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*bang*... GAH!... Apple got me...

45 replies · 20,766 views · Started 08 June 2010

davecozens 08 Jun 2010, 10:45

Right.

The one thing my n95 has taught me is that there's a lot of things a smartphone can do that you'll never actually do with it. I've had ftp. And bit torrent. And terminal clients. Never used em except to go "ooooh, look, I can do [insert impressive thing]".

The one thing my n97 has taught me is that there's a lot of things you'll want to do that just won't work properly.

The one thing my wifes iPhone taught me is that everything on it works, all the time. Pretty much without fail. It might not do all the things a smartphone can. But with something like logmein I can just remote in to my laptop and do it from there.

I dunno if you heard, but there's a new iPhone in town. Looks fab. Has a camera that's only 5mp - but I've had an n97 for the last year FFS, i'll be happy with anything halfway useable.

Envirophone will take my n95 & n97 for about 200 quid, which funnily enough is about the same as the amount of line rental I've got left on my t-mobile account.

I'll get me coat...

D

ironass 08 Jun 2010, 11:22

I'm sorry to see you go old son...

but I understand your reasons.

Going back to almost a year ago, you were one of the mainstays of this forum and a guiding light. You certainly inspired me not to mention your app's site for the N97 which, in those early days before the Ovi Store, was one of the few sources of app's and widgets. Some, I still use to this day!

I, for one, will miss you and may force myself to the pub later and raise a glass of scrumpy to you.

Live long and prosper and I hope the iPhone is for you.

davecozens 08 Jun 2010, 12:01

cheers mate... *sniffle* always nice to be missed 😉

the free app site will keep running, so people can always add stuff to it, although tbh i don't think it gets as much traffic now that ovi at least has some content (but frankly, is still horrible to use) - if nothing else maybe one day it'll make it to the �60 adwords needs to pay out - LOL

the various aggregation widgets will keep working too...

Take care y'all...

Fleksnes 08 Jun 2010, 12:03

haha, you'll be back... guaranteed.
First, to tell everybody what a fantastic product you've bought.
Then, after a few months playing with it, and getting bored with it, you'll start to complain, and then as soon as symbian4 / meego is released, you'll understand what a tool you've been, and you're back...
(not in the n97 thread though...)

With that said, and since you brought it up: What a disappointment the new iphone is. The changes are marginal from the 3GS, but at least you'll be able to be a part of the new phone revolution: video calling. (only to other iphone4-owners of course)

davecozens 08 Jun 2010, 12:37

Yeah.. erm... thanks Fleksnes.

It's unlikely though. State of the current mobile ecosystem I don't hold out much hope for symbian long term. It's just not organised enough, so short of replying on Nokia for stuff like the Ovi store (seriously Nokia? you've tried the app store on the iPhone, right?) I can't see it ever giving me the seamless experience I'm looking for.

And Android? Not for me. I used to think I wanted to fiddle with my phone like I do with my PC. Changed my mind. Spent too much time doing that with my N97. It's become a chore. Now I just want it to work.

If there's anything that I need from my phone that the iphone doesn't do, i'll use logmein.com and remote into my laptop instead...

Zyyb 08 Jun 2010, 13:25

Agreed, my N97 will be going to the big phone graveyard in the sky. I have changed my opinion a bit on the N8, hardware wise it's fairly nice. But it'll be underpowered and won't come near the iPhone in terms of usability.

June 24th!

nottmbantam 08 Jun 2010, 16:19

Sorry to see you go Dave, but like Ian says, can totally understand why. I sold my N97 about six weeks ago now and have an E72 which is comparison, is quote impressive. Good luck with the iphone. I remember buying my N97 here in Saudi on June 20th last year, and remember the excitement I felt at getting hold of it, soon followed by several months of disappointment!

To answer dog man's question, the N97 has a built in FM Transmitter and TV out, not sure if the current or new iphone has these. But, I've heard the same thing aboutthe iphone- what it does, it does well! The N97 was a great concept but just didn't deliver the goods for me.

