Now that we’ve raved about the awesome hardware on the Nokia N97, which is, again, Eseries-caliber, we need to focus on the software of this $700 flagship ‘powerhouse’. It’s important to note that the following review is based on a Euro N97 with firmware v10.0.0.12, the first production firmware, we’re told. We’ve passed these reports directly back to Nokia, and are told that the N97 Product Team is aware of most of these issues, and that the next firmware update should address most of them. Unfortunately, they could not give us an official time frame of when to expect this new firmware. We can only beg and plead to the Finnish folks that it is released, quickly, to save this phone from the same fate as the N96. Let’s begin.
System
For starters, at boot, the Nokia N97 includes roughly 44MB of free RAM, as mentioned in the Things I Hate About The N97 post. While this is completely embarrassing for such a prominent flagship device, the phone surprisingly handled it well. Most interesting, to me, is that using Handy Taskman or Jbak Taskman to kill the system apps, such as the clock, contacts, and calendar usually freed up the most RAM. For whatever reason, these apps typically used more resources than any 3rd party application, in my experience.
Unfortunately, this low amount of RAM, coupled with the relatively slow processor, means that the N97, with firmware v10.0.0.12, is a complete fail when it comes to stability, responsiveness, and general quickness. Even after disabling the accelerometer-based auto-screen-rotate and theme effects, the phone is sluggish at best, and reminds me more of molasses than anything else.
Here’s a video showing some of the various features on the N97 and how unbelievably slow they are:
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It should be noted, however, that the phone is not quick to close applications down, like its predecessors were. As you can see here, I’ve got Nokia Messaging, Gravity, Mobbler, Web, ScreenSnap, Ovi Maps 3.0, and a couple of system apps running at the same time, successfully. Of course, I’ve only got 9.3MB of RAM free, and switching things around is a bit slow, but it’s doable. This reassures me that a new firmware would likely enable the phone to manage things a bit more efficiently.
I’ve also had major issues with the widgets. I’m only using the Facebook and Accuweather widgets on my homescreen, and often I would look down and see one or both of them giving an error. Facebook usually wanted me to login again, or they would simply show the Loading message, which defeats the entire purpose of having them on the homescreen to begin with. The email widget is also slow to upload, often taking up to a full minute to register when a new email had arrived (despite the audio alert sounding on time).
Text Input
The predictive text software is also annoying, again mentioned in my Things I Hate post. Not only does this software not accurately fix things such as capitalizing single ‘I”s, adding an apostrophe in known contractions, etc, but it also frequently fixes things incorrectly. For one, in the numeric keypad, it now predicts numbers, as well as letters. For instance, when I press the 4, and then a space, I should be able to assume it will place an ‘I’ there -- wrong. Lately, I’m getting a 4. Yes, a 4, as in, the number.
On the QWERTY keyboard, we also cannot press and hold any of the top row buttons to get the number, like you can on the E75. With predictive text activated, pressing and holding the e, for instance, gets you ‘eeeeeee’. Also, in some places, such as widgets and some web pages, the difference in predicted text and what you actually entered isn’t shown. This is incredibly disconcerting and frustrating because you may be halfway through a word, look up, and see that (apparently) you misspelled it. Then, when you begin erasing it, you notice that it changes constantly as you erase.
Synchronization
I still cannot synchronize the N97 with Nokia’s own Ovi Sync. Synchronizing with Google Sync and GooSync, as described here, works, sometimes. Sometimes, I’m told halfway through a sync that there was a connection error, and the sync was stopped. However, the synchronization icon is still shown in the top right of the screen, and any attempts to retry are blocked with a ‘Synchronization already in progress’ message. Right. Ovi Sync has never been able to sync on my N97, constantly returning an ‘Invalid Remote Database’ message, despite the device being shown as supported on the Ovi Sync setup screen. To verify it’s a device issue, I tested with my 5800 XpressMusic -- both being S60v5 devices, and the 5800 had zero issues synchronizing with Ovi Sync. I have also re-sent the settings from Ovi Sync to my N97 over the air 3 times, in hopes that I would finally get a working configuration. No dice, as of last night.
Gaming
The Nokia N97 is advertised as supporting N-Gage, but the application is nowhere to be found on the phone. Some reviewers have reported finding it in the Software Update application, but it’s not to be found there on mine, and Nokia is hesitant to give me any official statement on that. Some users have reported being able to find N-Gage in the Software Update application on the phone, but I have checked every day since I got it, and it’s simply not there. Update: still not there as of the time of this publishing.
Also, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic came with 2 games pre-installed -- Bounce Boing Voyage and Global Race, both with accelerometer support for control. Neither of these are anywhere to be found on the N97, either pre-installed or through Ovi Store or anywhere else I’ve looked. As such, my N97 came to me with completely zero gaming ability, which is disappointing.
Web
For starters, the Web browser is *really* nice on the Nokia N97. It finally has kinetic scrolling built-in, which allows you to ‘flick’ pages to send them scrolling in a certain direction. This is really handy on long lists, such as Google Reader. Another nice tough is the auto zoom that automatically puts the browser in fullscreen mode, but only after it has completely loaded. This way, you are able to see the loading progress bar for just as long as you need to, and is a definite nice touch. Of course the browser includes Flash Lite support, so you can view full YouTube videos right in the browser, without needing to load any separate applications.
Also, they’ve finally done away with the useless hard-coded folders in the Web Bookmarks section. This makes it *much* easier to get around in, and a pleasure to use, rather than an organizational nightmare.
