MIR's take on the N97

[slitchfield]

While we wait (not too long) to debrief an exhausted Rafe after Nokia World, MIR's Paul Miller has done a good job of getting his hands-on thoughts on the new Nokia N97 down in print. Some interesting points (and also in the comments), even if he doesn't approach the device as an existing S60 fan. My own take is that yes, it's incredibly early in the N97's development cycle - for something 6 months from availability, it's actually looking quite stable and fast - look where the Sony Ericsson X1 was 6 months from its release...

Read on in the full article.

[fernando20]

So Paul Miller is a S60 fan? Proof engadget pays bloggers to be apple biased </conspiracy theory>

As a Engadget comenteer put, "That's the typical "what a letdown after the hype" article we come to expect from Engadget for non-Apple products. Those typical articles have the following structure:

[Non-Apple device] has [feature F1] but [feature F1] has following [nitpick flaw N1, nitpick flaw N2, etc.]
[Non-Apple device] has [feature F2] but [feature F2] has following [nitpick flaw N3, nitpick flaw N3, etc.]"

[Bosambo]

For a more BALANCED review: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-101...eed&subj=Crave

They take the SHOCKING route of being able to mix the bad points with actual GOOD ones! Amazing!

"That said, there are a few key features that the N97 offers that the iPhone doesn't. For example, the Nokia Web browser on the N97 supports Flash and Flash video, something that Apple's Safari browser doesn't support. And of course, heavy texters and e-mail enthusiasts, will like the full QWERTY keypad. I've had several iPhone owners tell me that they still carry around a BlackBerry for sending e-mails on the go, because they don't like the iPhone's virtual keyboard for typing longer messages.

The phone, which Nokia's marketing team calls a "mobile computer" also offers a whopping 32GB of storage on the device with the option of adding up to another 16GB of storage through a microSD card. And then there is the 5-megapixel camera, which also records DVD-quality video.

By contrast, the iPhone only offers up to 16GB of storage and users are unable to add additional storage via microSD cards. Also, the iPhone's camera is only 2 megapixels, and it doesn't offer video recording.

The N97 also offers assisted-GPS services, which improves accuracy over regular GPS receivers, such as the one offered in the iPhone. The device also uses Nokia's mapping technology and virtual compass that allows the device to actually point users in the direction they need to go when they're using the turn-by-turn navigation."

Well, so Nokia global smartphone market share went down from 52% to 39% in one year, Apple's is up to 17% and RIM's is up to 15%. Time will tell whether the 5800/N97 can stop the trend. My guess that without massive campaign the US market won't care, in Europe and Asia they will sell well.

[Rafe]

There's a few mistakes in the CNet article too (though it probably more down to the way things are phrased (e.g. you can zoom in on text and images).

I'm working on my own stuff now (sorry its not been up earlier, but there's a lot more to Nokia World than just the N97).

Originally Posted by Mobile Observer

Well, so Nokia global smartphone market share went down from 52% to 39% in one year, Apple's is up to 17% and RIM's is up to 15%. Time will tell whether the 5800/N97 can stop the trend. My guess that without massive campaign the US market won't care, in Europe and Asia they will sell well.

You'r figures are pretty messy. According to Gartner the drop was from 48.7 to 42.4, not sure where your figures are, altough the 39% is propably the total mobilephone marketshare (instead of just smartphones).

gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=827912

Oh and RIM is at 15,9% and Apple at 12,9%. Apple relatively low marketshare compared to what Apple says is due to the fact that Apple's claim of over 6 million "sold" included 2 million units that were actually only "shipped" (I.e somewhere between factory and retail store, but not bought by customer yet).

[jah]

Look the iPhone can't do these useful things:

- can't be used as a modem for a laptop
- no A2DP
- no turn-by-turn sat navigation
- no flash support
- no MS Office edit support
- no replaceable battery
- no DVD quality video capture

These are some of the many things the iPhone cannot do and people know this and this is why Apple do not outsell all other Smartphones. If the iPhone was so compelling then 2 years of publicity would have persuaded most consumers not to buy S60 or WM devices. This has not happened - the facts speak for themselves.

Strange the way these comnents on almost any S60 (with the same on other sites) subject turn into a"my phone is better than your phone argument" (or is it a case of people defending what they have spent their own money on to justify the purchase!). Its never going to be a subjective thing, apple v nokia v microsoft. The fact people have to defend their favourite mobile OS/phone just shows how much an impact the iphone has made.

For myself its a case of interest in all things mobile, so as an ex-S60 user and current iphone user can see advantages and disadvantages in both. Competition is good for all consumers as it forces these companies to make better products at lower cost.

Having used an N95/N80/6120 recently I am a fan of S60/Nokia but feel the OS needs an overhaul not a face lift which is what the touch extension is. The device looks great and appears to offer users a great platform although would welcome some smaller N series touch products as this is even larger than the iphone which is on the larger size already.

