Shownotes:
About a month ago, my iPhone shattered. I don’t know if it was the heat or if the bike repair shop accidentally smashed it. It happened around the time Apple dropped Google Voice apps from the App store, so I wasn’t too keen to buy an iPhone replacement as long as Apple was saying no to innovation that matters. It just so happened, I had a Nokia N97 at the P.O. Box! I decided to go without an iPhone for a month and just use the N97. Brief 626 is my review.
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September 9th, 2009 at 8:18 am
Agree about the complexity of Symbian, but really Cali, for calling people back was the green ‘button’ broken on your one? :) See if you can get an N900…
September 9th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Excuse me, but your exemple of how to recall a number, was made with the long path. Try tap key button, then phone icon button, choose the last call you want, then phone icon button again. Tcharan!!!!!!!!! There are lot of things you can do more easy on Symbian OS, you must try.
September 9th, 2009 at 8:39 am
just a quick note, you can redial on any nokia by simply hitting send (green call button [don't be afraid of them on the N97]), and select the person from your list… quite a bit quicker than what you have been doing. :) there may be some other ’secret’ shortcuts for you.
I must say that was a very constructive review… I do think that there are some rough edges on the N97… the Oct software release should fix some of it and a few of us are just getting into development so apps should start to improve.
Something that you missed in your review is that Nokia, as opposed to Apple, is a consumer advocate. You will never see a Nokia and pull stunts like Apple. I live in MT where you still can’t get a proper iPhone with a local number. Also my data plan for my N97 is about $15/mo and I am not required to have a data plan to pay for my phone, thus I am not getting charged after my phone has been payed for. These fall in the same arena as your google voice quams. BTW I wonder if google voice will be supported through Fring. I dont have an invite yet for google voice, but when I get one I will be trying to get it working on my N97.
All in all I think that a lukewarm review is just what the Nokia community needs to light a fire under us.
September 9th, 2009 at 8:44 am
Cali! I have to stop you right there. When Nokia refer to the screen as a ‘resistive’ touchscreen, this is not a reference to the force feedback you feel when you press a virtual button, as you imply. That, in fact, is haptic technology.
Resistive, in this instance, simply refers to the type of touchscreen. For example, capacitive and surface acoustic wave are two other methods of determining where the user touched.
September 9th, 2009 at 8:45 am
Lol!
To cal back u just click the green “answer the phone call” button which takes u to call log. Then proceed to use the answered or unanswered call.
It is one click! It has been the same feature with every Nokia phone be it Symbian or not.
But otherwise this was a ok, fair review, may by Symbian devices have a learning curve..:).
September 9th, 2009 at 8:45 am
Agreed with Andelson.
There are many shortcuts in Symbian S60 which one can really use.
September 9th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Oh, I do have to agree with the twitter client… what is up with the cost? and why isn’t there a good twitter client that runs on S60?
September 9th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Okay, the green button would take out a couple steps, but my point holds true. The menu system, as with all Symbian phones are complex. :)
September 9th, 2009 at 11:20 am
- Gravity is only $9.99 not $30.00
- I hate how some menus are double tap an others just a single tap
- Processor is SLOOOOOOOOW I find now I tap and wait 2 seconds to see if it registered. Don’t know what that is all about.
- Get a copy of the MyPhone app, makes your N97 work like a iN97 (iPhone) its a geeky thing, my friends all loved it at Coffee this morning
In the end I have loved Nokia, I so wanted to love the N97, but no, Its a bad phone, and I’m keeping it to laugh about 5 years from now. Like when people bought the Apple Newton. Nokia there is hope for you.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:28 am
I forgot one other silly thing about the N97. I don’t get many phone calls, so my phone tends to be in the locked state. When a call comes in, the display shows ANSWER or UNLOCK. Why not a UNLOCK & ANSWER and the other option UNLOCK, ARGH!!!!!!!!!
The hardware is fine, Software um, mom said to only say nice things, um….
