Well, for my �0.02p's worth....
I've had the N97 since it was first launched here in Saudi, about a week before it hit the UK shops, and I have had my fair share of problems - probably the worst of it was when it was running on v12. At that stage , I was looking to sell it on and buy another device, but looked hard at what else was out there. I liked the physical qwerty keybaord, so looked at the E75 - but the screen was too small.
Looked at the E71 and then the E72, but to be honest they just looked a bit to Blackberry-esque and just didn't appeal, don't know why really. Loked at the Samsung i8910, and a coupl eof HTC phones. Of course, seriously considered the iPhone...I am a fan of Apple and their computers, so thought if I had a full set, it might be quite cool - but on paper, the N97 still beats the iPhone. So, although I was looking, I never really found a phone that ticked all the boxes for me.
I spent some time bleating on about the failures of the N97 on the Nokia Discussion Forums, and had several posts edited and deleted - and to go off slightly here at a tangent, I seriously believe that if users of the N97 want to come on here and criticise the N97, they should have every right to do so. I really could not stomach the censorship as demonstrated by Nokia and their discussion forums mods.
Anyway, for a short time, I went back to using my N95. I bought that when it had been out a few months, so never really had any problems with that, and eventually had it unlocked and debranded, so it was running all the latest FW versions, nad to my mind, was just a perfect phone. Now, nearly three years later, it is still being used by my step daughter.
Back to the N97 - eventually v20 came out, and it still had a coupl eof bugs, but now, v21 and free maps is running on the phone, and it is now I feel at a stage where I am happy with it. The sad thing is that it has taken 7 months to get to this stage. However, I am reasonably confident that the phone will still keep on improving now, and by the time we hit v30, it will be a very solidy performing device. For example, I just LOVE the FM Transmitter - just get in the car, and press play on my music widget and instant music through the car's stereo - it just works really really well, and gives an excellent sound quality. THis HAS to be a must on any new phone in the future for me.
But - I have also learnt my lessons and in future, will not buy a Nokia smartphone on it's release date - will wait for a few months til it settles down a little.
In summary the last few months have been more downs that ups with the phone, but after having stuck with it, I'm pretty glad I did, as there is nothing else out there that I think I would like to use.
We all have our opinions, and these are always valid, whether it is positive or negative. I do understand that many N97 owners have ditched it and move don, and this must be a lesson for Nokia to learn from, it is not down to current N97 owner to get defensive over. I paid in excess of �500 for the phone, and spent several months being underwhelmed. So, I'm not promoting patience and perseverance - I just cannot afford to go around �500 after a hpone every few months, so really, had to make it work.
Yes, I'm disapointed it took so long, but now, looking forward to it being a great device - will it ever be as good as the N95? Time will tell.
BTW, I'm starting to see more and more of them ( N97's ) out there in the wild. SPotted with a little more regularity.
Anyway - bit of a ramble, but good luck to those who still have their N97's and good luck to those who have since moved on.