Nokia N97
The basics
The Nokia N97 is Nokia's flagship device, sporting a 640×360-pixel, 3.5-inch touchscreen. It also has HSDPA, Wi-Fi, A2DP and A-GPS. It has 32GB of memory and a microSD card slot. It's all rounded off with a five-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens.
The good
Nokia's been at the forefront of mobile phone innovation for years. Or at least it was before the iPhone sauntered in. It's taken a while, but the Finnish phone company's now thrown in its own iPhone equivalent - the all-powerful N97. First up, that delicious 3.5-inch touchscreen may not be AMOLED, but it is highly responsive and images taken by that five-megapixel snapper look super-sharp, while video is more than impressive, shot at widescreen 16:9 as well as standard 4:3 aspect ratio. Elsewhere you get N-Gage gaming and the pleasant (if not amazing) Nokia Maps. All great then, but it's the keyboard that's the real corker here. It slides out with a hugely satisfying clunk that can only be described like a car boot opening. We mean that in a good way, of course. And to use, well, it's one of the best we've ever used on a phone. This brings back QWERTY keyboards.
The bad
Not too much here, to be honest. If we're being really picky, the secondary function key is hidden away on the right-hand side of the phone. Surely a more natural fit would have been to position it on the left-hand side? Hmm? Also, while this does come with a slew of apps, the Ovi Store is still no match for the iPhone's App Store. That said, give it a few months and hopefully it'll be bursting!
The bottom line
Touchscreens are all well and good, (and the N97's is good) but this handset makes QEWRTY keyboards fashionable again. A superb multimedia phone from the Finnish phone giant with but a few minor imperfections. Here's one in the pips for you, Apple.
User comments (26)
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jordan23 July 2009
What is this idiot talking about i got an iphone 3gs and its the hardest thing i have ever used, it doesn override music when you open a game and the keyboard is hard to use. My job requires me to wear gloves and on the nokia n97 i can use touchscreen without takin my gloves off but on the iphone i ahd to take them off everytime when i wanted to do anything on it
Report as inappropriateSlick1a27 July 2009
Ive currently got the LG Renoir, a very good phone , but my upgrade will come in the form of either the N97 or the long awaited Android by google.Given that im unable to upgrade until march 2010 ive nothing but time on my hands.A friend of mine has recently upgraded to the N97 and i was very impressed with it , my first words were "I want one, i shall have one". The only thing that let me down was the lack of an 8mp camera which my current Renoir has. That said theres not a lot of twaeking in the form of apps to be had from the Renoir. :(
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OlracUK03 August 2009
Any thoughts on the HTC Pro2? Win mobile, so plenty of apps, video player etc. But only 3meg camera and no flash. Oh - and the HTC has a kick ass keyboard
Report as inappropriateannonamous03 August 2009
I know that it is one of the best phones in the world, but when i went into the caraphone warehouse, they had just turned it on and then after about five minutes it started to heat up loads at the back, plus i had a pretty bad feeling that the flip would be easy to break. That is about the only bad thing about it, the rest is just incredible.
Report as inappropriateAnonymous04 August 2009
I used to want it but then a saw the review i would advise people to go for the nokia 5800
Report as inappropriatejames 06 August 2009
qwerty keyboards have never worked on a mobile and never will as they have tryed so many times&years before ! quicker with my trusty thumb and predictive text ! good if you are eight years old or under with tiny fingers but cant see many that age buying them !
Report as inappropriateRealMacbeth11 August 2009
Phone is great and a lot of people are use to "other" touchscreen which require a circuit to be made in order for the screen to work. The n97 is a touchscreen which can be used with gloves on which is a rare thing indeed, must be as Denmark is so cold, and is missed by a lot of reviews. This is not a cool feature but justifies why it requires a little more pressure. Phone is as solid as any other Nokia N series and an excellent successor to the N82 I used to have. I rate it highly as the camera knocks the socks off the iPhone and it is all free on tarrifs about the £40 mark instead of the £60+ for the iPhone. HOWEVER..... With the recent deal between Nokia and Intel there are faster replacements in the pipeline, just Google/Bing N900 or N97 mini to see, which will superseed this current handset. I love it though and will not change for the world. Oh yeah it also does do cut and paste so take that Apple marketing team!!!!
Report as inappropriateAnonymous13 September 2009
I have had the N97 for nearly a month now, and I love it. One or two little niggles , but nothing like the number I read about prior to purchase. All functions work really well, being careful with camera cover( tend to wipe lens regularly, because of scratch reports on web) took about 100 pics, no probs, quality good as my old N95 8gig ( better in dark conditions ). Loads of apps, try getjar as well as ovi. Snaptu works really well, Nokia Photo Viewer Beta excellant, Google maps and Opera mini.Keyboard gets better the more you use it, email fine(Nokia & Emoze). Got over 14gig of music & video on it which all run smoothly.Bought screen protector which fits really well and does'nt effect performance. Really glad I did'nt 'fold' and go and resort to apple ! I loved the N95, best phone I've had, this is better. My only gripe is small ram and lack of software updates (not available on my handset code yet) although phone performing really well anyway, and assuming new software will only make it better. Also notice most recent posts on web getting much more favourable than early June/July. Hope the N97 continues to improve as I had to take a 24 month contract to get it !!
Report as inappropriateGarrfy15 October 2009
I have had the Nokia N97 now for about 3 weeks and it has totally blown me away. I have downloaded loads of app's from the OVI store. The best ones are- "Banner Touch" "Rotary Dialler" "Shazam" (free until end of November!!) "The Vid Store" "Facebook" "Tweets60" "World Traveller" "Google Maps" "Ovi Contacts" "Worldmate" "Playlist DJ" and the best 2 app's i think by far are "NearHere" and "FingerPrint Scanner" The home screen is the best one i have seen. It is very easy to use and is well put together. I would recommend this phone to ANYONE!! A great piece of gadgetry wizardry. The Techiest of Tech The Grandfather of all mobile phones. Go and Buy it Now!!!
