By Damian Koh
22/06/2009
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39051199,44386808p,00.htm

It's been half a year since the N97 was announced at the Nokia World event in Barcelona last December. Unfortunately, good things don't always come to those who wait. If the N97 had been available a year ago, it'd have been considered a cutting-edge smartphone that's ahead of its generation. Fast forward to present time, and the strong set of features just can't seem to cover up for the deficiencies in the software and user interface. We'll explain why in our evaluation of the N97.

Design

The N97 isn't a headturner when it comes to design. In fact, boring has been uttered a number of times. For color, you get a choice of a matte black or white chassis with a silver bezel. Nor does the device deliver the same solid (and metallic) experience that we got with the E71 and E72, although it's still relatively well-built albeit in a plasticky way.

We find the slide-and-tilt mechanism smooth and well-damped. It doesn't slide all the way if you nudge it slowly from the side and it's possible to get the display to stay at a half-open state before the auto mechanism kicks in and pushes the screen into a final angled position. This final "resting position" works especially well if you leave the device on your desk as the screen faces you at a readable angle while you're seated, but not if you're typing on-the-go. In the hands, we realized that the screen faces downward a tad too much. As a result, we had to tilt the display away from us slightly with the keyboard facing upward to reach a comfortable viewing angle.

The keyboard on the N97 is a major disappointment. Although the keys are sufficiently spaced apart, this is flush with the surface. As a result, we couldn't get a decent feel of the pitch of each button. In fact, we found ourselves hating the keyboard the more we used it. In our earlier hands-on, we had some misgivings about the spacebar which is found toward the right on the bottom row of the keyboard. It didn't actually bother us that much after a short while, so the adaptability curve there is gentle. We found the directional pad on the left superfluous, unless you use it to play a lot of games. It didn't seem practical for most uses since the device has a touchscreen and we could navigate by reaching up and tapping the screen. It's a hardware feature we'd rather forgo for better keys which, in the case of the N97, could have made a big difference. In comparison, the five-row keyboard on the HTC Touch Pro2 is so much easier on the thumbs.

There's only one physical button on the front which activates the main menu. Holding it down brings up the multitask manager. The call/end keys are touch-sensitive, though if you push down hard enough, they sink into the chassis slightly. Around the back is a 5-megapixel shooter protected by a sliding lens cover. If you look closely along the bottom edge of the device, it has a slight lip. This is similar to the HTC Magic, except that this Nokia curves toward the back. Our guess is that this will help improve grip when you're holding the phone sideways and playing games. In reality, it didn't make that much of a difference. Over on the right edge, you can find the volume control and camera shutter. On the opposite side are the micro-USB port and keylock. The handset trickle charges when plugged in to the PC. We found the keylock annoying as it doesn't always unlock the device. On some occasions, we had to slide the switch down and hold it there to unlock. Other times, a simple push does it.

Features

The N97 runs on the mature Symbian S60 operating system that has been adapted for touchscreen capability in the 5th edition. That works both for and against it. In terms of operability, the software is stable and familiar to current S60 users. However, the touch interface is still very inconsistent and bears traces of a stylus-centric design. This should have been avoided for a touchscreen device. Apple has perfected the touchscreen with the iPhone by building the touch experience from the ground up. Clearly, the S60 platform is still playing catch-up.

The usability aspect which we found annoying (we've highlighted this in our 5800 XpressMusic review and we'll mention it here again) are the single and double tap idiosyncrasies. It's frustrating because for certain actions you need only a single tap, but when you go deeper into the menus/apps, you realize you need two taps instead. This is something Nokia really needs to address if it is to deliver a touchscreen that doesn't frustrate users.

The key difference between the N97 and the earlier 5800 XpressMusic is the home screen. On the N97, you have placeholders for various widgets including time, date, phone profiles and access to applications such as Facebook, AccuWeather and Straits Times news. More on this later. You can add/delete and switch around these placeholders. Some of these are live widgets, which mean you'll need to be connected to the Internet, so watch your data usage on this. There's also an option for you to go offline and switch back to the core S60 interface.

There are two versions of the N97--the regular model and the Comes With Music (CWM) edition--depending on where you are buying it from. The latter is Nokia's unlimited music download service. As can be expected, the CWM model comes at an additional premium. To find out more, click here or here. If you're getting the regular N97, you can still access the Music Store and purchase a la carte music.

Applications

The N97 is the first Nokia smartphone preinstalled with the Ovi Store. This lets you download applications directly from the handset without having to go through a PC. If you are assuming that this rivals Apple's App Store, then you're in for a huge disappointment. Firstly, there aren't that many applications available and that's probably due to the infancy of the store. Secondly, most of them are paid apps. Those that are free are rather useless or simply don't work. The Apple App Store has tons of mundane apps, too, but at least those are fun if not gimmicky and provide short bursts of amusement. The Ovi Store is a radically different experience. The success of an online apps store revolves around two key aspects: The types of programs available and community reviews. The Ovi Store is sparse on both counts. Granted we may be a little harsh here, but it is obvious the Ovi Store pales against Apple's. All said, there are more (and much better) apps on the Web and we hope to see these on the Ovi Store soon.

Nokia, at least, seems to be aware of the shortcomings of its infant Ovi Store, and has preinstalled a bevy of applications on our review unit of the N97. These include Drawing, JoikuSpot, Traveler, YouTube player, AccuWeather, Amazon, AP News, Bloomberg, Buses@SG, Dial-a-cab, Facebook, Flight Info, Hi5, iGV, Slideshow, Singapore Exchange, Calories from SingHealth, Soccer, Straits Times, Wine and Dine, Boingo and Qik Capture. It's a good mix, from business to lifestyle apps, that much we can say. Note that some of these may be specific only to Singapore, so what you get in other countries could differ.

Performance

Aside from the inconsistencies in the user interface, the N97 provides a decent enough performance. It employs a resistive-type display, so you can use a stylus on the touchscreen unlike capacitive screens. There's no built-in compartment on the N97 for the pointing device though. Instead you'll have to string the bundled accessory through the eyelet on the handset; a minor inconvenience for those who don't like dangling objects hanging off their phones.

The N97 is best experienced if the device is connected to the Internet. Live widgets such as Facebook, AccuWeather and Straits Times (for Singapore market) apps give almost real-time updates of the weather, news and what your friends have posted on their Facebook. Understandably, this takes a toll on the battery. During our review, the battery lasted a day on average. So if you are out and about most of the time and a heavy user, you should consider investing in a spare battery. Alternatively, you can slow the battery drain by having the live widgets go offline.

Shutter lag is measured at 0.3 second and that's rather fast for a camera-phone. Picture quality is decent, though we did notice a slight yellow tinge in some of our shots. Overall, the N97 camera doesn't pack bells and whistles such as face detection, but it still has enough basic image settings for a camera-phone. Slightly disappointing is the VGA video capture resolution, especially when we're seeing much higher resolutions for video recording in phones such as the Samsung i8910 HD.

Conclusion

The Nseries represents the Finns' portfolio that pushes the envelope in terms of cutting-edge features. With HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth stereo and a bunch of connectivity options, you have a very capable smartphone with the N97. The specifications are great, but it's just not impressive in other aspects, especially when it comes to the user interface and applications, two things Apple has perfected.

We also feel that the S60 software is dated, or perhaps having waited so long for the N97 to emerge, our interest has waned. To be fair, the N97 has gotten many things right, but we're not sure if that's enough to fight off its competition particularly when it bears the burden of being a flagship.