Should you buy the Nokia N97? Read our Nokia N97 review plus Nokia N97 reviews by users and find the best buy in the UK (Nokia N97 Black / Nokia N97 Silver / Nokia N97 White - 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Three, Vodafone)

In a nutshell: Available in Black or White, the N97 is more a mobile computer than a mobile phone. Packed with every imaginable feature, Nokia's designers have succeeded in creating a device that is supremely powerful yet easy to use, with a user-friendly touchscreen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. With music, video, photos, email, web and downloadable apps all easily accessible from the customisable home page, the N97 delivers everything that we could ask for on the move. However, it's big, heavy and expensive, and has the usual freezing/crashing problems that come with NSeries phones.

Review: June 2009.

The N97 is much more than an enhanced N96 - it has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen display. Other features include a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, GPS, WiFi and 32GB memory. Nokia claim that it is the "most powerful, multi-sensory mobile computer in existence". Throw away your laptops, guys, the N97 is here!

There are so many touchscreen phones on the market these days, it's tempting to think that they are all the same. But the Nokia N97 does offer more than most. Nokia seem to be positioning the N97 less like a mobile phone and more like a handheld computer. Although at Mobile Phones UK, we tend to be sceptical about a lot of stuff, we're actually genuinely impressed by the N97 design concept. The N97 has both a touchscreen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard makes typing fast and easy, and we definitely prefer this to a virtual keyboard (although it isn't the best keyboard ever - it's too wide for comfort, and the space key is in the wrong place.) Whether it's texting, e-mailing or writing notes, the QWERTY keyboard makes things possible that we simply wouldn't have bothered to attempt on an old-style mobile. But it's the touchscreen that will demand most of your attention. The screen measures 3.5 inches across, which makes it the same as the Apple iPhone 3G S, but it has a higher resolution than the iPhone, at a massive 640 x 360 pixels. With this resolution, there are almost as many pixels on this pocket-sized device as there were on early personal computers. And that makes it possible to start thinking about the N97 as if it were a handheld PC, which is exactly what the engineers at Nokia have done. The touchscreen is of resistive type, similar to the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, not quite up to iPhone standards, but pretty slick nonetheless. It's not quite as responsive as the best of the best, and the menus are sometimes slow to respond - typical of previous Nseries phones. The biggest problem is that the user interface feels like it's Symbian with touchscreen functionality bolted on - which is exactly what it is - rather than a native touchscreen OS such as Android, Windows Mobile or Apple's OS X.

The home screen of the phone is information-packed and fully customisable. You can simultaneously view the date & time, your inbox, the weather forecast, RSS feeds, Facebook and quick links to your favourite web pages. This is similar to Samsung's widget interface appearing on phones like the Samsung Jet and the i8910 HD. Touch a web icon and web pages open up in their full glory, with easy touch controls to scroll and zoom. There's full support for Flash videos as well. It's the mobile internet as it should be, and once you've experienced it you won't want to go back to how things used to be. The internet is fast too, either using the 3G HSDPA connection, and even faster is the WiFi connection, where it's available.

The N97 has a built-in GPS receiver, and you can use this to find your location, to geo-tag photos and to navigate. Nokia Maps is supplied, plus multimedia city guides and there's a built-in compass feature too. A 3-month trial licence for pedestrian and voice-guided drive navigation software is included.

The N97 has plenty of custom apps available too. Built on the mature Symbian operating system, there are plenty of apps that will be suitable for the N97, and you can download applications, games, videos and content through Nokia's Ovi store.

Nokia haven't taken this opportunity to upgrade their camera though. It's the same old 5 megapixel camera that appeared in the Nokia N96. But that's not a complaint - the camera is a good one, with Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus and a dual LED flash.

The N97 really is a feature-packed phone. It's much more like a laptop in terms of its capabilities. We're not going to list everything that it does, because the list would be too long! See the detailed spec below for further info. Suffice to say that it can handle pretty much any kind of media and communications that you can think of. With its close integration with the internet, it feels very much like the 21st century has arrived. We just want to mention the enormous 32GB of onboard memory, plus the ability to increase this with a 16GB memory card.

Nokia's battery life figures are very impressive when you consider what this device is capable of. With 6 hours of talktime on a 3G network and up to 430 hours of standby, this is as much as we could have hoped for. We don't yet have any real world data on this, but hopefully our user reviews below will help to clarify this.

Finally, we have to comment on the size of the device. Yes, it's big, but what did you expect? It's heavy too, but there's a lot of stuff inside! This is a phone that does its best to pack in every feature that users might want, and we think that it's succeeded. Is it the best phone ever? It's probably Nokia's best phone, but at its heart the Symbian operating system feels dated compared to the slickness and speed of the iPhone, or the power of Windows Mobile phones such as the HTC Touch HD or Samsung Omnia. And just like all previous NSeries phones, reliability is a huge problem - expect your N97 to freeze and crash from time to time. We would definitely recommend the N97 for NSeries fans looking for an upgrade, but fans of other smartphone operating systems will probably prefer to stick to what they know. You might also check out the Nokia N97 Mini.

Features of the Nokia N97 include:

S60 5th edition Symbian interface
5 megapixel camera (2592 x 1944 pixels) with Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, dual LED flash, 4x digital zoom and geo-tagging
Video camera: MPEG4/3GP VGA video capture at 640 x 480 pixels and 30 frames/second, 4x digital zoom and video light
Front camera for video calling: 176 x 144 pixels
Display: Resistive touchscreen, 16 million colours, 640 x 360 pixels (3.5 inches) with orientation sensor, proximity sensor and light sensor
Live TV (DVB-H based mobile TV with internal antenna)
Digital music player (supports MP3/AAC/eAAC/eAAC+/WMA formats) with playlists and equalizer
Stereo FM radio RDS with Visual Radio support
FM transmitter
Built-in GPS navigation with Nokia Maps application and digital compass
Speaker independent name dialing
Voice commands
Voice recorder
Integrated hands-free speaker
Speed dialing
Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email (SMTP, IMAP4, POP3, Mail for Exchange)
Viewing of email attachments – .doc, .xls, .ppt, .pdf
Java games (Guitar Rock Tour included)
Advanced contacts database with support for multiple phone and e-mail details per entry
Memory: 32 GB plus microSD memory card slot (up to 16GB)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, USB 2.0, TV-Out, (WLAN 802.11 b/g), 3.5 mm stereo headphone plug
Internet: Full web browser with Flash video support, RSS reader, WAP, GPRS class A, WCDMA/HSDPA (3.6Mb/s download), WLAN (up to 11Mbps/54Mbps)
Quadband plus 3G
Size: 117 x 55 x 18 mm
Weight: 150g
Talktime: 360 minutes (3G) - 570 minutes (2G)
Battery standby: 430 hours

Nokia N97 Consumer Reviews

Love your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!

