Thinking about buying the N97. Help?

Happy? Overjoyed to have the latest high-tech hardware.

Problem-free? Not at the moment--there are a number of technical issues to work out with the concept of Live Widgets.

IM? I understand there are a couple of add-ons that will provide instant messaging with a number of clients, but MSN and Yahoo have retooled and those may not be available for a while.

GMail? Instant? I have my N97 checking every 15 minutes for my SBCGlobal.net and Hotmail. You are limited to TWO (2) emails which automatically check, one of those could conceivably be Gmail. I have my GMail configured in, but it is not one of my high-volume email accounts.

Battery life? Depends on if you want to GPS for hours or take a lot of pictures. So far the convenience of USB charging enables you to "top off" at the office or where ever someone has an open USB port.

Symbian 60 5th Edition open? Well, yes-and-no. It is an open development platform, but the software that is out there for other mobile devices has not yet been adjusted to handle both the touchscreen and keyboard. That will come with time as developers get up and running.

Games? The N97 comes with two fairly lame games. I'm not a gamer so I haven't spent much time perusing what's available.

Hope this helps in your decision.

I'm not a big GPS guy, I do use Google Maps on my blackberry to look for pizza places or stores in the area about ... once a week :P so no... haha. I don't take a lot of pictures either.

IMing apps, OK, I know PalRingo makes some OK apps, and there are more I guess I'd have to keep looking. I'm sure there is something out there for me.

So the GMAIL Idle Imap isn't "instantaneous?" I'd have to poll it every 15 minutes or so? Shame 😞 I mostly communicate through emails... hmmm... I don't have an exchange server or anything like that. I'd have to look for some other push solution for S60. I've been looking at emoze and morange.

I'm more data intensive, I really like sending emails and instant messages.

Games aren't important. It was just a simple question.

One more question. How's video play back? I do use that for flights, bus rides, and trips frequently.

Thanks for your prompt message 😊

Where do you live?
If the answer is Europe/Asia I'd say buy the N97 .. especially now it has this first firmware upgrade.
If you live in North America .. I'd stick with the BlackBerry .. Until you have a mass-market device support from phone companies will be "patchy" at best (like NAM 3G coverage)

1. Initially I had a few concerns .. but the UI seems much improved, and other issues have been tweaked at least.
2. Battery life was very good out of the box, much better than the N95 was first up. 1500MAh is plenty. Haven't had v11 firmware long enough to know if its even better. Basically I can get a couple for days on one charge .. but as a general rule I plug my phone in whenever I'm at work or at home. USB charging FTW!
3. Fring works on N97 .. although there is a minor registration issue I've raised with the developers. Its capable of getting you to most of your IM clients. OVI mail seems to be capable but I don't use it for anything more than testing.
4. Push works as you'd expect on a proper smart-phone. OVI/Nokia mail takes care of that. Haven't taken the time to configure gmail on the N97 but it shouldn't be too hard.
5. you can individually set most applications that require internet connection. There's scope to provide for Always Ask .. Connect Automatically .. etc
6. I'm not a gamer and I wished Nokia had left that out of the N97 .. you could try http://www.ovigaming.com/ for a better look at whats available.

I'll test gmail and a few bits like that out .. to update this post for you. 😊

1. Are you guys happy with your N97?

I'm really happy with mine. I came from an iPhone, and although I found the screen and S60 to be slower and less intuitive, neither caused me any problems.

2. how's the battery life? I've seen a few people complaining

I had mine with me last Sunday when I went out. I took a few photos, made a few phone calls, logged onto Facebook a few times, used Maps for a little while, sent some texts: the battery didn't start dropping until the next morning, and that was with the phone left on all night! I'm impressed!

3. Is there any kind of instant messaging? I use mostly use it for sending emails / instant messaging

I have both Fring and Nimbuzz installed. Both are very good.

4. How's the IMAP IDLE for Gmail? Do mails arrive close to at the moment? Or how does that work. I like the idea of PUSH email on another device that's NOT a blackberry!

With Nokia Messaging installed, I've found the email arrival to be better than when I had MobileMe with my iPhone. For some reason, MobileMe stopped pushing properly, and it's one of the reasons I let my subscription end. I have Gmail and Hotmail set up through Nokia Messaging, and it seems like I get my emails nigh on instantly.

Thanks so much Seki! You and rdcinhou are very fast at replying, Thanks so much 😊 I love these forum sites 😊 hehe.

I'm in Europe and the phone is out unlocked (600 euros, ouch) or 450 from third party sellers, and this month Vodafone (my provider) will be releasing it to its clients via points (since i'm already a client, and under contract) and i'll pay that much to get it, if not, I'll go to a third party seller, keep it and my blackberry for a month, and decide which one is better. I've gone through 2 iphones (2g and 3g), samsung omnia, htc touch dual, and about 10 other smart phones which seemed .... to be less smart than my talking parrot. haha. That's not to mention all the Blackberries I've had (8100, 8300, 8310, 9500, 9000 now, 8900, 8800...) I love blackberry for what they do, push. But I don't need INSTANT messanging for email, but I do need REAL messaging for NEAR push email, not every 15 or 30 minutes (which killed my iphones, and the reason why I sent them to ebay!)

Thanks again for your replies 😊

I was in the market for a smartphone as I'd had enough of my touch plus and there were only two I wanted, iphone and N97.
My friend bought an iphone 3gs the day it came out and I played around with it and loved it. The main reason why I ended up with the N97 is because I'm on T-Mobile and could not find a factory unlocked iphone to buy online 😞
Have to add that the keyboard also swayed me as I'm not much of a fan of onscreen keyboards.

Saying that, overall I am happy with the N97 and can see a lot of potential for the device when updates are made available for it and more apps (especially live widgets) are made available.

However, the phone is not without bugs, and I have to say this is the first phone I've bought in 15 years that has experienced so many.
(See my other thread about the criticisms of the device).

Battery life for me is very poor, and I hardly even use it (but then again I suppose phones of these nature tend to drain battery... my friend also complains of the battery life on his iphone 3gs).
Be prepared to charge it daily and whenever you're near a usb port.
I need to get myself a car charger🙄

I charge my blackberry daily as well, or sometimes bidaily if I am sending massive amounts of messages (like in the hundreds). So charging isn't an issue as long as it's GOOD battery life and I can get through MOST of a day.

Thanks for all your replies 😊
Kent.

Since nobody answered his question, yes gmail imap is instant. It arrives in real time you just need to keep your inbox running and not close it. Some people prefer to poll every 15 min to save battery life.