Why is everybody dissing the Nokia N97?

When the official price of the Nokia N97 was finally announced, I was glad that it was way lower than my guesstimate. Having sold my Nokia 5800, I was preparing to buy the N97 and do a full review until I read all the other earlier reviews. I wondered why all the top tech blogs gave the Nokia N97 a thumbs down?

I’ve tried using the phone for a short while a couple of weeks back but held off doing a first impression since I was planning to buy one anyway. Then the early reviews came out:

Nokia N97 Review: Nokia Is Doomed

Nokia has to know where it stands. At least, assuming somebody actually used the N97 before it went out the door.

Symbian S60 5th Edition only makes sense if it’s a stopgap keeping Nokia in the game (barely) until they put out an actual next-generation OS, just like the underwhelming Windows Mobile 6.5 will do for Microsoft. I’m really hoping for a complete rebuild of Symbian. I am not expecting Nokia to turn to an entirely different OS from a certain Goo-ey company despite recent (and retarded) rumors. Nokia is married to Symbian for the long haul—after all, they paid nearly half a billion dollars for it.

That’s the only way I can fathom them releasing something this unusable into a world populated by the iPhone, Palm Pre, Android and BlackBerry. If this really is the best Nokia can do, the giant is doomed to die a slow death, propped up for a while by the cheap handsets that it sells by the tens of millions. – Gizmodo

Nokia N97 – So Close, Yet So Very, Very Far.

I could go on and on about the N97 – but there’s no point, and no way to do so without seeming unnecessarily harsh. Nearly every element of the phone has one glaring fault that just kills it for me. A nasty lag here, an odd interface choice there. Even down to the media functionality: it’s as basic as can be (we had no trouble with audio files, but we had a hell of a time finding videos that would play on it), but the built in speakers make even your favorite songs sound like they’re being played through a cat. Nokia makes a valiant effort to cram everything into this phone, but doesn’t pull a damned thing off perfectly.

S60 has seemed as if it was on its last limb for some time now; with other interfaces now swooping in for the kill, it’s really dragging down Nokia’s efforts. It may be one of the most popular platforms in the world, but that doesn’t mean its one of the best. Sorry, S60 – it’s game over. – TechCrunch / MobileCrunch

Nokia N97 Review

Nokia tried really hard here, but to be honest, speaking from my personal opinion, the second I saw the N97 announcement I skipped right over it in my head. I’m the biggest N95-4 fan you’ll find — but S60 5th Edition with a resistive screen, horrible keyboard and horrible navigational buttons? No thank you. The problem with the Nokia N97 is — and please don’t take this the wrong way — that this exact phone could have been launched 2 years ago and no one would have blinked. What other phone can you take out of it’s current place, drop back two years, and have no one question where it came from? Take the Palm Pre for better or worse, and bring it back to 2007. People would have heart attacks. What about the iPhone? Well, you know how that turned out. BlackBerry Storm? People would have broken through glass to get it. But, no one really would care about the N97 and that, besides not being a device we enjoyed using, is the larger issue. Nokia has lost its place in the sun when looking at the consumer smartphone market and until they get back on track, RIM, Apple, Windows Mobile, Palm and Android are going to continue eating more and more of their lunch. – Boy Genius Report

Nokia N97 Review: A Tale of Two Bloggers

I had genuinely hoped for the N97 to be my new smartphone. I’m sorry to say that my bitter disappointment echoes the depths of my surprise. I’m sure long time S60 users will feel right at home with the N97 and the hardware certainly won’t disappoint consumers whose purchase decision consists solely of ticking off boxes on a spec-sheet; unfortunately, I’m neither of these. Chris, as you know I’m a man with a taste for elegance: I like my wig powdered, my wine poured through a sieve, and only the choicest of Carolina tobaccos. Clearly, I’m also an aged man by comparison, but it is you sir who is living in the past. You can reminisce all you want about the glory days of Symbian. Misguided allegiance to S60 is in the end simply misguided — and if that allegiance tempts you into handing over $700PHP 41,080INR 59,325EUR 667CNY 5,095 for the unsubsidized N97 in the US then you’re just a fool. In fact, maybe you should grab a RAZR and give Motorola’s former CEO Ed Zander a call. I’m sure he’d love to reminisce about staying the course in the face of innovative competitors and dwindling marketshare. – Engadget

I have yet to read a positive review of the Nokia N97 so I held off on the Php34,000USD 579INR 49,116EUR 552CNY 4,219 purchase. Come to think of it, the N97 is supposed to be the better sibling of the Nokia 5800 because of the QWERTY keypad and faster processor but it looks like nobody bought into it.

There are several factors IMHO that resulted to such underwhelming reviews:

• It looks like the S60 platform is to be blamed. Compared to the Android OS, iPhone 3.0 OS and the Palm WebOS, the S60 pales in comparison. If hardware is king, then the OS is queen.
• The price may have played a role. The Nokia 5800 price was a sweet spot so people forgave its shortcomings. The Nokia N97 was priced at the same level as the iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre and HTC Magic so people will definitely compare them. Add to that the fact that Nokia doesn’t have subscription deals with US telcos, a $700PHP 41,080INR 59,325EUR 667CNY 5,095 N97 will obviously look very expensive compared to a $199PHP 11,678INR 16,865EUR 190CNY 1,448 iPhone 3GS/Palm Pre.
• Very high expectations from a market leader. Nokia is undoubtedly the biggest player globally, so if the N97 is the best they can do for a flagship smartphone, people will certainly shake their head in disappointment. If it was, say, Motorola or some small player, I think the slant would have been a little different.

I think Nokia is in a bit of a disadvantage because of their market position. It’s still too early to tell. Maybe they can do better with the N98 or the N99?