Head to head: The Nokia N97 vs HTC Hero

I don't honestly expect a non-symbian device to ever win a heads up from the point of view on this site. Can we put that as a disclaimer before each review?

slitchfield wrote:the N97 simply does most things better and for longer than the Hero.

It's true but it' not fashionable to say so.

Whoever designed the Hero package with that bent chin must be a practical joker surely? What an awkward shape to have to pocket. That's the stupidest piece of design I've seen for a long time.

@bdogg64: Errmmm.... "I know I'll get shouted down for being biased" - that was my attempt at a disclaimer.... 8-)

Having picked the Hero to pieces over the last week, I think my comparisons are fair. The device is simply very weak in some areas. Whereas the N97 is potentially awesome and held back at the moment by memory restrictions, a few bugs and a dodgy camera glass shutter.

Maybe you can beg Steve for an alert and post your comment right after the posting of any non-symbian related article ?
I liked the comparising , trying to get away from the bias of all day commercial pushing .
Keep on doing the work !

😊 Regards jApi NL

@slitchfield: Point well taken ... Its purely your opinion and I can respect that. I'll try a little harder to focus on the meat of the review instead of the ending in the future. 😃

Having ownded both the N97 and HTC Hero, I simply don't agree with Litchfield. Android has alot of potential and more than enough apps to install.

The Hero isn't laggy at all and is a pleasant change from the aging Symbian OS which needs a complete overhaul.

Roy35 wrote:The Hero isn't laggy at all and is a pleasant change from the aging Symbian OS which needs a complete overhaul.

Another one that can't differentiate between Symbian OS and S60.

Nothing much wrong with Symbian OS.

Quick summary, why I agree:
- the N97 was the reason (test drive for three weeks), why I bought the HTC Hero
- the HTC Hero is the reason, why I consider going back to Nokia (most likely the N900 as I can't stand S60 anymore)

And the long:
The N97 is a disgrace to Nokia and N-Series (although it fits nicely as the successor of the N96 catastrophy), and while I loved the screen, the camera and some snappy performance, the half-cooked firmware just killed the experience for me. Cannot believe, there are no "phone managers" (whomever has the responsibility for a released phone) being fired at Nokia. You just can't treat your flagship like this.

On the other hand I cannot imagine the HTC Hero not lagging for someone. With around 600 contacts and above 100 sms, the HTC Hero (or Android?) is dubbed "lagmaster" in my dictionary from now on. Give to it the 10% call drop rate, the mandatory recharge around 3pm, the subpar camera and it is futile to try to love the things which are truly great about the Hero. Not when I cannot make a phonecall in a snap (neither in 30 seconds).

However, Steve, take another look at the Android Market. I think it is more vibrant than Ovi Store. (Astrid and Locale comes in mind, as two everyday treats.)

While on the subject of "head to head" articles and Ovi Store, here's a deliciously evil idea: how about a "Ovi Store vs. Handango" (and, consequently, Ovi Store app vs. Handango InHand). It'd be interesting to see AAS biting the hand that feeds it, and personally I'm curious about which hand would end up being bitten.

@ unregistered - in case u havn't noticed, this is 'all about symbian', so its bound to be somewhat biased to s60 as most users are used to the OS, unlike Hero which is relatively new. so just give it some time.

I bought the N97 and used it for a couple of weeks. To start with. It was OK but apps crashed or scrambled my input. The novelty of the keyboard wore off when it became obvious it was more awkward to use than the old numeric pad. I gave up with it completely after a few days. The screen touch was unresponsive, often requiring repeated taps to work. It is still, in spite of their hype, a collection of disjointed apps I listed 3 pages of problems when I sent the phone back for a refund.
I got the HTC Hero on a free upgrade just to play with. In a few hours it won me over completely. The UI is well t thought out and a delight to use. Apps are linked together so emails, texts and Facebook details are linked ti the contact they relate to. The battery life is equal to the N97 (people getting poor battery life are running notorious background apps such as Locale). The touch screen is so much nicer that the resistive of the N97, responding to very light touch. The N97 wins on camera and sound output but that is all. However A2DP Bluetooth support is so much smarter on the Hero that cordless, portable speakers work intelligently and give way better sound than either anyway. Synchronisation with Google of calendar and contacts just happens. It's brilliant.

Hi I like the review but its just not fair to say that about Hero , I myself have used both devices and I really dint N 97 rock solid in terms of build quality where in the Hero rocks , more to add Hero has got a lot more potential as it carry the solid Android , also there are a lots of application that one need for hero for IM, to music , to emails .

