Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9474 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Nokia
• Model: B002IKCU4E
• Released on: 2009-10-28
• Dimensions: .33 pounds
• Hard Disk: 32GB
• Display size: 3.5

Manufacturer's Description
The highly anticipated Nokia N97, Nokia's flagship mobile computer, will begin selling in June in more than 75 countries. Along with a tilting 3.5" touch display, QWERTY keyboard and a fully customizable home screen, the Nokia N97 will offer instant access to the full range of Ovi services.

The Nokia N97 is an important step towards our vision of delivering a highly personalized Internet experience," said Jonas Geust, Vice President and head of Nokia Nseries. Fuelled by a multitude of music, maps, games, media and applications via Ovi, the Nokia N97 transforms the Internet into an experience that's completely tailored to the tastes and interests of its owner.

The Nokia N97 is Nokia's first device to feature a personalizable home screen, which can be customized with a range of widgets which bring live information directly to the device. These widgets include key social networking destinations like Facebook and Hi5, news services like the Associated Press, Bloomberg and Reuters, as well as shopping and weather information. The Nokia N97 is the first device to ship with the Ovi Store, which offers easy access to applications, games, videos, podcasts, productivity tools, web and location-based services, and much more. Ovi Store has paid and free content from a range of global and local content providers and developers, including Paramount Pictures, Facebook and Qik, as well as a selection of Twitter applications.

Enjoy your upgrades

The beauty of this Nokia device is that taking it out of the box is just the beginning. As with any computer, people can constantly improve and refresh their Nokia N97 with new features, functions and fixes so they can do even more with the device. An exciting roadmap of new features and functions is planned to roll out in the second half of 2009.

Entertainment ensured

The Nokia N97 also has direct access to the huge catalogue of music in the Nokia Music Store. With multiple high-speed connectivity options and 32GB of storage (up to 48GB using a microSD card) it is possible to directly download and store tens of thousands of songs on the handset. And you can listen to your favourite music on the Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-905, which Nokia also launched today. This headset brings crystal clear sound, eliminates background noise, and is the ideal accessory for listening to music and making calls on the Nokia N97, as well as being compatible with a diverse range of other mobile and music devices.

High-quality images and video clips at 30 frames per second (fps) can be captured using the 5 megapixel camera with integrated Carl Zeiss optics. Images can also be geo-tagged to specific locations and shared instantly with friends or uploaded online via Ovi Share, Twitter or Flickr.

Box Contains

• Nokia N97 SIM Free mobile phone
• Battery
• Travel charger
• Connectivity cable
• Wired headset
• Charger adapter
• Cleaning cloth

Customer Reviews

NOT HALF BAD - NOT GOOD
This phone is not half as bad as some of the reviews, either here or, elsewhere on the web, would have you believe. It certainly has some flaws (or, should I say opportunities to improve) but in the main it does what it says on the tin.

I have a IPhone on contract so feel able to make some comparisons. While the N97 doesn't have the touch screen slickness of the IPhone it does have a qwerty keyboard which is a real boon if you use text a lot, it's not bad either for inputting web addresses. The keys are a little on the small side but can be managed with some care. I don't find the screen resolution much different either, perhaps the IPhone shades it, just. I find the maps and GPS far better on the N97 (though I'm not impressed with Nokia's charges), and unlike the N95 it seems to find the GPS signal very quickly, even with AGPS switched off. It's excellent for emails and video calling, nice clear picture at the other end, so I'm told, and on which subject I find the actual quality of the calls very good, way better that the IPhone and I've never had a problem with the signal, even in short tunnels.

It's easy to d/l apps, though obviously you don't have the choice that Apples apps store has and you need to watch the phone memory available if you do. I stupidly thought the 32 Gig meant diect memory, it doesn't.

Battery life seems excellent, I'm averaging 2 days or so between charges but I guess if you use the web a lot then that might well go down. Another factor which affects battery life is leaving apps open. Because the phone can multi task this is actually quite easy to do, unfortunately. Nokia have made it easy to check what you have open; checking is a habit you need to get into. Because it can't multi task this isn't a problem with the IPhone.

The downside of the N97 for me is that as a touch phone there are too many occasions when I have to `touch' the response I want twice, sometimes even three times. You can live with it but it is a pain. On a related note Nokia have some serious work to do on their OVI music and apps store, it may just be me but I find it really difficult to navigate not to mention find anything on it! Definitely score for Apple and ITunes here.

Overall, a good mobile I think, not the step up the N95 was but a high quality piece of kit. Worth spending sometime reading the manual to get the best out of the setup however.

UPDATE
Having used this phone now for 3 weeks or so I have to confess that my star rating for this item is incorrect, it should only have 2 stars.

