Nokia N97 and N86 launch in the UK tomorrow

I have been and remain a huge symbian fan. I have had symbian smartphones from the beginning with the Ericsson r380. However, I have to say the iphone 3gs is impressive and I am tempted. I think you will find that the queue will be outside the Apple store and not Nokia.

I just wish the N97 had a physical D-pad on the front screen.

This phone looks so good, I hope S60 5th get more support from developers (shazam etc) that will help sell it

I wish they had that dpad anywhere but on the keyboard!

in fact nowhere would be a good compromise for me 😊

Unregistered wrote:I have been and remain a huge symbian fan. I have had symbian smartphones from the beginning with the Ericsson r380. However, I have to say the iphone 3gs is impressive and I am tempted. I think you will find that the queue will be outside the Apple store and not Nokia.

Yeah I wouldn't be surprised either given the make up of the audience. Apple consumers do tend to be very loyal and go the extra mile. The N97 will have much broader availability and most people will get it on a contract upgrade or similar.

Still should be fun to see what happens tomorrow.

I must say, I am a little disappointed in the N97.
This is mainly because of the CPU, low RAM and 5 MP camera with LED flash.
Will we find, as we have with so many Nokia releases (N80, N86, N95,) that there will be an upgraded N97 within the next 3-6 months?

Unregistered wrote:I have been and remain a huge symbian fan. I have had symbian smartphones from the beginning with the Ericsson r380. However, I have to say the iphone 3gs is impressive and I am tempted. I think you will find that the queue will be outside the Apple store and not Nokia.

I've no doubt there will be queues outside both stores, though I dare say the apple one will be bigger. I think apple have scored a hit with the public because the iphone is so easy to use. Personally I can't stand apple as the three apple products I've bought have all had problems. That said if I thought the iphone was a better option (for me) than the n97 then I'd get one. My n97 arrives tomorrow. 😊

Xpansys are showing they have over 100 available right now, same price as the Nokia shop at �499.

Was going to go for one, now looks like I'll wait on the E72 which will hopefully be out soon, or may still go for a N97 but wait till the buzz goes down a bit, the firmware is improved somewhat, and maybe getting a better price as �500 is a ton of cash right now!

I really can't make up my mind whether to go for the N97 or the iPhone 3GS, I have a N97 pre-ordered, but am so tempted to get an iPhone now that the main features I would have missed are in the iPhone.

Has anyone tried Copy/Paste in iPhone 3.0, been playing with it in touch and it is amazing, for example, you can copy any text or picture from the browser and paste in emails etc, it is so simple. On the 5800/N97 the limited copy and paste is now a real pain in the bum to use.

But in other ways the N97 excels, plus I'd have to go to bloody O2 to get an iPhone.

I reckon Regent St. will be RAMMED tomorrow. I'm in Oxford Circus for meetings most days and I have never seen such a huge interest in a Nokia product, ever. It goes without saying that the Apple store will be busy but I think there will be a big presence at Nokia's store. Even now there are loads of people milling around wanting to check the demo units out.

Whatever people think of either phone you can't help but notice the hype surrounding both!

As a long time Nokia S60 user, I have been very tempted by the new iPhone, but in the end the familiarity of S60 and the hardware keyboard have won me over. Knowing that Nokia will have decent RF, a replaceable battery and good aftermarket support in terms of repair and accessories also helps.

My (Black) N97 is being delivered tomorrow.

I'll be in London tomorrow for a job interview, guess where i'm going afterward??....😉. Looking forward to visiting both sides of the street.

It's not just the flagship store thats getting it tomorrow, nokia retail outlets across the UK get it too.

See here for confirmation:
www.mobilephonesdirect.co.uk/SIM-Free-Mobiles/sc460/p12765.aspx

I'm a UK nokia fan, and have had both the silver N95 and the 8GB flavours, avoiding the N96. I've now got my eyes on the N97.

I'm currently at the end of an 18 month contract with Vodafone. they rang me a while ago, to try and get me to upgrade or change my contract, offering me a deal for the N96, or a quite interesting deal where they lower my line rental, but don't supply a phone.

Now these past few weeks I've been trying to get info out of Voda on when the N97 will be released, what the price plans will be like, and whether there will be any incentives for upgraders.

I've had an email from them, stating that if I pre-order, I can get a pair of nokia speakers, which, while nice I have no need for (especially as the sound output on the N97 is apparently quite good). This is also reliant on either an 18 or 24 month contract and at �40 or �45 a month!

I spoke to them this morning on their 191 upgrade number, and they stated that they will be selling it from Monday the 29th (not the 19th or the 26th which is quite aggravating), and that they won't be able to give details on any upgrader incentives until then! If they don't offer me a decent deal, I'll either walk and start a new contract at a competitor (or at least threaten it) or buy the handset from Nokia or a third party and do the 'phone free' option for a cheaper tariff.

