All About Symbian Nokia N97 review series continues

If the popularity of smartphones was determined by the number of features a phone contained, the Samsung Instinct might be at the top of the list.

At over $ 700.00, with an outdated and clunky operating system and a resistive touch screen, the N97 is going to struggle in the US. #waronthegarbageos

http://www.twitter.com/shawnjroberts

The screwed up keyboard is seriously going to be a problem… That and the specs on this phone can’t make up it’s mind if it’s a flagship or a mid-range phone.

The 32b internal storage jacks up the price, but cpu, screen res and no 3d accelerator say mid range. Why not lower the phone price by $100 easily by reducing the internal storage? You get 32gb through microsd anyways.

As it stands now they are not competing with other phones in the same price range and Nokia’s other models are better than the N97 in multiple individual aspects. Why is a flagship phone best at nothing? I canceled my preorder. Highly disappointed.

I ended up going with the 5800 for about $250 shipped after rebates, and I’m not even giving up that much over the N97… This will tide me over, since I’m pretty positive there will be some better symbian offerings this year even.

@papped – you sound like an experienced Symbian user. What do you like about the Symbian OS?

Yes, I think the 5800 probably will meet my needs and will definitely have to give the N97 a hard look to decide if it stays or goes because that is a lot of cash for a device.

I am checking out the Pre now and am enjoying the experience so I have lots to figure out.

I’m not actually, ahaha. Waiting on my first s60v5 phone in the mail.

But I am a smartphone junkie and have tried various OS’s. What I like about Symbian so far: -Number of apps and games. s60 + java + python + flash support. That’s a huge database… -The touch ui is still better than WM and BB by far imo. It’s not perfect, but WM is very far from perfect even with frontends helping the issue. -Definitely runs better on lesser hardware than WM or BB. My Bold is fairly smooth for the most part, but even at 624mhz, I can bog it down easily… My BB 8330 was pretty slow in general. -Far, far better browser than Blackberry, that’s for sure. One of the major gripes of many BB users.

But yeah, they screwed the pooch on the N97 in the States at least. Think anyone will opt for a $700 phone with lower specs compared to far, far cheaper subsidized iPhone or Touch Pro 2 with far better keyboard and better displays?

With the notable exception of the E71 on ATT, Nokia appears clueless about how to sell smartphones in the US. Nokia’s strategy of extremely high pricing, limited availability and suspect devices does not seem to be working.

Yeah, they seem to have very competitve options mid-range (5800 and E71).

But this N97 makes no sense on this end. Overseas if you compare this to the Omnia HD it gets annihilated a couple times over. The only benefit in the States is that no one in the US is going to pay $800-1000 for the Omnia HD when it doesn’t support US 3g bands.

Oh yeah, and where’s the 5800 marketing? This device packs a major punch for the price range. But I basically had to find it through web surfing which is no bueno…

I might be interested in the Omnia HD at a lower price and with US 3G bands. It looks pretty good.

Most of what I’ve seen indicates no NA version is planned. Hopefully it’ll change. Otherwise it’s kinda pointless.

Yeah, the 5800 XM could easily be a $50 to $75 subsidized phone on a carrier like T-Mobile (even without 3G) and it seems like Nokia is losing out on promoting this device. It is a GREAT media player that supports Zune DRM tunes, Amazon Video On Demand movies, etc. too.

The only carrier that Nokia seems to have a good business relationship is Cincinnati Bell. CB has the Nokia E71 (with the original OS not the AT&T crippled) for over eight months now and the 5800XM for past couple of months for $149. Just a thought, we can all have Cincinnati Bell service and enjoy the subsidized pricing on newer versions of Nokia.

A $50-75 subsidized phone that offers competitive features with the best touchscreen smartphones out there and is still in the grasp of entry level smartphone users…

Seriously, talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

quote Zia:

5800XM for past couple of months for $149. Just a thought, we can all have Cincinnati Bell service

Can we? Or we have to libe in Cincinnati? What states supports this carrier? http://www.cincinnatibell.com/consumer/wireless/phonesanddevices/?id=nokia_5800

Architengi,

That was a joke first of all. Second since CB operates on GSM you can use it anywhere in the US. Granted you will have a 513 or 937 area code.

I received my N97 last week and it’s been a depressing few days. I opened the box and tried to sync with my address-book to load all my contacts. Unfortunately in their wisdom Nokia decided that they will no longer be supporting Apple OS X integration starting with the N97 model. This will effect the whole *nix community I expect. They have not published the changed database structures so it’s impossible for third parties to help. My provider won’t take the phone back (as I had opened the box) so I gave it to my wife. She’s happy with it…

Unprepared – How can anyone expect teachers to get these kids ready for standardized tests? ,

Thanks a lotI consider this site a very good one for me to face the interview questions ahead of me. ,