Average rating from 104 reviews:

Reviewed by Paschal madukwe from Nigeria on 17th Jan 2012
I know the n97 maynot compete with other advanced smartphones in touch screen sensitivity and occassionally hang but once u get to knw wht apps it can handle...it becomes easy.we wonder why its expensive...hello...its a nokia...the most reliable mobile phone..guranteed to last.feels more like a palmtop than a mobile phone..the best nokia handset iv ever used for now..give the phone some credit.and yes,i hv so many stuff on my n97..thanks to 32gb plus 4gb micro sd.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Slavkec from Bosnia on 19th Dec 2011
Learn how to install custom firmware and this phone can do wonders. Original firmware is complete junk.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Hamza from Pakistan on 16th Dec 2011
HACK your N97 and all problems are solved... I promise...
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by mahesh from srilanka on 6th Dec 2011
i love my n97.............
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by tom from england on 16th Oct 2009
ONE OF THE WORST PHONES I HAVE EVER HAS THE DISFORTUNE OF OWNING, i don’t know what phones these people have that rate it above 1 star, please tell me where you got yours from, because they can’t be the same. right where do i start, i was really really excited to get the n97, i had a n95 8gb before it and even though the battery life was rubbish it was the best phone i have ever had, the n97 was brilliant for the first 3 days, then the problems started, it crashed a couple of times and the only way i could get it going again was to pull the battery, then the screen would not turn on when i unlocked it, meaning i would to have to lock and unlock it 3-4 times before the screen would decide it wanted to work, then the screen wouldn't respond when i tried to answer the phone when it was locked, meaning i would have to lock and unlock it 3-4 times before i could answer the call, which more times than not i would miss, then came the firmware update, phone started working again, until it decided to delete ALL my messages, inbox, saved, sent and emails and just to really make my day it decided to corrupt the memory card, losing all my photos, videos and music (and it was nowhere near the com puter)then it stared crashing again, but stopped after a week for some reason, but the screen would totally freeze up, wouldn't respond to unlocking, answering calls nothing at all, even pulling the battery out didn’t help, until i lost my patience with it and vented my anger on it, to which the screen suddenly snapped to life, for about 60 seconds, i now have to punch the screen 3-4 times (can you see a pattern here) for the screen to wake up, and I’ve tried cleaning the screen, making sure there’s no bits stuck in the edge, all the usual, the fact of the matter is it is a useless phone, i'm going to send it back for a new one and sell it on eBay, buy a phone that actually works....
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Adam from UK on 15th Oct 2009
TERRIBLE PHONE! FULL OF BUGS,IT CRASHES,IT FREEZES! DO NOT GET IT!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Craig Williams from England on 12th Oct 2009
i was told to leave this phone alone by my local nokia shop as its buggy and freezes and crashes. was told to buy the n86 as the best upgrade from the n95
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Aaron from ulster on 11th Oct 2009
by far the worst phone i have ever had it keeps freezing every 2 mins and the camera is rubbish i cant recieve or make calls either and the touch screen is really unresponsive
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Shahjee from UK on 10th Oct 2009
Appalling mobile, if you have it locked on 3, you cannot get the latest firmware to this phone and pretty much having the mobile freezing every so often. If you want to multi task, as this phone was made to run apps and call and do other tasks, it cannot hack it. Its a poor phone with poor battery life. Great regret to the N95, since the N96 also had a very low power processor this N97 still has the low power and so don't expect to be having a WOW factor playing your n-gage.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by GLJones from Wales on 8th Oct 2009
Was a bit sceptical at first, but after upgrading from my n95 8g (best phone ever) I couldn't put the phone down, and still the same now, there are so many things to entertain you on this phone. The firmware is a bit buggy but you can live with it. The battery is good considering all the gadgets. It can last up to 3 days, but 2 with heavy use. All in all very happy with phone.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by anon from UK on 8th Oct 2009
perfect
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by phoebe liu from china on 8th Oct 2009
good produt, i like the disign very much ! pls contact me through : phoebeliu@kiel.com.cn
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Paul Schildkamp from England on 5th Oct 2009
The worst phone i have ever had. Upgraded from my n95, and sent it back within 2 days. Kept locking up, was unable to receive or make calls, and the camera wasn't as good as the n95 even though its only 5mp!!! I text alot aswell and maybe its just me but touch screen doesn't do the job, and that qwerty keyboard, about as much use as a chocolate teapot for anyone with normal size fingers (and does anyone really use those little stick things!!)
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Jake from UK on 29th Sep 2009
Great phone, although not as clink-free as the iPhone
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Harry from Ireland on 28th Sep 2009
I've had this phone for 3 weeks now, and I must say that I love it. It took some time to get used to (particularly its resistive touchscreen), but after a couple of days I got the hang of it and am having a ball getting to know the phone. I particularly love the QWERTY keyboard - I'm not quite ready to go completely touchscreen yet. My only complaints are that it is still quite buggy and performance and speed could be better. And while it really is a mobile computer and does just about everything I could want in a phone, it kind of feels like Nokia released a half-finished product. Still, nothing firmware updates won't eventually fix, and Nokia in the past has proven that it eventually gets it right. I do just about everything on this phone, so much so that I barely even use the laptop anymore. Web browsing is so much fun, and I'm loving the 32gb memory (which I can expand even more if I ever use that much). Easily the best phone I've ever owned - even better than the iphone (mostly due to better specs and more features, although the iphone is more user friendly and faster). I love it, and cannot wait for the upcoming firmware update next month.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by ELTON from ALBANY on 25th Sep 2009
I LIKE
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by GEOFF.DONALDSON from ENGLAND on 24th Sep 2009
This is by far the worst phone I have ever had. After all the hype and having had the N95 I am very disappointed. It is not user friendly and the bluetooth feature is not reliable. I hesitate to give it even one star.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Lee from U.k on 19th Sep 2009
Well true to Nokia's form this handset was labeled Nokia's new 'Flagship' fone. This in itself put alot of pressure for this device to work really well, and surpass the previous n series 60 smartfone platform devices. As with the n95 when it was first released some experianced software issues that really bugged up the fone. True to Nokia's form several software patches were released which resolved these issues making the n95 a dream to use and relise its true potential. Im sure this will be the eventual outcome for the n97, and so after several releases it will reach its optimum potential too. For the early buyers of the n97 they will feel like beta testers, but unfortunatly its seems to be all too common for manufacturers to release handsets with buggy software to get them out on the market. The issue's i have is the known issue of the lens slider scratching the camera. Reminds me of when the prada fone was released with a pouch that actually scratched the display ! The other issue's is the inferior plastic backcover. For a 'flagship' fone this should really have been made out of stainless steel. And when the slide keyboard is extended if you look between the gap, the ribbon is rather open to the elements. It also catches dust everywhere. NO bundled pouch is poor ! As for the software issues version 12 and then version 2.0 will cure these im sure. So my advice is to either buy now and update as and when or hold off for a few months, and purchase a n97 handset with the newer more stable software imposed. Try to stay away from 'branded handsets' as the networks tend to not release the newer software patches as quick as the generic ones. 3 stars for now as the n97 is yet to reach its true potential.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Farshid from UK on 19th Sep 2009
