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Geekonomics

World tells geek how to curve & geek tells world how it can move.

by Nicholas Aaron Khoo, Singapore


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The long-awaited Nokia N97!

May 21, 2009 02:14

After months and months of long suffering and having to tell folks to "wait for the Nokia N97!" whenever I'm asked which PDA-phone to buy, it's finally here! Well, almost here, since the targeted launch in Singapore is the first week of June 2009.


The Nokia N97 is the company's very first full touchscreen and full QWERTY device.



It's marked by a very well-designed user interface and a result of very extensive global user research ranging from the US and Europe to China and Japan. I should think this is in no small part due to the research of its sociographer, Jan Chipchase, a key researcher at Nokia Design. And, of course, kudos to the key designer of the N97, Shunjiro Eguchi of Japanese descent. Who else would be better at understanding the mobile market than the Japanese?

Designed for "Internet in the pocket", the Nokia N97 boasts a complete Internet experience on your mobile. Launching in Singapore, it will have 32GB of internal memory (the biggest of all phones in the market, by my reckoning), a 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss lens, 3.5mm audio jack, 3.5-inch 16:9 widescreen, long battery life (can watch a video continuously for 4.5 hours), and more.


The Carl Zeiss lens


Taking a picture with the camera, which responded pretty fast and gave nice clear pictures.


The 3.5mm audio jack.


It's actually a mobile computer, if you ask me, providing a seamless experience just like the PC and laptop. You get to personalize your desktop with five of your favorite widgets.


Some of the preloaded widgets include a Straits Times news reader (developed by Nokia), Facebook, YouTube, iGV (showing you what's screening in local GV theaters), flight planners, Buses@SG, Wine and Dine in Singapore, Accuweather (which I happen to use in my Blackberry Bold), and more. You can also download more from the Ovi App Store.

It's rolling out with all three of Singapore's mobile network operators: SingTel, StarHub and M1, though the Singapore price has not been revealed yet. It's currently priced at around 550 euros in other markets and Singaporeans can expect its pricing to be similiar to other NSeries models. Note that this phone Comes With Music, too!

It also has a couple of social-networking apps such as Facebook, YouTube, and even mobile video app qik. However, I noted that Twitter is not available on it yet. But you can download the Twitter app easily enough.


The Facebook app was pretty well-designed and nicely integrated with the user interface.


You can use it without the QWERTY, too.


Although this phone has been designed for gamers to interact through its unique form factor, this geek noted that the Nokia N-Gage does not come preinstalled. Being active in the gaming community, obviously this geek would watch out for the gaming functions. However, the N-Gage software can be installed using the network software updater. The difference with this software updater versus the one on the N96, for example, is that you don't have to search for the software to be updated. Important software that needs to be downloaded will be prompted to you by the phone. Speaking of the Nokia N96, this geek did a quick comparison with the Nokia N96:


About the same size, but the N97 (right) is longer.


About the same thickness, too! (N97 on the right.)


One thing to note for this phone is the touchscreen. Someone used to the iPhone or iPod touch will notice that it's not the same experience. This is because the Nokia N97 uses a resistive technology vs. the capacitive technology used on the iPhone. You can understand more about the differences here. But basically, the resistive touchscreen on the N97 doesn't feel as smooth as the capacitive screen of the iPhone. However, Nokia explains that this is because this phone was designed to address the global market. For example, in China, many users prefer to use a stylus on their touchscreen, which works for the resistive touchscreen but not the capacitive ones. So for the ladies, you can use your nails on this touchscreen!


Typing on the QWERTY was nice.


The keys had a nice gentle touch to them, but I noticed that my typing was a little slow. Maybe it was because the spacebar was not directly in the middle as I'm used to, but to the right. I guess all it takes is a little getting used to.


Note the space bar toward the bottom right and not in the center.


The directional pad. Interesting design.


The phone comes in other colors, too. They have white now and I hear that pink is coming?





The N97 also has a very nice "snap" to it when you open up the QWERTY. Nokia designers used the word "emotional" to describe this "snap". You have to feel it to understand it. But for the sake of fellow geeks here, I've taken a couple of shots of the mechanism:







So what do you think?



10 comments   |   Share


 

    Talkback
scoobydoo says...
Looks good, especially the pearly white one. What worries me is that on my E75 at least, the keyboard is stretched too far and wide, which makes it hard to type on. The N97 appears to be no different. Can't wait to try it out myself. Thanks for the excellent review.

May 21, 2009 07:56
 
 
aweysham says...
That's the one I'm waiting for. I hope the touch screen is better than the HTC HD. Can I run Outlook on this phone to access my work email?

May 21, 2009 09:54
 
 
montbkk says...
My first and last question when buying a phone is: "how well does it sync with Outlook and can I print SMS messages"?.

May 21, 2009 22:18
 
 
madmusicmajor says...
T-t-that flex cable!haha with all the sliding and typing i dont think its going to last long..lolz.

May 21, 2009 22:51
 
 
Hawksfan says...
aweysham, the phone should come loaded with the Nokia Mail for Exchange client which allows you to connect to your Exchange server. The MfE client is already available at nokiaforbusines.com for free for S60 devices.

For pop/imap, the device can run the Nokia Messaging client and sync up to 10 mailboxes.

May 22, 2009 03:10
 
 
aweysham says...
@Hawksfan, thanks for that info. that is the feature I really need the most, being able to check my Outlook mail which I do now with my HTC HD.

May 22, 2009 13:06
 
 
Geekonomics says...
Ooops sorry for the absence folks, been way too busy!

I actually did left a comment to answer some of the comments here but apparently it didn't get published for some reason. Maybe bandwidth issues. Nevermind, here I go again:

@scoobydoo - thanks and glad you liked the review! Hmm... you may be right about the keys being spaced too far apart.. I'm gonna take another look this coming week will update you on that again!

@aweysham and montbkk - hmmm I don't think you can actually run outlook on the phone itself. but I assume Nokia will come with software that allows you to sync the phone's PIM with your outlook on your desktop as they've done with their other phones. Makes sense?

@madmusicmajor - haha... you really think so? Interesting thing is this flex thing is promoted a lot in their ads, I think Nokia's very confident of it's durability else they won't emphasize it so much!

@hawksfan - thanks for helping to answer the questions :) You're talking about exchange sync though, Nokia usually provides a simpler software for the outlook sync, just can't remember the software name now..

May 30, 2009 22:41
 
 
aweysham says...
Thanks for that Aaron, I think it might do what I need, just to receive my Outlook mail as I do now with my HTC HD. That saves me from having to boot up my computer to check my work mail.

May 31, 2009 09:27
 
 
Geekonomics says...
I'll bring you more info on the emailing and message function this coming weekend when the phone is launched! BTW they have a pretty well-implemented Facebook app integrated into the phone :)

May 31, 2009 12:12
 
 
aweysham says...
Thank you, look forward to your report on that. Like the FB app also.

May 31, 2009 17:08
 
 
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About Nicholas Aaron Khoo

Nicknamed "Gadget Boy" by friends at age 18 because he used to scribble Grafitti on a PalmPilot faster than most would type, Nicholas Aaron Khoo is web developer turned technopreneur and Singapore tech blogger who also pretends to do strategic advisory for tech startups and 'un'Fortune 500s (when he's not pretending to be the gadget-loaded Batman). A digital nomad, his tech interests range from gadgets, games, tech trends, social media, security, and just about anything that runs on 1s and 0s. See his industry affiliations here.
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