Nokia N97

Davy

eireal wrote: »

Anyways i bought one from clove,but there not shipping them untill thursday due to whatever constraint has been put on them by nokia,although i dunno how expansys are getting away with it

They may be get a whipping yet

Thor

is there anywhere in dublin that have a black n97 in stock

phonesonline.ie said they have them but were not allowed to sell it till the tuesday and now there website says due the 25.

really wanted to get this tomorrow.

so anyone no anywhere selling the n97.

my god hearing everyone here talking about it is killing me.

MunsterCycling

eireal wrote: »

I had the same problem re vat with expansys.I rang them quoting the price via the uk website and then pointed out that the vat can only be removed at the checkout from the irish site.

They told me they have to charge the vat and then i reclaim it myself,never had this problem with buying from the uk before though.

Anyways i bought one from clove,but there not shipping them untill thursday due to whatever constraint has been put on them by nokia,although i dunno how expansys are getting away with it

They have to charge Irish VAT as they do too much business here.

MC

coghlac3

I know the feeling!! I've been tracking this phone since January, and won't be gettin in til Wednesday week, as a friend is gonna pick up a white on for me from Nokia store in London. AFAIK that's the only way of gettin a white one now! My patience was really tested today when the protective cases I had ordered off fleabay arrived today. I keep looking at the case, empty, longing!

How sad am I?:mad:

Thor

hey coghlac3 just to let you know, fmmobiles on camden street have 2 white ones in stock.

coghlac3

NO WAY! Major dilema now, do I wait nine days and save €100 or get the phone tomorrow. I remember when a thought like that wouldn't cost me a penny and i'd be off to camden street in the morn.

Thanks (I think :rolleyes:) for the heads up!!

Thor

depends when you think about it.

its around 499 pound which comes to just under 600 euro and its 680 in camden street.

whats 80 for nine days of enjoyment.

coghlac3

Thor wrote: »

whats 80 for nine days of enjoyment.

Dare I mention the "R" word... God, it's like the eternal struggle now. And I'm only workin in Smithfield, could easily run over and get it!!!!

Thor, I'm still undecided whether I'm happy you told me or not! Thanks man.

vibe666

coghlac3 wrote: »

How sad am I?:mad:

approximately as sad as the rest of us, just sans n97.


don't worry, it'll soon be time.

okay, so what have i done with it so far?

well, i took all my 'live' widgets off cos it was draining the battery and using up bandwidth, which when it wasn't wifi was costing me (only got 250mb per month atm from o2).

have 2 rows of commonly used apps, 2 rows of most commonly contacted mates and the calendar (which i would have prefered to have been able to use two spaces on the home screen if required, bit of a bummer, but hardly a deal breaker.

to pretty (or ugly depending on your pov) the home screen up, i've gone through pics from past and present of said 8 mates and added pics for them so i get to see their ugly mugs when i want to call them. liking the full screen caller pic and the faded contact details and pic when in a call, looks nice and pretty.

installed some beta apps from nokia like the nokia photo browser app that gives you an interface like the cooliris plugin for firefox and a cool touch zoom 'bubble' when looking at pics close up (there's a video on the beta labs site HERE showing you what i mean). the link works on the n97 too, it's a mobile site so you can install stuff right on the phone whilst browsing.

energy pro is another app that i installed which tells me how much power i'm using and can plot graphs of power usage which will tell you what you're up to.

it also tells me i've used 75mb of 3g data since i got the phone which is something i might want to keep an eye out for.

sms preview is handy if you want to see what a text is without opening up the phone and clicking aroun to read it, it just pops up the message on your locked screen for a pre-defined time periood so you can check if it's worth opening the phone or not.

other than that, fring is handy for all your IM needs, then you have the usual slew of barcode readers, phone torch, google maps, gmail, sports tracker, opera mini, aft, cabbage, qik, etc.

mobius42

The reviews of the N97 haven't been great. Hardware is good, like all Nokias, but the software is a total letdown. I used Symbian before and swore I'd never use it again and I'm disappointed to see that nothing has changed. I am amazed that Nokia cannot get their act together on this. I saw a few videos on Engadget and I couldn't believe that that's the software they're putting on a €600 phone. That email application is a joke! I think it was summed up best by this:

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.

I don't think that Nokia have quite got the idea that phones are all about software; the iPhone proved this. The original iPhone's hardware was pretty poor but the software made up for it, same for the 3G. It didn't even have video until recently (!) but the rest of the software worked so well that people could put up with it. The Palm Pre's hardware is also pretty bad, but the software is ground-breaking enough to make people overlook this. The G1 and G2 are also bad hardware-wise (they don't have a headphone jack!), yet Android is enough to get people to buy one.