Moreover I have been sing S60 and have been a fan of N95 but now i think s 60 needs a change about the way it looks like even with the s60 5th edition there is nothing new than the Touch feel I mean Icons look the same and menu are in the smiler way so here is my opinion if i have to choose a s60 5ht edition devise i will go with samsung Omnia HD at-least i can have a better camera and a better touch screen with a better build quality of course.

For me the design of N 97 is all crap, I personally liked the 5800 and would love to get my hands on the new E 72 and N900.

And guys please stop praising S60 find the draw backs as well then only you can improve.

Regards

Sandy

Ok, sure Hero has some flaws but since the new update all of them are past history. I mean really, the lagging is completely gone and overall the phone is much smoother. Of course Steve could have done some work and try out the custom ROMs that people have built to see what the device is capable of before the official update.

I think that HTC did a stupid thing when they released the phone before the newest update, but hopefully some reviews will test the phone with the new software. And when it comes to the facebook app... yes it has one.. came out last week 😊

The main problem with the Hero is that it needs some attention. In order to make it smooth one needs to run an apps killer from time to time (I do it 2 times a day) which takes about 3 secs.

And the battery life... well, that is what I miss from Nokias devices, the battery runs for maximum of 1,5 days and with my music usage I have to charge it every night. But then again iPhone is the same..

btw... Nokia devices music players will never win against a device that has Spotify in it 😉 (ok its coming for symbian also in the future, but for now)

ankero

I'm sorry but you people are wrong. Nokia N Series are multimedia phones. Are you telling me that the Hero is better at multimedia than the N97? Sound quality? Photo quality? Apart from the flashier UI HTC has put over it, the N97 beats it in every way.

Continuing from my above comment - I was contemplating the Hero vs the N97 but as someone that wants great multimedia features, I had to go with the N97. Many sites have reported in their reviews how poor the music/sound quality is not to mention the piss poor video recording and camera without flash. And that ugly chin was the last straw.

If a device doesn't suit you or your needs dont get one, everybody has a choice. I wasn't forced to have a n97, I choose to buy it, if you believe that a device has bad fireware dont spend your money, but i know nokia has always given me a good working system, that is constantly improved apon, thats why they have my money, and will continue to do so untill someone produces a smartphone that can match the features list of nokia + symbian.

You should be apologising for this sorry excuse for an article. You have admitted that it is not unbiassed (you only need look at the site name for a clue). I note some important points you make; however taking your biassed starting point, it hardly makes for a balanced article or conclusion.

For example in screen displays you say:
N97=640x360 (nHD) transflective TFT, with resistive touch layer, bright, not too bad in bright sunlight.
Hero=320x480 TFT, with capacitive touch layer, almost unreadable in bright sunlight.
What would you define as a scale to which you could apply to those two statements? What is the difference between "not too bad in bright sunlight" and "almost unreadable in bright sunlight"? First off, in bright sunlight you would cup your hand over either device to make it readable. Secondly by saying what you did, you are showing your bias in very clear colours.

Given a choice between a transreflective TFT screen and a capacitive screen, I go for the latter as it is much clearer and needs a human-touch to activate it. I would say that this is 1-0 to the Hero.

In the next section about processors and ram you are wrong again. Perhaps you have a dodgy Hero or its just your bias showing up again, but my Hero does not slow down once all the widgets are going. I also popped a class 6 SDHC card in and it zips along at a surprising speed. So not only is the hero quicker than the N97, but it is getting a firmware update very soon to make it even quicker! 2-0 to the Hero.

Text Input, I love the onscreen keyboards of the Hero. Anyone who buys a touch-screen device with a physical keyboard, IMHO, is a bit of a whimp! The software controlling the suggestions that pop up as you type with the Hero is excellent and make text entry (even with a full QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode) easy and painless. The N97 is going to break. How long it will take is a matter of time, but that physical keyboard with its definate clunk will break. 3-0 to the Hero!

The Ovi store is rubbish. I talk from experience, I upgraded to the Hero from an N95. Ovi store for the N95 is appauling. The Android market (v1.5) is a little difficult to find what your after, however it is well populated and an update and improvement is on it's way. So to me, that looks like 4-0 to the Hero.

I wont bother going on, just like you I could pick faults in the N97 and show how biassed I am in favour of the Hero. Somewhere between the two of us the truth lies, however I would suggest that it lies closer to the Hero than the N97!

Symbian, S60 and Nokia could all soon become synonimous with the word Dodo. Symbian is definately a deadend. I suggest you start searching for a catchy URL that incorporates the word Android in it as it will be the future, whereas Symbian is going the way of the past.

If symbian is so great, why does it appear that Nokia is moving away from it? Which operating system has Nokia chosen for its N900? Symbian? No try again... maemo (whatever that is). Saw a video of it in operation and it looks like an HTC Hero, except it has a physical keyboard, which for me now is a deal-breaker.

