Nokia unveils flagship N97 phone

[wheezy]

Wow, the show-off video versus the hands on is very different. The animations on the show-off are much smoother, like an iphone. The hands on are clunky, and slow and slow. Did you see how the album art changes on the hands on? First it displays a generic icon and then flashes off to flash on the album art.

And as mentioned above, no one else has Multi-touch, it's all one touch. The zoom and such were all sliders, no fingers. It took Apple over 2 years to get the Multi-touch right, no way competitors will have anything like it for another year. It's taken them a year to develop a wanna-be that's lacking in many features.

 

[cleanup]

Looks slick! I'm probably never going to get an iPhone, because I wouldn't browse the web on the go/use GPS etc. very often anyways. Texting and a decent camera are more important to me. So this is a viable alternative, if I ever do traverse into the world of smartphones. I do love Nokia.

 

[Graefe]

That's great news! Strong competition will force Apple to make the iPhone even better. All consumers will benefit from this. And eventually I will buy the next generation iPhone: improved cam, modem functionality, A2DP/AVRCP - and contract free!

 

[BigD58]

That's great news! Strong competition will force Apple to make the iPhone even better. All consumers will benefit from this. And eventually I will buy the next generation iPhone: improved cam, modem functionality, A2DP/AVRCP - and contract free!

Oh that would be wonderful.

But once again, the iPhone still wins.

 

[corygreenwell]

For me, I hate the whole sidekick nature of thte device....BUT

the features are awesome...it's not tied to AT&T

and what's more...

innovation begets innovation. Apple needs someone keeping pace with them if the device is going to improve. Hopefully Apple reasseses where the iPhone is and improve it

 

[GNice]

The apps available for the iPhone will make it difficult for other phones to find their way into my pocket...BUT I love the competition. Apple needs to be pushed and I'm excited to see more companies attempting to create alternatives for the consumer. If a really good viable alternative (for me) comes out, I'll jump on it.

 

[backdraft]

The HTC G1 or Blackberry Bold/Storm are better competitors to the iPhone. I wouldn't mind 2 versions of the iPhone one with a slide out keyboard and the regular version.

 

[robecq]

I had a play with one (a friend works for nokia). Neat phone, but I found the UI confusing.

 

[deannnnn]

If the OS is as smooth and amazing as it looks, I'd get one in a second.
...but according to Arn, it isn't.
Not to mention I've never been a big Nokia fan.

 

[shiseiryu1]

haha

Wow, by the looks of that YouTube video it looks like a clunky piece of crap. When Jobs said the iPhone was years ahead of everyone else he wasn't talking about (only) hardware...it's the user interface that is years ahead of everyone else. Not just in looks but in usability and feel. Although I would like to have an iPhone with some better hardware specs (camera with flash for example), I'm not impressed by all these other phones that are coming out lately...the software is just not up to par with the iPhone.

 

[deannnnn]

The HTC G1 or Blackberry Bold/Storm are better competitors to the iPhone. I wouldn't mind 2 versions of the iPhone one with a slide out keyboard and the regular version.

That would involve Apple listening to their customers, so obviously it will never happen.

 

[crees!]

Ui

The demo looks nice and fluid; but when you watch the real life video there is no animation. For instance, you "flick" to change screens but the screen doesn't slide in the direction you flick, it just changes in the blink of an eye. This is where the iPhone devs get it and other do not. With touch interfaces like this you need that animation to convey to the user that their gestures are recognized and in fact the gesture you performed was properly executed.

 

[BornAgainMac]

Not compatiable

Eventually, it will need to be iPhone compatible. As more and more apps are purchased, people will want to be able to run those apps on their phone. It will be like the IBM compatible phrase of the 80's.

 

[applepies]

I'm a N95 user and I love it very much.


iPhone:

Multitouch
Thinner
Nicer looking UI (maybe)
Slightly cheaper (compare unlocked prices, thou then again I'll probably get N97 fo free with a 1 year contract)


N97

Better camera (real camera vs a toy)
Video recording (quite decent quality too)
More stable OS (no crashing like with iPhone and Safari)
Multitasking
Over twice as much space
Smaller footprint
TV OUT
MMS
Copy & Paste
Flash
More apps
QWERTY keyboard
No need to jailbreak
Better looks
User replaceable battery
Better battery life (1,5 days of continuous music playback FTW!)
Complete bluetooth stack
Hi-Res screen


So yeah, I'll get one. Looking so forward to it!

 

[dongmin]

The Good

-Slide-out screen
-keyboard
-5 mp camera w/ video

The Bad
-Thickness
-OS
-No app store
-$700
-No firm ship date

The Ugly
-Interface
-Sluggishness
-Lack of any 'killer apps'

I left out the high-rez screen b/c I don't think the extra pixels add anything to a 3.5" screen. Really, the iPhone screen is sharp enough as is.

And the iPhone will undoubtedly be upgraded to 32gb by the time this thing actually ships sometime next year. So this is no real advantage.

 

[Petje]

Um... they didn't show any PHONE functions.... even though it's y'know, a PHONE.

I must agree with JuicyGoo.
Why don't they show of the phone function? Is it hard to find?

I like the iPhone because it the phone function is not secondary, and other apps do not interfere with the phone.

 

[poundsmack]

i would honestly take one of these over the iPhone any day. dont get me wrong i like the iPhone, but this suites my needs better.

 

[/dev/toaster]

I love how high Apple has set the bar, but I don't think Nokia realizes how far that bar is. Don't get me wrong, it looks like a cool device but its no iPhone.

 

[roland.g]

The Nokia video is hilarious. That's marketing for you.

 

[JRTeK]

The Nokia video is hilarious. That's marketing for you.

lol yup... "lets show these people what they really wanna see!"...."but what about the phone and the video chat?"...."what phone.... OH $H!T!!! we forgot the phone!!!"...."they wont notice as long as they can text"

 

[Mac Brown]

Promo video and youtube video are like night and day.

 

[gkarris]

$700 before subsidies? (Ballmer, where are you??? ) Not in today's economy...

I heard it's not even coming to the US for another 18 months...

Too bad they didn't take cues from Apple, HTC (G1), and RIM (Storm). The sweet spot for a subsidized touchscreen smartphone is $199...

 

[cameronjpu]

Perhaps this will motivate Apple to increase the iPhone's capacity and offer some expandability.

This won't motivate Apple to offer expandability.

 

[TheOrioles33]

And as mentioned above, no one else has Multi-touch, it's all one touch. The zoom and such were all sliders, no fingers. It took Apple over 2 years to get the Multi-touch right, no way competitors will have anything like it for another year. It's taken them a year to develop a wanna-be that's lacking in many features.

Did'nt Apple patent multi-touch or something like that? Maybe thats why no one else has it.

 

[roland.g]

Shoot promo at 24 frames per minute, play promo at 24 frames per second.

"Wow! That's a snappy UI"

NOT