I get the feeling that if you like S60 then you'll like this but it certainly won't convince anyone who is using a different OS.

vibe666

sorry, but that doesn't even remotely sum it up.

comparing s60 v5 to older versions like s60 v3 on the n95 is like comparing windows xp to windows 95. there's a huge difference between the two and v5 has been working very well for me considering it's pretty much brand new aside from on the 5800.

i find it fast, intuitive and easy to use. what's not to like?

sure there's a few little quirks and bugs here and there that will no doubt need a firmware update or two to sort out, but overall i'm very impressed.

meanwhile over at the iphone tent, the isheep are all having wet dreams because they can finally use copy/paste and send mms. :rolleyes:

i assume you're just completely ignoring the fact that the n95 uses s60 v3 and is the most popular phone on the planet aside from the iphone?

mobius42

vibe666 wrote: »

sorry, but that doesn't even remotely sum it up.

comparing s60 v5 to older versions like s60 v3 on the n95 is like comparing windows xp to windows 95. there's a huge difference between the two and v5 has been working very well for me considering it's pretty much brand new aside from on the 5800.

i find it fast, intuitive and easy to use. what's not to like?

Check out the 2nd video on this article: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/22/nokia-n97-review-a-tale-of-two-bloggers

Stuff like that shows that Nokia really haven't made much effort in adapting the software for a touchscreen. It still relies too heavily on option keys and menus and sub-menus, a holdover from their previous phones. A lot of the functions are very non-intuitive, the email program in particular. The text selection is clunky and frustrating. Yes, this is a new version compared to previous S60 phones, but fundamentally, nothing has changed. This is like my old phone, just with a new skin and widgets. I'm just disappointed that Nokia, the largest phone maker in the world can't make decent smartphone software.

vibe666 wrote: »

meanwhile over at the iphone tent, the isheep are all having wet dreams because they can finally use copy/paste and send mms. :rolleyes:

It may have taken them 2 years but they have done copy and paste on a touchscreen right. It can select a wide variety of content intuitively and with no hunting through sub-menus. What good is having a function if it is frustrating to use?

vibe666 wrote: »

i assume you're just completely ignoring the fact that the n95 uses s60 v3 and is the most popular phone on the planet aside from the iphone?

Yes, because this is about the N97 not the N95. Toyotas are much more popular than the Bugatti Veyron, but that doesn't mean anything about which is better. I don't want this to be an Iphone vs everyone else discussion, I mentioned it as an example of well thought out software, something that Nokia seems to lack. Also, I doubt this phone will sell half as well as the N95. With the N95 Nokia was in familiar territory and they pulled it off so well because the N95 is the type of phone that Nokia excel at. They just can't seem to find their feet when it comes to touchscreens and like it or not, that's where the phone industry is moving.

Davy

Nothing has to be touchscreen, its about whats best for the user. Having touchscreen doesn't necessarily make things faster even if their was no sub menus.

I think the s60 5th is the best so far. Its extremely responsive to controls. I like the blend of buttons and touscreen as i mentioned before. In landscape mode, i think the d-pad is much better for browsing than using the screen. I don't have to readjust my hands, its much quicker, and don't have to wait for the page to fully load.

When you said it wont convince anyone not using S os, leaving the iphone aside what OS are you referring?

DRice

Davy wrote: »

I find it nice, bit strange at the start now i find it perfect for texting,email and browsing. I dont know why anyone complains about the space being to on side, its much better over to one side, has my right tumb is the main for tying its perfect.

Some reviews also give out about the d-pad, but its very usual full for browsing, can scroll pages fast in landscape mode, quicker then having to move using the touchscreen.

Landscape is much better overall then portrait imo. For texting, being quicker, nicer hold and feel. Your two fingers rest on the slide mechanism at the back.

