Nokia N97

The long waiting time is over
and we can finally say
something about the so
much acclaimed N97
smartphone – the iPhone's
main rival suggested by
Nokia. At first glance, besides
the innovative design, the
new top of the line
touchscreen smartphone
manufactured by the Finnish
giant has been gifted with
almost the same features as
the older Nokia 5800
XpressMusic handset. That
means it includes the same
operating system, processor,
HSDPA 3.6Mbps, Wi-Fi, built-
in GPS receiver, and the list
can go on. Still, the main
things that differentiate the
two handsets are the full
QWERTY keyboard of N97
and the bigger touchscreen.
If Nokia 5800 XpressMusic
was released as the first
Nokia smartphone to feature
a touchscreen and an
updated Symbian operating
system that could go with it,
the N97 should have been a
piece of art from this point of
view.
There were lots of bugs
present in 5800's platform
and the OS seemed rather
rudimentary, but Nokia
managed to solve most of
them by a wide sequence of
firmware updates. Still, the
graphical interface, as well
as the basic control of the
menus remained the same.
This shouldn't be that bad,
but when you intend to
compete with one of the
most successful smartphones
on the market, the iPhone,
you must provide something
that has at least equal value.
Either Nokia managed to do
that with the N97 or not, we
will see in the following
review, so read and judge for
yourselves.
Nokia N97 was announced in
November 2008, but
managed to hit the shelves
only in June 2009, after
almost seven months of
struggle. The smartphone is
available in two classic
colors: Black and White.
Currently, it can be bought
for around 600USD,
depending on the location
and plan.