Nokia N97: No flagship, but still worthwhile.

It had been a while since I unboxed the new N97 and welcomed it into my home with open arms, and I had a conflict. No matter how great the device happened to be with multimedia content, I always seemed to have a yearning for the word document editing ability and the tactile qwerty feedback of my previous E71. Aside from the quirks that came with any touch UI, those two factors were the only things that caused me to sometimes doubt my N97's usefulness. For a moment, I even began to debate whether I was better suited for the ESeries instead of the NSeries. It was quite obvious that the N97 ran circles around the E71 in regards to certain multimedia features, and I questioned if it was enough for me as a phone user. Through the irritation of not having an editing version of Quickoffice and enduring a failed attempt with MobiSystems OfficeSuite, I started to justify a return to the E71 and its familiar qwerty keypad.

As I wrote the previous blog post on my impressions of the device, I noticed more cons than pros and began to actually feel frustrated with the N97. For some reason, I felt somewhat let down and disappointed in what this phone had to offer in terms of software and overall qwerty performance. When these negative feelings began to tempt me to sell the N97 and go back to my E71 (and maybe even look at the Touch Pro 2), I had to get a grip on reality and look at the situation rationally. It turned out that in comparison to every other Nokia that I had owned previously, the N97 was truly a worthwhile convergence device that could potentially suit my needs from a multimedia AND messaging/doc editing perspective. So where was all of that negativity coming from in my seldom dealings with certain quirks of this flagship model? I finally figured it out: the term "flagship".

When the "flagship" moniker was added to the N97 device, it of course brought more attention in the best way possible. But along with that attention came the mounting pressure of high expectations. In my opinion, a flagship device was to successfully represent the technological prowess of its parent company, be on the cutting edge of mobile features, and be the absolute holy grail for EVERY potential user. In such a situation, it was possible to expect filet mignon and lobster when only spam and vienna sausage was available. While the N97 didn't fall into that extreme manner of discrepancy, there was a clear indication that it did not deserve to be called a flagship with the features (or lack thereof) it had to offer. Honestly, NO device could ever be appropriately termed as a flagship since it was IMPOSSIBLE to please EVERY smartphone buyer. Whether a phone was indeed perfect ultimately remained subjective. From a standpoint of meeting the flagship requirments, I understood that the N97 failed...but certainly not in a horrible fashion.

That realization helped me to see the N97 in a different light and not be so critical of its issues. I could recall that my E71 was not always a pot of gold in its performance and capabilities, yet I still preferred it because it worked for my personal needs. Accepting the N97 despite its flaws and being patient for any upcoming fixes was more reasonable than disregarding it as a total failure. This was especially true since there were some positive features on the device that I did find worthwhile in comparison to my E71. The more I worked with this N97, there was a sense of amazement equal to the first time I had used the E90 Communicator just years ago. As much as this fairly new UI had its own hangups such as irregular touch responsiveness, potential instability and memory errors, I was still mezmerized by the presence of touch navigation and a tactile qwerty. I remembered using slider qwerty/touchscreen devices with Windows Mobile and wishing that my E90 Communicator could essentially be the same. I remembered wanting to take the multimedia features of the NSeries line and possibly adding some ESeries touches to it. Technically, my wishes were answered by the N97, but I also needed to understand its marketed purpose. At the end of the day, the N97 was primarily a media/Internet device, not a business-oriented word processor/PDA.

