Nokia N97/N97 mini: review part 3 - Camera, Multimedia and wrap-up

Bravo! Well done Steve. Nice wrap-up. :icon14:

The N97 mini is much more good-looking and classy than the N97 classic. I love the rear view of the N97 mini. It's so elegant and sexy. I'd go for the N97 mini.

Has anyone else noticed that when you upload a video from the N97 to YouTube in 4:3 ratio it comes up as High Quality? Yet when using 16:9 it does not.

I thought it may just be my N97 that was/wasn't doing it, but it would seem that the Mini is suffering the same problem too.:rolleyes:

The 16:9 videos don't have high enough pixel count for HQ. They're only 4:3 videos with the top and bottom chopped off - why would you want to shoot at a LOWER resolution?

Great review. I do have a question though. Currently there are some great deals available on the N97 'Classic', and therefore can be had for up to $300 less (180 Pounds) than an N97 Mini. Would the Mini be worth that much more if I was trying to decide between these two?

Thanks,
Adam

Eek, £180 is a lot. No, get the N97 classic. In fact, go for whichever is cheaper generally. Both have their plus points, after all!

While the article is well written (as usual) and does give the potential buyer a lot of useful information to consider, the conclusion lacks any mention of the Samsung Omnia as a possible alternative to both phones mentioned in the article. It seems to me that although the Omnia hd lacks significant firmware support and shares some of the weaknesses of the N97 (limited C: storage, S60's inconsistent UI) that it is in many other ways (RAM, Screen, GPS, Camera, Video play back/recording) superior to either of these phones. After all, firmware updates just fix the bugs and offer improvements that should have been taken care of BEFORE launch! Of course all manufacturers are guilty there!

That's because it's not an alternative, IMHO. An alternative is something I would recommend to a friend and, in Samsung's current confused support state, I wouldn't wish the (otherwise superlative, specs-wise) i8910 HD on my best friend - he'd simply be phoning me up every day asking how to do stuff or work round problems or omissions. 8-)

Very truthful review, thanks. The only thing that bothers me is comparison made at the end. I think, WM software is much superior to Symbian in most angles (just as with Iphone there are tens of tasks, that Symbian just can't do, but WM can). Secondary IMHO best device of Symbian is Omnia HD, which is not only better in multimedia (camera, playing etc.), but in overall perfomance comparing to n97 - even typing on onscreen keyboard, at least for me, is faster then on n97 hardware one.

Good review Steve, really enjoyed it and I think a very balanced and insightful summation.

I'd love to spew more hatred at my N97 becasue I think it's represented hideous value for an alleged flagship, Nokia have failed to get on top of the situation and so many of the problems were blatant even pre release. I questioned the restricted C: and under specced RAM but we were given assurances by Nokia and most of the review sites that all was well in the release write-ups. But I think the reality of day-to-day usage has exposed the hardware paltform as inadequate and as you observed the money saved by Nokia vs the anguish (and frantic extra coding) has to be a terribly poor business descision (unless they wanted to make the N900 and Satio look good).

The software was appalling at release and I can't see how after being released over 6 months after announcement and on a very similar platform to the 5800 these problems weren't caught before it got out the door. I realise they were rushing to get it out to challenge iPhone but still what have they been doing with S60 for the last 2yrs? So it's a shame that enhancements that Nokia had promised at release (like kinetic scrolling) have got caught up in just being seen as bug fixes or stuff that should havce been included at rerease and of course they must've diverted resources that could have been used in making more "candy" into making the pesky thing work.

However the Mini does look like an all round improvement and more assured renditioning of the device and maybe they can rescue something out of this platform but I think they will have to let the price drift a bit (look at the Classic prices being quoted on this page). It's undoubtedly a missed opportunity and those that bought into the Nokia Kool Aid that this was their iPhone beater are going to be pretty sceptical next time they claim something similar so they have squandered a lot of goodwill at an inopportune time in the business (ie when they're being genuinely threatened).

