Nokia announces N97 flagship phone

@ Aaron,
maybe in America, but Nokia has slowed much new device releases, and most of its offerings were old. They wanted the new OS to set the bar much higher since the competition has gotten better. They lost a lot of marketshare, but going from 70% to 40% without ever attempting to touch the American market’s 68% growth rate for smartphones. Now they’re ready to encroach on Apple’s playground. The wait looks to have been worth it, with the first new 5th Edition devices both offering something nothing else can offer, especially the iPhone. The 5800 offers the loudest speakerphone ever on any smartphone in history, a camcorder with pro quality optics and full touch at only $349 unlocked, almost half the price of an iPhone, yet easily outperforming it on the specsheet. The N97 needs no introduction. Now every Python, c++, Mscript, Javascript, Java, Flashlite, Ruby, Qt, Web2.0, and Garnet developer just found a place to plot their next killer app, service, or media content creation/consumption tool. Life’s good as a Symbian Freak. Ahh…

The resistance touch screen is ancient technology.
This is a major flaw in what could have been an iPhone killer.
The resistive touch screen is a dealbreaker for me.

Well i guess they could have easily crammed in the following too.

AM/FM radio
Over the Air HDTV receiver and tuner
Satellite Radio
DVR
radar detector
Universal Remote

See i am not asking for things that cannot be done like making a coffee or pizza.

But i guess we will soon see all these in phones in another 3-4 years.

Raman

@ vin,
don’t be so quick to judge the resistive touchscreen, nor to consider capacitive touch an advantage over a resistive screen. Its actually the other way around! Capacitive touchscreens are the old technology, but resistive replaced it because of its versatility.

A capacitive touchscreen can only be activated by a finger. Nothing else! A resistive touchscreen can be activated by nearly anything, even a gloved hand or a plastic spoon! The only complaint on resistives had been responsiveness, but the videos of the prototype N97′s show Nokia has solved the sensitivity issue by through all its research with the Nokia touchscreen web tablets. Since its as responsive as a capacitive touchscreen, the capacitive screen has a disadvantage, since it can ONLY be used with a finger. Cold weather, amputations, dirty hands, or extremely large fingered hands will appreciate the versatility.

Also, another falsehood is that multitouch makes everything easier. In fact, its another liability, since it requires 2 hands to pull off. It reduces productivity, which is one of S60′s strong suits.

Apple has brainwashed Americans and the consumer in general with misinformation. Their technology works well in its iteration, but more versatile, powerful, better featured options exist. Nokia has been ahead in features and productivity for 3 years. Now the UI brings it full circle, with the best of S60 in an easier, touch enabled package.

@ Raman
By the way, all Nseries have FM radio. As for TV, there is freeware software to stream TV from your Media Center, or you can get a HAVA or Slingbox. Nokia’s built in Internet Radio rivals satellite radio, and is free. Knowing the freeware community, and with that storage, a DVR app will come as soon.

The IPhone has mostly all this in their apps that were free. I have more radio stations than I can use and now with the update that just came out we get more podcast than we can listen to or view on every subject imaginable.

@ christexaport,

The iPhone’s screen UI is what give the phone it’s hypnotic appeal despite it’s glaring lack of features. Resistive touch screens are just not in the same league.
A wand will take care of any issues with gloves or fingernails etc.. thick gloves can be pretty much useless on a small screen.
Nokia is giving us a so-so touch screen and in a features rich phone, just the inverse of the successful iPhone’s: feature poor with a great touch screen UI.
The great touch screen UI is the overriding feature that made the iPhone what it is.
Nokia needed to add their great specifications to a great touch screen UI.

For the above reasons I am sorry to say the Nokia N97 will be just another, one of many, failed attempt to dethrone the iPhone.

What feature does it not have… well it does not yet have a firmware that is hackable :-p

Hi, sorry dunno if this has been answered somewhere in the midst but does anyone know the exact date of the launch in europe?

Apretiate it
Thnkx