7 Reasons Why I don't regret buying the Nokia N97 (despite the rumours of upcoming devices that on paper upstage it).
7 Reasons why I don’t regret buying the N97 (despite the rumours of upcoming devices that on paper upstage it).
- [Above] N97 Playing Madagascar Escape 2 Africa using SmartMovie (review and chance for free licences coming tomorrow Saturday)
- I have the N97 right now. As soon as you start the waiting game, it’s difficult to stop as by the time you’ve waited long enough, there’s something new to wait for. Neither the N97 mini nor the N900 have the xenon flash I really wanted in a new phone. The only xenon equiped phone I have my eye on is the Satio – and I have reasons for not wanting that that could spawn a new post on its own.
- The N97 is absolutely beautiful. Thanks to Donna and the Crew at WOMWorld, I got to trial a white N97. From the get-go, I’ve always prefered the black N97, but was surprised at how much I actually like the white one. But the white N97 is prone to staining, plus the keyboard on the black N97 strangely feels better; both in texture of the keys and tactile feedback. Gun-metal trim, black back, charcoal-grey front. Sweet. (Though a killer combination simply would have just been glossy piano black all over and gun metal)
- The N97 is relatively cheap on contract. Though you’ll have to search hard to find a good SIM-Free price (best around the 400 mark), it’s actually relatively cheap on contract. Total ownership cost over 12 months is about 540 GBP. Consider the minimum monthly usage anyway of £20/month for calls/text/web. Over 12 months that makes the N97 300GBP. Over an 18month contract of similar monthly usage, the equivalent price of N97 drops to 270GBP
- The N97 is an excellent media device: 3.5″ 16:9 screen, 29.8GB memory (+ more with micro sd) makes it an excellent music and video player. Through the headphones, (and higher bitrate tracks + via decent headphones) it sounds stonkingly good. BBCi Player’s a great service for download/streaming, SmartMovie’s absolutely amazing for films.
- The N97 is awesome at keeping me connected: Facebook, Gravity, Nimbuzz, Nokia Messaging – My Social networks and my email are there at a tap of a screen.
- The N97 is great for messaging: After extensive usage, I can type really fast on the N97. Great for longish emails or facebook-chat via nimbuzz. It’s just more productive to have both a touch screen and a keyboard.
- Steady firmware upgrades are improving the N97. Though we really didn’t see much in the latest V11 to V12 upgrade, we should expect a lot more to come to the N97′s firmware. There was a Q&A session with WOM, Nokia and a collection of bloggers about a month ago to discuss firmware suggestions – a lot of those are still to come. Plus, with the mini being pretty much identical to the N97, perhaps any improvements meant for the mini can be given to the N97 too. Though some will say the need for so frequent FW upgrades is a negative
I thought I’d have serious buyers remorse, what with the rumours already of upcoming high end Nokia phones. I can’t really blame my liking for the N97 on that “honey moon period” where all devices are good for a week or two because it’s new as I’ve been using an N97 for 2 months already.
Compared to other high end devices, the N97′s “out of the box” experience isn’t so good. It doesn’t have the eye-candy UI that everyone’s after nowadays or the processor/ram/graphic chip specs to drool over.
But what’s great about the N97 is how much it grows with you. Tweaking to your particular settings/themes/applications/menu configurations and the software updates.
_____
meh – I oversaved this post with a half missing version and I’m too tired to rewrite it so that it makes sense…zzzzzz 
Category: 5th Edition, Nokia, Nseries, S60, Symbian
I completely agree, i do keep thinking that maybe i would have been better off just getting the N86 so i have the amazing camera, but realistically i don’t use the camera that much, i’d definetly prefer to have my news and facebook updates live on the screen without even having to go into the applications unless i want to see more detail!
I wouldn’t be surprised if i swap this for the next good Nokia a few months down the line but will just see what happens!
p.s. I’m not really tempted with the satio more because i know how Sony Ericsson seem to be just going down the drain recently…i just wouldn’t want to risk it! (I work in a o2 shop and have seen sooooooo many Sony Ericsson’s being returned and 10 times more sent for repair, worst of all being the C905)
Ah cool, you work in an O2 shop? (I miss O2)- do you get your handsets from them? I’m not sure I’ll be getting another phone in the this year…like you said, will just have to see what happens.
As much as I wanted a good camera “upgrade”, I wanted a different S60 experience from S60 3rd edition – and I’ve grown to really like S60 5th. It should get even better when we can put Symbian^2/^3 on it. I do miss inbuilt music player keys though. I know the trend is for minimal buttons, but serously – they’re a must have.
SE’s line up is sort of steadily getting better again. Really liking the Satio – but think I’d miss the homescreen/QWERTY keyboard/Nokia Supposert/complete S60 5th app compatibility/Firmware Upgrades. Can’t wait to try one though.
Thanks for the post. It was hard to choose between so many specs/OS/plans.. android vs symbian vs iphoneOS. I chose N97 but later I read many negative posts. I guess there’s many misinformation in the net against N97. I had a couple of friends with Iphone and they were shocked with the keyboard and the great camera. From my side, I am a really happy user with the N97.
Regards
Luis
Yup, Bashing Nokia and the N97 was the bandwagon everyone jumped on. To be fair, they were well in their rights as the N97 isn’t as good as what it should have been. However, that’s not to say it isn’t already pretty good as it is.
I love my N97. In posts where I’m overly critical of Nokia/S60/N97 it’s just because I like ranting, (with the hope that perhaps some suggestions will be taken notice). I mean, there was a Q and A thing for the N97′s firmware – although I missed most of it being on a bad connection – there was a chance there for users like me to voice their opinions directly to Nokia.
[...] 1 votes vote 7 Reasons Why I don’t regret buying the Nokia N97 (despite the rumours of upcoming devices tha… 7 Reasons why I don’t regret buying the N97 (despite the rumours of upcoming devices that [...]
[...] Jay has been writing on My Nokia Blog, and has listed the reasons why he has no regrets in choosing the N97. [...]
[...] remains for Nokia and N97. My Nokia Blog: “7 Reasons Why I don’t regret buying the Nokia N97.” In her review, Jenifer Hanen writes how her sister chose the Nokia N97 over iPhone 3GS. [...]
When i was going to buy this cell phone, i read all the mixed reviews but went ahead and got it. And i dont regret it 1 bit !! its a joy to use this phone. True, they could have upped the RAM memory as mine does become slow wen i put in new themes. Otherwise, a delight to use
the replacement of n97 will be on sale in Q3 2010.
new features are 12mp cam with xenon and dual led, 3x optical zoom
thinner body
4″ screen
[...] remains for Nokia and N97. My Nokia Blog: “7 Reasons Why I don’t regret buying the Nokia N97.” In her review, Jenifer Hanen writes how her sister chose the Nokia N97 over iPhone 3GS. [...]
[...] upcoming despite the paper specs that appears to upstage the Nokia N97. Read his full review here. Related Posts
raw to Your Hearts Content with 'Pen and Paper' for Nokia Touch N97/5800Camera [...]