URL = http://www.allaboutsymbian.com = An all about Symbian website
N97 = Symbian
End of story.
Fight of the year turns into unsightly rout: N97 vs Touch Pro 2
Jonnycat26 wrote:I have to ask... is getting free stuff to review worth the price you're paying? Did anyone actually use the TP2?
You're implying that we get free hardware to keep? Steady on there, everything's got to go back. I can feel a Leo Laporte moment coming on.... 8-)
For example, HTC has utterly revamped the contacts app. Your contact now contains a history of all emails, texts, calls, facebook updates, etc.
Agreed, there are several very nice little integrated touches, but for me they PALE besides the awful kludge that is two (and arguably three) UIs trying to co-exist side by side on the same device.
WinMo just kills S60 on the software side these days
Kills? It's certainly different. Bits are highly evolved. Other bits haven't changed since 2001.
Steve -- you may as well just have Nokia tattooed across your rear, as they seem to own it.
Ah yes, stooping to personal abuse and accusations of bias. Sigh.
slitchfield wrote:Ah yes, stooping to personal abuse and accusations of bias. Sigh.
Isn't that exactly what you did a few posts back when you told people to "shut up"?
Steve can you honestly look people in their eyes and tell them you're not biased towards Nokia? C'mon.
slitchfield wrote:Agreed, there are several very nice little integrated touches, but for me they PALE besides the awful kludge that is two (and arguably three) UIs trying to co-exist side by side on the same device.
And S60 touch isnt' an awful kludge? Kinetic scrolling some places, but not in others. Some places finger friendly, some places not?
Come on steve, either call the pot a kettle or just admit to a blatant bias.
Well, this is a Symbian web... Hardly a place for an objective treatment of competition, is it? Just go asking on WM/Iphone/Android web sites about their views of Symbian phones...
Every platform has its fans...
Objective reviews can be done only by impartial people (not by fans)
By the way: A week ago I bought my wife Nokia E51 and was dismayed by amount of available software (compare with WM or Iphone)... And if there is some software, then a lot of things which are free on other platforms are payed on Symbian...
And I am talking here about 3rd edition which has been around for years - I am under no ilussion how it looks like with the 5th edition...
It�s an interesting comparison but I think the devices are targeted at different user groups.
Before a purchase decision of either N97 or TP2 it�s important to think about what apps you are going to use. Then check the available ones and choose the device who can run those apps.
If you want a good multimedia phone (media smartphone) - go for the N97. It�s a good device for that.
If you want something on the PDA/Communicator side of the market - go for the TP2 (Rhodium). It�s much more powerful as a PDA than the N97. That�s because of better applications for Office/PIM for example than the N97.
as i expected people who are unfamilair with the winmo setup can't appreciate the full extent of how well refined the tp2 is. in that respect alone it blows the N97 away. N97 is nothing more than a jazzed up N95 8gig with touch interface. PERIOD! tp2 however shows innovation and reflects the strides HTC have made in the last 6 months. being a non bias owner of both symbian and winmo devices i can happily say they can exist together. currently have a samsung omnia HD which i love very much as well as my TP2. S60 for multemedia purposes and tp2 for more business, web orientated stuff!
david
A review by a self confessed Microsoft hater.
Having used both devices, they both have there pros and cons.
Windows Mobile is an old dog now and well overdue an update but Symbian doesn't even come close to WinMo for functionality and reliability. Having developed for WinMo for years now I will admit the operators and manufacturers don't do a very good job of optimising the OS for the device, however out of box experience WinMo is far more productive for a Business device than Symbian OS.
perhaps if the reviewer had actually had the decency to "learn" how to use WinMo (and TouchFlo) correctly then he would have been surprised how easy navigation and use of the devicce is.
