01 July 2009

Nokia N97 User Review
By Marc Obermann (Dogmann)

Well my N97 arrived from Nokia, it's a white version made in Finland not that makes any real difference in my personal opinion but it's just what it is. I've waited until I updated the firmware today as felt that was the right and fair thing to do especially as I got off to false a start.

This was entirely due to the Ovi Suite 1.1 included in the box I wont dwell on this to much other than to say it took 2hr 25 min to download and install the 9 parts I had selected and I wasn't happy or impressed to say the least.

It actually got much worse when I actually tried to use it for anything other than syncing Outlook Contacts and Calendar it just didn't work.

Anyway enough of that my simple advice is: DO NOT USE Ovi Suite 1.1 if you value your sanity at all. Instead I went to the Nokia support site and downloaded Nokia PC Suite 7.1 which installed perfectly and works perfectly as you would expect.

Now onto the N97 well I have to say it comes in a much smaller box then previous phones have and it is quite plain but smart to. On opening it you see the N97 the battery and the cute stylus lifting up this section reveals all the goodies Nokia have given you. You get your charger, charger adaptor, data cable, ear phones and remote control adapter for using your own ear phones which is very smart in dark grey cable and black control and you also get a cleaning cloth.

Here are the pictures of the box and its contents,

*click to enlarge

Now onto the N97 itself it really does have great build quality in MO it feels nice and tactile and solid whilst actually not being very big at all. Mine doesn't have a creaking battery cover but it does have a rattle noise when it's shut and shaken but this is definitely not the Lock Key as holding it makes no difference and to be honest it certainly isn't really noticeable or a deal breaker IMO. So next I connected to my Computer and synced my Calendar and Contacts and installed some of my apps I wanted on the N97.

The apps I have installed are:

• Handy Taskman
• Best ScreenSnap
• Stew

I am someone that believes when it comes to apps I only install what I really want and need and that in this case less is best well it is for me. Having said that there is a wide range of apps included in the N97 should the user want or need them. I tried the AccuWeather Widget but really don't like it especially as I can't control how it connects to the Internet.

I then set up my WiFi access point which was straight forward and easy and it automatically set it up as priority one in Destinations. I then went and turned off Video sharing a trick I learnt from having the Samsung I8910HD. Next I set up my Yahoo E-Mail account using the Home Screen E-Mail Widget which was straight forward and easy. But on checking it set it up to use my Network connection and also to send and receive my mails through their server so I changed the outgoing Mail server to the Yahoo smtp server and choose my WiFi connection and this works nicely IMO.

I then proceeded to set up the rest of my Home screen I added the Music Player Widget, and chose the two shortcut widgets as serving me best and the Calendar Widget. Although I am quite disappointed that this just shows the next up coming appointment only and clicking it takes to that appointment so it requires a couple of extra clicks to access the whole calendar.

Here is how I have my Home screen set up and what it looks like in Landscape mode which to b honest is how I use the phone 95% of time at least.

Now a lot of been said about the Keyboard and it seems to polarise opinions people either love it or hate. I thought I was going to hate it as the keys are really tiny but to my surprise I have found I actually really like and it it's quite easy to get used to. Their are a few things that do annoy me though the first is you have to press the arrow key for the Blue symbols every time you use one so for instance to enter 55 requires 4 presses of keys. Besides that as I said it really works very well indeed IMO.

Next up is the screen and it looks bright and clear but then I have it set to full brightness as I have done on every Nokia device I've ever owned and used for me I'll take the hit on battery as screen quality is just more important. As for how responsive it is well it takes a little getting used to and I have found once I stopped just lightly trying to swipe it up or down or left to right. But actually pressed quite hard and then swiped it actually works very well.

Next up is the Web browser and there is a couple of niggles here the first being you need to wait for the whole age to load before being able to scroll around properly. I also really don't like what happens after the double tap either as it's just to large to be really useful IMO I really wish it was user definable to the size you wanted.

Having said that at 100% on the zoom bar the page fits nicely on the screen and it's easy to scroll round and read what you want. I must say I have found myself using the D-Pad more than touching the screen for this as I just find it much easier and faster especially for clicking on small page numbers and links.

Here are some pictures of the Web browser viewing this Forum in double tapped view and normal view @100%.

I have also copied a couple of Albums over to the N97 using the conversion software in the PC Suite and as on all my other N series device when the Album art didn't show up this was easily fixed. I just copied the Album art to my pictures and through the Music player added the Album art from there which IMO is the easiest way ever.

Music playback is really very good as whilst posting this review I am listening to Relapse by Eminem and it sound really nice. I also converted a couple of Videos again using the PC Suite and they also play very well with good sound.

Here are some screenshots of the Music Player

Well that's all I've really had time to do so far except for one last thing I feel I need to mention which is the N97's performance it may not be the fastest device out. But really it isn't that slow either and although the only 128MB of Ram was a concern it appears to be not too bad at all in use. On start up it has 56.5MB of Ram and when running tends to settle down at around 25MB Ram as shown in these pictures.

Lastly but by no means least as I realise the Camera is very important to a lot of users here are some pictures I have taken with the N97 all on Auto settings I'm afraid as photography just really isn't my thing.

*click to enlarge

Well that's all for now and my initial impressions as I use the N97 more and if anything interesting occurs I'll update my findings in this thread.

Oh and one last thing I forgot to mention all these photos were uploaded straight to Flickr from the N97 and setting this up and uploading photos is really simple fast and easy.

Marc