Ms Jen’s Nokia N97 Story

I just ordered this phn, been searching gsmarena like jack the ripper searched the streets of london and all I can say is that there are a lot of shit phns out there. I can’t believe there are still mobiles coming out with 2mp cameras like the bold 9000???

Personally give me the bolt-on bb unlimited surfing service coupled with the iphone operating system and a carl zeiss lens and I will be happy – maybe also intergrate a little of sony’s music functions.

call me when it’s ready – hopefully my 23 month overpriced contract has run out by then ;-)

I just ordered this phn, been searching gsmarena like jack the ripper searched the streets of london and all I can say is that there are a lot of shit phns out there. I can’t believe there are still mobiles coming out with 2mp cameras like the bold 9000???

Personally give me the bolt-on bb unlimited surfing service coupled with the iphone operating system and a carl zeiss lens and I will be happy – maybe also intergrate a little of sony’s music functions.

call me when it’s ready – hopefully my 23 month overpriced contract has run out by then ;-)

Also came across this rview yesterday

http://www.mybyte.co.za/blog.php?user=Gadget&blogentry_id=1553

Also came across this rview yesterday

http://www.mybyte.co.za/blog.php?user=Gadget&blogentry_id=1553

I still think the N97 has a huge amount of promise if only Nokia would sort their act out on it. For me if we ignore the marvel that is the N900 (which I accept is hard to do) and focus on symbian Nokias I still feel that the N97 could still regain it’s “Flagship” title. The phone feels good to hold (heavy enough to feel solid) and I still LOVE that sliding action (Maybe this is jsut because I’m an Engineer). The combination of large touch screen and hard qwerty keyboard is still a winner for me and although somewhat dated the interface can still look somewhat beautiful with the help of people like tehkseven.
I accept that the FW has been a bit of a nightmare (sepecially for those in the Nokia third world like us UK residents still stuck on FW v11 and some stuck on v10), but the wounderous v20 FW should be just around the corner. Hopefully this will live up to it’s hype unlike the N97 at point of release and help it regain it’s crown.
I do still love my N97, but become frustrated more with the lack of apparent support from Nokia rather than the handset itself. I do so wish they hadn’t scripped with the C: drive though, although this issue is supposed to be mitigate partially at least via v20 FW so the rumours imply.
The biggest worry is the latest runour I have heard is that after the release of the v20 FW there will be no more major FW updates for the N97. This seems a little soon for Nokia to walk away from their “Flagship”.

I still think the N97 has a huge amount of promise if only Nokia would sort their act out on it. For me if we ignore the marvel that is the N900 (which I accept is hard to do) and focus on symbian Nokias I still feel that the N97 could still regain it’s “Flagship” title. The phone feels good to hold (heavy enough to feel solid) and I still LOVE that sliding action (Maybe this is jsut because I’m an Engineer). The combination of large touch screen and hard qwerty keyboard is still a winner for me and although somewhat dated the interface can still look somewhat beautiful with the help of people like tehkseven.
I accept that the FW has been a bit of a nightmare (sepecially for those in the Nokia third world like us UK residents still stuck on FW v11 and some stuck on v10), but the wounderous v20 FW should be just around the corner. Hopefully this will live up to it’s hype unlike the N97 at point of release and help it regain it’s crown.
I do still love my N97, but become frustrated more with the lack of apparent support from Nokia rather than the handset itself. I do so wish they hadn’t scripped with the C: drive though, although this issue is supposed to be mitigate partially at least via v20 FW so the rumours imply.
The biggest worry is the latest runour I have heard is that after the release of the v20 FW there will be no more major FW updates for the N97. This seems a little soon for Nokia to walk away from their “Flagship”.

Ms Jen’s Nokia N97 Story is wonderful fairy tale. Now sample this also, so readers can have a balanced review. Its not as well described… my phone is not a trail for free phone. I have paid hard earned money on it.. and if ms jen & her avid nokia enthusiast sister could help me with some answers…

34 reasons why not to buy NOKIA N97 !!
TOPIC: Ver 12 N97 Fails !! Nokia Does not Keep Commitment…

Hi! Check this out ! Request for inputs, from all…and comments if any NOKIA Fan would you like to defend the list of snags/shortcomings with solutions?

