Accepting the N97

I recently went through a silly predicament involving another Nokia E71. I used money from a refund of the Samsung Epix and purchased an unlocked white E71 from Best Buy. Even though I had only been curious about the white model and really had no intention of keeping it as a back up to my grey one, I was tempted. After novelty of having the white model had worn off from a couple days I returned it for a full refund. At this point I think that the best move would be to apply this extra money to my debt, but I have also thought about saving it for something else in the future: the newly unveiled Nokia N97.

Upon first glance I was only mildly impressed with the Nokia N97 due to my preference for the qwerty bar form factor, and I came close to dismissing it. But the more I thought about it I became a little bit more interested. This is a first generation touchscreen device that's worthwhile in comparison to that 5800 XpressMusic, and it truly appears to be a suitable iPhone competitor (sans the seamless iTunes integration). When I had first seen that preview movie of a Nokia Touch prototype about a year or so ago, this N97 is exactly what I imagined it to be! With 32GB of storage on this machine and a 3.5mm jack, there is no doubt in my mind that this may rival the 32GB iPod Touch in offered features. The touch interface reminds me of the N810 Tablet which wasn't bad to work with at all, just not as fluid as the iPhone. I think that this N97 potentially has the ability to combine the pros of the N and E Series, but for me this does come at a compromise in regards to the design. I had written on previous blog entries about my affinity for qwerty bars because of quick access to the keypad and a more portable and pocketable size, but I may have to forego this notion in order to accept the N97. This new model offers a grand screen with touch and stereo speakers for the best portrayal of media content like the NSeries, and one can only assume that Nokia's high standard of messaging used in ESeries devices will be included as well. It is for this reason that I am excited about the N97, for it could possibly take Nokia into a whole new realm of usability that I had mistakenly thought was reached by the E90 Communicator. I am certain that this N97 will be at least the same price that is currently being asked for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 ($800-900), so I will have to start saving now in order to have a chance at affording this in 2009.

Until then, I am happy to keep this E71 Grey and continue to type endlessly upon its qwerty to express my opinions about life and tech in general. With the Nokia headset on and listening to the Music Player while writing these words, I am for sure indebted to Nokia for granting me a near perfect and well-balanced mobile user experience in most of their devices that I have had the privilege to own over the years. From my first foray into Nokia devices with the CDMA 6255i flip model to my E71, I have always been taken aback by how Symbian S60 software could seamlessly coexist in harmony with high quality Nokia hardware. I have no doubt in my mind that for many years I shall remain devoted to Nokia and always have an interest in its future endeavors.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia E71