The touchPro2 (aka HTC Rhodium) is by far one of (if not the) best WinMo Business / productivity PDA's on the market. On the other hand the Nokia is a multimedia toy. If you want a decent camera, buy a camera. The 3MP in the TP2 is more than sufficient for the odd snap here and there and takes very decent pictures (if you know how to use it)
The Nokia does have it's good points, however in my view (for Business purposes) doesn't even come close to the functionality of the Touch Pro2.
Perhaps if the reviewer had bothered to spend a week with (just) the Rhodium and actualy new how to use he would have realised that its place in the market is very well substantiated and it sits at the top of the Business PDA line. Nothing I have used before even comes close to it. Including the Nokia with it's pathetic buggy sync software that constantly crashes your pc.
http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/06/12/nokia-n97-review/
thought steve might wanna read this. this is an unbiased report on the n97! accurate in ma view.
Unregistered wrote:http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/06/12/nokia-n97-review/thought steve might wanna read this. this is an unbiased report on the n97! accurate in ma view.
unbiased my ass. A bit like saying The Sun is a paper for intelligent reading. That review is written by a boy and one who is no genius. His issue with the spacebar is his own - it actually works fine where it is. Granted, why mess with its regular location... I don't know... but to shout and scream about it is dumb when it works. About the screen, again his overwhelming preference is capacitive. But who cares? The screen really isn't bad - its a different technology so if you can't write about it objectively, don't write at all.
while other parts of the review are ok, overall it's a flimsy, shallow review lacking objectivity.
I'm no N97 buyer, and it's clear that this site has a penchant for Nokia, but to offer the BGR as an antidote and to call it unbiased is taking the piss at best and stupid at worst.
I have a long history of using nokia phones. And this week, I finally received my nokia n97. the week before that, I was using an iphone 8g while waiting for nokia to ship me the n97. and during that time, I also checked out and played with the sony xperia x1a. now that I have the n97 on hand to play with for a couple of days, I am a bit dissappointed about this $600 phone.
during this round of shopping for a new phone, I have a list of criterias that the phone I am going to buy has to met:
1. u.s. 3g
2. good camera (I travel alot, and likes to take pictures, and I don't like to carry a phone and a camera at the same time, not only is it cumbersome in terms of weight, but also have to deal with keeping both fully charged, and a lot of the hotels I stayed at usually only have 1 power outlet)
3. has to have decent amount of storage space for the pics
4. decent size screen and resolution (I surfed the net a lot, hate having to scroll back and forth to read the page)
5. gps
6. good phone connecton
7. a web browser that can display chinese fonts properly
8. a keyboard
9. unlocked
and during the past 4 weeks, I tried the following phones:
motorola a1600, nokia 5800, nokia e71x, nokia e75, iphone 8g, nokia n97
and I also briefly played with the sony xperia x1a
motorola a1600, didn't like it, no u.s. 3g, display resolution is very subpar (I got it because it looked like an old star trek communicator), touch screen is too small to be of any effectiveness, had to use the styllus most of the time
nokia 5800, display is decent, but the touch screen was very non-responsive, nokia claimed is has a full keyboard because it shows on the touch screen, but because the screen is not very responsive, it's a pain to type, I had to resort to using the styllus 90% of the time
nokia e71x, loved it, love the metalic feel from its casing, love the way the keys on the keyboard shaped, everything was almost 1 touch away, but because the screen size was not big enough, and because at&t's software locked down, and it's inability to read chinese fonts on the web browser, I returned it
nokia e75, nice metalic casing, but when sliding out the keyboard, it felt a bit flimsy, and screen is too small, gps is very nice, almost as good as a normal gps device; but once again, can't read chinese
iphone 8g, I hate apple and all of its products, I tried this out for a week was because this is the only phone I can find that supports chinese fonts, and I was waiting on the nokia n97 to come in. the responsiveness of the touch screen is the best I have ever encountered, the handling using the screen is also the best; the typing took about a day to get use to, the camera was; very weak, even under normal light, the pics turn out darker, and has no zoom; and after a week, it almost growed on me. the battery life is very weak, and you can't switch out batteries; connection is not as good as the nokia phones (I got disconnects in certain areas where the nokia's just have bad connection)
now the nokia n97:
I took advantage of the special deal nokia was offerring from 2 weeks back, and got it for $580.71. it took almost 2 weeks to arrive, and trying to contact nokia for anything has a base of 25+ minutes of waiting time before connecting to a real live person. the 1st impression of the phone was it looked nice, but it's encased in hard plastic, doesn't have the sturdy feel the nokia n71x has, and I must say I missed that feeling. when sliding out the keyboard, it also felt flimsy. I get a feeling that if I don't handle it gingerly, I might accidentally tore it up... It looked very much like the nokia 5800, the touch screen was almost identical, but the responsiveness is definitely better then the nokia 5800.