As a result, I've kind of gone off touch screen phones for the time being. May be interested again next year when further developments have no doubt made devices far more versatile. Til then, I'll stick with the E72.

dog-man 08 Jun 2010, 16:41

I am not someone who replaces his phone on a regular basis just to keep up to date with new fancy gizmo's, but I am also very disappointed with the N97.

Yes, it does everything I want it to do, but it is incredibly sluggish and just feels clunky when using it. I am fed up with the occasional lockups when answering a call when the slider is locked. The only way out is to remove the battery.

I find myself seriously considering getting one of these new iphones.

I wonder how much I would get for my N97 which is in good condition?

Does the iphone have a card slot, and if it does what's the maximum size you can use?

I use my N97 frequently to listen to stuff I have recorded and put onto the card whilst at work. I have a tedious job so this is a must to help pass time quickly.

dog-man

davecozens 08 Jun 2010, 17:43

iPhone only has internal memory, so non expandable - available in 16gb & 32gb.

What does the iPhone have that the n97 doesn't? Reliability. A decent app store. Enough memory. Capacitive screen. Customer support*

* the other day somebody I know with an iPhone discovered one of her kids had bought some content (which wasn't locked down within a specific app). Emailed Apple support. Refunded within 24 hours. On a weekend.

And like I said earlier, anything I can't do with my iPhone I can do by remoting in to my laptop via logmein.com

I've just had enough of pulling teeth to get anything done on the crappy n97. I want something that just works. iPhone 4 looks like it fits that requirement...

dez_borders 08 Jun 2010, 18:48

dog-man wrote:I find myself seriously considering getting one of these new iphones.

I wonder how much I would get for my N97 which is in good condition?

Wow! There's going to be nobody left in this forum, due to Android (me) and iPhone deserters.

The "sell my mobile" companies are offering about �150 cash for an N97 at present.

dez_borders 08 Jun 2010, 19:02

davecozens wrote:
What does the iPhone have that the n97 ... Customer support*

The only thing that would worry me is the press/tv coverage saying Apple tech support are overly keen to void the warranty on iPhones if the case is badly scratched (claiming you dropped it) or that the water damage label under the microphone / speaker is showing red (due to a raindrop or sweat from your hand), so Apple say your iPhone is water damaged even tho the main circuitry has no water damage and the internal water damage labels are still white.

Rafe 08 Jun 2010, 19:28

Will miss you Dave 😊 Really enjoyed your widgety goodness - might be worth having a chat with a few people about taking those forward?

ironass 08 Jun 2010, 19:40

dez_borders wrote:Wow! There's going to be nobody left in this forum, due to Android (me) and iPhone deserters.

Gosh! I'm beginning to feel like Little Orphan Annie, all alone, out in the snow, all by myself. :afraid:

As most forum members will know, I have not suffered from lens scratching, GPS signal problems, key lock falling off, unable to answer calls, damaged hardware, slow or freezing software or most of the other myriad problems posted here. I've never even taken it in for repair.

In fact I'm beginning to think that, for a joke, Nokia made one good N97 and I have it. If anyone doesn't believe me, then just check back on my postings.

I'd be a liar if I said that I hadn't looked at other handsets this year. Not because I wasn't happy with the N97 but because of my boredom threshold.

However, as some of you have found, nothing quite has the spec's of the N97 and I found it difficult to find another phone that does what it does.

My boredom has been alleviated by the launch of SPB Shell which is amazing on my handset and along with v21 firmware and Free iSMS have given my N97 a whole new lease of life and interest.

I am by no means a light user of the handset and send 3-4,000 texts a month and use about 1,200 minutes talk plus web browsing, video calling, picture/video taking and email.

I stuck with the N97 through v10, v11, v12 and v20 until finally v21 made it the phone it should have been at launch. Now, coupled with SPB Shell, which IMHO should be on every new Nokia, I have a very reliable, serviceable phone.

Of course I will continue to lambast Nokia for not doubling the RAM and C: memories, a graphics accelerator and a bigger CPU would be handy too, as would a more customer friendly approach.