Phone History…
Purchased on : 16th Aug’09 – India
First Repair on: 25th Aug’09
Ver 12 was installed.
Second Time Given to Nokia Care on: 31st Aug’09
Promised Delivery Date: 17th September (commitment not kept)
Revised date (after much persuasion): 30th September 2009.

List of Issues/Questions:-
(Points 15 & later deal with Issues specific to issues encountered post Ver. 12 update)

1. First things first! How to request for & get refunds for a Nokia
N97 Phone in India.
2. Is there a touch querty for n97 as an input method? Like windows mobile?
Request Know How. I now seem to agree to the feedback on one of the
Blogs… that nokia designers feel that the average size of user hands
Would be that of big people & fingers like a Japanese teen. The
Physical keyboard does not seem to offer any additional functions
Other than text input!
3. Predictive text for n97 where in the touch screen
Menu, the words don’t get auto completed. This increases the number of
Taps/input strokes. Is the n97 intelligent & learn words from SMS,
Contacts, emails. my blackberry does so. Request Know How & any
Options to edit custom dictionary. Auto Punctuation? Am I expecting too much already ?
4. Single hand use of n97 phone impractical using touch pad t9. Entering alphanumerics on the physical querty is a nightmare… Request Know how on tips & tricks.
5. Green tick yes or v button on top left of the text input screen n97. friendly again only for big handed people. Could this have been at bottom right. Is alternate screen for text input touch t9 available?
Requested Know how.
6. Unnecessary taps additional taps almost in all menus…for e.g…
Sending a biz card from n97 requires 5 taps… in the other mobile
Phone systems it can be done in 3 taps. Requested Knowhow for
Shortcuts.
7. Can In a nokia n97 we get a view of the entire events as single
Thread…. No Provision for search display against keywords upon I can
get call logs, messages – Here in Nokia, no search filters / advanced
Search and all searches results plotted to applications vs
Person/events. Requested Know How if it can be done like blackberry /
windows mobile.
8. Copy & Paste across applications in n97. eg. Select text from web page. copy n paste on message application…. possible on Nokia…?
Requested Know How
9. Call& Event Logs e.g Missed calls in n97. If there are 5 missed calls the
Log will show the last called time only. In most other mobile systems
Blackberry, windows each event is logged against a user. Requested
know how on how this is handled in Nokia.
10. Lag in picture display upon call in n97. Number displays first and after
few seconds lag the pic pops up. Is this normal & acceptable? Other windows / rim devices show it instantly.
11. When will Nokia enable usage of Native clients like google talk, yahoo like blackberry, iphone for n97 ? Any know how on possibility of release. Any equal alternatives suggested for n97. Tried Nimbuzz, Fring, Ebuddy. Miss the chat message notification icon on home screen, notification on the chat messaging icon, sound, breathing
lights.
12. Is there any planning for better email client for n97? Likely Release dates?
13. The Java App for GMAIL on blackberry shows an indicator on icon
in addition to customized alert setting tone & breathing light for new
messages. Retrieving Emails is consistent & auto on other devices. The
Nokia Does not seem to auto refresh + No Notification. How is it
handled on Nokia n97 ?
14. Can user friendliness be something where we can do actions with a
contact or on contacts screen single view… e.g see contact on google
map, Help on contacts screen/n97 help, lookup contact on server,
filter by category. new address, new group, view, edit, delete,
activity log (incl sms, mms, email, calls), call, sms, mms, email,
send as attachment, send as im, add a custom ring tone, add picture,
options – sort by, separators, sync settings, actions, switch
applications, exit. We have seen it on inexpensive phones. is it
possible to be done on Nokia n97 flagship?

SOME OF MY STILL UNRESOLVED PROBLEMS Post upgrade to ver 12.

