Nokia N97 vs Nokia 5800 XpressMusic - A brief comparison

[slitchfield]

A third member of the AAS team has now had a few weeks with the Nokia N97 (we're saving Ewan til last - he'll be reporting back from the Edinburgh Fringe with it in August) and here Tzer2 presents a brief look at what stood out, especially in comparison to the smaller, cheaper sister device, the 5800 XpressMusic. Summary: it's slightly better, has the potential to be much better, but has to be seen as too expensive.

Read on in the full article.

[jApi NL]

Realized that 32GB of Flash Memory will make a shop price of at least 100 Euro . That makes the initial price diference of 600 - (300 +100) = 200 Euros ?

Regards jApi NL

i see you have put there are no transition effects on the n97, there is actually some on it - it took me a while to find. there not as prominent as the 5800's but none the less they are there, and on v10 too.

[JohnnyN]

You could kind of compare the N86 as well here. Obviously it is not a touchscreen device, but it is more stable and cheaper. I feel that Nokia still has some work to do regarding the touchscreen OS.

[buster]

There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the N97 or the 5800, both are pretty solid devices, and they both mark a reasonably good start for Symbian as it transitions from a button-based to touch-based platform.

This is a somewhat fallacious observation, as Symbian has always had support for touch in the form of UIQ. What we're talking about here is the addition of touch to S60, not Symbian...

[nj7]

On my opinion, one of the main problems for feature phones like N97, these days, it´s the Netbook wave and their prices. Since for proper work, nothing match a proper PC. I buy one Dell Mini 9, new, for 100€... with the 600 - 700 range price of N97, I can have a real Netbook and a good phone, like N82 and N95 8G, and spare 200 - 300€ for another thing. These days, a feature phone like N97 does not deserve any more so much money. Just, like I said, my opinion...

Interesting review:
I find it interesting that as we move from "feature phones" to "smartphones" people tend to get more polarized in their opinions of divices and reviews move to a experience versus feature review. Having a e-71 as a primary phone I realized I needed a weekend phone (Camera, video, something that didn't make me look like a nerd when I was at a bar) so the N-85 entered my life. I Got the 5800XM for my GF and I couldn't use it because it has a "cheaper" experience (design, feel, materials) vs the other two phones.

The N97 has a unique experience - E series build detail, N series media pop, keyboard that sucks you in the more you use it. I see and feel alot of deliberate though that went into the phones design and it's physical interface (I never know which way to hold the XM, the heel on the N97 is just a brilliantly effortless design feature that makes handling the phone so much easier). The N97 has integrated into my life more then any phone I have ever owned, it's at home in the business world, vacationing, clubbing, backpacking, the gym.

I had a 9300 for years, and never upgraded to the E90 because I was waiting for the price to fall from the sky high $970 USD when it was first released. Within 3 days of launch in the USA I got a white N97 for $759... if I waited until today I could get it on Amazon for $599. The dollars don't really make a difference. The cutting edge, just released, will allways command a premium.

As for net books... two points. Convergence! I remember having to lug around a laptop, GPS, MP3 Player and phone - with the myriads of chargers and cables. Why step backwards? Secondly your $200 subsidized netbook comes with a 2 year $50/mo data plan so that is $1,400 bucks at the end of they day.

[Kazutoyo]

Totally agree with the small size thing here. Prefered the smaller 6120 over N95 because of that myself, and it's one reason I will never get a wide device like N71 or iPhone. And the main reason why I'm excited about the upcoming E52, granted that's no touchscreen device, but I want my keypad

in my opinion

- better touchscreen
- 3,5" instead of 3,2"
- dpad
- qwertz
- fm transmitter
- compass
- faster cpu
- 32 gb memory
- better camera
- widgets
- 40 degree display angle
- optimized web browser

are worth the upgrade and its enaugh changes. what else do u want ? that it can cook coffee for you ? .

[Jules_N93]

More ppl should be getting neither, and getting a Samsung I8910:

- glorious 3.7" OLED screen
- OMAP3 processor
- plays XviD out of the box
- excellent DSP
- 8MP Camera
- Capacative touchscreen
- super build quality

[moonshot]

I also agree with the small size thing here and prefered the smaller 6120c. I have a 6220c now but it is not as good.

Not all of us want to use our Nokia's like a PC or ipod. We want the benefits of Symbian 60 in a small'ish and light Nokia.

Two new soon to be released Nokia's that match this description are the E55 and the 5530 xpress touch screen. Although one is seen as a business phone and the other a music device, to folks like me who just want a light Symbian 60 I think either would do.

But which one?

One of my favourite phones was the SE M600. It had half qwerty keys like the E55 (which I got on well with) and a touch screen like the 5530. The only negitive, it did not have camera

[EuroJohn]

I like the white background. Can I ask which theme you are useing?

[nj7]

[quote=Secondly your $200 subsidized netbook comes with a 2 year $50/mo data plan so that is $1,400 bucks at the end of they day.[/QUOTE]
No... First hand, with a promotion without contract!

Its a bad sign to compare high end phones with 5800...

5800 is so boring phone..why not dispose it..

I think we all need to look at this comparison not from a point of view of features, lets forget home screens and compass (hello !!) and actually look and see if one can perform something the other cant.

I bought a 5800XM even know there was an N97 in the making, reasons being that firstly the price of the N97 would be huge even if I was stupid enough to fork out on a contract, contract suck. Secondly, I knew that it was going to be typical S60 OS just like the XM, and I knew it would not be able to do one single practical thing the XM couldn't do.

I knew it would look the exact same, menus etc, ok home screen is nice but that will come to XM or it will get revised at least but hey I can get all the stock, facebook and social information too, just not on the home screen, worth €400 more to have in one place, ehh nope.

Compass, more like pointless, ok for some, walkers orienteering maybe, but again I can just turn on the GPR on the XM likewise the N97 and get the compass, so this app is not relevant.

Dont get me wrong, id love to have an N97, but i just dont think its really that much different that XM, will it beat an iPhone, honestly, I dont think so, I love symbian, have been a symbian man since my first one years ago.