Nokia N97 hands-on

If you're like us, you haven't seen nearly enough of the N97 yet... right? Well fear not, faithful reader, as our intrepid comrade from Engadget Spanish, Drita, has nabbed a tasty hands-on with the phone in question. As you can tell from the pics, it's not quite as thin as its nearest competitors, but fairly sleek and stylish all the same (metal bezel and all), and that QWERTY keyboard looks practically edible. We're salivating at the thought of getting one to thoroughly put through its paces, but until then, let's all just sit back and soak in the handsome gallery below.

Gallery: Nokia N97 hands-on

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 2nd 2008 10:07AM]

Looks nice, but that keyboard layout is terrible. Why is the spacebar way over to the right? Seems like that would be really uncomfortable to type on.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 2nd 2008 10:22AM]

Obviously designed for "righties."

But, it is S60 over Symbian so...

Sloooooooooow
Lousy synchronization (If you WinMob users think ActivStink is bad, try the Symbian Sync)
What MS Office Apps will it work with?
What media formats
Does Symbian sync Outlook categories yet?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 2nd 2008 1:45PM]

Designed for righties? I was thinking it looks like it's designed for lefties!

Look at the d-pad over on the left. That's completely backwards from where it was on the E90. Most people are used to using a d-pad either in the middle or on the right hand side. So that's going to take some getting used to.

Also, in order to use the number keys, you have to hold down the blue arrow key, which is in the lower right hand corner. That means you will have to type numbers using only your left hand. Again, completely backwards from every other device which has the Alt key in the lower left so you can type numbers with your right hand. Also going to take a alot of getting used to. Not to mention that there is no number 'pad' configuration. The numbers are all across the top row of keys. I much prefer the way blackberries and most other devices lay out the numbers on their qwerties.

I was really geeked up for this phone. I have loved the features of the N series for years, but I do way too many emails a day to ever get a device without a Qwerty. So I was stuck looking at a E series, which never had the polish and features of a N series. So this device was supposed to be my holy grail. I'm not so sure now.

It is packed with features, and I can probably re-train myself on all the keyboard layout issues, but the touch screen is a big mistake in my opionion. Why didn't they go with the capacitive screen like the iphone? Touch resistive screens just are not as nice as capacitive ones. Also, does this mean that it won't be able to do multi-touch, pinch zoom, flick scrolling, etc? I'm going to have to wait and see on this one.

Plus, the Symbian OS is getting long in the tooth. It's just not as polished as it should be for such an established OS. The iphone is really handicapped by Apple, but I will give it this, it is really polished. Everything looks and works great, and is well organized. Android is still new, but I see it being more polished soon. I like the new home screen on the N97, but the the rest of the OS looks the same. Sigh. Oh well, it's still the most feature rich OS available. Just wish they could get some better software designers.

[fernando Posted Dec 2nd 2008 2:12PM]

first, dpad on the left = games.
second, use the onscreen keyboard(s) to dial numbers?
third, resistant touchscreen = handwriting recognition = big in asia
and at last, s60 rules, but that's just my opinion :P

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 2nd 2008 2:49PM]

This HTC clone is about 5 years too late, isn't it!? I have been a user of the N95 8GB and I'm currently sporting the E71: while I adore the quality of Nokia devices, I absolutely despise the laggy and not very customizable S60 OS. Nokia needs to pull a SonyEricsson: as when they ditched UIQ to go Windows Mobile... Symbian may work for low end feature phones but it sucks on prosumer and business devices...

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 2nd 2008 5:26PM]

i just about fainted when i saw this phone. the specs are amazing, its downright dapper, s60 has a fanatic following, (i could go on and on) being a former wm6.1 user, s60 brings simplicity and dependability that i've sorely missed in windows mobile. customization is one thing, ease of use another! the e71 is amazing, the n95 is legandary, what do you think the n97 will bring to the table?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 2nd 2008 5:37PM]

I was very happy with my E61 and Symbian60 - more than with Windows Mobil. The Keyboard-Layout is realy bad. Missplaced Space-Bar, no Ctrl (I use ctrl+arrow, ctrl+c, ctrl+v, ctrl+shift+arrow alot) - I dont game a lot and would like to use the 5-way-joystick with my right thumb. The lack of costumazation never realy bothered me, but i like the widgets from the video...

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 2nd 2008 8:38PM]

This phone is sick(in a good way, of course)!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 3rd 2008 12:01AM]

@ Doc,
Did you say S60 wasn't very moddable?? Are you sure you don't have an N95 8gb clone? What would you like to modify? I'd be glad to prove just how bad ass that beast of a mobile PC you have! Uh, exactly which device on the market has a more moddable OS than S60, by the way? Plain Jane RIM? Barely hackable iPhone OS? WinMo (pretty close, but the UI is too brutal)? PALM??

S60 is EASILY the most moddable OS available! The Symbian Freak site and community, of which I am a member, is dedicated to modifying S60. We are the ones that created the hacking techniques for Symbian OS. Email me at [e-mail] and I'll show you how to change anything you like on the N95 8gb.

By the way,

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 3rd 2008 6:19AM]

@christexaport
Claim down and state your opinion "We are the ones that created the hacking techniques for Symbian OS"
You didn't do any things but SF were the first that the hack been released on it (random pick probably?) and S60 isn't easily most modable OS (Android / MAEMO are and so most Linux based OS's).
If you want i can write and talk to you more about the REAL things over an OS you claim you know more about which you don't.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 3rd 2008 2:16PM]

once again i am disappointed with a nokia keyboard

the dpad should be on the right

# lock is on the wrong side too

the spacebar's placement is aweful

CAN I JUST GET THIS PHONE WITH A SLIDING PORTRAIT KEYPAD INSTEAD??? grrr..... -_-"