Seven months ago, I was able to review the Nokia N97, then the flagship Nseries multimedia computer. This was a big deal for Nokia, and they needed to nail it, given several factors that I outlined in my Nokia N97 Review Conclusion. The unit I reviewed then had firmware v10.0.0.12, and it was a complete mess. You can read the full Nokia N97 review series here. However, several weeks ago I received my own personal N97, and immediately installed firmware v20 on it.
The result is, well, pretty much exactly what I expected back in June, when I said
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.
Since getting the phone, setting it up, and using it as my primary device, I haven’t experienced any of the issues that I previously had. All of my contacts synced over from Google Contacts beautifully over SyncML, and GooSync handled my multiple Google Calendars smoothly, as well. No double first-names here (Ovi Sync is still a mess and should be avoided at all costs, though that’s not limited to the N97).
When I booted the phone up, the Software Update app politely informed me that an update to Ovi Contacts and N-Gage was available, which I promptly downloaded. Sure, N-Gage is dead, but I do have a handful of games that I might as well try to get transferred over. The firmware update also fixed the QWERTY keyboard, so that I can press and hold a button to get its corresponding function character, instead of a row of e’s or f’s.
The GPS module on my N97 is also well connected, so much so that I have consistently seen a SOLID GREEN GPS indicator in Ovi Maps, whereas on most phones I have several bars of green with a few yellow ones tacked on to the end.
While the phone obviously has the same horrid amount of RAM and internal storage, the handling of these precious commodities has improved. It does require a watchful eye, but I’m able to fully use my N97 without any issues, including multitasking and whatnot. The Memory Reorganizer app helped a bit, too.
After the 5800 XpressMusic finally converted me into a touchscreen fan, the N97 is much more pleasant to use, for sure. I really really love the hardware, specifically the tilted screen, camera button, and the keyboard (which is nicely tactile on my black NAM unit).
For those wondering, my batch is 42/2009. It’s too early to tell if I’ll have the camera lens issue, but overall, this phone is awesome, and only poised to get better, especially with the release of the N97 Mini, which uses the same firmware. If you were holding out on the N97, now’s a great time to take another glance at it. You can get a pretty good deal, and with this new firmware, it’s finally capable of performing as my primary phone.
I was stricken with the camera lens issue, but it’s definitely under warranty, so I’ll be sending it off promptly to get that taken care of. Expect a followup post on my experience with Nokia CARE in the U.S., as that’s been a rough experience in the past.
Overall, for $532 unlocked, with v2.0 firmware, the Nokia N97 is a great little machine. It does everything I want it to, can easily last through a full workday thanks to its 1500mAh battery, and the firmware is finally usable.
Have you stuck with the N97? How do you like it?
if it wasn't so close to the price of the N900 I'd probably pick one up, but now I am just saving up for the N900
Can you quantify the RAM issues? For example what can you run simultaneously before it starts shutting apps down?
Great question – it depends entirely upon which apps you're running, as some are better on RAM than others. I can run Google Maps Mobile, Ovi Maps, or Waze, with Gravity on in the background, and still receive a phone call without losing any of them, though I've noticed that Gravity tends to really tax the RAM, moreso than I think it used to.
About time you jumped aboard. :) I've upgraded to he 1800mAh battery from Mugen and that's served me even better in that area (same size as original battery, 1/3 longer in my days). This is the device that I expected when coming to the Symbian/Nokia side from the PalmOS/Treo side of smartphones – UI needs work (traditional Symbian UX there), but overall I'm quite pleased.
I think Gravity uses a lot of RAM when it's starting up and then it settles down a bit.
The memory issue is the main thing putting me off getting an N97 Mini, if it's not much better than my 6110 Navigator, which can just about manage to run Opera Mini and Gravity at the same time, then I'll give it a miss. I guess it depends on which widgets you're also running on the N97.
Nokia really shot themselves in the foot with this, at least that's my perception.
To me N97 is not the best device on the market nor the best S60 device but this is without any doubt the more complete out there. Nice keyboard, great homescreen, good GPS and battery life. This is for me the more complete high end smarphones even it it's far from being the best. That's the paradox of the N97 but I must confess my preference goes to the N97 mini.
huh, I Liked your post by mistake, meant to hit Reply :)
Anyway, in my opinion only a fool would buy N97 nowadays, when there is N97 mini (if you're dead set on this form factor) that is what N97 should have been all along, with the same polished firmware and better HW specs.
Politely disagree. The N97 Mini has a smaller screen, less internal storage (8GB vs. 32GB) and a smaller battery (1200mAh vs 1500mAh). The N97 Mini is $480 (http://bit.ly/4NzjwK) currently while the N97 is only $530 (http://bit.ly/8rdV6)
Can you describe the camera lens issue? Was it the scratched lens or the flash washout? Did you ended up sending the phone back?
it was actually both. Apparently, the scratches are what cause the flooding. i'm sending it to Nokia CARE to have it repaired under warranty.
Does the Web browser get bogged down on complicated pages and then crash or shut down other applications?
Ricky, It's great to see reviewers revisiting products once they have been updated. One of Nokia's greatest PR problems right now (and really, for as long as I can remember) is the number of poor reviews their product get immediately after they are released. As you well know this is when they are typically at their weakest. With the N97, this revisit is particularly important not only because of the numerous bug fixes, but also because of the back-ported Symbian ^2 features such as kinetic scrolling.
While we're on the subject of reviewing updated 5th Edition phones, I have a “Reviewer Challenge” for you. Within the next month or so (I pray) we'll see an update for the i8910 that adds full kinetic scrolling as well as the new webkit browser that is already available on the N97 and N86. If you can get your hands on a review i8910 once this update is released, I wold LOVE to see a full on review/comparison of the N97 and the i8910, from the prospective of an experienced N97 user. Are you game? :)
Adam – I would love to spend some time with the i8910. Unfortunately, Samsung's PR team has never been very responsive for us, and I don't have the funds to just outright purchase one.