It is the worst mobile phone I have ever seen. You can't even find a single SW worst than Nokia n97 OS.It is very very buggy. I have my N97 since 2 months ago, after 2 days lense was scratched, I had to returne it to shop and they chnaged it for me :), I ve been told if I dont want to have scratch in camera lense , i should not use its camera, because it doesn't matter how careful you are, it's cover scratch it after a few use. It is a design fault. It hangs and sometimes it switches off automatically and you can't even turn it on unless you take the battery out and In again. when you recieve a call light goes on for 2 sec and off for 2 sec and on and off again,if phone is locked you can't answer your call by pressing green button, you need to sweep the sceern, but when light is off you have to wait for another 2 sec to see wher you need to touch, so you are going to miss your call for the first 1-2-3 month. after that you should act very quickly.lots of strees for answering a Call. when you are listening to music and someone call, you have to take headphone off and On otherwise you can't hear the person from headphone. Nokia Satnav is too dificult to use, it take 3 min to set up which address you are looking, not user friendly at all. battery cover is plastic and it scratches very easily. when connecting to internet, before exit it automatically disconnect it first, when you have lost signal (e.g. suddenly gone to underground) you can't exit internet anymore because it tries to disconnect but as there is noo signal it hangs. lot of lots of bugs. when visiting a web site and go to another page, if you press back it tries to load that page again, so it take a long time to get back to last page again.. I dont recomend this phone at all.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Ash from UK on 18th Sep 2009
Had this phone since release, the battery is great I charge it every couple of days. The software has a little niggles but it updates itself anyway. My friend has the iphone and to be honest thank god didnt get one. My N97 is miles apart from the iphone 3gs the battery on the iphone lasts 6 to 9 hours. anyway the n97 is a great great phone
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by zboredzahmed from pakistan on 18th Sep 2009
well lets say ive never wasted £500 on something so boring
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Dgdsmaster from Portugal on 16th Sep 2009
This is an authentic pocket computer. It may be big and heavy, but 150g won't make you walk slower and you will always manage to put it in your pocket. The menus have everything, not complicated 5 clicks to get something. Another problem that the review doesn't mention is that it is better to put it over a table (or something like that) to write fast in the slide QWERTY keyboard (which could have the space bar in another place. However, you get used to it). Internet speed is fantastic. The time between pages in the best HSDPA connection is quick and not boring. The 5MP is great and fast (not like 3 seconds to charge like Samsung Jét's). I've got nothing else to say about the N97. Great Phone, especially if you need one like this. Visit http:/hwmobilephones.blogspot.com for more mobile phone reviews. ~Dgdsmaster P.S: Congratz Nokia!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Mark from England on 16th Sep 2009
I have had my N97 for 3 weeks and love it. To me it does have a few minor niggles but it can do so much I amnot really suprised. I previoulsy had an N82 and loved this but recall it did take a few firmware releases to make it 100% smooth. I have a smart phone for a reason and fully use all the main features. I am on Firmware v12 and it is seems very stable generally. Main gripe is sometimes (def not always) it can struggle to get / hold a WIFI connection in my house even tho I know its all up and running. Maybe you have to restart the browser once or twice occassionally or someimes get a download to contine. Apart from that I have experianced none of the reported issues on the newsgroups with GPS, crashing, freezing, low mem on c:, etc. I love the BBC Iplayer download feature and now catch up on my BBC programmes on the train! The sat nav (v3 download from Nokia Beta) is brilliant and worked well on several long journeys. Surfing the net is a breeze and the music player ok. I sync my phone with OVI and my PC and bluetooth connect it to my car. All of these features work without issue. I currently have over 1200 AACs music files and 26 BBC programmes on my device and still have 25GB of the 32GB memeory free...!! I do have a scratch on my camera lens (the biggest gripe on news groups) but it is in the middle and I honestly have not noticed any issues with the few photos I take (I am no expert I am afraid). If it becomes an issue I will just take it back to Nokia during the 2 year warrenty and get it fixed. I beleive Nokia have addmitted a design flaw so don't see it being an issue. I find the touchscreen very responsive and accurate (I was a TC sceptic and was going for the N86 as my upgrade for ages) and the added bonus of being able to quickly use a full qwerty key board for a google search, email, text, pword input, is brilliant. (My txts now read like letters with punctuation, caps,..etc lol) If you are watching videos, surfing the net, listening to music,etc battery life can seem poor (I just charge it overnight in the week as a matter of habit) although it has never dropped to below 2/3 bars since I have had it. Over the weekend when my phone is just a phone and occassionally a camera it looses a bar or 2 max over the 2 days. My N82 was just the same. So my honest view is 5 stars as it a worthy replacemnt to my N82. I am sure that the v2 firmware on the horizon will remove the few niggles I have.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by pervez alam from pakistan on 15th Sep 2009
best n97 mobile i like
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Stuart from UK on 14th Sep 2009
Had this phone a little under 2 months & just can't believe how poor it is.Crashing,changing ringtones etc on it's own.yesterday I lost all my sent&recieved txts when I hooked it up to my PC to install some music(lets not even talk about how poor the Nokia software is for the PC).Add to that the poor performance of all the apps(nokia maps aside)& the fact I've not been able to sign up to My Nokia somehow & therefor can't even use the ovi store.Compared to i-phones I have seen the browser is awful.Then there's the battery.The best I've seen is under 24hrs the worst?Sent 12 txts & recieved the replies within 2 hrs of taking it off charge & the battery went flat.have seen it go flat in under 12hrs in my pocket from a full charge.The heat that comes off the handset is also unreal.maybe mines just faulty?
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Mr.Bigtime from EU on 14th Sep 2009
bought N97 and very disappointed. it is slow, freezing, unresponsive touch screen. lagy. firmware V2 will fix these? Ok but EXPECTING a phone works DECENT (not perfect)out of the BOX is too much? N97 is BAD out of the BOX. i read on net that close down applications and widgets to make it run faster and better. where is difference between iphone and n97 interms of multitasking? i bought n97 for multi tasking and if it doesn't work that way NOKIA and their flagship called N97 is FAIL.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Steve from uk on 13th Sep 2009
Had N97 for a month and it must be a different animal to the one used by all the people scoring it 4 stars or less !! Touch screen , keyboard and camera are great. Loads of apps (try Snaptu, Opera mini, Nokia Photo Browser Beta and Google maps, also try GetJar as well as ovi )Have over 20gig of music and video on phone, and everything works smoothly. Have bought screen protector, which is un-noticable and doesn't affect touchscreen at all.The N97 replaces my N95 8gig which is a great phone, this one is better ! May not suit everyone, but my last 5 phones have been Nokia and they suit me fine, just glad I wasn't put off with bad reviews, and am sure with software upgrades the phone will get even better !!!!!!!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Jason from England on 11th Sep 2009
What can I say I wanted something to replace my blackberry and be more user friendly, well this phone has it all, okay the battery can be intersting, but you can turn features off to help save power, the best I have cranked out of it was 5 days in gsm mode and 3 days with 3g turned on. The camera is brill and I like the interface, very easy to follow. My only gripe is wehn you answer a call you have to slide your finger across the phones, I would just like to press the green touch screen answer button. Overall, I think it blows the blackberry away, has masses of memory 32gig, so dont need to carry my ipod now, and its and it blows the iphone into touch as it has 2 types of keyboards, a normal qwerty keyboard, which is very easy to use (with the exception of the space bar in the wrong place) I highly recommend it, pity I cant give it 7 stars
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by sonu from UK on 11th Sep 2009
this is a great phone, one of the only phones that can display full websites without any problems. touch could have been better but the keyboard makes up for this. The res on the phone is amazing higher than the iphone, so great for seeing pictures.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by meme from uk on 7th Sep 2009
