Nokia announces N97, a possible iPhone killer

[4T7]

The N97 might be one of the most exciting devices Nokia has launched in a long time and it seems like Nokia is hell-bent on taking on HTC, Apple, Sony Ericsson et al. The handset that's just been announced doesn't look anything like earlier leaks have suggested and it's easily the most exciting device Nokia has announced this year.

The design of the N97 might bring your thoughts to the HTC TyTN II as it shares the same slide out keyboard and tiltable display, but the similarities end there. The fascia doesn't look that different from the iPhone, albeit in white and having three buttons instead of a single one.

The specifications are truly awe inspiring, starting off with a 3.5in touch screen with 640x360 (16:9) resolution and haptic feedback, a slide out QWERTY keyboard, a 5Megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash, WiFi, Bluetooth, A-GPS, HSDPA, 32GB of built in flash memory, a microSD card slot, FM-radio, FM-transmitter (for sending music from the phone to a radio tuner) and a 3.5mm headphone jack which doubles up as TV-out socket.

The keyboard doesn't look like the best we've seen, but considering that the N97 measures 117.2x55.3x15.9mm (HxWxD) it's not a bad feat incorporating a keyboard, especially when you consider that the iPhone 3G measures 115.5x62.1x12.3mm (HxWxD) which actually makes the N97 narrower, if somewhat taller and thicker. The N97 weighs 150g which is a bit on the heavy side, although the iPhone 3G comes in at 133g, so again, not a huge difference.

Nokia claims the battery is good for 1.5 days of music playback. The N97 uses the S60 5th edition OS which is the same as the Nokia 5800, but with some N-series tweaks which adds extra functionality. The N97 also supports various on-screen keyboards and handwriting recognition. It also supports Nokia maps and the new N-Gage platform.

The bad news? Well, Nokia is going to charge ?550 plus VAT for the N97 and it won't be out until sometime in the first half of next year, so it seems like Nokia still have some work to do. Despite this, it looks like Nokia has an amazing handset with the N97 if it's as good as it looks on paper.

You can find the press release here and some more details here

[debsuvra]

Now that's a phone worth looking for. N series finally got touchscreen, how 'touching'. But I wished for a complete revamp of Symbian, may be a newer version. And BTW this N97 touchscreen is resistive or capacitive?

[dreamcatcher]

It is a resistive screen IMO.Else they would have blown it out of proportions.Anyway, nothing new.But a great Symbian device all the same. Looking forward to MWC, hopefully will get some new devices announced there.

[Hitboxx]

Very nice, but why only 5mp? Isn't the 8mp war on? By the time it is released the 8mp phones would have probably saturated the market completely.

[krates]

Oh!!! lol man this is the greatest thing i have seen from days lmao

This is gonna be my next phone or corolla lol

Man this phone is so awesome........................ and looks also good .............

And someone in the other thread of it said that the phone will be a fail i say to him this phone gonna blow xperia apart. This phone gonna take symbian to new heights..

now just waiting for the 8 mp hope they release it tomorrow because two date were mentioned one 2nd and the other 3rd hope they release the 8 mp tomorrow...

And just wanted to know why every great phone has to be called a iphone killer huh ? Iphone is no comparison to this beauty only touch HD will be it's competitor...

(Just got a password reset lol)

[Coool]

simply super...

[dreamcatcher]

XPERIA has better specs than this thing.

Only upsides of the n97- 5 mp cam,32 gb rom and a 3.5 inch screen( look at the resolution, sucks totally)

And moreover, XPERIA is in the market now, The N97 will be in the market late Q2. So lot of time left.SE announcing S60 phones in february.You guys shoud wait for that rather than jumping over a phone thats to be launched 6 months later.

[damngoodman999]

Its not an "iPHONE" killer . its really a "POCKET MONEY" killer . N97 is much costlier than SE Xperia , that really Su(ks .

Xperia is faster than an PDA below 40K. i think Nokia 5800 XM can worth for its value

[max_demon]

resestive touchscreens suck! imao
capative are much responsive

[nvidia]

Whats the price of XPERIA now?

[Coool]

^^ 40k..

[Power UP]

looks nice. Hope it has a omap processor, playing Quake 3 Arena will be sweet on the 3.5 inch screen.

[yogi7272]

if it does not have xenon then big booo for nokia. This is suppose to be their flagship touch device..