On a side note I was extremely tempted by the swish looking iphone 3gs, however the one sticking point was this 'tethering' business. With my N95 8GB I can connect my phone to my laptop, and using my 3g connection, surf the internet with my unlimited data package. According to the O2 site you have to pay extra for the privilage of doing this with the Iphone.

If anyone has any opinions on which of the above I'm better off doing, I'd love to read them.

Cheers,

Mike.

N97 aint worth the money, not with the Samsung around. I've tried that keyboard and while it's nice, it's not worth an extra �250 above the 5800. Sure 32Gb is great, but it's trumped in most areas by the Samsung. Sorry Nokia, not this time

I'm actually pretty sad to say that I'll be in Carphone Warehouse tomorrow getting a 3GS and switching from Voda to O2, which I would have preferred to avoid.

My issue isn't so much the N97 hardware which I'm not wildly excited about but looks solid enough. It's not even S60, though it's seriously showing it's age. It's the ecosystem it sits in. Ovi Store finally got me to switch platforms, though not in the way Nokia intended.

Still, while I'll be an iPhone user for a while, I'm intrigued by the N900 and what looks increasingly like a plan to make S60 the consumer/dumb phone platform and completely re-work the high-end devices. S60 and the Symbian Foundation roadmap make it clear that that platform is 2/3 years away from being where Apple and Google are now (I'm sorry but 5th edition just doesn't compare to either) and I don't think Nokia can afford to wait that long.

Maemo as the new S80/N-series OS?

I'm afraid Nokia have lost me now..

Unless they do something to increase the number of decent apps they'll never get near Apple which is a shame. I am embaressed by the Nokia app store.

And Nokia, why has the N97 got an LED flash!

Until Nokia/Symbian do something I'll be paying Apple my money.

I love it, you criticise the N97 for having an LED flash then say you'll give your money to apple for a product that has no flash and an inferior camera! Truly ridiculous.

There are lots of quality apps available that are compatible with the N97, just not in the awful ovi store.

The apple app store is certainly quantity over quality! It's full of one use wonders and childish novelty apps.

IDIOT wrote:
"S60 and the Symbian Foundation roadmap make it clear that that platform is 2/3 years away from being where Apple and Google are now (I'm sorry but 5th edition just doesn't compare to either) and I don't think Nokia can afford to wait that long."

Interesting how opinions vary. For my needs S60 is way ahead of both google and apple.

Apology accepted by the way.

I'm really tempted to get it tomorrow. I just cant decide which colour to get!

To Rafe and Steve, Which colour will you be getting?

i really dont get people and the apple app store..
yes it looks nice but "better apps" than symbian is
not true....
2-3 pages of a "fart app" in the app store?
and the other trivial apps such as the "drink beer" app?
cmon now......
even though the ovi store isnt "glitz and gloss".....it was launched just
a few weeks ago....we cant judge by this can we?
symbian on a whole isnt restricted either....developers launch apps....you like
it....you install it....unlike the "has to be approved by us first" of apple...
true freedom of an OS....(new brooms sweep well....old brooms know the corners)
ill be at the nokia store tomorrow to purchase my N97 and ill also be streaming
the launch live via qik.....
www.qik.com/roberthall
@aas mods apologies in advance if i am not allowed to post the link here...
please remove if necessary.

Before I was a Anything But An iPhone but now I'm not so sure. With the decent ARM cortex CPU @ 600mhz and with superior 3D gfx, games that will appear on the appstore will be amazing.

I hate iPhone closed system but I suppose a jailbroken 3GS is very tempting.

I wonder how good the 3MPx camera will be. I hope they used a decent lens.

Spoilt for choice these days... iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre, Omnia HD, Touch Pro 2, N97 (at the end...)

rossd - I can understand that. I think the white one looks very nice, but I wonder if it might not show marks more than the dark one. I have a loan unit (there are some perks to running AAS) at the moment, so I may not actually buy one tomorrow.

robertdh - anyone is welcome to post relevant links. With a bit of luck I'll run into you tomorrow. Anyone else please do say hello too.

Just an average Joe , on the other side of the pond's, 2 pence.
After beating up a 9300 and N770 for years - and in an effort to support the eradication of the credit crunch-
I have in the last 6 months purchased the:
N810
E71-3
N85-3
5800 XM for my GF
and 3 days ago the N97 (white- to match my E71)

Nokia Fan, not really � I'm lazy and I just like things that work. Also I can't abide by the butchery that North American carries perform on the phones (life, liberty, and don't mess with stuff I pay for...) and I travel a lot, so unlocked phones are the norm.

