Berty wrote:There goes another Nokia customer gone out the door.My N97 has been behaving itself recently now that I install apps on the micro SD card and not mass memory.
Wouldn't mind an upgrade, but not sure what to go for. An N900? (More money in Nokia's pocket) An Iphone? Can get one free in February when my Missus' O2 contract is up? I like the look of the HTC HD2, but read it's quite flawed so skip that. Not sure really.
Any ideas?
Whatever you do, do NOT get that piece of garbage from Cupertino. An iphone is great if you're a teenybopper who fancies movies like twilight and such but you're better-off with the N97.
True fact: I recently got an Samsung Omnia II for my wife and substituted it for my N97 for a full 2 weeks before I gave it to her. I did this because it had gotten so many rave reviews that I was half-expecting the reviewers the break-out out their Samsung business cards.
Sure the screen is wonderful but it's just so much eye candy; even running at full-bore, it takes the Omnia II's 800mHz processor nearly 3 seconds just to display the underlying menu.
What's more, while it has 256MB of RAM, at one point in time, memory ran so low that it had 8MB free -- but I wasn't even running much in the background except its critically acclaimed Opera Browser (another piece of garbage, by the way).
This is the same phone that was receiving rave reviews from AMERICAN mobile sites! Incidentally, the same site that gave the Omnia II glowing reviews just reviewed the HD2 and observed that even with a snapdragon processor, it was prone to freezing and lock-ups.
I also had the chance to use an HTC Magic when my mobile carrier offered it. Garbage. I sold it at 30% off.
If you have any inclination to surf the internet on your mobile, the N97 is still far better than either the iPhone 3Gs. I don't know what the big deal with the spacebar placement is; if you've used the N97 for any decent length of time, you'll find that the idea of placing it to the right is inspired. It's just so much easier using it with your thumb.
In contrast, I see people using the iphone and having to retrain their fingers as organic styli. In fact, the Omnia II's keyboard is superior in terms of usability.
That said, in terms of general, daily usability, anything built on top of Windows Mobile is basically garbage, no matter how much customization the manufacturer builds over the UI.
One post I read sums it up: building Touchflow 3D or Widgets UI over Winmo 6.5 is a like building a swanky condo at the penthouse level of a building that should be scheduled for demolition.
Personally, I don't really find anything especially wrong with the N97; I think many of us readers who frequent the sites are just getting swept-up in the anti-Nokia rhetoric that a small but vocal minority on the internet have been propagating.
The markets have it another way: Nokia have sold over 2 million N97s, notwithstanding the histrionics over scratched lenses and its "unimpressive" UI.
Also, the N97 is derided for not having a dedicated 3D accelerator. BIG DEAL. I play a lot of games and I have a machine for that: it's called a desktop PC. I mean, do you play games like Dragon Age: Origins? I do. I would never play it on a mobile phone so I don't understand what the big deal is with gaming on a mobile.
For casual gaming in the subway or the toilet, I guess it's fine if you're into that stuff. I, for one, can't imagine why you'd want to twiddle with an expensive device like the iphone in a crowded subway car where a nudge from someone can cause you to drop it.
So stick with your N97 or get an N900.
