The Nokia N97, the Finnish company’s much-hyped crown jewel, has finally made its way into Indian stores.
Since the timing of Nokia N97’s launch in India has coincided with the launch of Apple iPhone 3GS and the fact that there's a software upgrade available for the older iPhone 3G (and iPod Touch), it is inevitable that we end up comparing both (we don’t have the iPhone 3GS in India yet). The Nokia N97 is also the first device to ship with the Ovi Store, best described as an online appstore for applications such as games, videos, podcasts, productivity tools, web and location-based services. Similar to Apple’s AppStore, Ovi Store, too, has paid for free content from content providers and developers that offer applications for Facebook, Hi5, Twitter, city maps and documents.
Hardware The N97 is powered by a 434 MHz processor and 128MB RAM compared to the rumoured 600 MHz processor and 256MB RAM on the iPhone 3GS. If this configuration of the iPhone 3GS stands confirmed, then it clearly sets the N97 a step back. Add to that, the Symbian, the new S60 (5th edition) operating system on N97, looks achingly old-fashioned and sluggish when compared with the older iPhone 3G.Too bad that Nokia decided to go with the resistive touch screen instead of the capacitive one on the iPhone that makes its touch operation unmatched. Though the N97 has some touch gestures and the accelerometer, we have to admit that touch features on the iPhone remain iconic despite all efforts by Nokia and Windows Mobile.
Noticeably, the huge 1,500 mAh Li-Ion battery gives the N97 an advantage over iPhone 3G. Also the built-in 32GB internal memory and the microSD card slot are big positives when compared with iPhone 3G, which has 16GB internal memory.
Design A slide-out 3.5 inch touch display along with a Qwerty keyboard and a fully customisable home screen makes the Nokia N97 look really elegant. The slide-out keyboard on the phone begins to feel very useful after you have written some emails and text messages on it. It’s not perfect, but it gets your work done faster.
But for average users, Nokia N97 is better positioned as a touch screen N-series device that happens to have a D-pad for gaming and a miniature Qwerty keyboard for ad hoc use .
Multimedia & Other Features We liked the active home screen on the Nokia N97 as well as the phone’s ability to organise the widgets on it. Not to forget, Nokia widgets are really amazing, making the home screen the most usable page.
The N97 obviously takes a lead with its 5 megapixel camera whereas iPhone 3G sports only a 2 megapixel lens. The two stereo speakers, located along the left edge of N97, are the best set of speakers we have heard on a phone. They clearly put iPhone speakers to shame. Bundled features such as handwriting recognition, Bluetooth file transfers, FM radio and video recording on the N97 clearly put the message out loud and clear — it’s a great multimedia device.
Though scrolling through webpages isn’t as smooth and fluid on the N97 as on the iPhone (which has the Safari browser), yet the pages render quickly.
And... The Nokia N97 is expected to retail for around Rs 36,119 in India (official prices not yet announced) while the iPhone 3G is sold for about Rs 29,000 (the 8GB model)
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