its really slow ........... the browser was kinda fast but thts about it really!!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Sakib from newyork on 7th Sep 2009
one word ...deadly!!!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Bryan from Wales on 6th Sep 2009
PERFECT Phone. Well no phone can ever be perfect, but for now, this comes close. I have had loads of phones and this is by far the best, I have recently had the gd900 and pixon12, and the N97 is fantastic compared to them. The camera is really good, and the dual led flash is brilliant. Best feature is the QWERTY keyboard, people complain about the space bar, but its in the perfect place, I personally love it. If you looking for a all rounder, with a great camera with qwerty keyboard, the N97 is the phone for you, and will a new firmware around the corner which adds kenetic scrolling and a new facebook app, the future is looking bright for Nokias flagship N device.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by raymond from UK on 6th Sep 2009
this phones actually not that bad, the interface is no where near the iphone's standard, but the n97 makes up for it with its easy to use qwerty keyboard (spacebar in wrong place though), and the camera. Also the resistive touchscreen isn't as good as the iphone's capacitive. If you prefer a phone for pleasure, it would have to be the iphone, but for the pure features, this is better
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Ben from Dublin on 5th Sep 2009
I upgraded to this phone from a reliable-enough first-generation silver N95. What a mistake! The Series 60v5 operating system on the N97 crashes in normal use while exploring the phone's features (and there are no firmware upgrades available), Wifi silently fails after a few hundred Kb have been transferred, making it unusable (The N95 had a config work-around, but the N97 doesn't expose the same setting). The headphone socket is dodgy - sound drops in one ear with the slightest touch on the plug. (...and yes, CPhW, I had plugged it in firmly!) The Series 60v5 user interface looks like it's designed for three-year olds and doesn't feel like it was designed for touch-screen use. Nokia, what were you thinking?! Overall, this phone has been a severe disappointment. The saddest thing of all is that I traded in my perfectly functional N95 - so now I'll have to take a new N95 8Gb. I hope it's as reliable as the old N95 was.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by zak from leicester on 1st Sep 2009
faboulous phone, had iphone 3gs befoore and glad i exchanged it, buy it wont let you down well done nokia
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by stephen-lee edwards from UK on 1st Sep 2009
Dont bother with this phone. It is ridiculously difficult and slow to text with and is rather sluggish. The web browser was fast but thats about the only plus - if you want to sync your outlook email at work with your phone dont buy this as it doesnt work no matter what you do
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by martin from UK on 31st Aug 2009
N97 was a choice of this or the samsung jet and after a lot of playing about with both went for the n97 overall a fab phone slider is smooth and the build is very good. Stylist is a good tool and have found handwriting text with the stylist is so easy. Overall glad i went for this and not the jet. If you want a phone that looks good and you dont want to carry a lap top around with you this is the phone for you
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by andy from uk on 30th Aug 2009
This phone is terrible it is one of the standard n series. crashing and freezing. screen going white. they spent to much time adding all the new techy bits they forgot to fix the old problems. if i could give it 0 stars i would had it less than 12 hours and took it back crashed more times then i could use it.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Terry from UK on 29th Aug 2009
Got this phone yesterday, after lots of consideration due to some of the problems listed here. If your used to Nokia N series phones you wil enjoy this one...it does have its glitches, but all N series have! the signal strength is the biggest weakness with the 97...it is not as stong as it was on my 95..other than that, its a good upgrade
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by rob from uk on 25th Aug 2009
had this phone. 2 days then sold it what rubbish. i am now using my old n95 so much better. n97 is over rated.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by michael from england on 25th Aug 2009
this phone is absolutley amazing i bought this phone and i can't take my hands of of it it is that good. this is the bets phone ever buy it don't buy the iphone it is rubbish.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by smartcookie from uk on 25th Aug 2009
I personally really like this phone, although the first one i tried had a duff charger. I received a replacement and all was well,but i wanted to compare it against something else.Therefore i ordered an HTC TOUCH Diamond.Oh dear!! big mistake..the HTC device has to go back!! I realise now that the Nokia N97 is pretty much all you need for mobile technology.The camera is good, the interface is good, the software support is good, the look and feel of the phone is good. Sure, there are some issues, i.e. the phones speed..but there is a lot going on in there,and i think sometimes a bit of speed has to be sacrificed to accommodate all the astonishing features this phone has. Many people have compared this phone to the iphone...hmmm, both have their plus points...im sure the iphone interface wont be bettered for a long time....but the N97 beats it on the camera and the fantastic built in storage.It all comes down to personal choice...and at the end of the day im pleased with my choice.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by sam from UK on 24th Aug 2009
I HAVE THIS PHONE had it for a month. my problems are *bad signal/reception/coverage. compared to my N95 8GB it has like 60% of reception power *GPS is really bad, keeps losing signal and has delay of 100-200 metres, im now using my old bluetooth GPS receiver because the built it one is not accurate at all. *finally got a big scratch on my lens, although i have been very carefull with it, i.e. cleaned it everyday, opened it with finger nail and not putting pressure on it. apart from these its a good phone but these problems really puts me off this phone. im a nokia fan but i advice you not to get this phone. nokia needs to learn a lesson.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by JC from UK on 23rd Aug 2009
Ok, I've tried to like this phone, I really have. I loved my N95 and always thought the only thing it lacked was a keyboard but really the N97 is no replacement. Phone is still flakey even with the new V12 firmware, freezes, has problems unlocking and with the camera activating for no reason. It also seems to randomly play the "Nokia" ringtone, rather than the one I've set, but worst of all it crashes and drops calls. I think Nokia have really lost the plot here. Internet radio and VoIP + loads of other things I'd taken for granted on the N95 don't work or run. The keyboad is so poor I find myself using the numeric touch screen pad to type messages as it's quicker - yet there is no touch screen qwerty! The hardware and features look so great and if you like the N95 the interface is familiar. But the firmware is just broken beyond belief. Avoid.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by SoIntoNokia from England on 22nd Aug 2009
Listen to me and listen real good... this phone is GREATTTTTTTTTTTT!!! I initially had this phone on vodafone and I got a lot of issues and i was wonder wot's up but i realized when i was away from home and in an area where the reception was good the phone worked well...so i decided to return it and now i have it on T-Mobile which has a great reception at home and work... i think persons who have problems with this phone it's more an issue of signal strength...if u r in an area where the signal strength is poor the phone does not work well...and it freezes...but i've had this now for 3 weeks and i just absolutely LUVS it! I would recommend to anyone and the camera is decent enuff but if u want a phone dat is also a camera den dont get this.. but if u have a camera and want a really good phone/computer go and buy the Nokia N97!!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Khaled from Uk on 20th Aug 2009
The phone is amazing!, much better than a iphone or pretty much any phone.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Nick from West Yorkshire on 20th Aug 2009
Why does anyone like this PATHETIC phone??? Its an N95 with a touch screen, and a rubbish one at that. It has more bugs than an insect colony and Is larger than an MP's expenses Bill. The camera is average to say the least and the features are nothing more than standard. Anything this can do the G2, W995, Arena, Omnia HD, N79, 5800 or even a 3330 can do better. Garbage to say the least
Rating: Reply

