Nokia N97 hits Flagship stores today for $699.99

Can I pop in my AT&T SIM card into this phone and have it work? Does the N97 support AT&T’s 3G network? (someone asked above, but no one answered).

@ Noah. Yes… the N97 will work with the At&T 3G network.

I present to you…the Nokia Waffle Maker

@ Boy Genius. Sorry… Best Buy is still charging $849 for the Pre and like you said.. it’s only good on the Sprint Network. Yes… $700 is a lot for a phone but, it’s still not bad considering what other phones cost. That said… I’m still sticking with my N95-4

@Andrew
The Pre is not an $800 phone! LOL. Usually the price of a 2 year contract is $200 or around $250 if data is required as part of the contract. Sprint sells the device for $299 (not including $100 mail in rebate). Add $250 (data required) and you get the $549 retail price of the phone. The iPhone 3GS is similarly priced!

So what your saying is that AT&T GIVES you $500 for a subsidy when signing up for a new contract????? What carrier will give you $500 for contract? Did you just “GUESS” when you came up with your $800 price tag?

@Andrew
I just looked it up. Sure enough, $549 is the unlocked price of the Pre. Best buy is the ONLY one selling it for that price, and like someone else said … possibly as a deterrent because of limited stock? But where did you get $800 for the iPhone 3GS? That is a $549 phone.

I’ve has one on loan since last week. It’s a pretty good device, and the 35 degree screen thing really works. Here’s my full review:
http://www.last100.com/2009/06/09/nokia-n97-review/

@ Christopher Cox. $549 is not an unlocked price.. it’s a no-contract price. The phone is still locked to the Sprint network.

And This is where I got the $800 for the iPhone 3GS http://i.gizmodo.com/5284318/whiners-of-the-world-shut-up-about-the-iphone-3gs-upgrade-price

From AT&T if you do not qualify for a subsidized phone the 32GB will cost you $699 WITH a 2 year contract. http://technabob.com/blog/2009/06/08/iphone-3gs-price-release-date-specs-announced/

$700 (although it’s $603 on amazon with no tax or s/h anyways) isn’t that unusual for a non-subsidized, unbranded, unlocked phone.

an excerpt from my previous post but i think says it all:
I too have preordered the N97 and was lucky enough to get the deep discount. But really by the time you add on Tax & Shipping the priced rose to $575. Add to that, you’re right, they wouldn’t let me cancel my pre order and said if I opened it I would be charged a 15% restocking fee! I was advised to refuse package. WTF??? So I simply canceled my credit card and had a new number issued. So as you all may know A##zon has it for $603 no tax and free basic shipping. So what save $25 bucks to then be stiffed till first or second week in July which is what the rep told me? I don’t think so. I guess that’s the “American” pig in me.

To address comrade Billium, my damage is simply to say to Nokia, Americans are a ravenous consuming nation, period. I don’t like it but we are. Apple has swept up the market here and yes I know they only have one product but the point is whether or not it’s the best phone out, the fact of the matter is ITS THE BEST PHONE OUT and IT GETS THE MOST PRESS. FREE PRESS IS GREAT ADVERTISING.

I say to Nokia, Nokia, you have a website setup nokiausa.com to speak to the far reach outpost of your once thriving market here in the US. You don’t advertise to us anymore fine. But on your US site you sell us the idea to be the proverbial first to get the N97 and then you throw us to the wayside to take care of 2 locations? The net breathes opinion, good and bad and she will surely blog the grievances of your devoted fans. At least you could have honored some basic principles of business marketing. From a post on engadget mobile a few days back they interview a T-Mobile U.S. exec, so and so and he flat out says Nokia is TOO EXPENSIVE to work with. Does anyone really believe it was an accident the price lowered for a few hours? Or was it to fish the demand for elasticity. A basic economic principle!
I say to you Nokia, Nokia you’re not winning any press here in the states and we are still a viable population to market to. I know Iphone is killing you but stay strong and don’t give up the fight here. A NAM version at a lower, much lower price could have gotten you back into the game here in the US. I know your profit would have been a bit less but if no one is buying your phone to begin with here in the US, what do you have to lose? The NAM couldn’t be exported to use elsewhere anyway! Were you afraid of some global backlash if you had to subsidize the price to the US market? It’s the same thing with European carriers subsidizing on new contracts. Its make or break is seems. You have a great product in the N97 regardless of resistive, capitive…whatever! Invest in your fans or at least, at least invest in your online fans who intentionally shelled out over half a grand to show their friends and to sing the praises of the once ALMIGHTY NOKIA! How can we get the message out for you by owning the phone when only one person in every state has one to pass around? Partner with Best Buy! Get your head out of your ass and fight for our market share. You were the pioneering force to cell phones in the US. You’re being struck by Apple, struck by the Koreans and you’re not putting up your guard!

