Nokia N97 Video Review

Nokia N97

Introduction

What a year it has been for premier smartphone releases! Nokia’s flagship N97 is just another example of the devices we’re seeing hit the market. We say devices, as Nokia’s new N97 is being heralded as a ‘mobile computer’ by the company, and since it has been a long time between drinks for the world’s leading mobile phone manufacturer with hero handsets, we were very keen to see what the N97 can do.

It was almost 18 months ago since Nokia released the N96, together with the advancements other smartphone manufacturers are making, we feel that Nokia will have a huge fight on their hands to remain competitive. Of course the N97 will be popular just because it’s a Nokia (sad but true), but will it be justified and popular?.

Physical Aspects

Housed in a mostly plastic encasement, the N97 looks reasonably stylish and is currently available in either Black or White. When it comes to size, the handset measures 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm and weighs in at 150 grams, which makes it a slightly larger, and weightier phone than a Sony Satio, for instance.

The addition of a touchscreen and a full QWERTY keyboard to the N97, is a welcome addition to the N-series, although well overdue. The QWERTY keyboard slides out sideways and although opening quite abruptly, the action is smoother when you close it. As for the 3.5 inch 640 x 360 pixel resistive touchscreen, it’s bright and crisp.

At both ends of the handset you will find speakers, which produces great stereo sound. You will also find a microSD slot on one side, a 3.5mm earphone jack connection on the top and a slider button which unlocks the screen, along with a power button on the other side. Not to forget, it also has a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens, and double LED flash with a slide cover, that actually cleans off particles as it closes.

Multimedia

Perhaps one of the best attributes the N97 brings to the table, is its audio quality and music player. With loud volume output, equalizer and sound effect options, together with the greatly improved noise levels and frequency response, we were left very pleasantly surprised.

Wish we could have said the same about the Video Recorder/Player. For a start, it lacks DivX/XviD support, and although the large screen and image quality were adequate, the features seemed to be very limited. For instance, you are only able to watch a video in landscape mode, but video capture is available at VGA@30gps which results in creating slightly better than average footage, with decent colours and contrast.

Nokia increased the battery power in the N97, by providing a 1500 mAh Li-lon battery, that can handle up to 9-1/2 hours of talk time, 432 hours of standby time in 2G and 6 hours of talk time and 408 hours of standby in 3G, as well as up to 40 hours of music play.

As discussed earlier, the N97 is equipped with a built-in, 5 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and Carl Zeiss lens which produces some terrific images. There is a variety of shooting modes which include eight scene settings. While it lacks many features found in modern camera phones, such as face, blink and smile detection, surprisingly, geo-tagging has been included.

User Interface

There seems to be very little improvement made on the N97's interface compared to the Nokia 5800, which was well known for its tablet design. The interface lacks dynamic appeal, and aside from the inclusion of a touchscreen and widgets, it seems fairly straight forward, especially when comparing it to other mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone 3G/3GS and HTC Touch Diamond 2.

Nokia decided to use the Symbian S60 5th Edition Operating System that is basically designed for touchscreen technology, and is also the same OS found on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. The touch interface and new home screen feature, will provide some entertainment as it gives you the option of having up to 5 widgets, which can be customised or removed, and are activated (or deactivated) by sweeping your finger across the screen. All in all nothing earth shattering but useful nonetheless.

Conclusion

Test it, Try it, Buy it! Well, that’s entirely up to you. However if you love Nokia, then the Nokia N97 is for you. After all, it is the flagship handset of Nokia, right? Ok then, if you want the BEST camera feature, or BEST video recoding feature or practically any other feature.... then there are other smartphones out there offering more. You see, exorbitant price tag aside, the Nokia N97 is a great mobile phone, packed full of features and a great companion for anyone, although, we find it slightly out-dated. p>