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We’ve had the Nokia N97 for about two days now, here at ZCJ. That’s one day with the old v10 firmware and another day with the new v11 firmware. Here’s our first impressions.
What we liked :
Battery life seems to be pretty okay. With my screen on full brightness, after 2 hours of Music, 30 mins of calling, 30 minutes of GPRS and another 30 minutes of Wifi usage, about 10 minutes of GPS, 5 minutes of Camera use, and another 10 minutes of installing applications and configuring the device, the N97 was only 2 bars down when I got back home. Of course i’ll have to test this out more intensively over the coming days. It looks like the N97 might get you back home, with it still switched on, but you will have to charge it every night or so, depending on your usage.
What we werent too sure about :
What we didnt like :
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So there you are. Our first impressions after two days of using the Nokia N97. The low phone memory really annoys me though, but let’s see how many of our impressions will change by the time we review the N97 later.
Remember, if you’d like to know anything about the Nokia N97, do leave us a note in the comments and we’ll try to include it in upcoming posts.
Clinton is currently based in New Delhi, India and is executive editor for UnleashThePhones. He is responsible for all editorial decisions, and covers all forms of Mobile and mobile-related accessories.
Cj is addicted to caffeine, social media, and technology. Always up for a good conversation, you can reach him through the contact form, his website, on Google Plus 
or on Facebook or Twitter: Follow @clintonjeff
I bought the N97 on impulse. I was really looking for a 6700 Classic since I'm partial to smaller and slimmer phones. However, I gave in to my greed for storage space and got the N97. I wish I read this review before I went and blew my savings on this phone. The things that I cannot stand are the exact same things you do not like about the phone. What sort of an nincampoop pairs a puny 74MB memory with 32GB storage space? I hope when you said 'should be downright fired' it was as in basted with Olive Oil and stuck in a kiln and baked to a golden crisp?The N97 does not sync with my MacBookPro. But, that is not the worst of my migraines. I cannot get this infernal contraption to properly sync with my PC [Vista Home Premium 32-Bit running Outlook 2007) either. I have close to a thousand contacts in my address book and the idea of manually entering the information is reminding me of my last root canal experience.All said, you people seem to know your phones and seem to speak it in ways impulsive idiots like me can understand. Next time I go looking for a phone (which might be very soon) I am going to check with you guys first before I sell my other kidney.Thanks!
I bought the N97 on impulse. I was really looking for a 6700 Classic since I'm partial to smaller and slimmer phones. However, I gave in to my greed for storage space and got the N97. I wish I read this review before I went and blew my savings on this phone. The things that I cannot stand are the exact same things you do not like about the phone. What sort of an nincampoop pairs a puny 74MB memory with 32GB storage space? I hope when you said 'should be downright fired' it was as in basted with Olive Oil and stuck in a kiln and baked to a golden crisp?The N97 does not sync with my MacBookPro. But, that is not the worst of my migraines. I cannot get this infernal contraption to properly sync with my PC [Vista Home Premium 32-Bit running Outlook 2007) either. I have close to a thousand contacts in my address book and the idea of manually entering the information is reminding me of my last root canal experience.All said, you people seem to know your phones and seem to speak it in ways impulsive idiots like me can understand. Next time I go looking for a phone (which might be very soon) I am going to check with you guys first before I sell my other kidney.Thanks!
Hey there Vincent, I'll try to answer your questions as best I can.1. Our N97 unit is actually rock solid. No rattles or creaks at all in closed or open slider modes.2. It appears that the "Smoky look" is due to the LED Flash themselves. I hope that Nokia will fix this in a future firmware update.
1) N97 does rattle when it is closed and shaken. Straage indeed, don't you think so?But somehow it would rattle once the keyboard is slide out.2) Occasinally there are white smoky look in the pictures especially on the side near to the LEDs flash when taken shots with it in a room with lights on at night time. Why is it so?
Yup, you can scroll with the Screen. The Dpad's also there for good measure, but scrolling using the touch screen is no problem on Quickoffice.
Thanks for the answers. So you can scroll through documents using the screen? On my E90 the only way is to use the ridiculous flat D-pad which moves down 1 line at a time - extremely frustrating.
Hey there John,The N97 does recognize handwriting, and comes with a stylus so you could (kinda) do this in the Notes application onboard, or in the Messaging app. There's also a drawing and paint app which could serve this function too I guess.The N97 ships with Quickoffice onboard so you can view Word documents fine. However, if you want to edit these documents, you'll have to purchase the full Quickoffice pro application.In my tests, the N97 does "okay" in sunlight. Its not always 100% legible but its good enough. I believe AllAboutSymbian.com did a test on this, so you can check them out for more info.Hope that helps !
I presently have an E90, which is fantastic. However, there are 2 things I want:A note taking app so I can scribble notes on the screen - is the N97 capable of this?A touch screen so I can easily scroll through word documents - is the N97 capable of this?Also, my E90 is perfectly usable outdoors and in direct sunlight. is the N97 the same?Thanks in anticipation.
Sure Rob, here you go : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HJGP7U2Z
The Phone seems a bit faster and more stable overall with the new firmware. Other than that, I cant notice much to be honest.
do you have a link to that wallpaper? seems really nice on the n97, got mine today and cant wait to try that one.
what is the real changes after new firmware.
Nice job! I'm thinking about getting one, but the keyboard does have me concerned. I'm looking for a real productivity phone. N97 seems to be best of both worlds. E71 productivity, with all the multimedia fun of an N-Series phone. Won't know until I get my hands on one.
i still cant get over how dated the UI looks.. nokia come on, HTC did a better job with windows... windows.. gaaah!!!
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