Reply by Mobile Phones UK from UK on 20th Aug 2009
I think, Nick, that if you are honest with yourself, you will admit that your review is not very objective.

Reviewed by Jonny from England on 19th Aug 2009
Love this phone got it today, best phone i have ever had the pleasure of using, i have an ipod touch with the latest firmware and would just like to compare the touch screens on them both, the N97 is by no means second best, i cant tell the difference at all. this is an Iphone killer!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by james from blackpool on 19th Aug 2009
Dear Tony you can update the firmware by going on the nokia website and download the software updater and follow the instructions it's really easy.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by dave from uk on 18th Aug 2009
On my 2nd phone now still has some little bugs but overall i think the phone does what it says on the tin. I will keep the phone,as once you get used to it its a great phone. 4 stars due to having to replace the first one.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by tony from uk on 13th Aug 2009
a few words to says , better than the iphone 3GS. Question, how do u update the firmware?
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by henry from uk on 12th Aug 2009
the nokia n97 is the best phone on the market by miles. I got it two weeks ago and it is brilliant. One word of advice do what esi said and the phone will become twice as good to own.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Hussain Ali from UK on 12th Aug 2009
This Phone is good
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by oscar from england on 10th Aug 2009
this phone is hard to use and is rubbish not whorth £500
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by nana fredua from United Kingdom on 9th Aug 2009
this device is just simply outstanding.a masterpiece from nokia.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Sean from Ireland on 8th Aug 2009
Got tired of waiting for my provider to release this phone in Ireland so bought one sim free, have had zero problems with it freezeing or reseting, loved my N95, Love this even more.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by HUSSAN from UK on 8th Aug 2009
absolutely wonderful. this is beyond imagination. what a phone. its a complete package. whats not in there. everything you need. awesome bettery life and the range of things it offers. very good browser and the phone itself....loveing every singler moment with this phone...forget iphone....n97 is already a legend
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by wael from UK on 7th Aug 2009
I totally agree with Brad, myself was and still iphone user, then decided to go to Nokia N97, in terms of applications yes it got so many things u can play with plus of course an excllent camera superior than the iphone poor camera.and for me the FM transmitter is really good, sound quality as well is excllent. bad things about nokia: big, dificullt to use (iphone far easier to use), keep crashing u need to restart it so mnay times. the screen keep freezing so u have to hit it so many times, so many applications so u hit the wrong button. disapointing .
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by David from Scotland on 31st Jul 2009
I can't believe this phone even though i have had it for a month. There are so many things which i haven't done yet on it, i am startled about the looks, connectivity, style and the keypad. I think it's worth every single penny, it sweeps the Iphone 3G S and the samsung Jet off the table.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Review from Uk on 30th Jul 2009
An excellent phone, worth the money.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Brad from UK on 27th Jul 2009
I feel that i'm possible able so provide a great review, if your looking at either the iphone or the N97. I have both on trial, my needs are push email, camera, gps, and music player, and most of all good battery life and stability. The N97, looks very nice and has a good camera, push email using googlemail/yahoo mail, is a bit hit and miss,so i downloaded Nokia's messaging software which supports push email,on a trial period, send and receive are fine, though you can't read the attachment, and when sending a picture via email, the phone uses the default email, so that wont work. so you have to get the picture id, then trawl through the phone in nokia messenger and find it.although this isn't a problem its just another thing to remember. Gps works well, though in a car moving the digital compass doesn't work.Music is fine. Now the problem, the Os is very glitchey and you feel that the phones is going to freeze and it it on many occasions.email needed constant tapping to read.everything felt difficult to use and such an effort. iphone 3g S, "the smooth operator", gps, excellent, music player,excellent, push email and contacs, excellent. os, excellent, camera good. Both the batteries lasted about a day on heavy use. so for me i'm keeping the iphone, oh and by the way the N97 got really hot and warm.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Chris Hartley from UK on 27th Jul 2009
I usally change my phone every two month ive had almost every nokia samsung HTC iphone(including nokia n96 n95 HTc touch samsung pixel iphone 3g) I'm really suprised how good this phone reallly is. Like i said i have had a lot of phone's this is the best on the market. If you want a phone with sat nav fantastic camera lot's of memory easy to use check your email with the best wiget's then this phone is for you
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Esi from UK on 26th Jul 2009
Upgraded from N95 8GB and there is no way i go back to N95. First of all once you get your phone (if you get one) update the firmware, at the moment latest version is V11, secondly go to settings --> application manager and unistall all the rubbish thats been installed mainly by providers - in my case 3. also remove Facebook and accuweather widgets from your home page they just eat up your RAM and battery, and finally reboot, you then will have 58MB RAM and 50+MB on your C drive. BTW install any applications you like on E (Mass storage drive). I have done this and the phone has NOT crashed in 10 days. Pros: * GPS is strong - I use "Garmin mobile XT" * Battery is good - better than N95 8GB * Web browsing is a joy with bigger/high resolution screen - install "opera mini" for web browsing * QWERTY keyboard is lovely - people say D-Pad is on left and space is on right but you get used to it after 2-3 hours of use and is a joy to text and game on * The screeeeeeeeeeen is gooooooood * its not laggy as some say * Camera is good - both picture and video * build quality is really good Cons: * signal/reception/coverage(or whatever you wanna call it) is not as good as N95 * Lock/Unlock key is a bit loose - apparently its normal and it would not fall off, fingers crossed * FM transmitter seems to have range of 1 meter max -still a very good feature Thats all i can think of at the moment, BUY it, do what i said above, and enjoy AND finally dont listen to these Apple/Iphone fanKIDS, they need to go and get their problems sorted with thier iphones e.g. Overheating, screen cracks, no multitasking, poor camera etc (lot to list)
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by John from UK on 24th Jul 2009
Absolute Utter rubbish. The screen freezes everytime you go on the internet and automatically restarts. I have had loads of problems with this absolute rubbish phone. DO NOT BUY ! ! !
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by marc taylor from UK on 23rd Jul 2009
I got my phone a little over two weeks ago. I have got to say that "outstanding" just does not do it justice. My first handset was faulty but I was still in two minds as to whether to send it back or not as I was so amazed at the capabilities of the handset. When I did send it back and received my replacement my amazement rocketed. Slick slide functioality, perfect touch screen, I am always connected to me e-mails and facebook, which shows real-time status updates. Texting has never been easier. The sound is unbelieveable, clear and very loud. It's a phone that captures peoples' attention and people are always asking what phone it is and if it is "as good as the I-phone". The answer is yes, it's clearly better. Higher screen resolution, just as many apps, copy and paste functionality, GPS, higher spec camera, bluetooth 2.0, the list of reasons as to why it is superior is almost limitless. The more i use this phone the more i fall in love with it, for example i only found out today a nifty little setting to make the screen turn around as you turn the phone. (may have copied the i-phone) but hey ho. Get it if you can. It's simply amazing.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by MT from Scotland on 22nd Jul 2009
Got my N97 and within a day the screen has gone off and unit has to be repaired, dissappointing to say the least, all features were great too, software bugs cause certain apps to freeze etc but a software update should sort that.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Ash from England on 21st Jul 2009
Had the phone for a couple of weeks only one problem on orange your internet limit is 500mb and this phone rockets through that amount. Might want to look at vodaphone.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by James from UK on 20th Jul 2009
It keeps turning itself off an crashing... the battery is useless too. I was really looking forward to getting this but i'm very dissapointed. It has potential to be great but very flawed - good camera and nice keyboard though.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Adam from UK on 16th Jul 2009
This phone is just filled with bugs. I've updated the firmware and the crashing seems to be worse! This thing loves to switch itself off. The widgets (applications on the homepage) constantly freeze and crash, with facebook being the worst. Nokia need to sort this problem out!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by David from Scotland on 14th Jul 2009
Very good phone with great features,only downfall is the locking system which can be very annoying.The keyboard is a lot better than i thought it would be. Thumbs up from me.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by dan from england on 14th Jul 2009
ive been a user of the nokia n series phones ever since the n95- ive always got the newest model n95/n95,8gb,n96 and now the n97. The n97 ticked all the boxes in that it had all the latest features and wasnt that much different from the older n95 layout. Ive had the iphone and that went back cos i couldnt get on with the touch screen. When the n97 had a touch screen and key board i thought it was a perfect combo. I waited for ages for t mobile to get it with them. Ive had the phone for less than a week and im afraid to say the phone is no good. The touch screen is slow and unresponsive, the buttons are too small on the keypad. It has crashed a few times, and ive put songs on it, then when ive gone to take them off ive got a 'file corrupt error' (ive later found out this is a common fault) so the files are deleted but the names cant be removed? The phone is just too buggy. It seems so rushed, im sure in about 3 firmware updates time the phone will be much better but for a final product its just not finished or good enough. The software really lets it down, ive got a ipod touch and its just totally blows the n97 away in terms of responsiveness, when you touch a part of the screen on the n97 it just does nothing and you have to press it a few times, and you find yourself holding the phone like a calculator. Im guted at my experience of this phone cos i was really really looking forward to it. Im going back to my trusty n95 8gb cos its never let me down, its really quick compared to the n97, when i text it instantly responds unlike the n97. The camera is still the best, and the size is perfect. There isnt a phone out there i would trade it for. All in all- dont get the n97 if you like texting, texting on the sly (i.e at work) cos you cant text with just one hand. The n97 is slow, you would find it impossible to use whilst out on a night out drunk. A internet connection is essential on this phone cos its made around it so if you dont have unlumited internet dont bother. Sorry nokia but the ipod still wins the touchscreen war. Back to the drawing board
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by charleen johnson from walsall on 10th Jul 2009
i lovethis phone i have never ever wrote a review before but i am well happy and have not put it down since i got it two weeks ago and i am on vodafone ..no probs love facebook links too much to say but this phone is the bees knees i just never ever want another upgrade ...i love my phone its the best ...boooooooo to the Ipone
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Paul from u.k. on 9th Jul 2009
Mines going back! the phone is over-rated very poor. its an N95 in the form of a touchscreen screen. I am very disappointed overall. The phone resets itself with no reason what so ever. The user interface is very unimpressive compared to the new touchscreen phones such as HTC and Samsung. I hate the fact you can only use the scroll bar on the side of the screen to move thorugh menus and cannot scroll by swiping anywhere on the screen!! very annoying! its not worth the price!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by brighton from england on 7th Jul 2009
absolutly brilliant phone! some freezing with the menu grid but usually solved with the pressing of the end key > very easy to use once you get the hang of it very fast internet and a five star rating !!! ive had my one for two weeks and i am inlove with it i upgraded from the n96 and there is a huge leap there n97 better in every way
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Zac17 from Newcastle on 5th Jul 2009
Really, really, really good phone... The camera is superb, well, during the day anyway. In the day its better than my Olympus digital camera. The video camera is amazing!!! Cant believe you can get this quality from a phone!!! The huuuuge memory is fantastic!!! Good bye iPod lol, dont need you anymore. Something no one seems to be mentioning (or at least i havent read about it) is the phones built-in 'FM TRANSMITTER' that lets you play music through stuff like your car radio!!! I had one of these for my iPod that i had to plug into my cigarette lighter and it was such a faff that i never used it lol. But this is exceptional! Had my car and 2 other cars all tuned into it :D Bit annoyed that the 'pen' doesnt slide inside the phone, but attaches via a piece of string. Bit pathetic that and no doubt is gonna scratch the phone I love the way it finds Wi-Fi all by itself and uses that instead of mobile internet! Watching videos on YouTube and BBC iPlayer is mint! Its faster than my PC by a long way!!! So far, after 5 days, nothing has gone wrong with this phone and its had some very heavy use... The battery is very good when you consider the performance of this phone!!!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by SANUR ALI from LONDON UK on 5th Jul 2009
Got the today for £500 sim free from Nokia, it is great it out does the iphone 3gs in all direction, from the camera to the qwerty keyboard. It is also lighter than the iphone and the speakers are louder than the iphone.
Rating: Reply