The phone has, in my opinion, some serious flaws. The processor appears to be under powered for what is asked of it, e.g. it can take several presses (touches) before it responds to the `button', if it does, this may not sound like much (it didn't to me at first - see above- but believe me it gets really irritating very quickly when nothing happens despite many 'touches'. On several occasions I have had to go back to the home screen and start again before it will take the required action. The change from vertical to horizontal screen mode and vice versa often takes a long time (30 seconds or so, if indeed it does it at all. Again on more than one occasion I have given up trying to get it from horizontal to vertical and just switched off. This really is not good enough, I never have that problem with the IPhone and certainly should not with a Nokia. Let's hope Nokia sorts this out via a software update ASAP if they can. I'm pretty sure that I don't have a faulty phone and am just thankful that I don't have to use this for work. The phone certainly does have some good points, the sat nav continues to impress for instance and I like the keyboard, but, think really hard before you get this phone, can you live with the problems!

Lets take a monent to welcome Nokia to the 21st Century
Pros:
- Qwerty keypad is a dream for writing emails and txt messages
- The usual Nokia layout making it simple for you to switch on your phone and be away without having to consult the manual before use
- Device can be set to automatically read all of your text messages/emails to you
- Surfing the internet with a larger screen makes life much easier, the zoom in option comes in handy at times and stylus all make internet usage much simpler.

Cons:
-The device crashed after it had been switched on for 1 hour and demanded a restart (Not a good start Nokia).
-The device freezes regularly when trying to make selections on both the touch screen and touch pad.
-Two days after purchasing the device the answer a call function when the keypad is locked is still baffling me, it is not a simple press the green button to answer like a normal phone, some kind of fastest finger in the west technique is needed to unlock the keypad via the touch screen and then answer the phone via the touch screen (Can be a pain if you are trying to answer your call before it diverts)
- Battery cover feels very flimsy when trying to remove it

Well here it is the long awaited Nokia N97, coming from an N95 8GB I was pleasantly surprised by the aesthetics of the device, it is not as large and bulky as I anticipated and it is also lighter than I would have thought. It fits nicely in the palm of your hand however it doesn't feel like it is built to last.

The ever so useful Qwerty keypad is not as sensitive to use when compared with the traditional Nokia device number pads, to access most applications you have either the choice of using the touch screen to select the item or a button on the qwerty keypad which opens up your selected application. When using the touch screen function the device vibrates slightly however this option can be disabled in the settings. Should you not want to flip open the keypad you can double click when writing a txt message and so on which opens up a touch screen pad similar to that of traditional devices. A mini Nokia stylus is also included in the box for use with the touch screen and I have found this useful when trying to use the scroll function on the internet and Ovi store application.

To lock the touch screen of the device there is a handy one touch lock/unlock button, this is very handy and locks the device immediately and places the phone in standby mode. The home screen has several shortcuts that can be customised to suit the individual users needs and to be honest I have removed most of these because I have found that they drain the batteries resources rather quickly you can select from the usual create a message, access photos, or newer options such as four favourite contacts for one touch dialling, email, facebook and many other options. There seems to be fewer features in the main menu however there are a wealth of applications available in the applications section. In the box there is no pre loaded music, no images for your desk top and no game demos to try.

Additionally Nokia have again changed the charger type for this device, instead of the one pin charger, the device takes a charge through the usb connector slot. The USB connector which connects your device to the PC is not the same as original devices either, so your old usb cable will not work when connecting to your computer however all the equipment including a new charger and cable are all included in the box to get you started. I do find this a little frustrating considering most Nokia users will buy additional chargers and cables.

When comparing my options of either the Blackberry Bold or the N97 the Blackberry is far easier to use, has been designed in a very uniformed fashion and comes with a box full of accessories all included in the retail price. However the N97 has a fun appearance, the menu options of a Nokia do not seem regimental and yet the N97 still has the capability to meet the needs of a demanding user, unless Nokia up their game this will be the last device I purchase from them, the constant crashing of their devices and glitchy software is little to be desired. I just hope Nokia's new generation of N-series will be a cut above the rest and lead the way for Nokia to maintain their ground in the ever competitive mobile market.

Not as bad as some of the reviews suggest!
I carried out lots of inquiries from different phone shops concerning the nokia N97, unfortunately none of them has better review about this phone.All seem to be negative.I remember some guy from an orange shop refering to the N97 as'rubbish' when I mentioned N97, did'nt even finish my sentence.

Adamant not to subscribe to the Snobby Iphone niche nonesense, wanted an alternative that can challenge apple so-call 3gs. bought the Nokia n97. On trying to familiarise myself with the features, experienced virtually all the Negative reviews posted. i.e the freezing mid way through application and switching off and rebooting.

Nokia is renowned for their sophistication and craftmanship in mobile phone market. How did they get this wrong? well I suppose, in trying to stop the Iphone from market dominance, the N97 was launched too soon without proper testing.(emphasis is mine)

Nokia has dedicated a special hotline to solve the N97 glitch. ring up and get instructions on how to update the device from the present version. alternatively insert the Ovi cd, connect the device and update.

I have not experience any problem whatsoever since updating to software version v11.0.021. The N97 is a good buy.