As we discovered in our review, the Nokia N97 is built like a tank. It’s the first Nseries that I’ve used that feels like an Eseries, which is a big deal. Unfortunately, from my experience, the current v10.0.0.12 firmware is completely miserable, lagging far behind the 5800 XpressMusic in stability and speed. So does that make the N97 a miserable fail, destined to follow in the footsteps of the N96 as the biggest bomb since Hiroshima? No.
As Noah at PhoneDog points out, the N97 is a big deal, for several reasons. For one, Nokia is the biggest cell phone manufacturer in the world. It’s kept that title through the Motorola RAZR, and it’s working hard to hold it against new competitors like the iPhone and Android. The Nseries is Nokia’s premier smartphone line, with a heavy focus on multimedia. With the N97 being the flagship Nseries, that makes it the premier handset, from the premier product line, from the biggest cell phone manufacturer on the planet. In other words, it’s kind of a big deal.
The Nokia N97 also launched in June 2009. This is, by far, one of the biggest months for the smartphone market in several years. Within these 30 days, we’ve seen the launch of the new iPhone 3GS, with video recording, a compass, and a handful of other star features. We also saw the launch of the Palm Pre, the first exciting thing to come from that company in nearly a decade. The HTC Magic was also heralded, bringing new looks and features to Google’s Android platform, and a number of other smartphone milestones. I honestly don’t remember a month with so many big launches.
Nokia has also been putting many of its eggs in the N97 basket. The phone is the star player in Nokia’s latest widgets push, which I can’t imagine will end with the N97. Future phones will likely support similar widget features such as the homescreen, and will no doubt build on the N97′s widget abilities. It’s the main player in its new touchscreen focus with S60v5, and it’s the first Nokia to feature a built-in digital compass (I believe the 5500 had an actual compass built-in).
As such, Nokia really needed the N97 to be a successful launch, and they almost did it. It was the first phone that I can think of where the NAM variant went on sale before the Euro variant, which is a huge deal, in of itself. The actual U.S. launch went off *much* better than the ill-fated Nokia 5800 XpressMusic launch, and by all accounts, the London launch a few weeks later went off great, as well.
Unfortunately, the launch firmware, for such a high-profile device, sucks. As we covered in the Software portion of our review, it’s slow, buggy, and unstable. Nokia promises a new firmware will be out soon, but haven’t given a date for when ‘soon’ really is. I’ve used nearly every single Nseries phone, and a good number of the Eseries and other S60-powered smartphones. The N97′s firmware is, without question, the buggiest launch firmware I’ve ever seen, topping even the N95-1 and N96. Does that make it a colossal fail?
Surprisingly, no. The good news is that the hardware is solid – which means that with a firmware update or two, the N97 will, without question, be a rockstar smartphone. Included in the plans are a firmware update in Q3 that will add Skype capability, showing your friends’ online status in your phonebook, among other upgrades. Also good news is that, since the N95, Nokia has made great strides in the way they deliver firmware updates. Most are now sent over-the-air to your phone, and can be installed without resetting your phone and losing all of your customizations and user data. It’s a much less traumatic experience than it used to be.
So, should Nokia be embarrassed for releasing the N97 with firmware v10.0.0.12? Absolutely. Should anyone who said it was ready for launch be fired? No, but they shouldn’t be allowed to make a decision like that again. Should anyone who said it wasn’t ready for launch be given a raise, and perhaps a cookie? Absolutely. Should those folks working on the next firmware be given anything needed to motivate them to get it out sooner? Without question.
If you’re looking to buy an N97, I’d say go for it. You won’t be disappointed with the hardware, photo/video quality, or music experience (once you’ve got your tunes on the device). You might, however, experience laggy menus and a bit of instability here and there, but I don’t think it’s reason enough to avoid the handset at all costs, specifically if you’re sold on the 32GB of internal storage, VGA-quality video recording, touchscreen, and always-on widgetized homescreen. You’ll just want to keep a close eye on Symbian-Guru, to find out when that new firmware is finally available, and download it on the double.