So even Nokia are moving away from symbian in their 'true top end' mobiles. Feeling like your getting boxed in to a long corridor with no exit? That would be symbian and its imminent death is just around the corner!

Hello "HTC Hero Owner",

sorry to say that, but your comments show that IMHO you do not seem know very well what is really going on:
- you mix up Display technologies (transflective vs. reflective) with touch input technologies (resistive vs. capacitive).
- you never heard about maemo but care to judge.
- you are talking about the death of Symbian OS around the corner - which is by factor 3 the world market leader in mobile OS.
- you call me whimp. I will not buy anything without a physical qwerty.

To me this sounds not very much based by facts 😊

Best regards,
Corwin

Bloody hell, first we were overwhelmed by Apple fanboys, now it's HTC fanboys instead. Just because a reviewer does not back YOUR device does not mean he's wrong or biassed, any more than it means you are wrong for having bought your device. A review is simply one person's opinion, and I would generally take Steve's opinion over the opinion of fanboys any day (especially someone with the name HTC Hero Owner, which hardly sounds like someone who doesn't have an axe to grind!)...

Sure, AAS does have a general Symbian/Nokia bias, but that's to be expected, but they have hardly been uncritical of Nokia recently...

HTC Hero Owner wrote:If symbian is so great, why does it appear that Nokia is moving away from it? Which operating system has Nokia chosen for its N900? Symbian? No try again... maemo (whatever that is). Saw !

Maemo (whatever it is) is the linux based OS that Nokia used on the N800 and N810 and now its successor the N900. They have been selling Maemo devices for years.

Nokia have announced the new Symbian/S60 devices N97 mini and X6.

And this is moving away from Symbian?

Nokia have included cellphone connectivity in the latest maemo based device, the N900 which will take some sales at the top of the range, but is pitched principally as an Internet tablet.

The Symbian roadmap is laid out and available for all to see, it involves the QT front end which will develop away from S60 (and Maemo will be going QT too) but Symbian is here to stay according to the horse mouth.

Another post suggested Nokia is "going down in flames", and that somehow Steve Litchfield is responsible.

I have to read AAS just for entertainment value of laughing at some of these people.

N900 is not a 'phone'.

Some replies(!)

>>Does anyone take Steve seriously anymore?

More and more people, actually, if subscriptions to my Phones Show and traffic to AAS is to be believed....

>>Instead of innovation they spend their money paying sites like this to spread their propaganda. Talk about losers!

Nokia don't pay us a penny. Would be nice if they did, mind you, in view of the editorial space we give them 8-)

>>vs. Handango InHand). It'd be interesting to see AAS biting the hand that feeds it, and personally I'm curious about which hand would end up being bitten.

I've never been a Handango fan, so will let Rafe jump in and attend to this!

>>Hero rocks , more to add Hero has got a lot more potential as it carry the solid Android

Both devices have lots of potential, but the N97 delivers more functions out of the box, IMHO.

>>And guys please stop praising S60 find the draw backs as well then only you can

We've criticised S60 often here on AAS, suggesting many ways it could be improved/tweaked. At heart, Ewan and I are rabid Psion/Series 80 fans anyway 8-)

>>Ok, sure Hero has some flaws but since the new update all of them are past history.

Glad to hear it. I'll be revisiting this head to head once the N97's update is also available.

>>smoother. Of course Steve could have done some work and try out the custom ROMs that people have built

No, no, no. I don't 'do' unofficial baked ROMs or device hacks. I try to review things as they are 'out of the box', for real world new users.

>>The main problem with the Hero is that it needs some attention. In order to make it smooth one needs to run an apps killer from time to time (I do it 2 times a day) which takes about 3 secs.

Indeed. Like Windows Mobile, going so over the top on multitasking that EVERYTHING stays running all the time has its own drawbacks and hit on battery life. Symbian OS's way of doing this is about right, IMHO.

>>This guy needs to find a new sponsor so he could stop advertising about crappy nokia

Exactly where do Nokia sponsor me? They haven't sponsored anything I've done for well over six months now and they certainly don't sponsor AAS.

>>He is the only reviewer on the planet who thinks the n97 is better then the htc hero

I doubt that VERY much.

>> next month he will be saying the n97 mini is better then the iPhone

The iPhone 3GS is STUNNING and I'd love to own one. But I'm not rich enough. Not many people are.

>>N97=640x360 (nHD) transflective TFT, with resistive touch layer, bright, not too bad in bright sunlight. Hero=320x480 TFT, with capacitive touch layer, almost unreadable in bright sunlight. ...By saying what you did, you are showing your bias in very clear colours.