September 9th, 2009 at 11:40 am
I too wanted to clarify about the haptic feedback vs. resistive touchscreen. Otherwise nice review! I would probably love the N97 compared to my LG Xenon… But for now it’s all good. Still holding out for Apple to change their minds about Google Voice before I consider a switch to iPhone.
September 9th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
at the start of the year i was waiting patiently for the n97. when they updated the firmware and added a unremoveable camera click to my e71 that plan changed. no more nokias ever.
i’ve been using iphone since february and have enjoyed it. was going to get a 3gs 32gb on prepay last month but the control freak behaviour of apple put me off after the google voice debacle and now the commodore emulator app. bought a htc hero instead for 2/3 the price. picked it up 2 days ago. had to have a friend import it into ireland as none of the local networks are selling android despite promises from last christmas that they would sell them ‘real soon’
still in the honeymoon period but over all i really like it. i might buy a samsung instinctq when they are released as i do miss a proper keyboard and the hero one is slightly less effective than the iphone.
my only dislikes are battery life (shorter than an iphone which is way less than a nokia) and the usb cable that is shipped with the hero which is a non standard usb cable. really! in this day and age of standards they couldn’t use a standard mirco usb cable but instead went of and made a new one.
i was able in one day of use create a home page on the hero with the equivalent apps that i had on the home page of my iphone. will keep my iphone as i normally carry 2 phones and will probably use it as my media player as i have 1tb of ripped dvs in my itunes at home. when that next breaks i will look at using the hero as a media player.
my favourite moment.
i wanted to install ase (android scripting environment) an alpha piece of software. it wasn’t in the marketplace and when i googled it on my mac its page displayed a barcode. i had installed the barcode scanner so pointed it at the barcode. it brought up the link. called up the browser and allowed me to download and install the program from using the link on the screen on my mac. brilliant. no retyping in the url.
September 9th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Yeah cant wait for the hero to come out on sprint, I have the iphone but hero does look tempting. Also how is the JVC Hm100 working for you?
September 9th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
@ Cali Lewis,
Didn’t you try a Gizmo client like Talkonaut or my favorite, Nimbuzz, for the Google Voice support? Looks like you didn’t do much looking beyond the Ovi Store.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
I’ve heard rumors Nokia will be returning the SIP client in the next firmware, so no need for anything to run Google Voice, then…
September 9th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Interesting review from my perspective as a long-time Symbian/S60 user. I think that because you’re used to the iPhone, you perhaps missed some aspects of Symbian’s capability. (Not that I’m accusing you of bias!)
For me, the most important by far is multitasking. I find it *immensely* useful to be able to switch seamlessly between apps without losing my place, leave any app running in the background, etc. and I wouldn’t switch to another phone such as the iPhone which couldn’t do that. I guess that because you’ve been using the iPhone so long, you’re used to its constraints so don’t notice them, but it’s good to know that different phone OSes have different constraints.
I do agree about the menu system though. It actually seems to have improved between my current phone (E51) and the N97, but it has a long way to go.
September 9th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Too many new things for me to buy one without fiddling around with it. Had the first 2 iPhones and I just have to have a keyboard.
I tend to swap back and forth between my G1 (most of the time) and my nokia N95, which I love (but for the lack of qwerty.)
So this little guy looks particularly tempting.
September 9th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Never buy an N97 without trying it first. You will either love it or hate it.
September 10th, 2009 at 1:06 am
Dear Cali
I agree that the n97 have some problems, yet you didn’t mention not even one of them, instead you talked about problems such as many clicks and the menu system, which is fully possible to custumize so you have everhything in a single click. About Gravity, after the correction of the prise, i would like to remind you that tweets60 is a free twitter application for symbian, so that point wasn’t quite a good one.
Let’s talk about the strong points such as the camera photo and video quality, which is uncomparably superlative, i mean the colours and so on.