Will I upgrade/get rid of my N97 - no I agree with you (although got mine at half price - mind can't get more than that on ebay/recyclers anyway) I'm just going to sit it out mainly cos having changed it I'm on SIM only contract now for another 11months. But I think I'm going to feel a slight pang of would've could've should've evey time I use it. It's going to have to impress me mightily for the next couple of years (I hate changing phones) for me not to be very wary of a Nokia (my first) handset again.

If the omnia HD is getting recommended, I feel that the satio should get recommended to. I had a satio to test and I have just fallen in love with it. It's media capabilities and experience with it are fantastic.

Please can you elaborate and explain what theses tens of tasks that Symbian can't do are?

WM has always been the black sheep and still is more than ever.

Script for a jesters tear by Marillion in your you music library....excellent

Nokia for years have kept doing the same idea,release an mobile then a couple of months later release a more up to date mobile,the mini N97 looks just the right size an built better than the N97,hope Nokia stop this trend as its very annoying for buyers as you do not want to worry all the time you buy a Nokia mobile then a better version comes out,N73,N95 an N97,all did the same but why couldn"t we get a more up to date N86 as well

1st you criticise Nokia for always releasing improved versions of their existing phones and then you say you want them to release a improved version of the n86. :) You just contradicted yourself. :)
FYI, the n86 is an improved version of the n85 and was originally to be named as the n85 8MP - just like n95 8GB, n97 mini, n72 ME and so on.

just a little side note re the zoom on the picture viewer. Quite by accident i discovered you could zoom in and out using the volume rocker. This seems to be much easier the using the touch screen zoom control which is sometimes useless. But maybe everyone already knew this? I just noticed you didn't mention it in the review..

Hey, nice tip!! I'll amend the main review text as well!

well actually, the nokia's version of s60v5 real player supports

mpeg4 video upto nHD 640x360
h.264 mp4 video upto 320x240

and this applies to ALL of nokia's s60v5 devices, be it n97 or even a 5230. they all have the same 434mhz cpu and 128mb ram. hence they are all (strangely) capable of handling the same media types.

thats the reason why when you play mp4 h.264 videos, even if they are a little higher than 320x240, the player skips video playback. it is capable of playing these videos, but it might result in shuttering while playing these videos. hence the cap is set at 320x240 QVGA.

I am not able to find a pouch for my N97 which has a button type. With the normal magnetic type pouch, the camera will open automatically and active the camera which will result automatically unlock the phone. Could you please suggest a pouch which has button to close instead of depending the magnetic? Any way, your review is very very good. Thank you for your review. I am a N97 classic owner.

Mathews

Thank you, Steve, for the very good and detailed review.

I just bought my N97 mini about a week ago and I can't find the utility program for screen shot. Would appreciate if you could advise me where I can download the program. Thanks.

The review fails to mention that the music player struggles to deal with a large amount of music on the E: drive.

This is a serious issue. I have 20gig on there and switching between lists in the music player can be v e r y s l o w. Sometimes literally five minutes between opening the music player and eventually getting to the album and track I want.

Not good enough for a device one of the main selling points of which is its 32gig internal memory.

Which is why you should go for the mini :) Hopefully, the phone does not have issues handling just a 8 GB disk.

But good point though.

Great review, thanks!

I'd additionally like to know how well the device handles documents (xls, doc, ppt, pdf). I currently own the N82 (which has served me very well) and on that device opening large office documents was simply impossible: either the sw would crash or scrolling/flipping pages would take forever.

Is the N97 strong enough to satisfyingly handle mid sized (20 pages word doc, 40 pages pdf) documents?

Also if someone could report on how well editing word doc's works (with paid sw), that'd be great!

I'm commuting daily and would love a small device on which I can read office docs and especially type some quick word docs every now and than, thus not having to lug around my laptop all the time.

Thanks,
Tom

Oh and: How's the battery life realy?

I've searched the web but answers are hard to come by. Some few complain about it needing several recharges to get through a day, others say it's on par with other phones.

Can you give us some numbers on how long it lasts under heavy and mild useage?

Thanks again!

For the N97 or the Mini?

My Mini lasts about a day with pretty heavy usage, some Ovi Maps, lots of browsing and Gravity and Profimail open on and off throughout the day. On average usage (browsing, Gravity and Profimail open sporadically) my battery is down to just under half by the end of the day.