It is no secret that the touch interface of Symbian 5th edition was not graceful by any means. Instead of exhibiting the ample speed and grace of an adult gazelle in the African grasslands, it was more like an awkward, stumbling newborn gazelle that still managed to keep up with the herd. The flashy transitions were not prevalent in the N97 like the iPhone, and there were moments of boredom with the same old appearance of the Symbian OS. But the transitioning theme effects that were offered did add some refreshing to Symbian navigation, and there was still the benefit of superior hardware features to be considered over the iPhone. Resistive touch did seem to be more convenient when I could freely use the tip of ANY available tool as a stylus for more accuracy. The inclusion of a tactile qwerty not only granted more efficient text entry to me, but also more versatility in how I could use my device instead of being forced to comply with only touch. Stereo speakers on the N97 didn't really knock my socks off, but they performed MUCH better than most smartphone speakers! The Carl Zeiss camera was still the object of my affection in regards to using my Nokias, and its quality results were always more than satisfactory for my needs in both stills and video. A protective lens cover and widescreen video capture were definitely welcomed features! 32GB of onboard storage still boggled my mind every now and then, for it was almost unbelievable that I could cram a plethora of picture, music, and video files onto the phone AND have more capacity with microSD support! It was like being a child in a candy store! Having the privilege to experience the same quality of reception and voice calling was definitely great, despite the initial interference issues a friend of mine had noticed on the first two conversations spent on the device. For the most part, my own experience with the N97's call quality and signal strength had been no different than previous Nokias. The enabling of 3G support in North America was always a much needed feature for bluetooth tethering and faster network data performance...if only that damned E90 had it! Nokia's services such as Messaging, Podcasting, Internet Radio, Ovi Store and Sports Tracker had been instrumental in enhancing my user experience with every compatible device. Last but not least was that 3.5inch screen of the usual 16 million color support. The small, confined space of the E75 and E71 screens was most certainly trumped by the N97, and I witnessed this via Internet surfing, OS navigation, and multimedia viewing! This touchscreen alone (along with the 32GB) had FINALLY granted me a Nokia multimedia/messaging experience that could at least remotely provide competition to the iPhone in my eyes!

The home screen layout of widgets had proved to be a most useful presentation of Symbian and also provided real time updates on the go! Widgets finally made a positive impression on me after I had resisted similar implementations on non-touchscreen Nokias. What better way to facilitate personal customization than widgets that can rearranged according to one's preference? Even with my favorite contacts, music controls and application shortcuts on the home screen, I still found myself amazed with such connectivity and access at the tip of my finger instead of being confined to a d-pad. The mobile Facebook app continued to be one of the most captivating features, for it provided a user-friendly and intuitive means to manage my Facebook activities. Internet surfing via the S60 browser was a GODSEND compared to the E71 navigation I had been accustomed to for so long! Similar to when I use my iPod Touch, surfing the web on the N97 is a pleasure and not an E71 chore! Flash video on YouTube was supported just fine, but slow loading times and skipping seldom occurred. Browsing the web for text reading on certain sites did reveal a caveat: the zoom feature did not restructure words to prevent horizontal scrolling while reading. The use of T9 had returned when I learned to use the phone vertically while on the go, and the touch experience really endeared me to the N97.

From that perspective, it was easy to discover once again what made me become a Nokia fan in the first place. Through the limited potential of Apple, Windows Mobile, Palm, and RIM, Nokia stepped up to the plate and was not afraid to believe in giving exemplary multimedia hardware to its users. My impressions of Nokia devices were further enhanced through the support of mark/space and its implementation of the Missing Sync software for PIM data syncs to my Mac computer! Those days of endless searching for Apple iSync plug-ins came to an end long ago after I invested time and money into Missing Sync software. In fact, I had become even more supportive of Missing Sync when I discovered its compatibility with numerous OS versions in the mobile industry! Anyway, the N97 did not come onto the market and take the world by storm, but it had left a promising impression on me nonetheless.

Just a week ago, a great friend and fellow Nokia owner suggested something that had stuck with me since that moment: Nokias were like Swiss army knives, jacks of all trades. While numerous capabilties were not perfectly implemented, it was a benefit to at least have those within the realm of possibility as Nokia users. This essentially awakened me to be an optimist in my relating to the N97 since it had potential; looking for ways to adapt and make it work for me instead of being too critical and unreasonable. However, this didn't mean that I would turn a blind eye to issues that bothered me in my daily usage. It would remain acceptable to point out the cons, but what mattered most was my reaction to those cons. The choice would be between giving up prematurely amidst the presence of worthwhile benefits or remaining steadfast, rational, flexible and open to patience to a certain extent. It would be one thing if the N97 was absolutely terrible like the Sony Ericsson P990 or the Palm Treo Pro's qwerty, but that was not the case at all. In spite of some areas of improvement, the N97 had been able to meet all of my needs successfully in a most intriguing manner and I was not ready to let it go (if ever). Unless a touch upgrade was given to the widescreen E90, I was surely sticking with the N97 in the meantime.

TRENT
Sent from my Nokia N97
TRENT SENSE blogger/netcast host
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