The multitask system of the symbian is just wow if you know how to use it, the thing that i can minimize the apps and use other apps in the phone, i can make calls for free with a lot’s of services using fring and still look at pictures, navigate the net etc. so i’m sorry, that review was not accurate at all.
As i said the n97 is not perfect expecially with the current firmware, but not one single real defect was mentioned. Symbian share is more then 45% of the smartphone makret for a reason, and it’s really not the prize of it, but the quality.
September 10th, 2009 at 1:09 am
I almost forgot, i’m out for trying google talk, but fring, plus a good voip accout (voipstunt for example) and you are calling free a lot’s of landlines in the world (i use it daily to call italy and sweden).
September 10th, 2009 at 3:00 am
Dear Cali . I was linked to your website by AAS . Curious about your review of the N97 . Did you try to view the review on the N97 already ? Both small and medium are .mp4 formats . On my E90 – Symbian S60 v3 FP1 – they end up as an audio podcast . The third party Coreplayer shows the video , but no go in RealPlayer . I wonder why a video about “Symbian” cannot be viewed in “Symbian” ?
:) Regards jApi NL
September 10th, 2009 at 3:29 am
The menu system is not that difficult and actually quite easy to use once you get used to it. really he should have spent some time with somebody that could have given you a quick private lessons.
September 10th, 2009 at 7:41 am
Obviously Cali is one of those “new” to truly high end smartphones, and is used to the less feature packed iPhone. The amount of customization and optimization S60 allows could’ve solved your “problems” had you tried. But the iPhone is barren in the options department, and kills the “tinkerer” in us all by only allowing so much.
I think we need a disclaimer on these reviews. We need a resume on what experience she has with which devices before we assume we are listening to an expert.
I love Cali, and subscribe to her videos. But only because she’s informative and cute, and mirrors the experience of the typical American. Slightly tech savvy, lots still to learn.
September 10th, 2009 at 8:09 am
good unbiased review in my opinion.
an actual 1st review for me coming from over the pond(usa) where everything seems to be “iphone”…
a few inaccuracies but they have been stated previously(call)…
people say symbian is complex….thats why its also very customizable…(options–organise–create new folder) or move stuff into the folders you want too…how complex is that? btw never saw symbian a s complex…from 1st use of the “grandad” the 7650
and yes googletalk is implemented with fring….so is sip and voip….
so the n97 can be your phone…
if you took just a tad bit more time to find stuff out rather than not make the effort too…
still a really good review….
September 10th, 2009 at 8:21 am
@ moylan…
settings—>turn warning tones off….
would help with your camera issue…hope this helps…
@ cali….
“google” is my app store! lol google for anything in life and place s60 in the search youd be surprized what you discover….apple brags about the apps available….its just a fraction of what is there for symbian less the control mentality seen by apple…install what you want…after all its YOUR phone not steve jobs….
September 10th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Amen, RobertH
September 10th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Thanks for the review as I was looking forward to your perspective of ebing iPhone free. INTERESTING how many responses this brief attained versus others…..
September 11th, 2009 at 3:26 am
Nice post, But in my case i didn’t found Nokia N97 that impressive as compare for my iPhone 3G, the touch feature is simple a disaster and device response time is too slow..
September 11th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
@RobertH
tried it when i got it and that worked at first. however in the last firmware update that no longer worked. also it’s the loudest camera click of any camera i have ever heard.
gave the e71 to a friend who programs in python on symbian as the speed was faster than his own device. the loudest noise from my desk at work should not be the camera click! when taking pictures of the various cats playing around my place i should not only get 1 shot before they hear the click and scarper. http://twitpic.com/gnm6c
had a mate who reckoned if he had the phone for a few days he could downgrade it to the previous firmware but it wasn’t worth the hassle. nokia wanted to treat me like a criminal so i made a descision never to buy their phones again.
another thing i noticed. he tried to download a program from ovi while we waited in a cinema for the film to start. i was showing him the app store for the iphone and the amount of time to find and install an app on ovi versus the iphone app store was bonkers. took him 15 minutes to find and install the app if i remember correctly. way too fiddly.
just noticed tonight that my htc hero has a silent camera option. woohoo. the click wasn’t that loud but i prefer it off.
