Nokia N97: Eye candy

For one, I'm impressed by how Nokia has managed to miss all the cool transition effects on this phone. For goodness sakes, they've even managed to get away without transitions on that "Swipe away the widgets" thing that they had been so laudable about. The swipe at best vanishes the widgets. They could have at least put in some of the transitions that came on the N78 with it's FP2 OS. The fact that they managed to add touch scrolling on the web browsers is an attempt. In my experience, it always ended up crashing my Opera Mini. GMail is another story.

Conclusion: The N97 video released by Nokia shows their dream - reality is totally different. This phone has ZERO eye candy.

Nokia N97: Frustrations

There are some things touchscreens won't provide. And that is the ease of use provided by shortcuts. Apps such as Opera Mini and the GMail app have been designed to make accessing the internet and email unbelievably easy. With numpad shortcuts most functions whether it be saving a bookmark or archiving email, they can be done within a moments thought. If I want to archive my mail my fingers automatically move to those shortcuts. On the N97 i would still be correcting my aim with the stylus at the puny buttons on the GMail app.

I still haven't found out the forward shortcut of Opera Mini for the N97.. Occasionally I get stuck at the search page because of this. Not to mention the odd cases of Opera suddenly going kaput when i flick my fingers to scroll through.

Another thing that i came across is the absence of the paste feature from the keyboard view.. Grrr.

Current state of mind: Frustrated!

Nokia N97: Soundwave

Anyone seen Transformers 2 ? That is one helluva film ! Soundwave was lookin' killer good! besides he also reminded me to put up a post on the N97s Music capabilities - so here it is.

External Speakers:
A google let me know that the N97 speakers didn't turn out to be a favorite amongst it's users and i could see why from my Trial piece, but i really think that you need to think twice before ganking those speakers. True that they are not the loudest(lower sound than n95). Or faithfull in sound reproduction(no bass,excellent treble). The thing is, those speakers aren't made for music playback - it's tuned for vocals, as in making calls on the loudspeaker. You don't need bass when you talk to someone unless your the frog with the baritone from The Frog And The Nightingale. Those speakers provide excellent output when you use them to hold calls. For instance you could hold a conference call while the phone is in QWERTY mode which allows you to lean back and relax or you could use it to hold a Video call. In both these situations you'll notice that the N97 does what it needs to do - provide a front facing VGA cam that doesn't require the phone to be propped up and crisp clear voice reproduction from the speakers which are directly facing you from both sides. This is as good as it needs to be.

Headphone Output (3.5mm):The headphone output from the N97 is impressive. It isn't exactly high-end if you're a audiophile but they were really good when compared with those from an N95 running the latest firmware. I used a pair of SHP 8500 Hi-Fidelity headphones for hearing a couple of tracks and the first thing that I noticed is the improved bass output, it's the deepest and fullest I've heard from a Handset. Even the SE Walkman phones never had one that was this rich. The tightness of the bass is comparable as well.


Verdict: The N97 audio output is beautfully done. The loudspeakers have an output that is just right for handling vocals during calls. And the output through the 3.5mm jack is lovely. Definitely the handset for all you audiophiles out there. Soundwave is gonna be proud! maybe he should consider transforming into an n97?

Nokia N97 : Photographs or Snapshots ?

Nokia N97: Frustrations

Nokia N97: Eye candy