uh… Not so much, Mia. The N97 is the EXACT SAME PRICE as the much weaker iPhone 3GS at $699.

Its not Nokia’s fault American carriers are afraid to subsidize it. They avoid it because it negates the need to buy ringtones (just use audio files, like full songs), subscribe to mobile TV (use free PiipTV app or your Slingbox), use the carriers voice network (just use Skype, Gizmo5, or other VOIP providers), pay for video downloads (YouTube, MySpace, and other embedded video sites work in the browser without need for an app workaround), or pay for basic navigation (except for at&t branded models, all Nokia smartphones include offline GPS mapping software). The iPhone is a setup to squeeze consumers for everything. Nothing’s free or cheap.

and outside America, the top phones in the world get subsidies better than at&t’s iPhone. The N95, the greatest selling, most iconic smartphone of the decade, was free in the UK on contract. Why is the iPhone worth a $400 subsidy but not a Nokia Nseries??

I have pre-ordered mine from Amazon. No words from them. Also, they are only selling the Black one weird. I do not know what the reason is, I want the white one let’s hope i get mine before July.

Which US carriers will the N97 actually work on at 3G speeds…any?

i’m sorry…i preordered for what reason? I shoulda drove the 8 hours to the store in chicago and just waited in line. woulda had it a lot quicker it seems.

any problems playing music and browsing are surely not processor related. Lesser devices do so just fine with 10 or more apps going at the same time. It may be a firmware issue. Was the demo being used the latest build? Because music and web browsing are not much for a Symbian phone. I’m listening to music, web browsing, chatting, streaming muted TV, and transferring files via bluetooth without a problem on an old N95 8gb. Multitasking is a Nokia hallmark, and no one can touch them when it comes to stability during power usage.

@christexaport OK, we get it, you want to have Nokia’s love babies. But dude, be honest with yourself… Until about a year ago, Symbian handsets didn’t have enough RAM do do anything simultaneously. N95-3 and later handsets have improved the situation greatly, but until then bogging and lag were Nokia hallmarks, not multitasking.

Not yet they don’t. They’re offering at that price, but they won’t actually have it in stock until June 25th.

Got mine at NYC flagship store.
Looks cool and stylish so far.
No real issues.

@ Chingoose
“Which US carriers will the N97 actually work on at 3G speeds…any?”
The NAM version will work only on at&t, but will also work with EDGE just as well on TMobileUSA. If you aren’t an at&t customer, I’d buy the Euro version, as I always do. More coverage abroad.
@ El Bastardo

“OK, we get it, you want to have Nokia’s love babies.”

I like Nokia. Get over it. So do 40% of the world. I guess I’m silly because I’m not part of the paltry 10% Apple has.
“…But dude, be honest with yourself… Until about a year ago, Symbian handsets didn’t have enough RAM do do anything simultaneously. N95-3 and later handsets have improved the situation greatly, but until then bogging and lag were Nokia hallmarks, not multitasking.”

WRONG!!
My all-time favorite device was the Nokia N90, and it was a multitasking beast, way better than the WinMo devices that were the best at the time. Tell me, who makes devices since 1995 that multitask better, and which OS? And have you owned one of these devices, was it an unlocked debranded device? I’ve bought every Euro flagship Nseries device for this reason.

The N90, N80, N73, N93, N95, N95 8gb, N82, and now the N97 all multitask better than anything on the market, even today. With Symbian and Nokia’s On Demand Paging, memory isn’t at a permium because of the architecture of how it works. I routinely ran 5-10 apps on my N90 at once, and have 17 running on my N95 8gb I use as my primary computer, and one of them is this website in order to put you in your place.

I’m curious as to what devices you favor? Care to tell?