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Finally Gave In

39 replies · 9,788 views · Started 03 February 2010

A bit different than the N97, but I'm an iPhone user (at the moment) and I've just got an N97 Mini. I've been through a few phones in the past few months: I got a 5800XM in June, spent a long holiday using it, got back in September and concluded it just didn't feel like a very nice package to use. So I got a HTC Hero (T-Mobile G2), which was great, but I got rid of it in December because, being completely honest, as much as I love Android, it's a dead OS; there really is not enough developer interest in it; third party, or from Google. So I got an iPhone 3G, which is fantastic, and I still use it. But last week I had an N97 Mini and another 5800XM given to me, just with a few problems. I got the N97 fixed up, and I'm now using it as a phone for a couple of weeks to see how it is.

The widgets are very useful (although I would prefer the AccuWeather widget to have optional colours), the camera is fantastic, as is the keyboard and the whole device itself. Calendar is quite nice, but I would like to be able to have different categories for events, and the option to set events to all day. The browser isn't as bad to use or slow as I expected it would be, and the YouTube app... works.

However, it's not without it's problems...

Wi-fi is awful. It has the same problems that the 5800XM had; it'll connect to Wi-fi when you tell it to, otherwise it uses whatever cellular coverage it has. It then constantly disconnects itself from Wi-fi, and I need to go back into Settings to connect to Wi-fi again. It then struggles to download a lot (I've had to cancel and start downloads again from the Ovi Store numerous times from getting stuck, and the same for podcasts).

E-mail isn't bad, but whenever I delete an e-mail, it stays in my inbox with a red cross through it until I do a number of things to get them to disappear (retrieve new e-mail, then dis-connect, then re-connect, then retrieve new e-mail again). There's also no folders, so I can't save e-mails by moving them to a separate folder. If I want to keep an e-mail, I have to keep it in my inbox.

Sure, multi-tasking is there, but ProSwitcher on the iPhone does a hell of a better job, and just because multi-tasking is there, it doesn't mean it works. One example being this morning. The AccuWeather widget had some problems updating, so I opened it to get it to update, and it stayed on a black screen with the AccuWeather widget at the top. While I was waiting for this to load, I went back onto the homescreen to click on a favourite contact to send an SMS. It wouldn't load up their Contacts page, so I decided to go into Messaging to send an SMS from there. The screen went completely black (well, grey; the colour of the Nseries 2 background). So I switched back to AccuWeather and it wouldn't load it up, so I closed it. I then went back into the Menu, tried to open Applications to get it back up, and it locked up on the Menu. So I switched the device off for a minute or so, then started it back up. Everything updated fine, until I went onto Facebook (which is extremely laggy, hopefully it'll get quicker, as right now it's not very usable). It was taking a while to load stuff, so I came out of it, left it doing its thing for a few minutes with the phone in my pocket while I was on the train. Got off 5 minutes later, and Facebook was locked up. Closed it, went into the Menu, and it again locked up trying to open Applications, so I switched it off again, and didn't use it for anything more than Messaging for the rest of the day.

Being an iPhone user, I'm used to these lock-ups, it's nothing new for me, but I never normally get lock-ups on the iPhone like this unless I'm trying to switch between games to other apps really quickly.

Aside from the lock-ups and the not too pleasant interface, it's a great device. I'm not knocking it for having problems, every device has problems. I just didn't expect to have it lock up so much on my second day of using it.

By no means am I going to get rid of it though; I'm very interested in how Symbian is going to turn out this year, and it is quite a nice device to use. I just have to tone down the amount of things I do at once on it. It's probably fantastic for a lot of other people, it depends on what you look for in a mobile device. But from what I've seen right now, if you're looking for a device for quick social networking and media browsing on the go, it's probably not the best device.

jerm wrote:by saying fixed up did you mean updating to v11?

No, I mean replaced the screen and touch screen digitizer. I've yet to update it to v11 (only told me it was available this morning).

DriftNismo said:

Everything updated fine, until I went onto Facebook (which is extremely laggy, hopefully it'll get quicker, as right now it's not very usable). It was taking a while to load stuff, so I came out of it, left it doing its thing for a few minutes with the phone in my pocket while I was on the train. Got off 5 minutes later, and Facebook was locked up. Closed it, went into the Menu, and it again locked up trying to open Applications, so I switched it off again, and didn't use it for anything more than Messaging for the rest of the day.

I think the recent Facebook problem (error message) is due to Facebook reconfiguring the structure of their pages this week. Many users are complaining of the new interface.

To see if maybe I needed to update Facebook, I uninstalled it and reinstalled.

Still same problem so it appears that we'll have to wait for an updated Facebook widget.

dez_borders wrote:Just being picky, but your decision not to purchase a maps license doesn't meam the MAps app "never worked".

Until recently, there was no turn-by-turn Satellite Navigation system or app available which was totally free.
Nokia have made a ground breaking move (by making all functionality free) which has the rest fo the smartphone GPS-app developer & reseller community in total panic.


Pity I can't use it to the full extent as my GPS even though it's been repaired is still not up to useable standard.

Lasikie wrote:Pity I can't use it to the full extent as my GPS even though it's been repaired is still not up to useable standard.

Sorry to hear that. What's wrong with your GPS?
Mine has been perfectly useable since the repair in November.

Since V11 I've had far fewer crashes the last few days, but one extremely annoying thing has come up;

Because the call speaker in this N97 doesn't work for whatever reason, I can only make and take calls using the loudspeaker. I don't know if it has anything to do with it being on loudspeaker, but as soon as I take a call, the screen goes black. It then take about 4 or 5 unlocks/locks to get the screen up again, so I can press Loudspeaker, then it goes off again. Then, when I'm trying to end the call, the red End Call button doesn't do anything (because the screen is off). So it then takes about 8 or 9 unlocks/locks until I can get the screen up again and end the call.

Please say there's a solution to this? Because I was thinking about selling it and putting money towards an N97, but if it's going to keep giving me problems maybe the iPhone is a better fit...

EDIT: Just had to try and send a picture in an e-mail about 6 times because it was taking about 5 minutes and getting 1/10th of the way sent. So I just re-took it and sent it from the iPhone. Screw it, I'm giving back in too.

Finally I sold mine over the week end and now going for MOTO milestone enough of Nokia though thanks for every one who help here been pleasure beeing here good luck to rest of N97 owners.

dez_borders wrote:Sorry to hear that. What's wrong with your GPS?
Mine has been perfectly useable since the repair in November.

It was replaced with the new GPS which worked wonders for a while, but after a month or so it was back to the old ways. Dropping out, no signal, etc.

I've bought the Nokia LD-4W bluetooth gps now and it works wonders with that.

My GPS is in use for about 12hrs everyday as my job is driving around britain.