the display was big, but I think the iphone 8g is better, the n97 is longer vs. iphone which is wider on the screen. I also think the iphone's detail is sharper.
the softwares on the n97 has some serious running issue. between lock ups, loading time, and crashes, I thought I was back in time using a 386 pc using window 95 again. I had to uninstall all but 3 of the normal software the phone came with to get the phone to run some what smoothly.
the phone doesn't support chinese fonts, I tried install skyfire browser on it, because skyfire doesn't have a version that supports the s60 5th ed., the loading time and proper displaying of the web page was very bad. I ended up using a different software instead, the psiloc crystal chinese localize software. that worked fine. (the software also don't have a version that supports s60 5th ed.)
the gps is not as good as the e75 or the iphone, both phones got my location within 50 ft, the n97 had me off by 3700 meter (that's over 10,000 feet)
the camera is great, the best I have ever seen and used on a cellphone.
the keyboard is pretty good, not the greatest, but pretty good. I really like the directional pad on the left side. I have seen people posted how much they hated, or wrong with it, the foremost that comes to mind was boygenius' report. but with a long history of playing games on a game console, and on a game console controller, the directional pad being on the left side, the n97's directional pad fits me really well. the spacebar also followed the same feel and experience.
because the way I grip the phone while typing, I grip it like I grip a game console control pad, on the other end of the phone is the volume/zoom key, because the way i grip it, my fingers are always touching it, and makes me feel uncomfortable, because it constantly making me worried that I might accidentally hitting and ruins whatever I was doing at the time. my worry might be unfound, but I don't like to have a nagging constanly in the back of my head.
on the 3g speed, in theory, it should be the same speed as with all the other u.s. 3g phones, but I think the iphone is a bit faster, I didn't clock it, so I don't know the truth, but that's how I felt after using the 2 phones.
the n97's battery is same as the e71/e71x's battery, also the same battery the nokia 6650 uses.
it uses the microusb (not sure it's the micro or the mini) to charge and to sync with the pc. so it does recharge when I connect it to the pc via cable. but won't recharge if I have an extention cable. (my work pc is on the floor under the desk, I use an extention cable to put an usb outlet on my desk)
in conclusion:
I don't think the n97 is worth the $600 charge, (it's almost $700 now, without the nokia special sale thing) but I will probably be keeping it because it's too much trouble to try to return to nokia, and I really like the camera + storage space.
on the sony xperia x1a:
i played with it briefly, I think it has awesome graphics, very sharp. the metalic casing and the feel is also great. but I don't like the keyboard and how small each key is. and I also dislike the directional key the phone has. I think they could have done much better with it. It's rectangular, on the flat side, the touch surface is VERY narrow. the initial access of the phone software was very simple and friendly. It felt like i was using windows again. I almost knew where everything is on the phone from all these years of using windows on the pc. I didn't pick it because I don't like the way I have to do when I surf the web on it. I had to use a combination of the keyboard, directional key, and the touch screen, (it felt really awkward) as well as because it's a window os. I am using a phone, I want to feel like using a phone, not like using a computer. That sound stupid, but it's how I live my life.
in closing:
I didn't post this to brag or to put a smack on any of the phones. I merely posted all of the above to show what my criterias as a poster, and what my comparisons are to the n97. I get tired of many people kept talking about spec's (they really don't have much meaning to me as I am not much of a tech guy). I would like to see more comparison on new phone vs. phones that came out within a year or two so people can have a benchmark to go by. else, it's all greek.
