Videos: More Nokia N97 demos!

Here’s the Nokia N97 being demoed at the developer summit. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FoC0vzj08k] Here it is again, if you so wish, at another angle.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL3UmnIbPJM]

There’s nothing to be gained from either video except the noticing the gradual growth of the N97’s UI. I still hate the wasteful menu of S60 5th edition – at least for phones with screens as big physically and pixel wise as the N97 (and 5800!). I don’t know if we’ll ever get a more decent 4×5 grid, and leave the back button to the red button (with long press to exit fully) or have the options bar autohide in the menu! Urgh! It just wastes so much space, dammit!!

The kinetic scrolling is nicely demonstrated again in the twitter application; changing in speed to the level of drag. Pity we don’t see this in the menu, where scrolling is quite painful to watch.

Transition from Landscape(Qwerty) mode to portrait(candybar) takes the N97 an excruciating 3 seconds  with no animation. By launch this better be instant or close to that! It needs to feel more fluid! Take a look at how relatively quickly the Nokia Photobrowser from Nokia Beta Labs changes from portrait to landscape. The wait, if any, between screen orientation should be so minimal, you don’t notice that the computer is processing such changes, instead appearing to be in natural sync with the motion of your hand. Like moving a spirit bubble.

During the video, the guy mentions that “the  N97 is very efficient on power and computational ability“. Is that marketing speak for “it has to do the best it can, given that the processor isn’t as powerful as it actually needs to be“?. The guy does point out that this is “a rough version of the software and that the teams are working hard“.

The N97 may be able to pull it off when it’s officially available in June/July, but how will it’s endurance/longevity be when users start filling it up with applications/videos/photos and developers produce more power hungry applications? Will potential buyers have to look for a rehashed “i” version or another quick replacement flagship? Will that be the keyboardless and super slim N97?

With about a month or two to go, is there time for any pleasant surprises from the N97, or are all the cards already on the table and all Nokia has are a couple of jokers?

Tags: 3.5\", 5800, 5th Edition, Demonstration, N97, Nokia, Nokia N97, S60, S60 5TH EDITION, Video

Category: 5th Edition, Nokia, Nseries, Rant, Rumours, S60, Suggestions, Symbian