The Phones Show: Episode 82 – Nokia N97 video review/how the N97 could have been improved
Steve Litchfield of AllAboutSymbian has recently published Episode 82 of the ever popular , “The Phones Show”
Topics covered:
- iPhone 3Gs announced
- Nokia Ovi Store – better than “downloads” app but still has a long way to go
- S.E. Xperia 1 – new firmware
- Opera Mobile Update – v9.7 – uses turbo which boosts rendering speed as much as 25%
- Most of the video though is about the Nokia N97 review
In the Video review of the Nokia N97, There’s an overall sense of disappointment which I somewhat agree with. Whilst being a great handset, the N97 could have been the ultimate smartphone (at least hardware wise) had Nokia put more effort. i.e.
How the N97 could have been improved
- If you’re going to add a camera – give it xenon flash (maybe bump up the MP)
- if you’re going to add a keyboard, give us an excellent configuration with minimal compromise (don’t cram into three rows where numbers share the top letter row)
- If the d-pad is for N-gage gaming, give us dedicated graphics processor with more RAM to actually play decent games (maybe even bump up the processor)
- If you’re gonna want us to multi task, give us more RAM
- If you’re gonna add a touch screen; optimise it for finger use and give us capacitive display – the whole glove issue/handwriting advantage with stylus is outweighed tenfold by the advantage of having a slick, super sensitive, super responsive touch screen (than can also potentially support real multi touch)
- [The UI itself requires a completely new post for discussion - as well as a general overhaul]
But such additions would have come at a price; probably a price too steep given the N97′s intended longevity (or lack of) and mass market target.
Nseries (and Nokia in general) have a habbit of announcing a successor only months after the release of the predecessor. In the UK, the N97 will end up on 18/24 month contracts, which means through the contract route, customers will most definitely meet several N97 successors but (being trapped in the contract) will not get the chance to upgrade.
In this “current economic climate” where contracts are 2 years long, phones should also have a longevity of about 2 years – which the N97 could have achieved, had it actually received the aformentioned suggested changes.
But as long as Nokia want users to regularly upgrade, that’s not going to happen any time soon. Furthermore, with Nokia’s continued strategy of appealing to wide variety of markets, they inevitably lose the focus to create one amazing phone; instead diluting resources and making several “nearly there” killer smartphones.
The N97 is essentially one of the best “Jack of All Trades…” smartphones, giving you pretty good performance in every feature it has, but as the phrase continues, “… master of none”, being trumped by other handsets (HTC Touch Pro2 – better keyboard/Satio – better camera/i8910 – more RAM and faster processor and capacitive display)
via 3lib
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I agree with this article 100 percent. And I’m definitely buying the n97. Why? because I want a phone that does it all. None of the “more focused target consumer phones) mentioned in the above article appeal to me. Most of us aren’t strictly one category users. there are days I want to take a picture, days I want to message, days I want to play music and etc.
The N97 may be underwhelming to a degree because it doesn’t do any one thing amazingly well, but I think the overall package is what makes this phone special. Name any other phone that is designed with this type of business model? None.
Sure, there will always be phones that will come out that are flashier, faster, better looking, and hopefully easier to use; but for pure functionality, the N97 really isn’t lacking in any particular department. That cant be said about the more focused devices mentioned above.
I’ve been waiting for Nokia to give me the future ever since I bought the N93.
The N97 is a colossal disappointment for me. All those things they should have done would not have come at a price. It’s already $700 and even the Sony Xperia X1 from a year ago has better hardware. The Samsung i8910 is vastly superior.
If those companies can give us that technology for a good price, of course Nokia can. They’re giving us old technology because they think they can get away with it and we’ll swallow. No.
[...] to think (apart from, “ooh, that’s CJ!”). I had just been mulling about certain “disappointing” features of the N97 which if improved could have made it more than a serious competition for the multimedia handsets of [...]