Call me old fashioned, but I neither need nor particularly want a cool-looking 3D fancy UI on my business device. I'm rather wondering if it's possible to switch that off and use ONLY the older one.
People are missing the point here, that the N97 is designed for a younger, "cooler" market that doesn't seem to mind a horrid keyboard and actively want an all-singing-all-dancing fancy graphic UI and clever widgets. I want a sound, useful device with a keyboard that's actually half-functional for once.
This is like so many comparisons; they shouldn't be compared. N97 is for teenagers, Touch Pro 2 is for adults. Neither is better or worse, they are different.
With no Nokia E90 successor in sight (plus every communicator getting smaller, God damn it) I'm jumping ship and getting a Touch Pro 2 for a while. Nokia is succumbing to trend and hype and forgetting about serious functionality, and that's a great pity.
Exactly the market is different. TP2 will attract 2 types of users. 1) Business who wants superb e-mail and calendar management. 2) People who like flexibility in their phones. WM like the desktop Windows allows you to tweak and fiddle with the registry, settings, layout, what to see what not to see, etc.
N97, the moment I slide the keyboard and saw what they put on the home screen, a Facebook widget, already know the target audience. That said, it is a good phone if you're into the social networking thing (Facebook and Twitter). But it feels unfinished. Perhaps more like unpolished.
Not to mention the TP2 can do conference calls. So long to specialised teleconfrencing gears in the office. Just plug in the power cable (to ensure the battery doesn't go flat) and you're all set.
Also I disagree the N97 is the better multimedia phone. By say music player and camera yes I agree but Windows Media Player plays higher quality files and any WM user interested in videos will get Core Player. Yes its not free and therefore adds to the cost but its worth the money.
Also the N97's slower processor and smaller RAM is going to go against it when playing high quality video files.
sorry...but this review is just foaming at the mouth with bias and symbian fanboyism. engadget, gizmodo, zdnet, pocketnow, phonereview.com...i could go on, have all picked this touch pro 2 over this phone. and not only that, have simply said the comparison wasn't even close. i dont even want to bring up gizmodos review and their assertion that nokia is trying to using the kitchen sink mentality (just throw every damn feature possibly into a phone) hoping that it will be a success. this review is sad...
I have both TouchPro 2 & Nokia N97. Both are excellent devices and you can't go wrong with both.
Contrary to what the reviewer said, I have to mention that the RAM in N97 is a problem. My N97 comes preloaded with several softwares and they all eats up the RAM. As soon as I installed additional softwares to it, the main memory is getting smaller because some application like Nokia Mail or Handy Shell can't be installed to storage card. With Handy Shell running, facebook online plus Nokia Mail being pushed, they took a toll on the memory. A lot of time when I want to run the GPS software (Garmin requires 8 MB free, Sygic requires 10 MB free), I ended up having error message of low memory. The whole system are running really slow and freezing a lot. Moreover, the GPS on the N97 is not as good as the TP 2, the lag between the driving and the GPS caused me to miss many turns.
I expect my N97 to excell in Multimedia, guess what? it's not. The included Headset is as cheap as the one included in N5800. The sound quality is ugly. The one included in TP 2 beats the hell out of the N97 headset. Yesterday when I copied 18 GB of MP3s into the Harddrive, it caused my N97 to freeze completely. I had to hardreset my N97 and refresh the phone again to get it to work. I also found out that the Music player can't read the art work from my MP3 files. What a bummer as I had to reassign them manually. Moreover I can't play an AVI file in my N97. What is even worse is that there is no Core Player yet for S60v5. Arghhhh......