Would you describe the phone overall as easier or harder, slower or quicker than a standard old school style phone for texting?

vibe666

mobius42 wrote: »

Check out the 2nd video on this article: http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/22/nokia-n97-review-a-tale-of-two-bloggers

Stuff like that shows that Nokia really haven't made much effort in adapting the software for a touchscreen.

no, all stuff like that shows you is that any dimwit can have a career as a technology critic. anyone who has had an n97 for more than an hour will tell you that he has gone out of his way to misuse the UI to try and make it look like he has an argument. from watching that video i'd highly recommend the reviewer take the SIM out of the n97 and put it back in his iphone where he very obviously got it from.

mobius42 wrote: »

It still relies too heavily on option keys and menus and sub-menus, a holdover from their previous phones. A lot of the functions are very non-intuitive, the email program in particular. The text selection is clunky and frustrating. Yes, this is a new version compared to previous S60 phones, but fundamentally, nothing has changed. This is like my old phone, just with a new skin and widgets. I'm just disappointed that Nokia, the largest phone maker in the world can't make decent smartphone software.

relying on a review by someone who very obviously doesn't WANT to like the n97 is a bit of a blinkered attitude to take imho. there's a lot to like about the UI and a LOT has changed, trust me.

mobius42 wrote: »

It may have taken them 2 years but they have done copy and paste on a touchscreen right. It can select a wide variety of content intuitively and with no hunting through sub-menus. What good is having a function if it is frustrating to use?

yes, it took them two freaking years to implement copy/paste in the iphone. the n97 has been out a week and it's already one up on that, even if it's not perfectly implemented at this stage, by your reckoning they've got 2 years to sort it out.

mobius42 wrote: »

Yes, because this is about the N97 not the N95. Toyotas are much more popular than the Bugatti Veyron, but that doesn't mean anything about which is better. I don't want this to be an Iphone vs everyone else discussion, I mentioned it as an example of well thought out software, something that Nokia seems to lack. Also, I doubt this phone will sell half as well as the N95.

my point being that you were saying symbian was crap, but v3 is the OS on the n95 which was a groundbreaking phone.

nokia has taken what was great about the n95 and have added a huge amount to it. no, it's not perfect, but it's still an amazing piece of technology and a very solid foundation for nokia to build on to improve on it, and having owned one for almost a week now and used some of the beta apps that are in development i can see where things are going and i'm very impressed and more than satisfied with my investment.

i would highly recommend that you actually try one before you believe everything some hack on the internet has to say about it when he very obviously has no business being in that job.

EDIT: yes, maybe it's just fanboyism because i spent over €600 on it and i NEED it to be good, but i honestly think "hand on heart" that it IS a great phone and I can see it being (a couple of firmware updates down the line) a phenomenal phone.

mobius42

Davy wrote: »

Nothing has to be touchscreen, its about whats best for the user. Having touchscreen doesn't necessarily make things faster even if their was no sub menus.

I agree. My point was that Nokia can't seem to be able to adapt their software to touchscreens very effectively.

Davy wrote: »

When you said it wont convince anyone not using S os, leaving the iphone aside what OS are you referring?

Any of the other smartphone OSs. I've used Blackberries, Android and iPhone and I can't see anything in S60 that would convince me to switch.

vibe666

mobius42 wrote: »

I agree. My point was that Nokia can't seem to be able to adapt their software to touchscreens very effectively.

they've a lot of catching up to do, give them some time.

one thing that was true (actually the only thing) in that video review was that the copy/paste thing is a bit of a bitch. nokia seem to have decided it's not a feature that was required. there's nothing in the manual about anything other than doing it via the menu and there's actually some posts in the nokia forums complaining about it already. seems like nokia have actually been phasing out the shortcut keys and the 'pencil' key just when apple have finally managed to include it.

doesn't make a huge amount of sense to me tbh.

mobius42

vibe666 wrote: »

no, all stuff like that shows you is that any dimwit can have a career as a technology critic. anyone who has had an n97 for more than an hour will tell you that he has gone out of his way to misuse the UI to try and make it look like he has an argument.

snip

i would highly recommend that you actually try one before you believe everything some hack on the internet has to say about it when he very obviously has no business being in that job.

EDIT: yes, maybe it's just fanboyism because i spent over €600 on it and i NEED it to be good, but i honestly think "hand on heart" that it IS a great phone and I can see it being a couple of firmware updates down the line a phenomenal phone.

Okay, I've obviously touched a nerve here, but it's just my opinion. I don't think S60 is completely crap, I just think that Nokia still haven't adapted it sufficiently to a touchscreen based phone.

My main gripe with S60 is not what it can or can't do, it's how it does it. Yes, S60 could copy and paste and tether and so on, for years before other phones. It's just that the features weren't that easy to use, so you ended up not bothering. On my previous S60 phone, I could tether and copy and paste, but I never used them because they were unintuitive and clunky.

Nokia just list a load of features that they think consumers want and then tick them off once the phone can do them; they seem to give little thought to how effective their implementation is. They've just shoehorned touch controls into their existing OS. Also, while that video was exaggerated, it does show my point about some of the failings of S60. Nokia have a lot of work to do.