Reply by Mobile Phones UK from UK on 5th Jul 2009
It isn't lighter than the iPhone!

Reviewed by nassi from maroc on 4th Jul 2009
his the best fone wawwwwwwwwwwwww i lovit
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Dinesh from India on 4th Jul 2009
This is an extremely good phone, not yours if you are looking for thin phones!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Faheem from U.K. on 4th Jul 2009
I have had this phone for about 3 days and I am very disappointed. The UI is just rubbish, it seems nokia are putting no effort in what so ever to develop thier phones. they are stuck with the same type of interface and cheap build quality that they had 4 years ago! The phone keeps freezing, as did the other Nseries phones. I am not happy at all. sending mine back tomorrow. Im going to head for the Samsung jet or Omnia 2 when they come available next month. it is no way as good as other touchscreens on the market. dont believe the hype... and read the online reviews before you get this. I choose to ignore the reviews and have been proven wrong!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Peter from London on 3rd Jul 2009
Not good enough. Annoying things not working well like BBCIplayer. Cant answer phone on any button without taking lock off. Weather report worked well first day then for the next two days despite rebooting and trying everything never worked again. Nokia N97 helpline continually engaged.Sent it back today. Iphone...........here I come!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by nottmbantam from saudi arabia on 2nd Jul 2009
Update: just updated the phone's software, now running on version 11.0.21, which has made a difference and now much better to use, the software works a lot more responsively. I bought mine sim free so it didn't come with a load of operator rubbish pre-installed. I'd take it up to five stars now from my previous 4.5!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Ash from England on 2nd Jul 2009
I have the n97 on orange and theres nothing wrong with it at all, don't even bother reading the bad reviews.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by ants from glasgow on 2nd Jul 2009
got this phone last week. spend the first 3days hating it and the next 4days loving it. its takes a little bit of getting used to but now i'm getting used to the touch screen it getting better. also think that once more apps are available it just get better. the touch screen isn't as good as the iphone, but it's not an iphone so thats probably why. no perfect, but still pretty good
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Khalid from England on 1st Jul 2009
I bought the N97 on the day of its release i must say i was dissapointed with the creaky battery cover, freezing software and tempramental keylock. The touch screen did not impress me either. Considering I have always been a Nokia fan and was also looking forward for the N97 i was absolutely dissapointed. So I turned towards the Iphone 3GS and although i was skeptical about it I am really pleased It is definately the best touch screen phone. Sorry Nokia but you really need to improve your build quality or else you will loose alot more customers
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by jo from united kingdom on 1st Jul 2009
disappointing. would recommend iphone 3gs instead of this phone
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Loren Shefer from United Kingdom on 1st Jul 2009
I've noticed that all the bad reviews are from people that are on the VODAPHONE network. I think that says it all, this phone is great
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by huss from england on 29th Jun 2009
great phone did everything expected of it. freezes sometimes but when the software update comes out that will be fixed like the n95 was. People complain about the "old" symbian software and ofcourse the iphone is much faster to navigate but it is just too plain, besides people buying this phone are probably upgrading from a n95 (as the n96 flopped) and so having the same old symbian OS with a few tweeks in my opinion is good,i had the iphone and it did take a little time to get used to the new menu. but then using this i instantly found it easy as it was exactly like the n95 so getting used to it was a piece of cake.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Ashley from England on 29th Jun 2009
Thank god I waited! amazing phone with everything you need...even a FM transmitter!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by mark from scotland on 28th Jun 2009
I recieved the N97 yesterday and i must say that it is been worth the wait. The handset is a perfect size and the touch screen is very good and responsive. The only problem i have encountered so far is it will not connect to the internet or send and recieve mms, but hopefully a trip to the local vodafone store will rectify this and input correct settings. All in all a amazing fone that is packed full of features and you just cant put it down. simply awesome!!!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Aidan from England on 28th Jun 2009
What a terrible phone. I looks great, however I only received mine this week and I have been plagued with problems. I have a considerable problem with the web browser. Every time I try and go into it, error 403 comes up and refuses me access. I have called Vodafone 5 times now and they keep on putting a temp fix on it, however apparently the phone is too clever and defaults back to not giving access. (how does that make sence). Be warned everyone. Ade
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by mike from moray on 28th Jun 2009
quality great but not as good as iphone tryed compare with my ipod touch on internet ipod wins hand down my n95 8gb much better phone same running gear on n97 my phone going back to vodafone tommorow
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Bryan from UK on 27th Jun 2009
Got my N97 yesterday, best phone I have ever owned by far - and I have owned a lot, including most recently the tocco ultra, samsung pixon & Sony C902. The N97 isn't slow like some reviews are suggesting, its very snappy! Great camera, and I love the qwerty keypad, the space bar is by your thumb so literally takes minutes to get used to. Highly recommended. Great Mobile!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Andrew from London UK on 27th Jun 2009
Very surprised at the glowing review above and user reviews below. In London Nokia have a store directly opposite Apple's store so I spent a lot of time playing with this device. My basic thoughts are there is far too much wrong with it. Physically it is too heavy and too thick. You also have the moving parts of having a qwerty keyboard slideout and I'm not sure that will allow it to last. Next the user interface simply is too clutered. Each tab seems to occupy a rectangle so you end up with a bizzare Tetris kind of effect. This didn't make it easy or intuitive to use. I personally also find it fairly slow at least compared to the Iphone 3GS. Lastly I know the screen is supposed to be the same size as Apple's but it felt narrower. Overall go for this if you can't live without a physical qwerty keyboard. I think it has too many features and is over-designed. Owning it I would probably be driven mad. But given other user reviews it looks like I am in a minority of one.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by nottmbantam from Saudi Arabia on 26th Jun 2009
