The Nokia N97 is aimed, as Nokia admits, at the connected user, someone who wants to keep in touch with friends and family, who embraces email, Facebook, media sharing, instant messaging, but who also wants to stay updated on the latest news and happenings. Basically, the N97 is built for the user who wants to mix multimedia and efficiency in a simple stylish experience. If I restrict myself to this usage pattern, the N97 delivers its promise fully.
Out of the box, the Nokia N97 is the first device from Nokia that comes with this amount of preinstalled software. Between the widgets (Facebook, AP News, Bloomberg, Accuweather, Amazon, and AlloCine, LeMonde for France), the live video streaming software Qik, the wifi hotspot finder Boingo, the tethering client JoikuSpot, and the touchscreen friendly Drawing, the N97 is packed and ready for the user since the moment you pick it up, and that’s without mentioning the usual suite of software like Share Online, Podcasting, Dictionary, Zip, Quickoffice (read-only), Adobe PDF (limited trial)…
It’s true that you need some tinkering to get proper email by installing Nokia Messaging or LCG Profimail, proper instant messaging by installing Nimbuzz or Fring or Ovi Contacts, and proper GPS software by installing Ovi Maps 3.0 or Google Maps, but when you finish this setup process, you will have in your hand a very capable connected device.
I found myself enjoying this aspect of the N97 a lot. I can connect my headphones, launch the music player from the homescreen widget, pick a playlist and start playing, then slip it into my jeans pocket. A few minutes later, I hear a beep, I take it out, notice that I have a new email by looking at the homescreen Email widget. I open it, read it, then slide open the keyboard, type a reply and send. Then I switch to Gravity which has been running in the background, see that I have a new Twitter reply, answer that, from the convenience of the qwerty. Now that I’m connected, I might as well check the weather and my Facebook page. They’re all there: Accuweather detects my location and gives me the weather cast for it, Facebook instantly notifies me of new Messages or invitations. Later, I might run into something funny while walking down the street: I open the camera, take a picture. I switch to Share Online, and immediately post that picture through Pixelpipe to my Twitter timeline via Twitpic, as well as my Facebook, Picasa, Ovi Share, and Flickr accounts. I can check new comments to Flickr and Ovi Share from the application itself, or to Twitter from Gravity. A few seconds later, my friend calls me, the music stops playing and I can talk to her without removing my headset. She says she wants to have dinner at some new place, I ask her about the location, open Google Maps or Ovi Maps, look it up, find it, add it as a favorite. Then I switch back to the LeMonde widget to check the latest France happenings, or open the browser and go over to Google Reader to see the latest news in my RSS feeds.
That’s the convenience of using the N97, and that’s the usage pattern that Nokia is aiming it at. The N97 is not for the power user, not for the businessman, not for the multimedia junkie. It’s built with real life people and real life scenarios in mind, but most importantly, it’s built for people embracing a connected life. As such, there is no device right now on the market that embraces this connected life with the same elegance and convenience as the Nokia N97. But stay tuned for Wednesday when I look at the N97 as a tool for the power user, and discover its shortcomings as well as its advantages.
