4G 8MP camera?
I didn't think this was coming out for a while, and the 4G won't work here anyway. But, the 8mp camera would be good.
Problem is, new phones come out all the time so I think, now I've decided on the Desire, I'll just get it. Otherwise, I'll wait for the Evo and then something else will be announced!! 😊
Yeah, I know the feeling. I was also thinking about waiting for the new iPhone ( which will also have 4G with 5mp camera ? ) but as you say, new phones are out all the time now, so if I keep waiting, I'll never get one!
Just got home from a day out visiting family, and the N97 ran out of juice. Came home and now can't get it re-started again, no idea why. It might be a trip down to CPW tomorrow to pick up a Desire? The thing it with the N97, every time I pick it up to do something, I just expect it to crash / freeze / not work.
THe Evo also has HDMI Out, the Desire has no TV out at all, just another small little feature that's lacking. Here's my list of missing Desire features ( un- Desire- able's )
No TV Out
No Mass Memory
No FM Transmitter
No native Skype application ( can use fring though )
No Joikuspot or method of using it as a wifi hotspot ( with a Mac )
Need to ponder on it yet.....
I think this shows just how versatile the Nokia is!
RE: your points though, to me, the big issues are really only the tethering, and the car thing....
There is a solution for the memory and the Skyp, and do you really use TV out that much?
Does your car have any other form of aux in? I'll be honest, I'm surprised you get a good enough sound quality with the FM transmitter!
If the transmitter is the only way you have to take a big selection of music with you in the car then I can understand why this is a problem, I'd not want to go back to single CDs.
I'd assume it won't be long until there is some kind of tethering solution for Mac? Would it matter is you had to use a cable, or does it have to be wireless?
But, what ever way you look at it, the phone will require some extra investment in form of an SD card at least.
PS, I saw you got onto the HTC forum, did you have any trouble registering? I've not been sent the confirmation email, so I've contacted a mod as per the instructions and not heard anything.
I managed to register on there without a problem
i've now sold my N97, i was offered good money for it so thought it was time to move forward.
the FM transmitter is something i'm going to miss, although you can play sound and music over bluetooth, so all you need is a bluetooth stereo.
But you are right, in terms of features the N97 is hard to beat, it has so much it can do. I just think its time to move on for me, too many crashes, too many reboots etc. Everytime i pulled my phone out to show someone a picture or a video i had that feeling of dread, telling myself "please don't cock up now!"
i went into a CPW to have a play with a desire, very slick. I took a couple of pics and a video whilst in there, it did both perfectly fine. I'm 99% convinced on it now, although it will take some getting used to.
I was tempted to wait for the N8-00 flagship, but I suspect it will be at least a year before it has had enough software updates to make it stable and decent. Will never buy a nokia at launch again, learnt that lesson.....
BanziBarn wrote:I think this shows just how versatile the Nokia is!RE: your points though, to me, the big issues are really only the tethering, and the car thing....
There is a solution for the memory and the Skyp, and do you really use TV out that much?
Does your car have any other form of aux in? I'll be honest, I'm surprised you get a good enough sound quality with the FM transmitter!
If the transmitter is the only way you have to take a big selection of music with you in the car then I can understand why this is a problem, I'd not want to go back to single CDs.
I'd assume it won't be long until there is some kind of tethering solution for Mac? Would it matter is you had to use a cable, or does it have to be wireless?
But, what ever way you look at it, the phone will require some extra investment in form of an SD card at least.
PS, I saw you got onto the HTC forum, did you have any trouble registering? I've not been sent the confirmation email, so I've contacted a mod as per the instructions and not heard anything.
Yes, as mentioned on the HTC Forums, the TV out is a 'nice to have, but only occasional use' feature, so if push comes to shove, this would be the first one to cross off the list. I do use it occasionally, my car has a built in TV, which has Aux in, so can use the TV out feature to watch movies through the TV set.
As it's an older car now, it doesn't have Bluetooth, so the FM Transmitter is a very much 'used daily' feature, so would deffo miss it. I do have an external FM Transmitter, which has hit and miss sound quality ,but the built in FMT with the N97 gives, I think, a pretty decent sound. So, I do have a way around it, but of course, much prefer the wireless connection. The connection with the car's stereo seems to work really well, in otehr cars, the connection wasn't as good, it's just one of those things that the car and the phone seem to work really well together. The car's TV although has AUX in, this isonly one channel, so even the video feed from the phone means I have to feed in picture and sound through one channel.
Therefore, the Desire will need investment in terms of an SD card as you rightly point out. I currently use around 20gb in total, which does carry ALL my music, but again, do not listen to around half of it, so that can also be jettisoned. I reckon a 16gb card would be enough really.