So guys, and girls, spare a thought for me as you move to other phones and feel free to send food parcels to me, c/o Rafe at AAS... Rafe are you there!... RAFE!!! :ciao:

davecozens 08 Jun 2010, 19:53

Rafe wrote:Will miss you Dave 😊 Really enjoyed your widgety goodness - might be worth having a chat with a few people about taking those forward?

Thanks Rafe. I'll miss here... Liked here better when I had a lovely n95. Mostly since the n97 I've just been complaining - although I had high hopes to start with (so made widgets).

Widgets are just renamed zip files and they're not encrypted or anything, so if anybody fancies picking them up and running with them it's fine by me. Just HTML & javascript. I'll leave the databases and server side bits and bobs up and running and the URLs that are called are all in the code.

Anyway, I can't even pre-order yet so I'm not quite buggered off, and my ego will keep me checking this thread for a few days I'm sure 😉

Generaldread 08 Jun 2010, 21:14

I'm new to the boards I bought my mini 3 months ago and I am pretty happy with it (eventhough I'm still waiting for V11 stupid vodasloom). It does everything I expect from it.

I work at a graphical design agency and I swear that every single designer/hipster that comes in has an Iphone; ''look what app I got itz sup@r blabla'' I did not want to be part of the ''Iphone'' craze I don't want to have a phone which is everywhere and everyone has because the media & Steve says you should.

I just can not stand the hype constanly build around apple products. Even the Dutch news sited run stories on Apple's new Phone... asif thats the only phone brand to release a new model?

Don't get me wrong an Iphone works brilliant (I've even got an ipod touch) but its just to brilliant/clean/perfect for my liking..

Well thats my 2cents..

dez_borders 09 Jun 2010, 06:27

dog-man wrote:Which company seems to pay the most for a N97?

dog-man

Can't remember which one (I used a comparison site like sellmymobile.com) but I was offered �156 at the weekend.
I am trying to get more on fleabay but have a hunch I should have accepted the �156 as there's fees & postage to deduct on fleabay so I could end up with less.

dez_borders 09 Jun 2010, 06:32

ironass wrote:Gosh! I'm beginning to feel like Little Orphan Annie, all alone, out in the snow, all by myself. :afraid:

As most forum members will know, I have not suffered from lens scratching, GPS signal problems, key lock falling off, unable to answer calls, damaged hardware, slow or freezing software or most of the other myriad problems posted here. I've never even taken it in for repair.

In fact I'm beginning to think that, for a joke, Nokia made one good N97 and I have it. If anyone doesn't believe me, then just check back on my postings.

No, you're not alone. Once I had the GPS/Lens-cover repairs done my N97 worked as it should have. I never ever experienced the random crashes etc, that others did - even brfore the warranty repair for GPS/Lens.

However, the simple ability to browse websites without 'out of memory' errors or the web app terminating every few minutes and the amazing speed of the UI (on Android) has changed my mind about Symbian OS based handsets.

matthewrleech 09 Jun 2010, 08:22

I'm really happy with my N97 and I'll be sticking with it until an N8 is in my hands. I wonder if there'll be a keyboarded version...

I'm another heavy user that rarely has any problems with the phone. The great thing about this line of phones (6680/N80/N95/N97 and all in-between) is that software/firmware shortcomings can usually be worked around.

A few weeks ago I did a quick demo to a hardened iPhone3 user. He'd never seen an N97 and isn't a forum follower so didn't have any axe to grind. He was impressed with what he saw, at one point he even said "It's fast isn't it", I didn't expect to hear that!

Anyway, here's a little story:

While on holiday last week my six year old daughter took a photo using my N97 of the rest of our family while in a restaurant. I usually open the lens cover myself and pass the phone to her but on this occasion she beat me to it and left a mighty scratch across the protective glass.

Yesterday I looked up my nearest Nokia Care Point, called them to confirm that the lens cover replacement was a warranty job and dropped the phone off at lunch time. An hour later they called to say it was fixed.

When I collected my phone they asked me to sign for the repair and showed me the faulty part. I was surprised to see that the entire back casing (they called it the "B Cover"😉 has been replaced.

