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Hands-On With The Nokia N97 and Nokia E75

March 17th, 2009 • Mark Guim • Filed Under •

On Sunday I was happier than a fat kid in a candy store. I got to spend some hands-on time with the upcoming phones, Nokia N97 and Nokia E75. Those who followed @thenokiablog on Twitter had a preview by viewing the live photos as I played with the gadgets. What’s the verdict? I’m in love with the N97!

Nokia N97

I’ve handled the Nokia N97 before, but it was such a very buggy prototype that I was limited to only playing with the hardware and the main menu. The one I played with on Sunday was still a prototype, but I was able to test out the web browser, video player, camera, and basic typing for messaging.

The hardware was solid as I remembered and the slider was still amazing. Having a physical keyboard/touchscreen combination was great for web browsing. I used the keyboard to type addresses and filled out forms for logins. I used the touchscreen to click on links and scroll through pages. A problem I noticed right away was the long delay in transitioning websites from landscape to portrait mode. Since it was a prototype, I expect it to get better when it comes out.

The Nokia N97 features a 3.5 inch widescreen display that tilts forward when the phone is slid open. This makes it very convenient to leave the phone on a flat surface while watching videos or slideshows. The N97 I played with had a few clips in the gallery. Take a look at the photo below from a clip of the movie, Unleashed. That’s a major difference from the 2.4 inch display on the E75 hiding behind the N97.

The camera software was pretty nifty on the Nokia N97. I loved how easy it was to play around with settings like the white balance, flash, among others using the touch screen. This was faster than going through menus using a d-pad on a non-touch phone. I couldn’t judge the quality of the photos I took and wasn’t allowed to bluetooth the photos over to bring home. I hope they turn out well in the final product.

Nokia E75

It’s really unfair to have these two devices next to each other. To be honest, I only gave the E75 10% of my attention while the 90% went to the N97. I’ll try to spend more time with the Nokia E75 later on, but I have some first impressions.

The Nokia E75 felt like it had too many buttons. I am not a fan of the design. It’s a little ugly in my opinion, especially when it is slid open. It is a thin smartphone, however it felt big in my hands. If I still had the Nokia E71, I wouldn’t replace it with the E75 based solely on the form factor.

Final Thoughts

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Hi guys! My nokia e75 is great, loving it!! only having problems with sending e-mails!
I am able to open received messages from networks like facebook on gmail and reply on them on facebook,but creating an e-mail it does't send it at all?

Can anyone please help

T DOGGY

OMG UR REALLY BIAS,,THE E75 IS THE BETTER ONE OF THEM BOTH,,I HAVE A E75 AND IT GETS SO MUCH MORE ATTENTION AND IT FEELS MUCH MORE UNIQUE KINDA SPECIAL 2 USE EXPENSIVE YES BUT I GUESS U GET WHAT U PAY FOR...O AND THE E SERIES IS MORE BUISSNES THAN THE N SERIES

Casey

Your review is pretty bias. I thought you are supposed to review both rather than just solely focus on the N97. People come here to read about review & comparison, but sadly, you're not doing it.

andrew burgin

Watch out now buying the N97 off the internet as there ar loads of Fakes being released now ,so check everything out before you buy one off the interenet,loads of Chinese fakes are released now an they look very good indeed ,so watch out

Dmitriy

Is it true N97 has only 128 MiB of RAM?

Awais Naseer

by the way, I like the E75 outlook! :)

Stephan

@Mark

Like 'Milan' said one page up: Is the touchscreen more responsive than the 5800 and how would it compare to a capacitive?

Is this N97 resistive screen, as fast and responsive as the Iphone, or do you still need to much pressure-power like on the 5800.

Tnx

Mark Guim

@Stephan, I couldn't compare the n97 to the 5800 that day because I got the 5800 the day after. I'm visiting the Nokia offices next week and will have more time with the Nokia N97 and other upcoming phones. I'll check the responsiveness and pressure closely and report back.

Jfjfjf

Typing speed on virtual keyboard is same as 5800? Half the typing speed on iphone because n97 is resistive and has no muktitouch?

