The UK Mobile Phone Blog

Nokia N97 Review: Part 1 - Design & Usability

May 20, 2009 at 9:48 am by Dan | In Coming Soon Handsets, Mobile News, Mobile Phone Reviews, Mobile Phones

As promised, we’ve put the Nokia N97 thoroughly through its paces so you know exactly what’s what with Nokia’s new touchscreen phone. So much so, that we’ve decided to break the review up into three parts so we don’t miss a thing! Read on for part one and our take on the design and usability of the N97.

It is perhaps an understatement to say that people are eagerly anticipating the release of the Nokia N97. Since it was first announced in December of last year, not even Nokia themselves could have predicted how much interest it would attract. One of the main reasons the N97 has attracted such a huge following is that it is a touchscreen mobile phone. But not an internet tablet like Nokia used to be so fond of or even a member of the music centric XpressMusic range; this is an Nseries touchscreen (the first ever) and so carries a certain weight of expectation with it. The Nseries badge after all is reserved for Nokia’s flag ship phones. As such the design of the N97 is very much centered on the touchscreen. The front of the phone is dominated by the 3.5 inch display with physical buttons kept to a minimum. Below the touchscreen we find the call answer and end buttons which are touch sensitive and a physical menu button. On the left hand side is the touchscreen lock key and micro USB port (the phone charges through this and does away with the traditional Nokia connection) and on the right we find the camera capture button and the zoom buttons. On top sits the standby button and the 3.5mm jack and the back continues the minimalist theme with a nice plastic lens cover for the camera and a solitary Nokia Nseries logo.

The touchscreen is surrounded by a classy silver metallic strip which hints at what lurks inside; the touchscreen slides up (Xperia X1 style) to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. Sliding the screen up automatically switches the orientation of the screen to landscape and the keyboard itself is nicely spaced out with ample room for even the biggest fingers and for those feeling confident you can combine QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen navigation for fast and fluid access. Though the N97 design is a little understated (as is the case with the majority of touchscreen phones where the display is the most important part), the minimalist style ticks all the right boxes and the excellent build quality proves what a high class handset the N97 really is.

The N97 features a 3.5 inch touchscreen display, exactly the same length as that found on the iPhone 3G though slightly narrower. The touchscreen supports up to 16m colours which is a real feast for the eyes when combined with the ample size, whilst it uses resistive technology meaning it reacts to applied pressure rather than heat so you’re not just restricted to using your fingers, good news for those fond of using a stylus. The sensitivity of the touchscreen is excellent; the N97 is accurate enough to easily detect when an icon has been selected and swiping through pictures in the photo gallery (as made famous on the iPhone) is responsive and user friendly. The excellent touchscreen combined with the familiar Nokia interface means you’ll be navigating like a pro in no time. In terms of additional features, the N97 features handwriting recognition along with a handwriting trainer so you can set up the phone to match your style of writing. Also, in addition to the obligatory accelerometer (for rotating the screen) the N97 also features a proximity sensor which turns the display off when the phone is held to your ear in a call which helps to conserve battery. All in all a well rounded touchscreen that has enough pulling power to get your attention in a market that is hardly short of competitors.

The N97 runs on the Symbian operating system, specifically v9.4, series 60 release 5 (for those of you who take an interest in which version you’re running), which is the same touch sensitive interface employed on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and the recently released Samsung i8910 HD. For those people new to touchscreens, the N97 makes perfect sense as it gives you that familiar Nokia interface with all your applications exactly where you’d expect them to be. What does change with the N97 is the home screen. Whilst still fully customisable so you can just opt for the traditional Symbian lay out, the N97 allows you to add interactive widgets that sit on the home screen. These include applications like weather updates, your favourite contacts from your address book and a Facebook shortcut which is sure to be the most popular widget available at launch. The Facebook shortcut lets you sign in from your home screen and will then alert you to messages, pokes and tags just as if you were sitting at your PC. The fact that you can set this to run in the back ground is perfect for Facebook fans who don’t want to have to constantly log in to keep in touch. The launch of the N97 is also set to coincide with the launch of the Ovi store, Nokia’s take on the iPhone 3G and its App store. Our sample included a shortcut to the Ovi store which, once it has officially opened its virtual doors, will offer a variety of applications and services (both paid and free) that can be downloaded and installed directly on the phone. Whilst we can’t comment until the Ovi store is actually up and running, we’re certainly excited at the prospect.

Check back on the Blog tomorrow for the second installment of our Nokia N97 review as we check out what makes the N97 tick in our thorough review of the web and multimedia features.

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