15. Contacts inaccessible – “Memory Full Error”. No other applications were active at the time of the error. Just unable to reach any of my
3500 contacts through the contacts options & do anything.
(update 16th Sept: Unofficially though a nokia rep confirmed that any user having 3000+ contacts are likely to face such issues)
16. Pbk2 error n97 upon selecting contacts in the messaging application.
17. Audio Delay in n97 upon receiving a call. No Sound upon connection of
incoming call. Especially if picked up too fast.
18. Shows as searching for network constantly many times a day. We have 2 n97s & observed that both n97 almost have similar timing of network loss. Whereas, our other devices like blackberry do not show any weak signal signs.
19. GPS Lock failure in n97. Keeps searching for GPS locks constantly i.e Drops connection to GPS network frequently.
20. Un-predictive battery talk time n97, standby & required Charge time.
21. Voice inaudible at other end from n97, when using loudspeaker & especially during calls from moving vehicle.
22. n97 Camera:
a. Picture clarity issues. Secondary camera highly pixelated. Primary
camera shows light flooding on pictures. Clarity Missing.
b. Erroneous Time stamp on images.
c. Lens Cover Started to show minor scratch pressure.
23. n97 Ovi Suite recommends erroneous updates for E.g Maps 3 ( as of 31st Aug’09)
24. n97 Text Input touch t9 screen freezes / Hangs, especially when entering special characters like period(.), comma(,), exclamation (!) etc
25. n97 Selectively & at random contact Name not displayed on Caller ID (sometimes)
26. n97 Selectively Message & Message delivery display number, instead of stored contact names.
27. Sync Issue, All contacts not synced always. How to sync “categories” field as stored in outlook or how to map custom fields to Nokia n97.
28. Format Mass Memory error n97, Unable to format. Unable to delete specific files.
29. The auto lock n97… When attempted to unlock with querty out .. it still opens in portrait mode ?
30. n97 SMS Logs Not updated. e.g any sms sent before storing a contact…. after storing or adding contact the number does not get automatically updated to the name. It reflects the number still in the logs./ Logs do not get updated.
31. n97 Picture caller… The face is half cut ..Looks weird on most images… as the number is not transparent. In landscape mode there is enough space on the screen to put up the answer or reject buttons and displaying the numbers.
32. n97 primitive Browser will close on its own & return to menu or home screen. thanks in advance for your time to stop & read. Pls do send any information that you think will be useful to me for making the n97 do some work.

NEW additions: (14th Sept)

(tested on our second n97)

33. n97 Predictive Text: Usage for auto word completion only on physical keyboard, when the Dpad down key is used it throws up options but the way the scroll is designed you can not see the full word and one makes mistakes. How to see the full word & edit custom dictionary.
34. Another strange behaviour is on the n97 text input on browser… this was on an email i was trying to reply. The stylus touch will paste the last keyed in word!! We wonder why.

Nokia this is a big let down…

Still, i would like to be optimistic. I think its not a nokia product failure alone, but a marketing overdrive which has led to very high expectations of a un-finnish-ed kind of device. Lets be optimistic.. drop in your wishlist of wanted features & irrtants on your current n97 to me at n97fix@gmail.com. As a unified list let me try if my persuation with Nokia can get us something that we expected from the device….

Thanks for your time.

Cheers!

PS. Ver 2 – though too early to comment just from the video, but apart from Kinetic Scrolling, new music app – not much… maybe some future version may make it today ready

PS2: One of the other blog moderators shouted at me for making this post under a wrong thread… Joseph Jonny.. would have appreciated if the blog moderator could have helped with any answers to the multiple issues on the n97!! (recd a respone 18-sept that my post has now been submitted & maybe the next firmware update will help. Thanks jonny !)

PS3:(18th Sept) – Nokia for every SEO/Social Network marketing trick that you try harder, the current set of n97 owners will rebuke your claims. Work on the device/firmware issues & provide resolution rather than drain marketing dollars.

PS 4: Does anyone know if Tomi kuparinen & Tomoharu yazawa – who are the n97 product managers or team fired or yet on the job ? guys you have some moral responsibility to own up to for failing so many people!!

Ms Jen’s Nokia N97 Story is wonderful fairy tale. Now sample this also, so readers can have a balanced review. Its not as well described… my phone is not a trail for free phone. I have paid hard earned money on it.. and if ms jen & her avid nokia enthusiast sister could help me with some answers…

34 reasons why not to buy NOKIA N97 !!
TOPIC: Ver 12 N97 Fails !! Nokia Does not Keep Commitment…

Hi! Check this out ! Request for inputs, from all…and comments if any NOKIA Fan would you like to defend the list of snags/shortcomings with solutions?

Phone History…
Purchased on : 16th Aug’09 – India
First Repair on: 25th Aug’09
Ver 12 was installed.
Second Time Given to Nokia Care on: 31st Aug’09
Promised Delivery Date: 17th September (commitment not kept)
Revised date (after much persuasion): 30th September 2009.

