The handset looks pretty robust and feels good. Its a bit bulky and big in size and its not for people who like slim phones. What makes it better than the Nokia 5800 is the responsive touch screen, 3.5 inch big screen, 32 GB internal memory, improved camera than the 3.2 meg of the Nokia 5800, a fully functional physical QWERTY keyboard that was missing in the Nokia 5800 (Yeah, Nokia's touch screen phones still need the keyboard as I feel that, their touch screen experience sometimes might leave you disappointed and you will feel the need for a physical keyboard). Some of the other things that i liked about the Nokia N97 was its build quality, the steel rim that houses the screen and of course kinetic scrolling, thanks to Firmware 2.0. One more thing when you start using the Kinetic scrolling, it might not highly appeal to people (include me) who have experienced iPhone's kinetic scrolling but trust me it is good. Another USP of the N97 is its interactive touch screen, thanks to the widgets it supports and also to the free widgets that are available for download from Facebook, Amazon, AP News etc...
The keyboard of the N97 slides out in a very unusual manner and is supported by two hinges, which don't crank. As they are made of plastic, rough use of the design might send the hinges for toss. Otherwise this kind of design of the N97 is very cool and you can slide out the phone and it rests in such a manner that you can see the screen clearly and it gives you a feel of a tablet computer.
As I told you earlier, when you hold the N97, start using it, you will realize that, the only thing similar between the Nokia 5800 and N97 is that they are touch screen phones. The Nokia 5800 is a touch screen phone, whereas the N97 feels like a computer. The QWERTY keyboard of the N97 is nice but the keys are cramped, you will take some time to get used to it. The D-Pad is something that was missing in the Nokia 5800, that gives the N97 edge over its predecessor. Both the D-Pad and the QWERTY keyboard are nice for ad-hoc use. There should have a been one more row of keys for numerals, but as you see the space is very less, Nokia has tried to get most of it by the three rows. You will take some time to get used to its keyboard but eventually it will be nice and yeah, if you compare it with the keyboard of E90, it comes nowhere close.
The N97 sports a TFT LCD touch screen with resistive top layer, which is more responsive, as compared to the Nokia 5800, to taps and drags. In outside conditions also, the screen is very much visible but in direct sunlight you might have difficulty in viewing the screen. The N97 also supports a lot of third party apps including different themes and you will have a good time using them on the N97.
Nokia N97 sports a 5 mega pixel snapper with Care Zeiss optics, larger aperture as compared to the Nokia 5800, dual LED flash, Auto Focus. The image quality is good and I will soon be posting sample images from the Nokia N97. But trust me, if the dual LED flash is replaced with a Xenon flash, N97 will be a awesome imaging phone.
The things that make Nokia N97 a winner are, 32GB memory, improved resistive touch screen, better battery performance, live widgets feature, Kinetic Scrolling in web apps and Ovi store, D-Pad, camera and an overall good build quality.
Few things that still need improvement are, its cramped up QWERTY keyboard, plastic hinges and delicate cable that connects the sliding keyboard with the screen, video camera. The sound output of the Nokia N97 is not that great as the Nokia 5800; maybe because Nokia 5800 is a XpressMusic phone.
This is my initial take on the Nokia N97. Will churn out more posts on the N97's review as i start using it more and more. I was very late to get my hands on the N97 and by now the Nokia N97 Mini is all set to come to India, today it is launching in Delhi and tomorrow in Bangalore. But I am sure that wont deter you from coming back here and read about the Nokia N97. Let me know what do you think about the Nokia N97 First Impressions.
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