Nokia Announces N97 “Yet Another iPhone Killer”?
Is this enough to up Nokia’s game in a post-iPhone world? Probably not, though it looks solid enough and will no doubt have the pundits punting “iPhone Killer” all over again (really, didn’t the Storm teach them anything?) Engadget has the video (above) and the stats, which are admittedly drool worthy:
3.5-inch, 640 x 360 pixel … resistive touchscreen display with tactile feedback … QWERTY keyboard [slider] … HSDPA, WiFi, and Bluetooth radios, A-GPS, a 3.5-mm headjack, 32GB of onboard memory with microSD expansion (for up to 48GB total capacity), and a battery capable of up to 1.5 days of continuous audio playback or 4.5-hours video. 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss glass and “DVD quality” video capture at 30fps, too.
The hardware certainly reads — and looks — impressive but the UI isn’t exactly bowling us over. While Nokia is calling it the “world’s most advanced mobile computer”, we’re not sure its Symbian guts are quite up to Mobile OS X level computing yet (though InfoSyncWorld thinks HTC may have a lot to worry about).
What do you think? iPhone Killer, or just another wannabe? And by June 2009 (likely shipping date for the n97), could Steve Jobs already be on the WWDC stage dropping the iPhone HD bomb?!
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:59 am
If this phone had the app store I’d jump ship in a second. Dvd quality video capture, wow.
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:59 am
apple needs to fix 3g first b4 releasing a new iphone hd. its not fair for the 8million 3g users who just bought their phones. Apple were not millionaires and your phone sucks.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:12 am
About time to trash my money burner Iphone 3g I hope Nokia hooks up with verizon for this new device. Base on the specs, iphone 3g is a garbage compared to N7. Well, iphon HD is coming anyway but cant afford to spend another $700. just bought my frustrating 3g last 11/08 besides have had enough of Apple’s marketing gimmick. Telease an incomplete phone, Upgrade with new incompetent version, release a replacement phone.. enough. Apple you suck. your worse than dracula.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:24 am
What’s really new here? Nokia is well known for throwing every piece of hardware plus the kitchen sink into their N series handsets. So now they use the Ovi icons on the menu? Big deal. The main question is how well do they integrate all of these impressive goodies? That’s been Nokia’s shortcoming despite their ability to build a quality product.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:28 am
On paper this is another impressive N Series phone, but putting Carl Zeiss lens, tons of Gigs etc on a mobile device is quite simple nowadays, everybody can do it. Problem is, they don’t bring any value to the market, they don’t innovate, period.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:29 am
@phsgigolo
Where are you getting 700$ from? the best iPhone right now is 299$.
The hardware specs on this looks pretty tasty, but so do the other clones. The newest iPhone will be out around the same time this comes out as well. and that’s 3rd gen, time enough to work out all the Kinks that it has had.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:31 am
Iphone HD? Are you insane. So we have to trash our 3g and spend more money on this new hardware. 3g just barely came out un-bake Apple has to fix this one first and make it a usable phone so we, the apple fanatics, have nothing to be sorry about investing in this buggy incomplete phone.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:33 am
Why does this look just like one of those HTC phones like the Xperia X1 or the.. whatever the real name of the AT&T Tilt is? (The SonyEricsson X1 is made by HTC and rebranded with sony stuff.)
Yes, very innovative….
(I’m being a little sarcastic.)
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:34 am
iphone milk i think gigolo says $700 for iphone HD.
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:54 am
Im hoping that Steve Job stops using us to enrich himself and his cronies. A new marketing ploy is in the brew and i can smell it already. Please, papa Steve, fix the 3g first before you release the iphone HD. The economy is in recession and we cant afford to spend another several hundred $$ on yournew gadget. Most of us just barely bought your 3g toy. Im hoping also that youll fix our frustration with this TOY.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:03 am
@ernest2da
iPhone 3G works fine. It’s still my guess that it’s AT&T’s network that just can’t handle the load of millions of new iPhone’s hitting the 3G towers. The only way Apple could really fix that is turning off 3G in the US, and that’s not really a solution, is it?