I did ask the question re tethering, and there is an Android app around at the moment, which sounds like a good alternative to Jokuspot, and the Desire doesn't need ' rooting' either, it's a bit pricier than Jspot.
In summary, can get along without TV Out, can make do with an external FM Transmitter, can get along with a smaller SD Card, and I can get an alternative to Joikuspot. In return, I would get a much nicer firmware, quicker, more responsive, more stable phone.
Like spirit, it's always the same whenever I get the N97 out, I usually think it's going to crash, freeze and the fear of it happening makes me not want to use the phone. I am thinking about going back to the N95 for a while. I'm just waiting for my expenses claim to go through, if it comes through whilst i'm still here in Blighty ( until the 16th ) , I'm deffo going to get a Desire. If the money doesn't. I'm going back to Saudi and getting the N95 out and probably waiting til I'm back here in the summer time for possibly an Evo, or maybe a Desire which might have come down in price by then.
Didn't have a problem at all banzi registering with the forum, all pretty straight forward. I know some forums reject email addresses from certain domains ( hotmail and yahoo ) so that may effect your registration?
I used a hotmail address to register, maybe that's the problem..
nottmbantam, the aux input on your car, what happens if you connect a normal 3.5mm audio jack to it, doesn't the sound still come out, with a blank picture?
Change of subject, I've noticed an interesting thing with the Desire in regards to price point.
With the N97, which ever way you bought it (buy off line and get cheap sim only deal, which is what I did, or get free phone and higher monthly payments and a long commitment) the overall price was more or less the same over 18-24 months.
With the Desire, for �20 per month on Tmobile (same as I pay now for sim only) the phone is only �120! Seems like a bargain.
Tmobile were out of stock on Friday though 😞 Going to try again later :icon14:
Hi BanziBarn
I know this is a little late for Friday offer (I only picked it up today) but expansys seem to have them in stock
Boothy
Edit:changed link to correct page link
I did also think about getting a new contract, I'm on PAYG at the moment, so could quite easily walk into CPW and pick up the phone for free. The thing is, I work abroad and only spend a few weeks in the UK every year, so the monthly contract is something I would never benefit from - I'd have to give the monthly contract sim card to someone else for them to use, as I literally would hardly get any use out of it. . That is another reason for buying a handset only, as I need it to be totally unlocked, to accept sim cards in other countries.
In terms of the car, the TV has Aux in, and this is mounted in the rear of the centre console, so it's handily placed for the rear passengers, not for the driver! It does only have one feed, so it will play sound, but only in mono, not stereo. I have only ever used it for watching dvd's on the phone played through the car's TV. Haven't really tried it playing just music.
boothy wrote:Hi BanziBarnI know this is a little late for Friday offer (I only picked it up today) but expansys seem to have them in stock
Boothy
Edit:changed link to correct page link
Thanks for the tip off 😊
I think though, becuase I already pay �20 per month off contract, getting the phone for �120 on a �20 contract is too good to turn down.
Going to phone T-mobile in a minute to see if they have them in stock yet 😃 Expect they won't...
Hey Guys,
I've also bitten the bullet and switched from the N97 to the........
N900.
Why I'm going to try another "top" Nokia I'm still not quite sure, but it on paper it does everything the N97 was supposed to do and allegedly does it better, so this time next week we'll know the answer to that one.
The one thing which I will miss is the Maps, which with the full navigation was probably the thing which worked best on my phone, but hopefully that will come in time to the N900.
At the end of the day I just couldn't rely on the phone to do anything without the prospect, and often reality, of it hanging and needing the battery removed to reboot it.
Let us know what it's like when you get it!
Nokia have stepped their game up with free navigation. I don't think it long though before Google gets in on the scene and introduces it with its Google Maps for Android phones. The navigation works, even though it lags a little behind sometimes with my N97, but its got me out of a few rough spots I'll say that.
I played with the N900 and just didn't like it. I like the spacing on the N97 for the keys. The N900 is a geeks tinker phone, TBH I want something that works and doesn't have to be formatted every few months to clear the C: drive out for space. I'm hanging on for the N8 to see, but I think a lot of people will think twice before buying a newly released Nokia again after the N97 issues. Symbian^3, a brand new UI, lets see. They have to get it right this time. If they don't Nokia will continue to loose out the smartphone market.