Not at all. The N97 can be read in the sun, the Hero can't. I was TRYING to explain the difference and obviously didn't do it clearly enough. Quantatively, if you take the Nokia N95/N96 and iPhone as 10/10 sunlight readability, the N97 would be about 7/10 and the Hero about 3/10. Capacitive means NOTHING for readability without a transflective layer behind it.

>>Symbian, S60 and Nokia could all soon become synonimous with the word Dodo. Symbian is definately a deadend.

Hmm..... And exactly how does Nokia's massive dominance of the phone world(wide) market share and Symbian's massive dominance of the smartphone OS world(wide) market share fit into your 'dodo' theory?

>>If symbian is so great, why does it appear that Nokia is moving away from it?

They're not. They're expanding their platforms. And expanding their use of Symbian. Both at the same time. It's Series 40 which is gradually being phased out, over the next 5 or 6 years.

Hello,

I don't know how many video formats are supported by htc hero, but to be worst that N97 (and S60v5 in general) it have to be pretty limited. Nowadays, with S60v5 I can play 0,01% of my current videos, thats it, only those that I have specifically converted (and not all of them!). No xvid/mkv support is a killer for me 😞

And what's worst is that you can't buy a single application that playbacks divx/xvid without stuttering at any price. For gods sake, I bought a symbian phone to be able to extend it's capabilities with 3erd party apps!!

@ Steve
Great responses! Its one of the reasons why I always read the comments of every story. Not only are you giving it to these anti-nokia fools, but youre also educating them. I think this is one of the few sites where the author responds to his articles. Keep up the good work....and could you tell someone from Nokia to hurry up with the N97 update (October seems like eons away)

Indeed. Like Windows Mobile, going so over the top on multitasking that EVERYTHING stays running all the time has its own drawbacks and hit on battery life. Symbian OS's way of doing this is about right, IMHO.

That's the one. That's the huge advantage of Symbian over all other smartphone OS, it was designed to do this on 1996 hardware and that incredible efficiency is still there. It does it well, and uses minimal power to do it.

Trouble is, unlike a fancy UI, it's not there on the surface for everyone to see and people just don't know what they've got.

Unregistered wrote:That's the one. That's the huge advantage of Symbian over all other smartphone OS, it was designed to do this on 1996 hardware and that incredible efficiency is still there. It does it well, and uses minimal power to do it.

Trouble is, unlike a fancy UI, it's not there on the surface for everyone to see and people just don't know what they've got.

It was designed to do it on 1996 battery powered PORTABLE POCKET DEVICE hardware, unlike Android, which is linux at heart, and any other unix style OS which has been adapted and bodged for low resource hardware.

Imagine taking a bus and adapting it for off-road racing. That's android.

HTC Hero Owner wrote:You should be apologising for this sorry excuse for an article. You have admitted that it is not unbiassed (you only need look at the site name for a clue).

By naming yourself as a HTC Hero Owner you have admitted you are biassed too. aren't you?

😊

HTC Hero Owner wrote:
For example in screen displays you say:
N97=640x360 (nHD) transflective TFT, with resistive touch layer, bright, not too bad in bright sunlight.
Hero=320x480 TFT, with capacitive touch layer, almost unreadable in bright sunlight.
What would you define as a scale to which you could apply to those two statements? What is the difference between "not too bad in bright sunlight" and "almost unreadable in bright sunlight"? First off, in bright sunlight you would cup your hand over either device to make it readable. Secondly by saying what you did, you are showing your bias in very clear colours.

No, he is not showing any biass in that particular point. It's you who are showing lack of understanding and mixing concepts. As a 5800 screen sufferer I'm very interested in Steves opinion in sunlight legibility which doesn't have anything to do with capacitive vs resistive technology.

I think all phone screens should be reviewed and rated for sunlight screen legibility, so nobody would buy a phone with a screen like the 5800xm (or htc hero) and so manufacturers would improve in that much needed aspect. At least I know that if I had read Steves article (http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/Sun_sun_sun_And_I_cant_see_a_thing_on_my_phone.php) comparing screens in the sunlight I wouldn't had bought a 5800xm.

Honestly Nokia does a disservice to Symbian and I can not show my N97 to any other mobile user without eliciting some condensending chuckles. As a symbian fan I pop out the I8910 HD to show that Symbian is a relevant OS in the 21st century. And the gasps that this device elicits does definitly generate kudos for Symbian. Symbian is on a precipice right now. The most powerful battery friendly OS on the market is being drowned out by inferior products. Thank goodness that Symbian is going on its own road now. I would buy a REVO with a colour screen and phone capabilities tomorrow if such a device was availible.