List of Issues/Questions:-
(Points 15 & later deal with Issues specific to issues encountered post Ver. 12 update)

1. First things first! How to request for & get refunds for a Nokia
N97 Phone in India.
2. Is there a touch querty for n97 as an input method? Like windows mobile?
Request Know How. I now seem to agree to the feedback on one of the
Blogs… that nokia designers feel that the average size of user hands
Would be that of big people & fingers like a Japanese teen. The
Physical keyboard does not seem to offer any additional functions
Other than text input!
3. Predictive text for n97 where in the touch screen
Menu, the words don’t get auto completed. This increases the number of
Taps/input strokes. Is the n97 intelligent & learn words from SMS,
Contacts, emails. my blackberry does so. Request Know How & any
Options to edit custom dictionary. Auto Punctuation? Am I expecting too much already ?
4. Single hand use of n97 phone impractical using touch pad t9. Entering alphanumerics on the physical querty is a nightmare… Request Know how on tips & tricks.
5. Green tick yes or v button on top left of the text input screen n97. friendly again only for big handed people. Could this have been at bottom right. Is alternate screen for text input touch t9 available?
Requested Know how.
6. Unnecessary taps additional taps almost in all menus…for e.g…
Sending a biz card from n97 requires 5 taps… in the other mobile
Phone systems it can be done in 3 taps. Requested Knowhow for
Shortcuts.
7. Can In a nokia n97 we get a view of the entire events as single
Thread…. No Provision for search display against keywords upon I can
get call logs, messages – Here in Nokia, no search filters / advanced
Search and all searches results plotted to applications vs
Person/events. Requested Know How if it can be done like blackberry /
windows mobile.
8. Copy & Paste across applications in n97. eg. Select text from web page. copy n paste on message application…. possible on Nokia…?
Requested Know How
9. Call& Event Logs e.g Missed calls in n97. If there are 5 missed calls the
Log will show the last called time only. In most other mobile systems
Blackberry, windows each event is logged against a user. Requested
know how on how this is handled in Nokia.
10. Lag in picture display upon call in n97. Number displays first and after
few seconds lag the pic pops up. Is this normal & acceptable? Other windows / rim devices show it instantly.
11. When will Nokia enable usage of Native clients like google talk, yahoo like blackberry, iphone for n97 ? Any know how on possibility of release. Any equal alternatives suggested for n97. Tried Nimbuzz, Fring, Ebuddy. Miss the chat message notification icon on home screen, notification on the chat messaging icon, sound, breathing
lights.
12. Is there any planning for better email client for n97? Likely Release dates?
13. The Java App for GMAIL on blackberry shows an indicator on icon
in addition to customized alert setting tone & breathing light for new
messages. Retrieving Emails is consistent & auto on other devices. The
Nokia Does not seem to auto refresh + No Notification. How is it
handled on Nokia n97 ?
14. Can user friendliness be something where we can do actions with a
contact or on contacts screen single view… e.g see contact on google
map, Help on contacts screen/n97 help, lookup contact on server,
filter by category. new address, new group, view, edit, delete,
activity log (incl sms, mms, email, calls), call, sms, mms, email,
send as attachment, send as im, add a custom ring tone, add picture,
options – sort by, separators, sync settings, actions, switch
applications, exit. We have seen it on inexpensive phones. is it
possible to be done on Nokia n97 flagship?

SOME OF MY STILL UNRESOLVED PROBLEMS Post upgrade to ver 12.

