Pixel Concept

Nokia’s first touch-screen N-series device raised excitement among S60 diehards everywhere. The specs sounded promising: full QWERTY keyboard, 3.5 inch touch-screen display, 3.5mm jack, 128MB RAM, a whopping 32GB of storage space with a microSD slot to boot. Not to mention the design made the N97 worthy of lust…and a $700 unsubsidized price tag. Needless to say both my anticipation, and my hopes, were high. Sadly, my first impressions of the device were so bad that it has taken me a couple of months to write up this post. With such an impressive device on paper, what could possibly be so bad about it? Before I rip into the short-comings of the N97, allow me to applaud it for its successes.

The Good

There is no doubt that the N97 is a sexy device. It feels great in the hand and though some may consider it a bit heavy, I like the solid feeling that the added heft provides. The build quality greatly improves upon the N96 and N95. No janky hinges. No loose battery covers. No creaking and cracking. In fact, the slide and tilt mechanism that is one of the most solid mechanisms I have seen. The keyboard is very easy to type on, and although it is limited by a 3-row layout and offset space key, I was able to adapt to it quickly. The inclusion of a D-pad says a lot about S60 5th Edition but it was a smart move on Nokia’s part since the touch navigation leaves a lot to be desired (more on that later). Although, I do have to give the N97 credit for a great implementation of haptic feedback. Any press on the N97’s screen delivers a bit of vibration, confirming that a key or item has been pressed. The vibration is quick and light, and very different from the vibration that occurs as a result of an incoming message or call. Additionally, the light vibration creates a distinct sound which adds an auditory element of confirmation. What makes the haptic feedback on this device so great, is that it is not intrusive and exaggerated as I have seen it be on other devices. It does not slow you down and really is a feature that helps in getting screen input closer to an actual button push. The UI itself looks nice. Adding, removing, and rearranging widgets on the home screen is very quick and easy. A quick horizontal swipe across the screen in either direction hides/unhides the widgets which can come in handy. Sadly, that is where “the good” of the N97 ends.

The Bad

Navigating through S60 5th ed. is painful, to say the least. Inconsistencies plague the UI. Depending on what screen is active, an item may require a single tap, or a double tap to execute it. This would not be too much of an issue if it were consistent, but there does not seem to be any rhyme or reason to when a single tap is required versus a double tap. This makes for a very frustrating experience. Even more frustrating however, is the inconsistency in scrolling through lists. Scrolling within the web browser works exactly as you would expect from a modern day smartphone. You simply tap and hold, and drag or flick the page in and direction to make the page scroll. Unfortunately, this method of scrolling was not extended to the rest of the UI. Scrolling in lists is limited to small scroll bars a la Windows Mobile. A firmware update expected in October is supposed to enable kinetic scrolling throughout the UI, but the fact remains that it didn’t ship with kinetic scrolling. For a modern day UI that is intended to be used strictly with a finger, this is simply unacceptable. Then again, Nokia seemed to be aware of its navigational shortcomings as the N97 has a D-pad next to the QWERTY keyboard; real estate that could have been better occupied by larger, and more spaced out QWERTY keys. Even more comical is the inclusion of an odd shaped stylus included in the box. The stylus does not reside in a silo within the phone as has become the custom for any stylus driven device; rather, Nokia expects you to carry the stylus in your pocket at all times. Of course, an argument can be made that any of these issues are mere inconveniences that have a work around. Sadly, the same cannot be said to some of its deeper issues.

The Ugly

As frustrating as navigating through the UI may be, it does not match the annoyance of some of the issues found in the N97. One of those annoyances is related to unlocking the device. Like any other phone, the screen turns itself off and locks itself after a specified time of inactivity. Given that the screen on the N97 is capacitive, this prevents accidental actions when the device is in your pocket. Unlocking the device is easily done by sliding the unlock switch located on the N97’s left side. This dedicated switch is a great inclusion by Nokia as it makes it very simple to unlock your phone compared to the two key combinations used on other devices. Unfortunately, when you slide the switch to unlock it, the backlight does not always activate. So, if you are in a dark place, and you unlock the phone, you will not be able to see the screen even though it is active. You then have to lock it with the switch, and unlock it again; and like magic, the backlight comes on. This scenario is not too bad, unless you have a lock code on the device. When you slide the switch to unlock the phone, you are presented with a 10-key keypad on the screen to input your code. The problem is that the backlight will not come on until you have input your code. If there were hardware keys, you could feel your way around the keypad, but these are virtual keys. Now you’re stuck having to find a light source so you can actually see the screen to input your unlock code. Oh, but that’s not all. For some strange reason that I have yet to figure out, the 10-key keypad will sometimes (not often) go into T-9 mode, so when you hit “2″, for example, it will actually register as “a”. The only way to go back to numeric mode is to lock the phone with the switch, and unlock it again for a fresh start. The lock code screen limits more than just control over the input mode. There are times that an alarm goes off when the phone is locked. Unfortunately, the soft keys that usually comes up that will allow you to either “Snooze” or “Stop” the alarm, do not come up. This means that you are forced to wait until the alarm stops ringing so you can unlock the phone and wait for the alarm to go off again in a few minutes to actually turn it off. Now picture yourself at 5:00 AM trying to muffle your phone so that it will not wake others. Not fun.

The common theme across the board is inconsistency. From the navigation to the lock code issues, there is not a single event that links any of these issues together that would at least allow you to understand why these things happen. For example, the soft keys on the alarm do come up most of the time, but what caused them not to come up is a mystery, and therefore cannot fix, or at least avoid, the issue. Maybe the 2.0 software expected in October will make the N97 a more usable device. Hopefully the Maemo 5 on the N900 will be a demonstration of what the N97 should have been. Either way, my first impressions on the N97 truly are my last.