Ok, so had it for a week now, which I think gives me areasonable length of time in which to evaluate it, as I use it as my main device. Bought it sim free in Riyadh, had looked for it in Jeddah, but could only find the white version as a reasoanble price. Glad it waited to find the black version. I’ll do the review in two parts. First the hardware.: Its fantastic. No argument, five out of five. Its a perfect size, the weight, screen size , ‘feel’ in the hand. It exudes high end build quality, so much better than the ‘rickety’ N95 I had for two years. The touch screen works really well, the slide out keybaord feel well made and solid. The arabic version of the phone obviously comes with arabic letters on the kayboard, which make the keys look a bit cluttered in my opinion, and the black keybaord has the numbers printed in blue, which make them a little clearer than on the white keyboard. I’ve found though that I can type pretty comfortably on it, eventhough the space bar has been moved! The D bar / button works well when the screen is in open position. Camera is very good as you might expect, compared to the N95 pics, I would say there is slight improvement, even though the pixels are the same, I think the processing has improved somewhat. The screen is superb. Copied Quantam of Solace onto the memory card, and its looks great on the screen, very easy to watch movies and from that perspective, I think its going to replace my PSP and my iPod for when I’m down the gym. I usually compress movies so I watch movies on the PSP when I’m on the cross trainer! Although the screen is smaller than PSP, it’s still a pretty decent size. The speakers however could do with a bit more juice to them. A bit disappointed there isn’t a built in stylus, like the 5800, but in reality, with the QWERTY keyboard, you don’t really need one. The one supplied attaches to the phones, rather than being built into the hardware itself. Bluetooth, wi-fi and interent all work well. Please note though, that phone only charges through the USB port, not by using the usual Nokia charger – even the slim version. However, this is compensated by the package contents – a USB cable, a mains wall charger, a car charger AND a small adaptor to use with the traditional wall charger. Another point to make is that is IS possible to charge via USB AND transfer data at the same time, but in order to do this, the USB cahrge probably needs to come from a powered USB hub – some laptops might not provide enough power from the USB ports to provide the charge supply needed – certainly my old Mac Powerbook doesn’t. I tranferred my old 4gb memory card from my N95 and the N97 imported the contacts and via Bluetooth, transferred bookmarks, text message, MMS messages from the N95 all with no fuss. The phone does have a slide lock key,which to be honest has taken me few days to master. You have to slide to lock, and then press for around a second to unlock. When in locked mode, and a call comes in, you still have to slide for a second to unlock and then press answer, so takes a couple of couple to fathom out. The back battery cover is another ‘clip on’ type rather then the older ‘clip and slide on/off’ type. Personally, I don’t like it, they feel flimsy and cheap. The battery cover on my 6300 feels solid and that’s the type I prefer. Speaking of baterries, the battery life is ok so far, So the software? This is where its at its most frustrating. I’ve had several Symbian based phones, and love them, they are so versatile and give you so much flexibility. But here, the main grip is with the internet connectivity. There is no easy way to switch internet connection between for example wi-fi and interent, and can take a few tours of the various menus to workout how to do it,and even now, I couldn’t even explain how I’ve managed to do it,very frustrating. As I use the interent a lot, I find this a bit of a disappointment. This is where I’m looking forward to the next software upgrade! Touchscreen works well, sometimes a little slow, but bearable. The Home Screen is nice,and easy to customise, I don’t use Facebook that much, so changed that widget easily and setup my own preferred widgets. Set up email clients pretty easily, once I got the settings for my gmail account, it sends and receives perfectly. The FM transmitter is a disappointment, its not powerful enough. When on, it needs to sit near to the car ariel ( not the head unit ) otherwise, it just won’t pick up the signal. Great idea, but not well executed. Very pleased to see Joikupsot included, even though its only a trial version, this is probably my favourite bit of software, had it working well on my N95 ( it turns your phone into wi-fi hotpsot ) .Otherwise, all the other menu’s work well, pretty easy to work your way through them. I’m an Apple fan, have bought several bits – iMac, laptops, ipods, etc. But the iPhone still is way behind in terms of functionality and hardware, for me, even the new iPhone 3GS doesn’t come close to this. Yes, iPhone wins in the ‘style over substance’ award, but the N97 – in my opinion –is still a better proposition. Summary – fantastic bit of hardware – five out five. Software- needs slight adjustment and one or too disappointments. I have to agree with the 4.5 stars, its excellent but not yet perfect. Once the software is sorted, it’ll be very very hard to beat.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Aidan from England on 25th Jun 2009
All, I had my new N97 delivered yesterday and its truely fantastic. There is small issues with the handset that I have yet to sort out, like online media will not load up because of connection problems, however once this is sorted I am sure I will learn more about its features during the next 2 years I have. I would seriously advise those who have an I-PHONE to at least take a look at the N97. It may not be apple software, but the touchscreen is very effective and responsive and the keyboard is quite easy to use. Scouse
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Howard from England on 24th Jun 2009
This is one of the most powerful i have ever used. I had the N95 8gb and felt the 5800 was to similar and in a way it was a downgrade. so i decided to wait for the N97 and as of this moment i think it was a good decision. My only small complaint is when i slide the bit on the side to unlock the phone the back light does not come on and i have to repeat the process. but the widgets are amazing and accessing facebook is a breeze.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Tom from England on 24th Jun 2009
Received a white N97 yesterday from Nokia direct. A massive leap forward from my previous N95. Very easy to use, touchscreen is very responsive. Keyboard mechanism is a work of genius, looks flimsy but very solid. The amount of features on this phone is incredible and I doubt most phones come near it. Nokia fans will love this phone, highly recommended.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by mafae faida from saudi arabia on 23rd Jun 2009
everyday i went to axiom store (starting 19 june 2009) to ask for the nokia n97 but it is always not available. tomorrow, 24th June 2009 will be the day the axiom salesman told me they will have the n97 stock and the only available color for selling in axiom is black, no white unit sorry. the price is still 2,999 rials. inshaallah bukra they have n97, coz i cant wait not to own one. mind you, the keypad is very much cramped with the arabic characters, numbers and english letters. it looked very small and for those with eyesight problem, u need to use glasses for texting because the keypad characters look really small. i was told that axiom will only sell black n97 made in finland. no white units available is the reason. [Update by mafae faida on 24th June 2009: kabir mushkila (big problem)!!! n97 not yet in axiom stores as promised by the salesman. yesterday he told me it will be today, so i went there again only to go home empty handed. now, the salesman told me mumkin (maybe) saturday - 27 june 2009. this is really terrible. i am already tired of waiting, and i might postpone buying the n97 till the price gets lower, that might be next month july or august or maybe never. truly sad about this coz nokia stores sell the n97 at sky rocket prices not lower than 3,800 rials.thats all for now.]
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by nottmbantam from Saudi Arabia on 22nd Jun 2009
Yes, I saw the black one for 3800 ( plus Bluetooth car kit ) , and then also in another Nokia store for 3500. In the end, I bought the black one in Riyadh - from Callem store ( Granada Centre, Riyadh, Exit 9 ), and paid 3299sr, so a bit more than Axiom, but every Axiom shop told me a different story - some said two weeks, some said two days for new stock. I was also thinking that Axiom were being a little untruthful - every shop said they had sold out. I was starting to think that they didn't actually have any in the first place. THe main Nokia shop in Mall of Arabia was priced at 3000sr - same as Axiom prices. Pleased I went for the black one. Been using it for two days now, so will write back after another week with a more detailed review.
Rating: Reply