15. Contacts inaccessible – “Memory Full Error”. No other applications were active at the time of the error. Just unable to reach any of my
3500 contacts through the contacts options & do anything.
(update 16th Sept: Unofficially though a nokia rep confirmed that any user having 3000+ contacts are likely to face such issues)
16. Pbk2 error n97 upon selecting contacts in the messaging application.
17. Audio Delay in n97 upon receiving a call. No Sound upon connection of
incoming call. Especially if picked up too fast.
18. Shows as searching for network constantly many times a day. We have 2 n97s & observed that both n97 almost have similar timing of network loss. Whereas, our other devices like blackberry do not show any weak signal signs.
19. GPS Lock failure in n97. Keeps searching for GPS locks constantly i.e Drops connection to GPS network frequently.
20. Un-predictive battery talk time n97, standby & required Charge time.
21. Voice inaudible at other end from n97, when using loudspeaker & especially during calls from moving vehicle.
22. n97 Camera:
a. Picture clarity issues. Secondary camera highly pixelated. Primary
camera shows light flooding on pictures. Clarity Missing.
b. Erroneous Time stamp on images.
c. Lens Cover Started to show minor scratch pressure.
23. n97 Ovi Suite recommends erroneous updates for E.g Maps 3 ( as of 31st Aug’09)
24. n97 Text Input touch t9 screen freezes / Hangs, especially when entering special characters like period(.), comma(,), exclamation (!) etc
25. n97 Selectively & at random contact Name not displayed on Caller ID (sometimes)
26. n97 Selectively Message & Message delivery display number, instead of stored contact names.
27. Sync Issue, All contacts not synced always. How to sync “categories” field as stored in outlook or how to map custom fields to Nokia n97.
28. Format Mass Memory error n97, Unable to format. Unable to delete specific files.
29. The auto lock n97… When attempted to unlock with querty out .. it still opens in portrait mode ?
30. n97 SMS Logs Not updated. e.g any sms sent before storing a contact…. after storing or adding contact the number does not get automatically updated to the name. It reflects the number still in the logs./ Logs do not get updated.
31. n97 Picture caller… The face is half cut ..Looks weird on most images… as the number is not transparent. In landscape mode there is enough space on the screen to put up the answer or reject buttons and displaying the numbers.
32. n97 primitive Browser will close on its own & return to menu or home screen. thanks in advance for your time to stop & read. Pls do send any information that you think will be useful to me for making the n97 do some work.

NEW additions: (14th Sept)

(tested on our second n97)

33. n97 Predictive Text: Usage for auto word completion only on physical keyboard, when the Dpad down key is used it throws up options but the way the scroll is designed you can not see the full word and one makes mistakes. How to see the full word & edit custom dictionary.
34. Another strange behaviour is on the n97 text input on browser… this was on an email i was trying to reply. The stylus touch will paste the last keyed in word!! We wonder why.

Nokia this is a big let down…

Still, i would like to be optimistic. I think its not a nokia product failure alone, but a marketing overdrive which has led to very high expectations of a un-finnish-ed kind of device. Lets be optimistic.. drop in your wishlist of wanted features & irrtants on your current n97 to me at n97fix@gmail.com. As a unified list let me try if my persuation with Nokia can get us something that we expected from the device….

Thanks for your time.

Cheers!

PS. Ver 2 – though too early to comment just from the video, but apart from Kinetic Scrolling, new music app – not much… maybe some future version may make it today ready

PS2: One of the other blog moderators shouted at me for making this post under a wrong thread… Joseph Jonny.. would have appreciated if the blog moderator could have helped with any answers to the multiple issues on the n97!! (recd a respone 18-sept that my post has now been submitted & maybe the next firmware update will help. Thanks jonny !)

PS3:(18th Sept) – Nokia for every SEO/Social Network marketing trick that you try harder, the current set of n97 owners will rebuke your claims. Work on the device/firmware issues & provide resolution rather than drain marketing dollars.

PS 4: Does anyone know if Tomi kuparinen & Tomoharu yazawa – who are the n97 product managers or team fired or yet on the job ? guys you have some moral responsibility to own up to for failing so many people!!

I had this phone for 5 months. Had to take it to the Nokia Care center twice – Once because the headset went dead, and second time- the phone wouldn't start up and showed the message 'contact your retailer'.

Overall, the N97 is not a very impressive device (Except for the design). Nokia needs to work a lot on the firmware and the touch screen is also not very efficient at times.
The phone hangs a lot with the home screen widgets on and slows down also. That is partly because its internal memory is too low.

Last week I got it exchanged with an E72. Till now, I have been loving it. It is much much more practical and fast. Shame on Nokia for enticing its users to buy a $600 device that doesn't even compare with the iphone that sells at a similar price and performs a lot better.

I had this phone for 5 months. Had to take it to the Nokia Care center twice – Once because the headset went dead, and second time- the phone wouldn't start up and showed the message 'contact your retailer'.

Overall, the N97 is not a very impressive device (Except for the design). Nokia needs to work a lot on the firmware and the touch screen is also not very efficient at times.
The phone hangs a lot with the home screen widgets on and slows down also. That is partly because its internal memory is too low.

Last week I got it exchanged with an E72. Till now, I have been loving it. It is much much more practical and fast. Shame on Nokia for enticing its users to buy a $600 device that doesn't even compare with the iphone that sells at a similar price and performs a lot better.