Nokia N97 user reviews (black, unlocked)

5.0 stars

"Just keeps getting better." on July 24, 2009 by foodus99

Pros: Wi-fi, FM Radio and Transmitter, 3.5mm Audio Jack, 32GB of Storage, Physical Keyboard, Solid Build quality, great looking screen, great 5MP camera with dual LED Flash. Run applications in background. Customizable ringtones!

Cons: Keys on keyboard take getting used to. Auto-correct for texting is awkward. Occasional lag on internet pages.

Summary: I went from a 16GB iPhone 3G to this phone and let me tell you, its a huge improvement. The main thing that really angered me with the iPhone was the restriction of everything with that phone. The camera, terrible. iPhone's camera should be quite close to the same thing I'd give an infant as a digital camera. Not to mention the quality was abhorrent.

I wanted a new text ringtone, but no, not possible (iPhone fanboys, quiet, I don't want to jailbreak my phone, shouldn't have to).
Also, I want to make one of my songs a ringtone, but no, I either pay 99 cents or go through some absurd work around in itunes.

Now with the N97 I can do all of that and more. Plus I've found a program that allows me to sync my itunes library with the N97. Effectively replacing the Mp3 player function the iPhone had.

Enough iPhone bashing though. As the n97 still isn't completely perfect. It has what may one day be similar to the App Store, but right now the Ovi store is a bit of a joke. (Doesn't bother me because the apps feel like a big gimmick anyways). The phone comes with everything on it that I need.
The internet browser is sufficient, though feels slow at times (flash heavy sites). I have a feeling that will be addressed in the next firmware update. Which brings me to my next point. The firmware updates do wonders for this phone. I used the phone for a day with the original firmware and was disappointed with some rather stupid glitches, but after the one update they had available the device improved ten-fold in many areas. Overall speed with navigation and other tasks work perfectly now. It's also nice to see that Nokia puts out these updates somewhat frequently and allows users to submit changes they want made. Nokia is putting forth a lot of effort into making this phone very successful.

As for the price, with a little bit of hunting, this device can be picked up for $470-$530 unlocked. People may see this as high, but lets take into consideration the prices of similar unlocked phones (32GB iPhone 3GS - $700-$800 on ebay).

Overall, I'm happy to have this phone instead of the iPhone or anything else. The pros I mentioned above are great and the mp3 player function (which is why I bought the iPhone a year ago) is great. Sound quality sounds the same as before (which is great) and the 32GB of storage is especially great.