Nokia N97

[dominique355]

I have been using my Nokia N97 for about 6 months, since it was available here in Bangkok. I bought it at MBK. At first, it seemed sexy, exciting and full of great features. I hoped it would be a good - or even better - alternative to the iPhone. Well, it isn't. And here is why:

- Inconsistent touch controls. Sometimes you need to touch a control surface once and sometimes twice. I was not able to find out when which is applicable.

- Sliding control surfaces don't work. In particular with an incoming call, I am supposed to slide over the green control surface. 75% of the time, this doesn't work and I am unable to accept the incoming call. To tap on the green control underneath the touch-screen does not work either.

- After an incoming call, I have to tap "End Call" too, even if the caller hangs up first, otherwise the phone risk to crash. It crashes so badly, I actually need to remove the battery and restart the phone. That takes about 4 minutes until I am back on-line.

- Scrolling is very cumbersome. Sliding down the scroll-bar works sometimes, but mostly not.

- Browsing the internet is not very convenient because zooming in works only occasionally.

- The keyboard is almost invisible, or more precisely, the characters on the keys, when back-lit.

I updated the system software twice. The recent revision, released a few weeks ago, has had practically no effect. Besides this, it was quite an adventure to actually update. First I went to the Nokia shop in CentralWorld and was informed that they only sell, no service. I should go to MBK! So I downloaded the update on my laptop (which is another adventure, given that my ISP is True, aka "untrue"). When I run the updating program, I was informed that this program does not run under Windows 7. Great. So transfer all to my desktop and finally I was able to run the updating.

Two nights ago, I had an emergency and was really in need of my phone. When the call came in, I was unable to answer, as explained above. So now, THAT'S IT! I am fed up and tired of this phone, it goes back in its box and the previous E71 goes back into service.

Meanwhile I keep looking for a good and reliable phone (no Windows Mobile) and appreciate any suggestions you have. Oh, I have an iPhone already for the other number.

[webfact]

Moved to mobile devices

[nikster]

what's wrong with another iPhone? For smart phone features, nothing can touch it.

Although, as a plain phone-phone, any dumb phone from Nokia, Samsung, LG is probably better. The ones in the 3000-5000 Baht range - great little performers.

Your tales remind me of my SonyEricsson P990i - what a disaster. Nice hardware, but crashed constantly and missed calls too, it was crazy. Had an accident and tried to call my wife from the hospital - guess what didn't work?! Updating the SEs firmware involved downloading and _hacking_ the firmware. The phone basically did not work.

[siamjj]

i bought the n97 2 months ago here in canada and have none of the above problems.its the american 3g addition.the scoll works fine.to answer a call,you have to hit the unlock button on the left first.

[lor]

Many Chinese N97 clones are being sold here in Thailand. Hard to tell the differance if you do not know what to look for. They have all the problems you described and more.

Chris

[nikster]

Many Chinese N97 clones are being sold here in Thailand. Hard to tell the differance if you do not know what to look for. They have all the problems you described and more.

If that's true then that is something new. Because so far all the copies of Nokias I have seen were blatantly obvious fakes, at least on closer inspection. Nokla, Nokira, etc

[Bkkboet]

Nokia have now bough out the V20 firmware; it solves most of the stability issues and adds touch scrolling. The phone is now what it should have been when it was released.

[Spoonman]

Ive had an N97 since the first day of release here in Thailand, Ok yeah it was a bit glitchy at first but ive updated the firmware as they became available and now, mine is 100% glitch free, everything works as it should.