I also think that €600 is way too expensive for this calibre of an OS.

EDIT: vibe, you posted while I was typing! I was wondering where that pencil key went; that was a good bit easier than their current implementation.

vibe666

as far as tethering goes, i've used it a lot on the n80 and then the n95 after that (and a 6230i and a 6300 too) over both BT and USB and never had any issues with it (and a €500 phone bill to prove it), BUT you don't even need to use that any more with the n97 as there is an app (yes, there's an app for that! ) to make your n97 a fully fledged wifi AP, so you can just turn that on and any wifi capable devices can use it the same way as any other access point. it takes 2 minutes to configure and a couple of seconds to turn it on/off after that any time you want to give internet access to anything wifi enabled over 3G.

Pulse8

Thor wrote: »

hey coghlac3 just to let you know, fmmobiles on camden street have 2 white ones in stock.

Just rang them & the guy said they havnt even got their delivery yet, looks like their website is tellin fibs

Pulse8

vibe666 wrote: »

as far as tethering goes, i've used it a lot on the n80 and then the n95 after that (and a 6230i and a 6300 too) over both BT and USB and never had any issues with it (and a €500 phone bill to prove it), BUT you don't even need to use that any more with the n97 as there is an app (yes, there's an app for that! ) to make your n97 a fully fledged wifi AP, so you can just turn that on and any wifi capable devices can use it the same way as any other access point. it takes 2 minutes to configure and a couple of seconds to turn it on/off after that any time you want to give internet access to anything wifi enabled over 3G.

A mate had this working with an N95 but his Macbook would only connect through Vodafone ISP & not Vodafone Live for some reason, I think it was because Vodafone had this blocked somehow from working via Live....can anyone confirm this or did my friend just have it set up arseways?

mobius42

Pulse8 wrote: »

A mate had this working with an N95 but his Macbook would only connect through Vodafone ISP & not Vodafone Live for some reason, I think it was because Vodafone had this blocked somehow from working via Live....can anyone confirm this or did my friend just have it set up arseways?

Isn't Vodafone Live proxy-based? It's probably something to do with that. If Vodafone don't block it, you may need to enter the proxy settings on the Macbook. You can find them in the sticky.

Pulse8

Cool, thanks...will try it...didnt mean to venture off topic, was just wondering if this would indeed be poss with an N97 & obviously it is

roarlad

Thor wrote: »

hey coghlac3 just to let you know, fmmobiles on camden street have 2 white ones in stock.

I just called into their store on camden street, they don't have any in stock yet, they were supposed to get a delivery yesterday but it hasn't arrived yet. Should be in later today, and they don't know which colours they are getting.

Thor

roarlad wrote: »

I just called into their store on camden street, they don't have any in stock yet, they were supposed to get a delivery yesterday but it hasn't arrived yet. Should be in later today, and they don't know which colours they are getting.

really!!!

the guy said to me that they were getting them yesterday and if not this morning and he was pretty confident they were white.

also for some reason he said the black one wasnt launched yet(who knows what he is smoking)

anyway only time will tell.

alot of people are saying stuff like not sure whether to spend that kinda of money on the phone. you wanna know something worse.

having the money right in front of you and waiting to buy it!!!!!.

its a killer.

vibe666

Thor wrote: »

having the money right in front of you and waiting to buy it!!!!!.

its a killer.

that's what t'internet is for.

Thor

how much did it cost for you vibe666 all in all from expansys

sbhatia

Thor wrote: »

how much did it cost for you vibe666 all in all from expansys

Sorry for answering question asked to someone else but i bought from expansys aswell.

£544 = € 649 all together including delievery and Vat.

Thor

no worries sbhatia was an open question, just i knew vibe bought it from there.

whats the deal with warranty then.

is your warranty covered over here if something breaks down or do you need to send it over to expansys.

as i know mobile phone repair company repair all phones over here for free if under warranty so it would be easier if something goes wrong.

sbhatia

Thor wrote: »

no worries sbhatia was an open question, just i knew vibe bought it from there.

whats the deal with warranty then.

is your warranty covered over here if something breaks down or do you need to send it over to expansys.

as i know mobile phone repair company repair all phones over here for free if under warranty so it would be easier if something goes wrong.

AFIk 24 month warranty is covered by nokia, In past i have bought lots of ph from abroad even from Asia too and brought them to nokia in dawson street and they cover it.

got my camera lens change of N95 8gb free of charge.