Despite my issue of not being entirely enthused with the N97, I still favored certain qualities about it: touchscreen navigation, online access and customization via widgets, stereo speakers, 3.5mm headphone jack, 32GB of storage space and a larger screen. With all of those positive additions to the NSeries device, it essentially became comparable to my iPod Touch and more than just a typical smartphone. In a whole different light, I was in the presence of a touchscreen multimedia marvel that just happened to be a Nokia and not an Apple. It felt good...REALLY good! Despite Nokia not having much experience in manufacturing touch interfaces, I wanted badly to believe in its potential to deliver in a successful manner and impress me as a mobile device consumer. I certainly understood that the usage experience would not be a direct reflection of the iPhone/iPod Touch, and I did not want it to be as such. For a change, I hoped that the Symbian OS 5th edition would potentially kick down the doors of the touch smartphone industry and bring an end to the domination of iPhone (at least in the US). It was not surprising that the end of the Apple era did not take place upon the release of the N97, but I remained faithful to the legacy of Nokia and its Symbian endeavors. I wanted to believe wholeheartedly that my allegiance to the NSeries and ESeries product lines could never be broken, but I discovered that I was possibly mistaken.
On top of the two initial setbacks mentioned earlier in this post, there were indeed other ones to deal with. Luckily, there was a software update that at least addressed an unstable backlight when waking the device from standby via the lock switch. However, a number of growing pains still affected my NSeries phone. Aside from occasional sluggish navigation, a few instances occurred where the interface of the device completely froze and required battery removal. I could only determine that one cause was the ringing of the clock alarm, but there seemed to be no explanation for the other freezing situations. Touch responsiveness was accurate and reliable for the most part, but I sometimes had to tap a command/icon multiple times for successful activation. As for the Facebook and email widgets, these were seldom plagued by the same instability and could only be fixed by removal and reinstallation to the home screen. I continued to be tolerant of these situations for the sake of holding on to the benefits of the N97, but I became extremely concerned with one particular malfunction. Upon receiving two voicemails, there were instead pop-up notifications on the N97 screen for two SMS messages!! When I checked the SMS inbox, there were two new blank entries that displayed unknown characters in the source field. I immediately took a picture of this odd happening and proceeded to check my voicemail to listen to the spoken messages. I was absolutely shocked, for I had never encountered this on any previous device of ANY operating system! I was so disturbed by the problem that I decided to return to using my E71.
A new issue soon revealed itself when I was reunited with the familiar qwerty of the E71 and its great tactile feedback: a smaller, non-touch screen. Even with the slimmer dimensions, onboard Quickoffice editor, amazing predictive text capability, and smart dialing from the home screen, I surprisingly found myself missing the sliding qwerty form factor of the N97. After being spoiled by the big widescreen and its touch navigation on the N97, I was undoubtedly hooked and wanted more of it! The E71 finally became obsolete in my own eyes, and its lengthy reign over my smartphone usage was over. Cautious of any further stability issues I was willing to tolerate on the N97, I placed my SIM card back into it after only one day with the E71.
After adopting the NSeries so-called flagship as my primary phone again, I was prepared to face those same inevitable issues that had annoyed me before. Yes, the device still continued to sporadically experience touch response issues and freezing on both the interface and certain apps. Recently I downloaded new updates for Maps, phone memory management, and N-Gage gaming support, but I was still troubled by the lack of a Quickoffice editor and the poor feedback of the qwerty. Creating a N-Gage account and testing a few trial games on the device turned out to be lackluster for me, for that was not my desired purpose. Multimedia consumption was not my preference, but I still could not let go of the sliding qwerty/touchscreen form factor. No matter how much I enjoyed the pros of future updates and put up with the cons of the N97, I was still unsatisfied with it. Upon chatting via Google Talk to a fellow Nokia brother, he clearly listed setbacks that he was witnessing on his own N97 that happened to mostly fall in line with my opinions:
SoonJe: negatives:
(maybe)
2:12 PM (i had the tilt and the E90, and the MOAP beats them both)
1) VERY UNSTABLE OS
SoonJe: (freezes all the time)
me: VERY TRUE about the OS!!!!!
2:14 PM SoonJe: 2) yeah, there could be more key travel on that qwerty
(i see your point, in longer messages, the thumbs start to hurt)
me: My thumbs are fine.
2:15 PM SoonJe: 3) speakers are not as loud or good as the N95
me: TRUE!!
SoonJe: 4) battery sucks
5) low ram sucks
me: TRUE!!
2:16 PM SoonJe: 6) the portfolio of applications is not good yet
me: TRUE!
2:17 PM SoonJe: that's mostly it
but trent,
if u consider that u can use the N97 as a multimedia player
it's very good
me: Do you mind if I use this conversation in a blog?
SoonJe: it's such an amazing thing
not at all
********************************************************
One alternative then revisited the confines of my mind:a return to Windows Mobile. Windows Mobile had always been a capable operating system that offered sliding touchscreen devices equipped with reliable email and office applications, but it sometimes suffered from stability issues and mediocre multimedia support. At that point I needed to be honest with myself and question my allegiance to Nokia when it seemed to no longer measure up to my preferences. True, the N97 could take amazing pictures and video and almost replace my 32GB iPod Touch, but I already had an iPod Touch and two Canon cameras that operated just fine for music, pictures and video. My priorities had to be reevalutated, and the likelihood of Nokia releasing a WORTHY update to the E90 Communicator appeared to be slim to none. The N97 was great as a multimedia device, but that was not enough for me. As an ESeries qwerty consumer, the only thing to look forward to was the E72...almost a glorified copycat of the E71 with additional features. As a NSeries consumer, I was granted an amazing camera and touchscreen and 3.5mm headphone jack...but WITHOUT a suitable qwerty or document editor. The thought of ending my Nokia membership seemed all the more possible with the prospect of getting the Touch Pro 2...hmmm...
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Trentonn Smith
TRENT SENSE blogger/netcast host
trentonnsmith.blogspot.com
youtube.com/absolon3
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