Hopefully AT&T will get their system beefed up. Or am I crazy and people in Canada and Europe are having iPhone 3G problems that they don’t have on other 3G units?
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:19 am
Well gotta love the Nokia N967 hardware/specs, but you can see that the UI is not a patch on the usability of beauty of the iPhone’s UI.
Saying that, the iPhone most certainly is no mobile computer!! and not nearly as usable as the nokia in terms of mobile computing. If the next iPhone is allowed to link to portable bluetooth keyboards, we might get somewhere though eh?
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:37 am
have had enough of my iphone. driving me crszy. I bought a 16G white last September 21 and barely use it. If anyone intetested buying this phone, ill sell it for $200. Pls e-mail me if your interested. Buying VIRGIN mobile at BestBuy.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:44 am
Originally owned an 8g but its defective. Change it to 16g so i have to pay $100 more + tax + re-stocking fee. phone is well takrn care of with clear case, leather case, like brand new. Contact me if inyerested to see before buying it.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:44 am
say i got my iphone 3g this past sept and the new iphone hd comes out around july … if i wait until sept you think ill be able to upgrade to the new hd (or w.e comes out) for a reasonable price?
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:47 am
the $200 asking price will be use to pay ATT early termination fee of $175 and $9 for the Virgin Mobile phone at Bestbuy.
December 2nd, 2008 at 11:55 am
@phsgigolo:
Why would anyone pay $200 for your phone that has problems when they can get a brand new one for $200 that works great (That is if they use it straight out of the box and not jailwreck it, drop it, use it as a hammer, or whatever the h*ll you’ve been doing with it)?
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I really don’t understand why everyone cries about getting a new iPhone. When 3g came out I sold my 1st gen for 350 and bought it for 200 making a profit! And since AT&T allows already iPhone users to get upgraded price same thing can be done! I couldn’t live w/o my iPhone an it’s 10X better than any “killer” ever thought about. Better camera an video and I’m set for life.
December 2nd, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Wow you can Pause videos? :O
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Yawn… Wake me up when there is exciting news, like the Canadian Prime Minister is going to be over thrown by a coalition government……. WAIT, that is going to happen!!!
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:02 pm
I’m guessing the physical QWERTY is there because they couldn’t work out how to shoehorn a decent virtual keyboard into the hybrid, a bit of the past, a bit of the future UI. The N97 is just another two-hands-required phone, with a tweaked, more stylish but still menu drive UI, which in my book barely makes it an iPhone competitor at all.
December 2nd, 2008 at 5:03 pm
@ Dionte
I agree with you man. This phone looks great. I wouldn’t switch though, I’d just buy it and use it as my secondary phone or primary depending on how it suits my needs.
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:44 pm
might give it a try and compare it to iphone and decide later if it is really worth teplacing my iphone. if not then i’ll just return it. who knows it might be better than 3g.
December 3rd, 2008 at 6:53 am
Does it have the worlds best iPod? Nope. Desktop class email & browsing? Nope. Is it anywhere near the ease of use of the iPhone? Nope. Fail
December 7th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Stop blaming AT&T for iphone 3G issues. I sold my iphone to a buddy and went to the blackberry bold. The 3G works fine and the battery actually lasts a full workday. Besides, I still ave not heard anyone explain why iphone’s camera is **** and it cannot even capture video. I predict the N97 with a qwerty keyboard will do very well next year. It will probably even get picked up by AT&T or TMO. I will look at it. Yes the iphone is cool but why do you fanboys settle for what jobs is willing to give you. The iphone could be so much better if jobs wanted.
December 7th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
As a follow up to my above mail my buddy just emailed me and said he loves the iphone but the battery life is horrible!
May 29th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
your blog is quite nice!