1finger

Multitouch alternative: one finger "multitouch"

very simple to implement zoom/rotate control

by doubletapping you set a control point and when you drag the control takes efect

need just one hand to controll (multitouch needs two hands to control - you have to hold the device with other hand)

http://concepts.shpe.ro/ZoomRotate.php

Ms. Jen

I also on Sunday, at SXSW Interactive, had the opportunity to spend about 45 minutes with the E75 and the N97. Like Mark, I will vote hands down with the N97 as the best of the lot, but the E75 is still a very lovely device.

I wanted to see two things:
1) Camera quality compared to my Nokia N95-1.
2) Now that Nokia has killed Lifeblog (argh!), has the web browser advanced enough in the handling of javascript/ajax enough to post and upload photos directly to my blog?

Answers to be fully fleshed out on the said blog this weekend, but the executive summary is as follows:
1) The Camera on the E75 is ok to middling. The Camera on the N97 prototype I played with is good but not as good as my N95 (must be a firmware / software issue as the prototype was a bit buggy).
2) The E75 got halfway through the uploading a photo to my blog before the Movable Type ajax interface stumped the browser. The N97 prototype that was in my mitts did not have a working browser.

Even if the N97 prototype was buggy, it was very good in many aspects. I love the qwerty keyboard and the touch screen, now if the software for the camera and web browser is brought up to scratch, it may very well be my next phone.

Unfortunately, the N86 was out for loan earlier in the weekend, much to my chagrin. I really really really want to run the camera on that one through its paces.

smiles, jen who is still recovering from too much party-pigletting in Austin.

Rod

@Mark

Any improvements on speed compared to the E71 and compared to the 5800 ?

Does it have a soft keyboard or are is the user dependent on opening the physical keyboard to type ?

Milan

@Mark

Is the touchscreen more responsive than the 5800 and how would it compare to a capacitive?

Second question, how is the web browser in general? I read in allaboutsymbian the n97 has flick scrolling and double tap. curious what you thought of them in the browser and how well it worked?

Kimmo

I wonder if you could elaborate on the hinge thing; what makes it so wonderful? The reason I'm asking is that it looks very flimsy and prone to failing at some point. Is it really that sturdy, sturdier than it looks?

How about that touch screen, is it the soft type that makes ripples when you touch it or is it covered with rigid plastic? How much do you need force to operate it and do you think it'll crack easily?

Mark Guim

@Kimmo, the hinge is pretty strong. You can hear from the nice clicks when sliding it up and down. As far as the touchscreen, I don't know what the material is made of but it is not soft type that makes ripples when you touch. It doesn't require a lot of force neither.

Solos

And I'm torn apart between Nokia N97, Samsung Omnia HD and Palm Pre :( I hope when the phones are out - more or less in the same time - the reviews help me choose.

Andy Burgin

Alot people now who have now had the experience with the 5800 Express will definetly be checking for reviews about the N97 an i will be looking for them,as the 5800 express was more a Music mobile an hope the N97 will be a Top Class Camera mobile,an hope Nokia put a very good camera on the N97,then this will be a Top Class seller from Nokia,but lets hope Nokia do not let us down an put a weak camera on the N97

Andre

I will most probably go for the N97 although I am disappointed that Nokia did not implement the OMAP 3 which is based no the ARM Cortex Core but decided for the ARM 11 which was already in the N95. I mean Nokia is calling the N97 more than a Smart phone but is it? Don't get me wrong I love my N95 but it seems slow at best (camera / photos). @Mark - did you see any improvements on speed in comparison to the N95 8gb?

stilusmen

For me, the best choice is Nokia N97

PJ

Yeah the E75 is pretty much like all those sliding bar phones. (Samsung Rant, LG Rumor 2, Samsung Gravity T459). But a big difference is that's the E75 is a lot more expensive. That type of design should just be for the affordable, mainly texting QWERTY phones.

illusionado

WeppeeeeY! i want a n97 also..

but its way the heck expensive and I cant afford it as a student! wheeww!

the e75 really disappointing becuz of the scren..the qwerty is much useless coz of the scrreen size...