Reply by Mobile Phones UK from UK on 22nd Jun 2009
Looking forward to your detailed review, nottmbantam, as the N97 is not yet available for sale in the UK.

Reviewed by mafae faida from saudi arabia on 21st Jun 2009
the nokia N97 black is now being sold in Nokia store in Al Safa,Jeddah for 3,800 rials. it started on June 19th. that's the minimum retail price being asked. the other nokia store in Al Faysaleeyah, Jeddah asks 3,913 rials for the black unit. apparently, the Axiom store is selling the N97 for only 2,999 rials but in all the Axiom stores you go to, they don't have any stock available. the reason given by the saudi salesman was that the stock was only 4 pieces and the arrival of more stocks will come after two days. I wonder why there is an artificial shortage being created. I caught a saudi man buying the N97 from an Axiom salesman, with the box of N97 on the table,and when I approached the salesman and asked for the N97, his face looked worried because I saw the N97 unit on the table,then he told me to ask the other salesman if there are units available. and i was told that there are no units. hmmm, i smell something is wrong here. i suspect they are choosing the buyer whom to sell the unit. they are prioritizing local saudis than expats because it is early selling date of N97. and almost all nokia stores are selling it for more than 2,999 rials. can you understand what i am saying? they sell in nokia stores more than the amount Axiom is selling. i wonder why so?
Rating: Reply

1 - 100 | 101 - 105 | Next 100 reviews

Nokia N97 Links

Nokia N97 deals
Nokia N97 White deals
Nokia N97 unlock codes: unlock Nokia N97

Best Deals