)@ Shaun,
Thanks for such a good comment. I don’t agree with you on the browser comparison, though. How is a media phone’s browser better than another’s without Flash, when half the web is videos, animation, and Flash? How can you be considered the best media phone when your browser lacks access to most web media? If speed’s the issue, isn’t Opera Mini 4.2 EXACTLY like the iPhone browser, only faster??
And its good at video playback?? I play most common video formats in enormous resolutions and filesizes via third party software, and accelerated video via the default player. Can the iPhone do that? I think you should say its good at .mp4 video playback, but nothing else. In fact, since the N95 supports more audio and video filetypes with the same automatic screen rotation as the iPhone with TV out to boot, I don’t see how you came to your conclusion.
But to each his own. The iPhone does what it does well. The Nseries does everything the iPhone does, all at once if necessary, and much better, in my opinion. I’m glad you tell the truth about S60’s UI. It IS simple, even if very in-depth, and if you can read, you can use it in minutes. Nothing beats its utility.
@ Cartel,
I agree on your price point. But the fact the iPhone is the exact same price as the N97 unlocked, they deserve to be compared. Plus, carriers just may decide to carry it in America. T-MobileUSA already subsidizer the latest unlocked Nseries and Eseries S60 devices via its Premium Collection at Best Buy, and at&t carries the E71x and 6650, so carriers are beginning to demand Nokia and S60 devices. What’s to say this device isn’t offered at either American GSM carrier for $229, even $189. Nokia just announced a $150 million budget to market its Nseries models. That just may be enough to start the real US smartphone revolution.
Honestly, you guys at BGR have been some of the iPhone’s biggest supporters, cheerleaders, even. Whenever any Nokia or Android news came out, YOU always pointed out how it wasn’t the gloriousness of the iPhone. I always point out how superior my N95 8gb, and most other Nseries devices, to be honest, is to the iPhone, and always hear you guys and your readers rebut uninitiated chatter. This device is obviously better now that it has a touchscreen, but its basically still S60, which was better all the time. Most us Symbian Freaks are more happy about the screen resolution and social networking Active Standby plugins, and battery. The touchscreen is what drew the comparisons to the iPhone from YOU guys, and not the T-Mobile G1, HTC Touch Pro, Sony Ericsson XPeria1, and the at&t Tilt.
But I prefer you compare the iPhone too. Then users will realize more powerful devices and capable OS’s exist. Not everyone wants simple, and if you told them devices with far greater features exists than the entry level iPhone (in terms of what most people globally recognize as and expect from smartphones), a more sophisticated user base will be birthed. Everywhere else, people want more features. Many tech bloggers like looks and simplicity.
Its time to admit something. Just because we blog about tech, we don’t mirror the global consumer desires. S60 is the global OS of choice. 40% of us love it. About 15% want an iPhone. Nokia’s Nseries sell far more than the iPhone. And the iPhone sells 50% of its devices in the US, where its been hard to get Nokia S60 devices, though that has started changing. So without the US market, the iPhone only has an 8% global marketshare. Nokia would have about 46%.
So the world knows enough to not take all advice from bloggers, the iPhone is just as mainstream as the better-selling N95’s, and if Nokia gets a carrier agreement similar to the iPhone, which is nearly identically priced, the N97 WILL KILL THE IPHONE BUZZ. And BGR will be jocking the N97, S60, and the Nseries for the next couple years. Believe that!
Symbian Freak For Life!
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JakeyBoy: No offense, but to say Steve Jobs “may appear to be an idiot” is just stupid. He’s the CEO of a Fortune 100 company that has gone from the brink of collapse to a tech leader with $25 billion in cash, he’s one of the “fathers” of the PC industry, he was a driving force behind the Macintosh, the iMac, and the iPhone, and on top of all that, he owned Pixar during its rise. You don’t have to be a fan of Apple products to realize that Jobs is a lot of things, but “idiot” isn’t one of them. If that’s the case, please call me an idiot too. And you, message board guy who works at Verizon and whose mom still sends you to work with a lunchbox full of pop tarts, you should aspire to be an “idiot” too.
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