After 3 days of constant use (from alarm clock in the morning to using the torch to get to bed) the N97 reveals that the sum of the whole is greater then the parts.

The N810 keyboard was good training for the N97 and the placement of the spacebar on the N97 actually works better then the N810's center bar (As on the N810 the O being 9 and the P being 0 still drives me bonkers.)

Auto correct and predictive text are better then the E71. The D-pad being at "thumb level" makes selecting alternate words less of a stretch then on the E71 ( I know heresy!) and being able to auto complete the word with either the space bar or D-pad means you always have a thumb close.

I drive a roadster so I found the N85's screen �pants, when the top was down, and the camera experience on the N97 is much better then on the 85 (ISO & exposure options wonderful!)

Actually I like the haptics on the 5800XM better � it�s a crisper buzz then the N97 and feels more like feed back then a general vibrate.

Speed, on thing that amazes me is the speed at which you can install applications on this phone! It's amazing I can start and install on the E-71 and the N97 and the N97 will be 50 to 100% faster in installing the app! Brilliant.

Ovi maps beta 3 is much quicker (GSP lock, tracking scanning, etc) on the N97 then on any of it's siblings and it actually is as fast as the roadster's build in Sat Nav � which is quite a feat since the Sat Nav on the roadster is a special hi speed Becker unit used by Ferrari and Porsche.

I find this phone is eminently usable out of the box � no need for firmware updates before it's ready for prime time. The issues of processor speed are rubbish! Comparing it to the iPhone is a red herring- remember that the iPhone 3G fakes application startup by displaying a Jpeg of the app while it loads in the background. It needs a speed bump just to keep up with delivering bog stock functionality that the rest of us have enjoyed for years�.

Does it work- yes. Does it work better then the other phones I have � yes. Is it worth the money? Rolling all those features into 1 package, for me - yes.
If you get one, may you all enjoy it as much as I have.
EJ

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/NokiaN97/index.html

If you buy a N97 get ready for all the minor bugs, like no back light after bringing out of locked mode. Apps crashing.... See the nokia forums for more.

Sign the petition to ask for a $200.00 (USD) refund on first adopters

This will be a Very testing couple of months after there sales are falling nowdays due to not releasing no top class mobiles but mid-range mobiles,i hope to get the N86 as i ordered mine today from Carphone Warehouse,but if the N86 slide is not as stable an reliable from the N85,Nokia will lose it followers buying there mobiles,Nokia use to release more mobiles than the others but Samsung is showing Nokia that they can easily challenge for the number one seller,Nokia since the N95 have not offered a much better mobile to upgrade to since the N86 or N97 as the N96 was a very big mistake by Nokia so hope we see some better offers in the 4th quarter of this year,but touchscreen mobiles seem to be Nokias catching up target,but not evereyone like touch screen mobiles

are series 60 V3 apps definitely not compatible with the N97? finally nokia have 2 cracking looking phones out. lots of the iphone apps look tacky and shallow imo, where else could you have a mandarin language program and worms multiplayer but on the nokias.

Can't Nokia figure out how to make a battery cover?

One of the supposed advantages of the N97 is the removable battery. However, the absolutely horrendous design negates it. I was worried that I'd break it trying to remove it to insert the SIM card (and memory card). Now I can't get the front part to snap back in place. Not a good out-of-box experience at all.

Went into one of the big Malls here in Jeddah ( Saudi Arabia ) and the Nokia shop were already selling it ( Thurs 18th June ) , but only the white version. Have been waiting for this for ages, and although seriously tempted by the white, have decided to wait for the black one - hopefully out next week. Its the same price as Nokia online ( sim free version ) although that's helped by the exchange rate being more favourable than it was earlier in the year.

Question - the keyboard lights up in low light, is this automatic, is there an override function so you can get it to light up on demand?

cheers.

rossd wrote:I'm really tempted to get it tomorrow. I just cant decide which colour to get!

To Rafe and Steve, Which colour will you be getting?

As mentioned in my previous post, I had thought that I would automatically go for the black version, but when I saw the white one in the flesh, it was very very tempting, and went back to the store a second time to buy it. However, when I got there on my second trip, the shop produced a black version, for demo only of course. So, I had the two side by side, and the one thing that convinced me, is that I think the letters on the black keyboard are easier to pick up than on the white.

The reason for this, is that in Saudi, all phones also come with arabic letters on the keys, so now we have letters, numbers and also arabic letters, making the keys a bit cluttered. The numbers are printed in blue, which show up better on the black keyboard, especially when the backlight comes up.

Really,there is very little to choose between them, the white one looks very neat indeed, and which ever one you go for, you will have a smart looking phone.

There was an independent retailer round the corner who had the black one in stock ( dunno how he got hold of that ) but was charging nearly �100 more than the Nokia shop for the white.