Since I have a white N97, Nokia is so stupid to put a white LED on the keyboard thus making it impossible to read the letters. I also don't like the fixed screen angle on the N97, in TP 2, the ability to adjust the tilted screen is really good to avoid the light reflection.
In terms of physical size and Camera quality. TP 2 is big and heavy. The 3MB camera in TP 2 is a joke. HTC should put at least 5 MB with flash. N97 is without a doubt the winner here.
How come this is the only review where the N97 comes out on top?
Yes, the small RAM issue on N97 is a killer to the offer. I was considering getting one, but i will go for Omnia HD instead.
You Bias !!
Not because this is "allaboutsymbian.com" then everything about nokia has to take over the HTC?
More likely to say, N97 is more towards entertainment and HTC for business usage - 2 different target market and unfortunately they came in similar design ....
Start think positively and stop thinking Symbian is great !?
Fruit it !
Another comparison by someone who uses both Symbian and WinMo with Touch Pro 2 coming on top, on a Finnish site (*shock*).
http://www.newdawn.fi/tekno/?p=307
I'd like to post my own opinion, but haven't used either of these devices, unfortunately. I have previously enjoyed a number of Windows Mobile devices as well as the generally excellent N95.
I've also flashed an "almost" Touch Pro 2 ROM to my Touch HD (similar underlying hardware except for the improved speakerphone, zoom-bar and keyboard) and can safely say that TouchFlo is getting better and more thorough every release. And if you hate it, it can easily be turned off (it's just a full-screen homescreen plugin - Windows Mobile has had these user-generated plugins for many years).
I look forward to another fun decision about which platform to go to when my contract is next up for renewal!
Don't know if anyone has caught the latest T3 (UK edition, September 2009 cover date).
Interesting group test of:
- HTC Magic (android)
- Nokias N97 (S60 5th edn)
- HTC Touch Pro 2 (WinMo)
- Samsung i8910 (S60 5th edn)
- Palm Pre (Web OS)
I say 'interesting' depending on your view and integrity of T3 reviews!
Headlines: Palm is the test winner with 4 out of 5 stars.
"Without a doubt a contender for phone of the year, the Palm Pre takes integrated functionality to the next level."
The rest all similarly score 4 out of 5, except for the N97 with 3 stars:
"A good all-round effort and the best N Series phone yet, but this feels slow and unexciting compared to the Pre, 3G S et al'
Discuss...
Hi, u are being biased.
The All new HTC Touch Pro is better in terms of hardware and that.
the issue about N97 and the All new HTC Touch Pro is wot i call
THE CLASH OF THE TITANS!!
Hi, u are being biased.
The All new HTC Touch Pro 2 is better in terms of hardware and that.
the issue about N97 and the All new HTC Touch Pro 2 is wot i call
THE CLASH OF THE TITANS!!
The difference here is that the Touch Pro 2 (like nearly all WinMo phones) is a pocket computer that happens to be able to be used as a phone. Nokia's are phones with added pocket computer-like functionality. They can't really be compared.
WinMo is really a business OS, designed from the ground-up to be compatible with Enterprise level Hardware (Exchange Server, domain enrollment in WM6.1 etc), as such, nothing else can touch it when it comes to base functionailty and compatibility with a Windows PC. Sure, loads of consumer software is out there, but it's basically a PDA at heart.
Symbian, like the iPhone OS, is designed for the consumer market so is focused on being shiney and easy to use, not so much for functionality. Sure, loads of Business apps have been developed for it, but it's basically a phone at heart.
I've sold N97 after few weeks and moved to TP2. I have no idea how even you could think N97 is some match for TP2. TP2 is outstanding phone comparable to N97. Screen is much better, it uses WM6.5 which is really awesome, it has lot more memory and faster processor. It has newer Bluetooth and fantastic keyboard. Only Nokia Fan BOYS would consider using N97, the phone is piece of crap. Brick with poor functionality.