There are a few things that I would like to see added to the browser, though. I would like to see a back button added to the fullscreen mode, so that I don’t have to exit fullscreen mode to go back one page. I would also still like to see the ability to easily open a link in a new tab -- perhaps via a tap and hold type interaction. However, with such small amounts of RAM, I’m not positive this would be a good idea. I guess I’d like the opportunity to see.
Music
The music player application is the same one that you’re used to in Symbian-powered smartphones, though, with the ability to create playlists on the phone itself. As usual, you can browse your library via artist, album, or genre, which is convenient, and you can adjust the various equalizer presets, in addition to creating your own. The album art is displayed nice and large, if you’re into that, and as mentioned before, the music quality from the N97 is simply phenomenal, regardless of whether you’re using the 3.5mm port, built-in speakers, or A2DP stereo Bluetooth. Loud and full.
Navigation
Ovi Maps 2.0 is included by default, but I quickly installed Ovi Maps v3.0, which is solid on my 5800 XpressMusic. The ability to synchronize with Ovi Maps on my computer is really handy, and something I actually use quite often. The compass feature works well, though as TheNokiaBlog points out, can be kind of awkward to calibrate the first time. Ovi Maps v3.0 runs great on the N97, and doesn’t crash or cause the phone to freeze, which is good. I have noticed that the N97’s GPS receiver seems really touchy, as it was unable to maintain a connection on the day that I tested it, either in Google Maps or Ovi Maps. I would love to have seen compass support in Google Maps Mobile for the N97, though.
Contacts
The contacts application has received an update, as mentioned in the Loves list. When you click on a person’s name, you’re greeted with a much improved launch screen, which has various links according to the information that you have stored about that particular contact. I’ve found that this is really convenient, and wish I had it on other phones, like the 5800 XpressMusic, too. The phonebook also now allows you to add fields with various Instant Messaging communities (Ovi, Skype, Gtalk, etc), but in this firmware, those are not connected to anything. Hopefully a future firmware will allow me to login to these services and get real-time status of my contacts right in my phonebook.
Unfortunately, I encountered a wicked bug in the contacts app, where all of my contacts had their first name copied to the last name field, such as John John Smith. This was only after syncing with Google Sync, as I was unable to get Ovi Sync working, and I don’t use Outlook for contacts anymore. Another reader mentioned that he had the same issue, though after syncing with Outlook via PC Suite, which points to a device problem. Even more weird, I was able to see this issue in Communication Center, as part of PC Suite, via Bluetooth, and was able to ‘fix’ each contact using my computer. However, none of those changes were saved back to the N97, somehow, so I had to manually fix each one on the phone itself. Since then, random contacts have reverted back, and it’s extremely frustrating.
Menus
One of my biggest complaints of the main menu organizational process on the 5800 XpressMusic has also been addressed. On the 5800 XpressMusic, when you enter Organize mode, to move apps into or out of folders, the focus follows the app. For example, if I moved the Web browser icon from the Applications folder into a new Web folder, I would end up in the Web folder, and would have to manually back out of that to get back to the Applications folder to continue moving things around. On the N97, this works the same way it does on S60v3 FP2 devices, where the focus returns to the original folder. In the example above, on the N97 I would be returned to the Applications folder automatically.
Sharing
Share Online is obviously found onboard the Nokia N97, but alas, Nokia *still* hasn’t gotten smart enough to open this up any, so it only -- out of the box -- allows you to upload to Vox, Flickr, or Ovi Share. Luckily, we have Pixelpipe, who have also created a handy widget that allows you to create an account, set up your destinations, and download the configuration file, all from your phone. You can then use Share Online to upload instantly to nearly any media site on the web, including Twitpic, Facebook, YouTube, or anywhere else. Love it.
Widgets
One of the major big things that Nokia made a huge fuss about with the N97 is widgets. Widgets, seemingly, are the best thing since sliced bread, specifically with the N97’s customizable homescreen. Unfortunately, this homescreen only allows you to have 6 blocks. One of those is obviously taken up by the time/date/profile block, and another by at least one row of application shortcuts (I had to have 2). After adding email to the mix, we’re left with only 2 slots, and we still don’t have the calendar on there. I know it seems ridiculous to ask, especially with the pitiful amount of RAM, but I would sort of like to see a 2nd widget panel available, ala iPhone. This way, I could have the more functional -- calendar, email, contacts shortcut, etc -- widgets on one, and the more fun/informational -- Facebook, Accuweather, music player, etc -- widgets on another.
I was also disappointed in the number of widgets available. There are a handful pre-installed, including Facebook, Accuweather, AP News, Amazon, etc. There’s a severe lack of new widgets to be downloaded, and I was unable to find any of the ones touted throughout the N97’s promotional period, such as the Rocket widget, the runners up from the N97 Widget Contest, or any other 3rd party.
Conclusion
Overall, the current v10.0.0.12 firmware on the Nokia N97 is a complete mess, and Nokia needs to clean it up, quickly. They really needed this phone to launch solidly, and were *almost* there, with the phenomenal hardware and build quality, near simultaneous NAM/EURO launch, but they simply could not execute with a workable firmware. So, the good news is that 95% of my complaints with the N97 are firmware-related. That’s good news because it means that Nokia can easily fix them with a firmware update. More good news is that Nokia has stated they’re aware of most of the problems that I pointed out to them, and are hoping to have most of them addressed in the next firmware update.
