Nokia N97 – I want one already

Let me get this out of the way first. I want one of these things.

I’m talking about the upcoming Nokia N97, which the Finnish handset maker unveiled this morning at its annual shindig, Nokia World, in Barcelona. For a long time now Nokia has been telling consumers not to think of its Nseries line of smartphones as phones at all. Instead, they’re ‘multimedia computers’, says the company. With today’s introduction of the N97, a device that’s designed to not only compete hard against consumer-friendly smartphones from the likes of Apple, HTC and RIM but also has a bit of the Netbook appeal in its sights, that pitch is sounding a lot less lofty.

The new Nokia N97 combines a 3.5 inch widescreen touch display with a slide out QWERTY keyboard, a first for the consumer-targeted Nseries. But it’s the way in which the screen tilts up at a thirty five degree angle when the physical keyboard is exposed that has me smitten (see video below). Perfect for viewing videos or typing on the device while its resting flat on a table rather than being held in the hand, and much more like using a conventional laptop or ‘palmtop’ such as the old Psion 5. The only disappointment here, on paper at least, is that, as with the XpressMusic 5800, the N97’s touchscreen is resistive not capacitive, meaning that operating it with a finger won’t be as responsive as it could be, a decision that Nokia presumably took in order to cater for the Asian market’s need for handwriting recognition via a stylus. Why not release two versions, one resistive and one capacitive, for different markets?

As you’d expect for a flagship Nseries device, the N97 packs in lots of familiar Nokia goodness, and then takes it up a notch. In addition to the 3.5 inch (360 x 640 resolution) touchscreen with haptic feedback, there’s a 5 megapixel camera (Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash) that’s also capable of shooting 30 frames per second ‘DVD quality’ video, Assisted GPS and compass sensors, WiFi, tri-band HSDPA, Bluetooth and USB, and a wopping 32GB of internal memory that can be optionally expanded to 48GB with the addition of a 16GB microSD card — see All About Symbian’s breakdown of the specs.

The N97 is undoubtedly Nokia’s most social networking-friendly phone yet too, and brings the company’s ‘connecting people’ slogan into focus with something tangible and up to date. Building on the XpressMusic 5800’s ‘contacts bar’ feature, the N97’s home screen has been turned into a fully customizable social networking aggregator that offers dynamically updated widgets for popular sites such as Facebook and MySpace, along with Nokia’s own Ovi suite of web services, email, SMS, weather and more. Additional widgets will be offered through the bundled download app, and while not on the same level as the iPhone’s App Store or the Android Marketplace, could provide third-party developers with a much lower barrier to developing Internet-enabled applications for devices running S60.

All in all, and without actually getting my hands on the device, the N97 looks like it will deliver the Nokia phone I’ve been asking for. All of the Nseries’ media consumption and production features, combined with a physical QWERTY keyboard and the email efficiency of the business focused E71 and earlier Eseries lineup.

I hope to have a full hands-on preview as soon as possible — the N97 won’t hit the market until sometime in the first half of 09 — but for now, here’s a bunch of videos of the device in action…

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last100 is edited by Steve O'Hear. Aside from founding last100, Steve is co-founder and CEO of Beepl and a freelance journalist who has written for numerous publications, including TechCrunch, The Guardian, ZDNet, ReadWriteWeb and Macworld, and also wrote and directed the Silicon Valley documentary, In Search of the Valley. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

13 Responses to “Nokia N97 – I want one already”

  1. Ronald G says:

    Yes, but how is it in the real world and as a Cell Phone? What kind of sound does it have and how does it “hold” on to calls. Remember the iPhone dropped calls right and left when it first came out, and people said its sound was just OK, What does the N97 sound like and perform like in a real life experience?

    Oh and by the way, I WANT ONE TOO!

  2. Steve O'Hear says:

    @ Ronald G

    While I haven’t tested the N97 yet, Nokia’s track record suggests call quality and reception won’t be an issue. I suspect, however it performs in web browsing and touch UI etc, as a cell phone it will be fine.

  3. frank says:

    its powerful, conveniet to handle and good looking in the mist of people.

  4. Patrick says:

    Guys, is N97 has a mobile TV capability?
    I’m journalist, I need TV on the run. help

  5. no man! it aint got no TV. dude if u want a phone with a TV go get one of em chinese phones. oh and got a friend who has the n97 he says he got it from NOKIA in Finland.

  6. Leanne says:

    Hi, I’d just like to know if the Nokia N97 has TV capability? If not, could you please tell me what the latest Nokia phones are who do have TV capbility.

    Thank you

  7. Steve O'Hear says:

    @ Leanne

    Do you mean a TV tuner?

  8. Steve O'Hear says:

    @ Leanne

    Do you mean a TV tuner?

  9. Christian says:

    I cannot believe that they don’t include a DVB-H receiver in the N97, the N96 does. So I guess the newest Nokia with TV feature is the N96.

  10. Christian says:

    I cannot believe that they don’t include a DVB-H receiver in the N97, the N96 does. So I guess the newest Nokia with TV feature is the N96.

  11. philippss says:

    Nice article about the Nokia N97 article..I am going to buy the Nokia Nseries for that i am going to sell the Nokia 6060 Model Mobile For that i want to unlock the Mobile From the T-Mobile US network I found the Free Unlocking code in the site http://www.unlock-free.com/ after Unlocking it & i will sell the Mobile & buy Nokia N97 Mobile ..It's My Dream.

  12. gribber says:

    Nice update from the Nokia N97 .Everyday there are many updates in nokia It's Nice to see..I am also Nokia N97 Mobile user.I usually Browse through my nokia N97 mobile But the charges so high for me..I want to withdraw the Network i am going to Put Vodafone Australia..I am Now In US Country using the T-Mobile service..I am having the Unlocking code got from the site mobileunlocksolutions..I am going to unlock..

  13. gribber says:

    Nice update from the Nokia N97 .Everyday there are many updates in nokia It's Nice to see..I am also Nokia N97 Mobile user.I usually Browse through my nokia N97 mobile But the charges so high for me..I want to withdraw the Network i am going to Put Vodafone Australia..I am Now In US Country using the T-Mobile service..I am having the Unlocking code got from the site mobileunlocksolutions..I am going to unlock..

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