You know the saying "the grass is always greener". Well I'm starting to regret my switching from the n97 to the HTC. The bugs in Android 2.1 seem to be many, it's a tricky little bugger to navigatie around and operate and today it corrupted my 16GB SD card rendering it useless in the HTC until I reformatted it. A quick look on google and this seems to be a common Android issue. So I lost all the music, videos, notes and photos that were stored on the SD card.
Also the only way of backing up your phone data is to the SD card.
In future what I have to do is connect my phone to a PC and copy data off then I can reformat and out it back. Not really a great start to a promising phone.
also gave up on my n97 today and my o2 recycle bag is on its way.
got fed up of laggy gps even though it's already been to nokia and supposedly had that 'fixed', fed up of 'security module' error, fed up of crashes when hanging up calls, it's just not reliable. i work away from home too, and having a flaky phone just won't cut it.
170 gbp, thanks o2!
i'll stick to my e72...which also gets a bad rap, but mine's faultless. lucky!
I got �180.99 from O2 :tongue:
Interesting to hear about google being buggy, but I guess most platforms have their problems. It's just a matter of how many there are and how quickly they are sorted out.
After umm-ing and ahh-ing for the best part of two weeks, I've decided NOT to get a Desire.
There were just a few missing features for me, as I've already mentioned, but I think I will wait for the HTC Evo to hit the UK shores, hopefully in the summer time. I do like the idea of an Android phone, and like the idea of a slightly bigger screen ( Evo has 4.3" screen ) and slightly more built in memory.
I'm here in Blighty til Fri, fly back out to Saudi and when I get there, I think I will be ditching the N97. It just runs too slowly for my liking, and feels dated already, I don't like the resistive screen, having used and played with capacitive screens. I will be dusting off the N95 again and bringing that back into play.
However, would be interested to hear from those of you who have chosen the Desire to see how Android performs and see how the Apps market develops.
Cheers.
I'll certainly be posting on here after I get it, I can't get onto the android forum anyway!
This has to be one of the longest "Goodbye" threads I have seen for a while.. jeez..
I've also looked into the Desire and all the posts on the forum make it sound highly unstable. I'll stick with the devil that I know - for just now.
bchliu wrote:This has to be one of the longest "Goodbye" threads I have seen for a while.. jeez..
Well, up until 'www.allaboutandroid.com' gets going, I guess the long goodbyes might just be perpetual.😊
What about the Samsung Galaxy S instead of the Evo (Android 2.1)?
4" screen and 8/16GB memory, so no need for a memory card.
Should be out in the Summer.
Reports are saying its an 'iphone killer', mind you they said that about the N97!
vudluxi wrote:What about the Samsung Galaxy S instead of the Evo (Android 2.1)?
4" screen and 8/16GB memory, so no need for a memory card.
Should be out in the Summer.
Reports are saying its an 'iphone killer', mind you they said that about the N97!
Yes, it's a possibility, although 'only' a 5mp camera, whereas the Evo would be a 8mp camera. Personally, Samsung don't convince me, I had one of their phones many years ago, didn't like it, and have never bought another one since! I know they have probably improved things since, but you know - once bitten and all that...
The Evo does also have a slightly bigger screen - 4.3" .No idea of UK launch date though, so the Galaxy S might be hitting the shops first.
jmcgrath wrote:I've also looked into the Desire and all the posts on the forum make it sound highly unstable. I'll stick with the devil that I know - for just now.
Well remember that forums gravitate users with issues. Out of the three people I have seen with them that I am friends with, they have not had issues with stability at all.
Don't count on the Evo 4G coming to Europe when there is no full 4G coverage. I think it will be next year before that sees the light of day over this way.
If you need a phone now the Desire is the one to get IMO. You can wait for Apple to release their iPhone 4G, and then Microsoft to release Windows Phone 7.
OR the rumoured Nokia N8 is due for press release sometime soon.
The Galaxy S is an enigma. I don't like Samsung. Their camera and screen are to die for, but I really think they will mess Android up. The original Samsung UI is SO rubbish.
I'm phoning T-mobile every day now and they've still not got any.
Getting impatient now!! 😉
stringent wrote:Well remember that forums gravitate users with issues. Out of the three people I have seen with them that I am friends with, they have not had issues with stability at all.
Good point, and one that has been discussed before. For every internet posting about a problem, there's 1000s of Nokia owners out there with no issues. I have several non AAS friends who own N97s problem free.
Now that (hopefully) everyone has V21 FW, and has had their GPS & Camera lens repaired under warranty, why not just stick with the N97? ...at least until some other model or platform comes out that's a serious & stable alternative. From what I read online, there's currently nothing else stable enough, or with broad app availability to satisfy ex N97 owners.
