Video: HD Demo of Nokia N97 with Julien Fourgeaud

Ah, another video, with N-quatre-vingt-dix-sept, demonstrated by Julien Fourgeaud. We’ve seen Julien demo the N97 plenty of times, and he knows the N97 more or less back to front, specifically the key strengths of this device. Make sure you click the “HD” button to get some appreciation for the detail on the N97 screen.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc1u3BtNEK4]

Demo by smashpop

Improved Speed?

This video was also taken from the Developer Summit 09, but this is an entirely different video from the other two seen the other day. Here, the N97’s speed here looks very promising. Opening apps, navigating through apps, even the switching between landscape and portrait now changes in a blink! How very surprising. Julien even points out the speed by switching between the app-home screen and the blank home screen; an instant one without animation and still a pretty quick one with animation.

The photo browser and web browser look pretty slick too. In these two apps, touching the screen appears more fluid, as items on the screen move more like how a paper would move were you to drag it across a flat surface. But why don’t we see this in the menu? If there are more applications that can fit in one screen, users should have kinetic scrolling to flick through applications rather than having do drag/tap your finger to the edge like as if you were pressing the down cursor. Lastly, I’ve said this before – when the phone is in landscape and you’re browsing through the menu, a lot of the screen is wasted by the toolbar which could be reserved for more icons. An autohide function, as in the web browser, would be nice.

WIDGETS/Home Screen

Julien really wants to drive home the revolution of the home screen. I must admit, I wasn’t taken aback by it at first. They’re just a bunch of extra icons, right? We’ve had active standby for years now, showing calendar appointments, WiFi availablility, messages, search etc, what’s so new about this? Well the N97 has active widgets. You get active updates in a glance as you unlock the N97 – you don’t have to find that application in the menu, certain information is displayed immediately and tapping allows you to access the full blown application.

AccuWeather

Julien shows a widget using AccuWeather, although probably not the best example of quick information you’d want to see in your phone as information about current weather is made redundant by our senses.

“Current location, 17 degrees, mostly sunny – which is pretty much what we can see outside the window”.

Tapping the widget allows you to access the full AccuWeather application which gives you very detailed information on upcoming weather, specific to your location using GPS. Maybe this is what the widget should show in the default home screen? Like weather in the next few hours, so with a glance, I know if it’s going to suddenly rain after my final lecture (Weather is odd in Wales, extremely sunny one moment, and sideways rain the next) I should bring an umbrella.

AccuWeather as a Widget on the left, and full application on the right.

Whilst applications like that are already available, it’s how you can easily access these on your home screen which gives it a big advantage. Take the WiFi scan on the standby, with the option left on, when ever you unlocked your phone, you could tell immediately whether there was WiFi available in the area, without having to open the actual application. This convenience is being brought to several applications through the use of widgets.

Homescreen Suggestions

Maybe soon Nokia will augment the Homescreen so you don’t just display one app home screen and a blank one. Maybe have one type of homescreen for when you’re at work, then swipe to another one when you’re at home, as you may want a different combination of immediate data available at hand.

Also, what if these multiple homescreens were to change for different locations, as determined by the GPS. This would be great as you don’t even have to remember that “Oh I’m in work, I need to have these sorts of widgets to tell me about X and Y”, once you set a few locations, the phone remembers where you are and changes settings accordingly.

If they’re concerned about loosing the “hide/blank screen” then maybe Nokia should impliment a unique finger gesture that brings that about.

Tags: 5th Edition, AccuWeather, Applications, Demonstration, Developer Summit 09, HD, High Definition, Julien Fourgeaud, N97, Nokia, Nokia N97, S60, S60 5TH EDITION, S60v5, Speed, Symbian, Video, Widgets

Category: 5th Edition, Nokia, Nseries, S60, Suggestions, Symbian, Video