Agreed, the N900 is a far better unit than the N97 – and you're not beholden to Nokia to fix the problems. Nice, open OS, easy to develop for and you can fix the things you don't like.
And did I mention Maemo is a far better OS/UI than Symbian S60v5.
I've got the N900 on my desk, and since my N97 arrived, my SIM has yet to spend more than an hour or so in the N900 (I used it primarily for 3-4 weeks before my N97 arrived, so yes I gave it a shot). The N900 is nice, but it's too unfinished. The N97 readily solves problems and helps me accomplish tasks – the N900 simply doesn't. Speaker-independent voice dial, one-handed use, the list goes on.
My thoughts on this run almost exactly the same as Ricky's. I got the N97 when it was first released in the US but I was so frustrated with it that I eventually just went back to my E71. I was planning on selling my N97 and then buying the N900 once the price dropped some.
However, a few days ago I decided to try the N97 again so I did a hard reset and upgraded the FW. Lo and behold it is finally acting like the phone I expected when I first got it. Virtually no bugs, much faster response times, kinetic scrolling everywhere and it runs my two favorite Symbian apps (Gravity and Mobbler) flawlessly.
I am still intrigued by the N900, due in large part to the fact that I use T-Mobile and would like to run AWS. However, the fact that its ecosystem is still so nascent is holding me off (in additon to the price). And the N97 is now working well enough to where I don't need another phone as soon as I thought I would.
Actually, the N97 did lose me; went back to using my iPhone after it. Everything about Symbian OS is just so antiquated now that using it was depressing (to say the least) and ugly-as-sin.
And then there was the crashing, inability to check email reliably, the scratching of the camera lens, the GPS that won't get/hold a signal. If I didn't get it through work I think I would have been pushed to tears of rage, horror and frustration after such a faulty product was bought, and the lack of response from Nokia.
Oh, and uhm, best of luck Ricky. And enjoy using Windows 3.1 while we're on Windows 7. ;)
1. Did you really pay $532 for the phone? How does the F.T.C. regulation requiring bloggers to disclose of conflicts of interests apply to this review?
2. I tried an N97 at a store in Houston and the keys on the keypad barely moved when pressed. This lack of tactile feedback was an absolute killer for me. Has this situation improved at all?
Brian -
1. this N97 was actually a gift from a friend, so no, I did not pay for it out of my own pocket. However, it is not a review unit. We are very careful on Symbian-Guru to disclose where our devices come from. If it's a phone from Nokia, we specify clearly, so that our readers know without question where the device came from. That being said, we've worked to build a reputation as honest reviewers – if it sucks, we'll say so, without hesitation, regardless of where the product came from. Likewise, if we're impressed with it, we'll say that, too. :) In fact, Nokia does not 'give' products away to bloggers, at least for the past year or so – all of the devices that we've reviewed in the past ~12 months or so were returned, usually after a 2-week loan.
2. The white unit that I originally reviewed (which *did* come from Nokia as a review unit) had the missing tactile feedback that you mention – as specified in my original review, linked above. The one that I have now is a black NAM unit, and it has a much better keyboard. In fact, if you do a bit of googling, you'll find that most agree the white units had a worse keyboard than the black units, for some reason.
So absolutelt true.
I had sent My N97 back to Nokia to fix the scratched camera lens and faulty lens cover thinking of selling it as soon as it would have come back , and while I waited I bought a new HTC HD2.
However 3 weeks later the device I got back from nokia was a totally different thing than the one I had handed to them: not only the lens and lens cover was changed, but the GPS was now working perfectly and the WIFI much more reliably than before; the 2.0 Rom was installed and optimized and the memory troubles now were a thing of the past even though I have over 50 apps installed; moreover Nokia gave me as a gift a full year subscription to the latest version of OVI maps Sat Nav (worth more than 100$) which they had installed.
I just used it for a day or so instead of my new HD2 (which is a really amazing device in its own right) and decided that there was no way I was going to sell such a beutifully working phone and more than 2 months later I still haven't been able to decide which of the two I like best.
At the moment the only advantage I see in the HD2 is the working Voice dialing function which is still a bad joke on the N97 (even with Vlingo) and the bigger screen for certain particular apps.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that my employer gave me an HTC Hero which convinced me that Android plus Sense UI is just too good not to use.
But until the Nexus one will add a decent sized screen for sat nav, a speedier processor and voice dialing ( possibly via BT) android handsets will not be my primary phones.
In any case my plan to sell my N97 to the highest bidder has now been put indefinitely off and every time I pick it up I marvel at what a beautiful swan this most ugly of nokia's duckling has become with just
It's not much of an upgrade, only ups it to about 1550mA. http://howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1606328
“…the white units had a worse keyboard than the black units, for some reason.”
Well that sucks, the white N97 is so striking.
Hey can someone plzz tell me, if N97 has Skype application, and if the speakers are good ? plzz tell me ! :-)
N97 be better Mini ))))
@Ricky: How would you know the batch of the n97 when you buy it? Is is indicated anywhere on the box or the device itself?
Yes – on the box, on the label with all the numbers, it lists '42/2009' just above where it lists the frequencies supported. As I understand, that means it was produced during week 42 of 2009.
Thanks for the reply. I have another question before I buy this, does your package comes with the flat rectangle stylus, or the round one, just like the one on the n97-mini? I heard there's a new packaging at my place where the stylus is round, and hoping to get that to ensure i am getting a new set without the GPS and lens problems.