[Power UP]

No Xenon, only Led flash.

[follower of krazzy]

check out the interview with the designer
http://mobonoid.com/2008/12/intervie...the-nokia-n97/

[dreamcatcher]

XPERIA 39k, according to yogi its 35k.

Anyways.Nothing new really, and what is the huss about the xenon??its a business phone and i have no idea as to why a business man would need xenon, as if he takes pictures. lol

its a direct competitor to the TOUCH PRO and the XPERIA.The only backside of the phone is that its releasing a little too late and thatby that time, XPERIA and others would have captured the market wholly., and new phones would have been announced too.

[alter_ego]

Hallelujah! Its better late than never!

"Active standby" looks straight out of sci-fi flicks. Kudos Nokia! The phone should be tentatively priced at €550. Now that is expensive!!

[m-jeri]

Xperia capturing market??... i dont think so....

Its just a PDA in a new shell with a 3" screen... there is nothing great about it period. if it was released like a year ago... like jan 08. this would have been a killer. now its passe...

Its win mo..its laggy.. i know coz i used it. the extra ram is only adequate for it. nothing new abt it.

Just like that n97 will also fail to deliver becoz of the launch date.. mid 09??... whats nokia thinking abt...

AFAIK by mid 09...

1. New iphone..
2. win mo7
3. moto and hts's more android based phones

will be there... so n97 failed on the date part...

comparing xperia to n97... any guy with brains will know... theory or matter... n97 > xperia

[dreamcatcher]

LOL.

N97-Pathetic resolution compared to the X1.
Xperia has 256 mb ram and 128 ram for graphics while N97 has 126mb
Xperia runs a 7201a qualcomm 528 mhz proccy while n97 holds a arm11 proccy
Xperia has a full metal body while N97 is plastic.
Xperia already out and selling while n97 scheduled for may.

N97 upsides 3.5 inch screen, 32 gb rom and 5 mp cam.

In MWC 2009 in feb SE and samsung will announce their symbian competitors.

[m-jeri]

^^

Xperia is win mo and nokia is symbian. now lol.

Even on paper n97 is a trump card.sorry.

[dreamcatcher]

Hehe.There are people who swear on Win-mo,so lol .Just coz you dont like an OS doesnt make the phone ****.LOL^2 .

[LegendKiller]

another over the top,with all the damn features available on planet earth thrown into it....apart from s60 5th edition and 3.5inch screen whats going for it??
save close to 15-20k and buy yourself a n85 or n79.....

[Sumeet_naik]

Read it in the release notes somewhere that its against the xperia .. .

[mediator]

Yea, very nice fone and cool site. ovi.com

[m-jeri]

i use win mo mate... so i know what i am talking abt...

[oval_man]

Design looks similar to HTC Tytn2,

Symbian again! C'mon Nokia Try something different!

[krates]

Originally Posted by dreamcatcher

LOL.

N97-Pathetic resolution compared to the X1.

N97 resolution is not better than xperia but it is good if nokia release 5-6 more symbian phones with that resolution that will become a standard resolution........... like qvga for now...

And resolution is not very important that it will change a person mind to go for xperia and all ........

Xperia has 256 mb ram and 128 ram for graphics while N97 has 126mb

It's not windows mobile it's symbian

Name a symbian phone that requires more ram than that..........

Xperia runs a 7201a qualcomm 528 mhz proccy while n97 holds a arm11 proccy

well can you show the page where it is written it has that proccy...

Well symbian phones are fast yup xperia is the fastest but N97 not gonna lag and after seeing it's video on net it is truely amazing phone....

Xperia has a full metal body while N97 is plastic.
Xperia already out and selling while n97 scheduled for may.

Yup that is something pathetic about nokia.......

N97 upsides 3.5 inch screen, 32 gb rom and 5 mp cam.

Other advantages are 16 million colors , Stereo speakers , tv-out

on the downside battery backup is less compared to xperia..........

[m-jeri]

yes... 4.5 hrs....

[dreamcatcher]

Arre yaar, why do we keep fighting over a pathetic little phone which we cant even afford.

[Power UP]

Originally Posted by m-jeri

yes... 4.5 hrs....

Talktime: 6 h 40 min

its
Video playback : 4 h 30 min

Originally Posted by dreamcatcher

N97-Pathetic resolution compared to the X1.

lol pathetic is what most of us are stuck with Qvga