This means that I have a new GPS antenna, lock slide-switch, USB connector, etc. Oh, and of course the lens cover unit in which the slider now quite obviously sits ~1mm higher than the old one. Even the battery now stays in when I remove the battery cover and turn the phone over.

Big thanks to my little girl *hugs*

If anybody reading this has any scratches on their lens cover I'd recommend (highly) getting the B Cover replaced as a matter of urgency before their warranty expires.

Best wishes to all N97 owners and ex- N97 owners!

Rafe 09 Jun 2010, 08:29

I'm still using a N97 mini (I have my N97 classic too - never really had the major issues others described). To be fair I do get to try other handsets on a regular basis so I guess that makes a difference.

ironass - I'll be sure to pass on any food parcels I receive - may have to remove the chocolate - wouldn't want it to melt after alll 😉

There do still seem to be a lot of happy users out there - I guess people switching are the ones most likely to say something. There's some really good stuff coming up (may starting with iPhone 4 and HTC Evo [US]) from multiple manufacturers so I think the second half of the year is going to be even a good one for mobile fans.

fatty5000 09 Jun 2010, 10:16

I think I've just about had all I can take with the dumb ass N97 as well

I am gearing up for the new pie phone.

Just need to see if the numbers add up.

I can't be dealing with the stupid touch screen on this POS much longer.

Unless anyone has a better idea, I think it's time I became an apple asswipe for a year lol

Stuntman 09 Jun 2010, 19:51

It's interesting that when I was going to purchase my first ever smartphone, my friend suggested the iPhone because it was supposed to just work without any fuss. I ended up getting an N97 because of the GPS and QWERTY keyboard. I did have to take some time and effort to get the N97 working in the way that I like. I think it took me over a month. I am quite satisfied with it now.

Not knowing anything about smartphones, I would say that I made the best choice I could have at that time. It wasn't until I actually started to use one that I figured out what I can do with such a device. Had I known then what I know now, I probably would have made a different choice. Hindsight is always 20/20. Still, I am satisfied with my N97 even though there are other options that I could have chosen that probably would make me feel more satsified.

With technology changing so quickly, I think that no matter what I purchased earlier this year, there would be something few months later that I would have rather had. The N97 does pretty much what I want it to do well enough plus a few other things that I discovered over time. I'm sure that a few months after the new iPhone comes out, there will be a newer device that is even better than the iPhone.

Anyway, I'm going to stick with my N97 for a while and will keep those staying with Nokia company here. 😊

bchliu 09 Jun 2010, 22:40

Actually.. I hate to say this..

I've been off the N97 for nearly 2 months now (gave it to my Brother in law) and got the N900 instead. I got so Symbian-sick with the N900 that I ended up purchasing a SE Vivaz in its place. Yes, both are faster and more capable phones, but I am kinda getting N97 urges and miss the actual amount of support that Nokia have given to this phone.

Ask yourselves.. how much has Nokia done for N97 users? Coming out with 3 firmwares in the 12 months of its life so far, free navigation, replacement lens, free software through OVI etc. Now compared back to the amount of support that Samsung and SE have given to their flagship phones (i8910 and SATIO/Vivaz)?? No Kinetic scrolling (i8910 only recently got it and SE still without).. No "Free" navigation, No good freebie software etc? You can Argue that Nokia has done all this to fix up their mistakes, but at least they are admitting to it and fixing it where appropriate. If it wasnt for the homebrew "cooked" roms, the Samsung i8910 would have died just as badly and SATIO users cry that Vivaz is getting more support.

Even compared to the N900, I have to say, Nokia still paid more attention to the N97 as their official flagship phone. Yes, the N900 was out later but to date, they still havent paid much attention at delivering 3.03/3.04 free navigating Maps, they havent got a full Office suite up as yet and OVI is still a mess on it. Realistically, only the Maemo community keeps this phone alive as it is with exciting prospects of its true potential.

Must give them credit where its due. My hat is off to N97 despite its flaws and underpowered nature in comparison to the competitors. What it lacks in hardware is the bit more love and attention from its parent.