Most of the arguments against the iphone could, if apple wanted, be solved using firmware upgrades, this is where the iphone is a winner, think not of it as a phone but the sceond step in evolving the OSX mobile platform, software and services are what will drive future purchases not raw hardware. Its too easy to make a list of hardware specs, squeeze them into a device and sit back (something the early N95 fell down on), the whole experience has to work (even if the raw list of hardware appears to be lacking in the iphones case).

So enjoy your multimedia devices and think how far these products have come in the last couple of years!

[Ratkat]

It will be interesting to see how the third generation iPhone (which should hit the shops at roughly the same time as the N97) will compare to the N97, it will need to add a decent camera and video capability 'to stay in the game' because for all its eye candy the iPhone is getting a little outdated feature wise.

Having said that, the amount of apps now available for the iPhone is amazing, far more than for S60 and in all less than six months, many of then free or dirt cheap as well, Apple's app store has got to be the biggest success story of 2008.

2009 looks like being another interesting year and I shall look forward to the N97 or hopefully a E97 business version.

I don't see the engadget review being biased at all. I think it just makes a valid case that the N97 is poised to be a tremendous piece of hardware running an OS that has some significant issues these days. Of course this phone, and many other phones that Nokia makes beats the iphone, android phone, blackberry, hands down from a hardware perspective, but it seems that hardware will quickly become a secondary factor. The reason there is so much attention around apple, aside from their distortion field ad campaigns, is that their software and services are so well thought out and easy to use. If nokia doesn't address this, but updating things like their abysmal download! service for instance, they will continue to lose market share, and developers will begin to abandon the platform.

I currently have an n95 and a G1, and while the G1 doesn't beat the n95 on many fronts hardware wise, its really tiring to see the limitations of the s60 OS compared to android which has only been out for a couple of months. Things like having a good easy to use app store, allowing linked up applications, so if I see an address in the web browser and click on it, it launches google maps and shows me where the address is. Why on earth is nokia not implementing these things on their s60 devices? Sure the N97 has some slick looking widgets on the standby screen, but once google releases the SDK for their widgets, android will match that functionality. I would love to go back to s60, but at this point the hardware features just aren't enough for me.

[jah]

I repeat, if the G1 and iPhone are so much better why are the sales not reflecting this. In the UK T-mobile have had to reduce the contract price of the G1 because of a lack of interest while the N96 continues to be a top seller. Weekly sales of the iPhone are also reducing according to all reports - why? Surely if more people own iPhones their friends should be impressed and want one and sales should be sky high. I repeat, 2 years of media hype about the iPhone and still S60 Smartphones out sell all other Smartphones.

I'm disappointed - but not entirely surprised - to read about the sluggishness of the device and its quirky UI. It sounds like the same 'ol clunky S60 I'm used to with my N95, and while that might have been acceptable two years ago it's getting a bit difficult to swallow now.

The hardware, though, is a huge step in the right direction. The N97 finally gives us an N-Series with not only a QWERTY keyboard, but also higher resolution and a touch screen; all features I've wanted to see from Nokia for years. After the disappointing incremental changes in the N96, we've finally got some big improvements to look forward to.

If only Nokia would take the scalpel to S60 and make the needed changes, this could be a really nice device. Oh well, maybe some hackers will get Android running on it...

[tnkgrl]

Here's my hands on: http://tnkgrl.wordpress.com/2008/12/...-n97-hands-on/

[Raven]

Originally Posted by jah

I repeat, if the G1 and iPhone are so much better why are the sales not reflecting this.

Ehm, where have you been the past 6 months? You do know that Apple now has become #2 in terms of smartphones sold worldwide? And that's with only one model available. Of course, that is in terms of revenue not the number of devices sold. How can anyone not be impressed by Apple's sales figures...

Btw, the iPhone 3G does have assisted GPS. And as for flash, who uses that for anything other than videos on a mobile device? I don't see having flash directly supported in the web browser as any advantage over the video being opened in a separate media player. On the contrary. I have actually tried viewing flash video in the web browser on my E90 and N95 8GB, so c'mon... It is a slow and clumsy experience, which incidentally is a good description of the S60 web browser as a whole.

Now, I am actually looking forward to the N97. Overall it seems like a great device, but Nokia seriously needs to get it out on the market ASAP. Six months from now may be too late.

[Raven]

Another interesting fact: "Apple shipped more iPhones during the 3rd quarter than all the Windows Mobile devices shipped worldwide by Microsoft's partners, according to Canalys."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10084008-37.html

Nokia smartphone sales has been declining for the first time in years, mostly due to the launch of one single model from Apple...

And Nokia has a gazillion S60 phones out there, some of which are dirt cheap, and none of them are only available through one operator... Not that I am defending Apple's business strategies in any way. I hate Apple, but love some of their products. :P I'm just saying that people need to stop posting BS about the iPhone. And accusing everyone who praises the iPhone for being payed off by Apple is just so ridiculous, I don't even have any words for it...