September 12th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
I’m with you in terms of Nokia’s hardware quality and the “roughness” of Linux.
The Nokia N800 you recommended is still going strong and impressively so does it.
The Linuxes are great for web-serving and behave well from the console – SuSE has a great ba$h shell – but not so much from the desktop.
Pixter, my 1.25 mHz G4 iMac, behaves wonderfully on Debian 5, it just hates, hates, HATES almost all Linux desktops and window managers.
On the other side, there are few desktops or window managers that perform as well as OSX, especially on top of a Unix operating system.
The proverbial rabbit that Apple pulled out if its hat with OSX was to take a Unix (NeXT) and make it accessible to a Mac desktop (Aqua).
… just another reason why I’m a Macintosher! =)
September 12th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Gosh, this is perhaps the most stupid (for lack of a better term) review I have watched a.) for any device in general or b.)from a tech site for that matter. This only means that Ms. Lewis is not a bonafide geek (or at least one with passing colors) for two simple reasons:
1) Definition of “resistive screen”
2) Lack of technological sense to realize the function of the call key.
It somehow leads people to think that iphone was her first phone.
September 14th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I have not watched all of the review yet (already seen the haptic/resistive mistake though) but I think maybe Christa (symbian freak baby! :lol:) and co are partly missing the point.
Yes she could have done more research and yes she got some things wrong. But as Christa himself said she probably reflects the usage habits of the average slightly technical American. They are not going to look into detail the rest of us slightly geeky users do. So in that respect I suspect that her review is fair.
September 14th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Cali I don’t understand why you are so afraid to jailbreak your iPhone – it only takes 5 minutes and you can run GV Mobile right away – the app is excellent and the interface is better than the native Phone application IMO.
And as some others have mentioned, I plan on ditching my iPhone for the Hero as soon as it comes out here in the US – my iPhone has never worked properly, or anywhere near as advertised, but it has gotten me so used to living with a gps-wielding, internet-surfing, always-online device I don’t think I’d be able to back to a lousy old flip phone again >_<
September 15th, 2009 at 5:39 am
I’m not afraid to jailbreak at all. I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again. It’s about Apple’s decisions, not about how you can get around those decisions. :)
September 17th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Ah, well I can definitely understand that. However, if you are continuing to look for a ’solution to your Google voice problem’ GV Mobile is the way to go :D
September 19th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Just caught up on all the GB on Miro. I agree Symbian is difficult. It’s glitchy on my phone, but then again so is my jb iphone… You mentioned the N810 in #632, have you thought about getting an N900? I’d love to see a review on it.
October 25th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Hey Cali, to call back, you only need to press the green button! So I blame the buttonless iPhone for your 100% relying on the touchscreen to make a call!
You can hit the green button from any location. Hit it for example while reading an SMS and it offers to call back the person who sent the message.
Symbian menus are really bad, though.
And, common…. I thought you were more tech savvy than to call haptic feedback “resistive”! All WM phone for example are resistive i.e. detect pressure (except the Touch HD2 “Leo”)… same goes to all Nokia touch phones (except the last X-series one). The iPhone and the Androids are capacitive; i.e. detect the electricity of your fingers…
December 8th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Surely like all nokia phones if you push the green handset button the recent call list comes up straight away. I’m not sure about this with the N97 but my 5800 does this. Cali is this your first Nokia phone ever?
I’ve tried various different phone makes, dunno why but the Nokia phones seem to do just what I want it to do and have got better over the last few years.
(Whoops I left this brief post on 622, won’t do that again)
January 29th, 2010 at 11:38 pm
This phone is perfect cause it has everything you could ever think of in a phone.