Am I the only N97 owner who chose the phone in large part because of its form factor? The other touch-screen phones look good and may have good features, but from experience with the iPhone vs N97, I'd much rather stick with a physical QWERTY. The larger screens are much better for browsing, so I wouldn't want an E-series or similar.
If someone feels otherwise, please let me know! I'd certainly have more choice of handsets if I could be convinced to go with touch-screen-only.
jamessmith01 wrote:Am I the only N97 owner who chose the phone in large part because of its form factor? The other touch-screen phones look good and may have good features, but from experience with the iPhone vs N97, I'd much rather stick with a physical QWERTY. The larger screens are much better for browsing, so I wouldn't want an E-series or similar.If someone feels otherwise, please let me know! I'd certainly have more choice of handsets if I could be convinced to go with touch-screen-only.
I also chose the N97 due to its form factor and was so excited by the prospect of the phone, I literally bought it as soon as it the shops in Saudi - about a week before it was out in the UK.
I *DO* like the keyboard, and got used to it very quickly, even though I think the keybaord layout on the E90 and the N900 look far superior.
It is one of the reasons I've dawdled over buying a touch screen only phone, but looking around at the other alternatives to the N97 - phones with a physical keyboard - really, the only one I liked the look of, was the HTC Touch Pro 2, but I don't like the idea of a Windoze phone, whereas I do like the idea of Android.
THe Motorola offerings don't impress me - just don't like the very square looking phones. Having spoken to various people who do have capacitive touch screens, the typing is apparently quite easy to get used to. However, I suppose the ideal form factor for me, is an Android based device, with the level of features that the N97 carries - which to be honest - are very impressive ( built in 32gb mass memory, FM Transmitter ( does ANY other phone have this feature? ) TV Out etc ). The let down for me is the processing pwoer, which just makes it run very slowly, and the unpredictability / instability of it.
So my N900 arrived yesterday and after my first full day I reckon I've made the right choice.
It's definitely a phone for someone who wants to tinker, customise and fix a few things, but from what I've seen so far it's definitely worth it.
4 fully customizable desktops which flow wonderfully from one to another,
many tasks all running easily together,
a fantastic quality screen,
no re-encoding video files to play high quality via the TV-out cable,
give me a few weeks and I'll give a fuller update.
But for all that's good the N97 was better in areas -
eg the tilted screen and keyboard spacing was much better,
full ovi maps,
multiple profiles,
position of the screen lock button,
battery life
etc and small things like the music player resuming after a call and automatically pausing when disonnecting from bluetooth.
Some of these are things that can be fixed via a few patches/packages, but definitely not one for out of the box and use as is.
But 24 hours without a hang, crash or having to remove the battery? it's a damn good start.....
nottmbantam wrote:
It is one of the reasons I've dawdled over buying a touch screen only phone, but looking around at the other alternatives to the N97 - phones with a physical keyboard
features that the N97 carries - which to be honest - are very impressive ( built in 32gb mass memory, FM Transmitter ( does ANY other phone have this feature? ) TV Out etc ).
Not to sound like a complete convert on Day 1, but the N900 has all of the above covered..... you just need to tweak it your needs
Kevs wrote:Not to sound like a complete convert on Day 1, but the N900 has all of the above covered..... you just need to tweak it your needs
Saw your post and went onto the Nokia website to look at the full specs, and you're right - it does have all of the N97 features . I did believe you, honest....
With the disappointment of the N97, I'm not sure I want to go for another high end Nokia device, I think at the moment, I'm in the mood to try something different, and so leaning towards the HTC Android devices. I don't want to sound like another N97 basher, as I know there are probably thousands of N97 owners who have never had a problem with their phones, but for me, although it performs to a satisfactory lelve, it's just not as good as I thought it would be, and now trying to find anotehr similar spec phones, I do realise, that on paper, it've VERY hard to beat. THe N97 and the N900 are the only two phones I know of that have a built in FM Transmitter - every person you ask think you are talking about an FM Radio, not many people actually realise that this is a step up from a 'simple' FM radio.
Anyway, was due to fly back to Saudi tomorrow ( Fri ) but due to that darned volcanic ash / dust cloud from those cheeky blighters in Iceland, we may be here for another few days, so time yet to still ponder over phones. In fact, I had a bit of a brain wave - might pop into the Heathrow Duty Free shops and see how much cheaper phones are ( well, at 17.5% cheaper, as there is no VAT to pay ? )
Last summer, I bought a Macbook Pro from a high street Apple retailer, and claimed back the VAT which was a bit of hassle,but eventually got it back. If I buy from the actual duty free shops, then they are already 'discounted' with no VAT payable.