Nokia N97

smilodon · May 16, 2009, 02:19:53 PM

I was thinking about gretting myself an iPhone.

Then I saw this :blink:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxMIXTi9NX8

I do love the iPhone interface and 35,000 apps in the app store, but against that I have to consider

5.0 mega pixel camera
30 fps DVD quality video
Open source operating system
Full querty keyboard
touch screen keyboard
Flash support (You-tube) not available on the iPhone
Java support not available on the iPhone
9 hours talk time (seven for iPhone)
17 day standby time (ten days on the iPhone)
32 gig of onboard memory (48 gig with memory card)
Rights free music upload and download

But that iPhone interface is very sweet. Nice to have a choice though

TeaLeaf · May 16, 2009, 02:32:53 PM

Aye, am watching with interest, I was very impressed with Pen's iPhone when I had a play with it at the LAN despite my dislike for all things Appleprietary, so I'll be interested to see how this compares as my contract is now up and I'm looking to replace the phone. The N97 and the iPhone are the current top favourites.

TL.

T-Bag · May 16, 2009, 02:51:42 PM

I like the look of the hardware. Nokia as standalone phones. Problem is moving away from windows mobile would limit my gps options.
As for the iPhone, it's far too limited. Since I went to a symbian phone years ago I decided to not go back to phones where you're so limited "upgradability", so I pretty much choose Nokia or Windows mobile (which pretty much means HTC). There is so much software out there for free for these phones, I wouldn't swap that for a fancier touch screen.

OldBloke · May 16, 2009, 03:44:48 PM

I've just got my wife the HTC Touch Diamond 2. I really like it. It's WM6.1 under the hood but the HTC TouchFlo overlay is an absolute joy. I will probably change to either this or the Touch HD when my contract is up for renewal in October.

OldBloke · May 17, 2009, 11:31:52 AM

Quote from: OldBloke;276275... I will probably change to either this or the Touch HD when my contract is up for renewal in October.

No I won't

The HD is no longer in the equation. I'm now considering the Touch Pro 2.

T-Bag · May 17, 2009, 12:07:37 PM

Quote from: OldBloke;276354No I won't

The HD is no longer in the equation. I'm now considering the Touch Pro 2.

Flip out keyboard and Wifi are the only additions I would add to the hardware on mine (T-Mobile Compact III - it's HTC not sure which). This seems like the perfect choice. And the interface looks great without even needing PointUI etc.

GhostMjr · May 17, 2009, 12:08:21 PM

I have an nokia e51 the phone unfortunately is reliant on the operating symbian system for flash updates.

So for example when i view youtube or other flash websites it says my flash is out of date. I try installing the adobe flash from the adobe website but it doesn't work.

After speaking to several phone people over the phone and in person aswell as with nokia support it seems as though nokia haven't given a new flash version in their firmware updates. Providing you can update the flash normally then its a good buy. Thats my only concern.

smilodon · May 17, 2009, 10:38:34 PM

Odd? I have an E90 and it sees flash fine. I've not installed anything extra either. However I always de-brand my phones as soon as I get them. So I get the latest Symbian OS. Maybe that might be the issue?

I do like the look of the HTC Touch Pro2. although my experiences of Windows Mobile OS have not been good in the past. And Symbian is a great mobile OS.

Either way it looks like we really are spoilt for choice though

DarkAngel · May 17, 2009, 11:01:14 PM

Ive had a 2g iPhone since release and i was very pleased with it, although ive decided that Â£35 a month for a phone is too much so im selling it and going pay as you go on my old phone

N97 looks sweet tho

Penfold · May 17, 2009, 11:30:55 PM

I love my iPhone. I love the wifi, the 3g, the apps and the fact it keeps the kids quiet whilst they watch High School Musical or Star Wars videos and play games.

'nuff said

TeaLeaf · May 21, 2009, 08:58:16 AM

I am guessing the iphone still does not allow itself to be used as an internet connection for the laptop, whereas the Nokia has existing Symbian software to do this?

TL.

Gandalf · May 21, 2009, 09:01:36 AM

well, I picked up the HTC Magic at launch and so far am very impressed. Oh, and it's not Apple :narnar:

Penfold · May 21, 2009, 09:25:27 AM

I'm sure there are far better phones out there than the iPhone. In fact the worst aspect of the iPhone is, ironically, the phone part of it.. :blink:

smilodon · May 21, 2009, 11:06:28 AM

I still think Windows mobile is a rotten mobile OS and HTC should be applauded for managing to cover up the bad bits so well. I was playing with their new touchflow 3D system this week and it's very nice. But underneath still lurks a beast. Compared to the iPhone it's not in the same league IMHO. However the iPhone does have some problems. My main concern is that while 3rd parties can write apps for it we have to wait for Apple to introduce core features such as multimedia messaging, cut and paste, You -tube integration etc. The new v3.0 software looks to fix many of the problems but it's a year behind Symbian and Andriod. Both these OS's are open source so there are no restrictions on who can write apps and bring in new features etc.

I guess you pick the phone for what you need. I need the ability to write lots of text in e-mail, SMS and forum posts. So I need a qwerty keyboard. An 5+ mega-pixel camera and the ability to shoot good quality video would be nice. Being able to connect it to a Linux PC is also a plus. So for me the iPhone is not the answer and nor is a Windows mobile phone. Horses for courses I suppose.

Oh and it seems the N97 will sell for Â£490 as a standalone phone. I'd like to get free from these 18 month and 24 month contracts but 500 quid is a big ask. The problem with networked smart phones is that the manufacturers i.e. Nokia offer continuous updates and bug fixes for their OS. But when a phone is branded to Vodaphone, O2 etc the updater will not work. It seems the mobile companies never update their branded version of the OS and so two years down the line you're using an OS that is horribly out of date and missing a load of new features. The only answer is a debrand which potentially invalidates your warrenty. Going with Orange or T-mobile is even worse as you have to also get the sim lock taken off which definitely voids the warranty.
I think this is a real issue with mobile phone companies. My mate has an orange Nokia 95 which is running version 1.15 software. My vanilla N95 runs version 30.0. This list of updates between the two phones is vast and side by side they could almost be different phones. Not very impressive.

OldBloke · May 21, 2009, 06:08:27 PM

If you buy via mobiles.co.uk the phone is unbranded. I believe the same goes for their parent company - carphonewarehouse.