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Nokia N97

The combination of features on the all new Nokia N97 could debatably make it the most dominant handset on the market, and most definitely, Nokia’s most powerful mobile phone. The large touch-screen, full QWERTY keypad, GPS and mapping support, 5 megapixel camera and 3.5G high speed data are a few of the key features to give the N97 authority.

It could be said that the Nokia N97 is a combination of the Nokia 5800 Express Music, Nokia N810, Nokia E90 and the Nokia N96. All of these models have varying strengths and weaknesses. However, we are struggling to find the weak elements with the N97.

So, let’s go into a little more detail for you and give you an idea of what you are letting yourself in for. Let’s start at the beginning with the first thing you come across………….the large 3.5 inch touch sensitive display. The N97 has a 640 x 360 pixel display resolution which is the same as the 5800 Express Music but the screen is considerably larger on the N97. Nokia have called the resolution on the N97 “nHD” which as we can guess is their version of High Definition. I think it’s fair to say that you will be impressed with the display and we feel it beats the rival iPhone 3G hands down.

Nokia seem to have put some thought and effort into giving us a quality keyboard. The QWERTY keypad has a slider mechanism which can angle the screen and keypad making it almost like an ergonomic keyboard and user friendly. They have also allowed for liberal spacing between the keys so even those of us with chunky fingers can tap away without making errors.

I think it’s fair to say that Nokia are not the leaders when it comes to high end camera phones. However, this doesn’t detract from the fact that the N97 has a 5MP camera with built-in autofocus, Carl Zeiss optics and a dual-LED flash. As you would expect, there is a video capture feature which can handle 30 frames per second. The Nokia N97 also allows you to record video clips and play them back via the TV-out function. You can also upload photos straight away thanks to the Ovi integration.

Nokia have also made strides in the navigation department. The N97 comes with built-in A-GPS which okay, maybe we would expect. However, Nokia has given its Maps application a major revamp putting it on a par with dedicated satellite navigation systems. The upgraded version of Nokia Maps comes with satellite view, traffic information, camera alerts, a 3D view of major landmarks and can synchronise with your PC.

As expected with Nokia, the N97 has a Symbian 5th edition operating system. This is an improvement on previous handsets and now gives us one-touch access to our favourite services. High speed data connection should not be a problem either as the handset is a quad-band GSM phone with tri-band HSDPA support and WiFi. The N97 has the standard MP3 player capable of handling WMA and AAC formats along with MPEG4, WMV and Flash video playback.

So, how does the Nokia N97 manage to handle all of these features and still operate like a normal mobile phone? Well, it has a powerful battery that gives up to 5 hours of talktime, 18 hours standby time, 40 hours of music playback and 4.5 hours of video playback. It’s all very well having all these files on our phone but can the N97 handle them? The simple answer is yes. Nokia have provided us with a generous 32GB internal memory which can be expanded to an impressive 48GB via the microSD card slot.

It’s been a long time coming but Nokia have done a brilliant job with their first touch-screen mobile with a QWERTY keypad. I can assure you all that you will not be disappointed with the new Nokia N97.

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