Report as inappropriateLuke17 November 2009
ok i have to be honest it was a good phone when i first saw it but now i have used it for a few months it is becoming more annoying and bulky and the ovi store is a clever idea to challenge apple and the iphones store but it comes nowhere near. i would have to give this GG out of 5
Report as inappropriateariel09 January 2010
To download free apps, free games, free themes for nokia N97, I recommend: http://www.touchnokia.com.com/en/
Report as inappropriateCrystal27852014 February 2010
i love this phone its so good and easy to use i would give this phone 10/10
Report as inappropriateMartin Vernon16 February 2010
Now that Nokia Maps (v3.03) is free for life, it makes it even more attractive indeed. The firmware leaves a little to be desired and occiasionally need a power-off to solve but v20.x.x.x is on the way and should resolve most of the niggles. If you want a QWERTY keyboard, don't buy one in Germany like I did (anyone know how to remap the keyboard??)
Report as inappropriatekhai9628 February 2010
this phone is so easy to use and is really helpful throughout your life so i recamend this phone
Report as inappropriatemax30 March 2010
please please do not go anywhere near this phone, i upgraded mine just before xmas and am now on my third handset !!!!!!! the last one has been in for repair 4 times all with the same problems that everyone else is having. the screen keeps freezing ,the battery is very poor, functions only appear 8 seconds after you press them,the camera is no where near as good as the n95 8gb was. the phone is feature packed but it just does not work properly at all. thanks nokia but your flagship is rubbish and not worth the money even with the landmark "problem solving" software upgrade at xmax.
Report as inappropriateSteve09 May 2010
The Bad ! Just read real owners LONG TERM reviews of this phone on the Vodaphone and Nokia forums, this phone is a complete and utter failure. Unless you've been living in a cave south of the south pole, you must be the only person who has not heard about its poor reception. Why do you review items and give such glowing reviews when the rest of the public that own these 'gadgets' are baying for the blood of the people who designed this stuff. Your more out of touch then the Labour party.
Report as inappropriateIcemant1129 May 2010
My dad got this as a UNWANTED xmas gift, at the beginning I was totally amazed by it, after about 2 weeks he swapped my phone (Samsung Tocco Lite) for the Nokia N97, 2 weeks after this the phon bean to really irritate me! One day my neighbour really annoyed me and I was ready to throw the phone at them -ON AT THIS POINT DID I NOTICE THE PHONE WAS A BRICK (not a real brick) - Anyway the point is I sold the phone on eBay (my favourite website) and bought my dad the exact same phone as the one he was using, and gave me mine back. ALL & ALL this phone is an absolute disaster, save yourself the heartache and get a Samsung!
Report as inappropriateGamgigo Gorgi12 June 2010
Is it really that bad? I've told the new firmware makes it good!
Report as inappropriategrant 24 July 2010
i've had this phone for a year now and i hate it but need to keep it because its on contract. it always crashes so i have to take the battery out to fix it which means you are having to constantly having to fix the time and date and if you put films on it from your computer you can't find to watch it and the internet is so pathetic its unreal you can't even watch videos on you tube with out it constantly buffering and going out of sync and sorry if this puts you off buying one but its all true
Report as inappropriategrant 24 July 2010
i've had this phone for a year now and i hate it but need to keep it because its on contract. it always crashes so i have to take the battery out to fix it which means you are having to constantly having to fix the time and date and if you put films on it from your computer you can't find to watch it and the internet is so pathetic its unreal you can't even watch videos on you tube with out it constantly buffering and going out of sync and sorry if this puts you off buying one but its all true
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Sony18 November 2010
The N97 can be a little slow on the responsive side sometimes. Getting from the front screen to an app can take anything from 10secs to 45secs depending on how recently i used the phone last. The screen is great and the slide out qwerty keypad is excellent as any and every N97 user will agree. Speed of texting and emailling is phoenomenal as such that my next phone must be a slide out qwerty keypad also. The Ovi store still isn't great as many of the apps fail to download and/or install. The camera is good. All in all 8/10.
Report as inappropriateGerryC13 April 2011
Totally agree with all the negative reviews here and 100% disagree with TGS review - what were you thinking with 4/5? This phone is an absolute disaster!! It is at best, and i mean absolute best 2/5!! I owned this brick for a year and finally got rid a couple of weeks ago and i rate it as follows - Good:- The QWERTY keyboard is amazing to use and makes text entry extremely quick and satsfying. The memory capacity is commendable with an internal 32gb plus an expansion slot which can accomodate up to 16gb giving you a possible total of 48gb. I thought the built-in FM transmitter was a great feature and seemed to work pretty well. Bad:- The screen is very unresponsive, i found myself pressing things 3/4 times to get a reaction. There are MAJOR software problems. The phones frequently freezes and I had to remove the battery as even the power button would not work. Everything seems to lag, it could take 20 or so seconds to open my music folder or photo/video folders. The battery life is absolutely terrible, i could get 8/9 hours max. standyby time and as little as 1.5/2 hours listening to music. And most of all the reception is an absolute disgrace, i found myself holding an expensive brick most of the time! To conclude I think Nokia had a great idea here but executed it very badly, this handset should be avoided, do NOT waste your money on it!!
Report as inappropriatehassan02 February 2012
mereci
Report as inappropriatehassan02 February 2012
thank you
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