Since my 5530XM has been sent to get some work done – I dropped it at the NCC for replacing the antenna; I will have to delay reviewing it. Meanwhile, here’s a post I’ve been preparing during my last trip to Germany.
With the intention of packing light and saving time at security checkpoints – I hate how you have to almost get naked while you pass and take out your laptop from its sleeve and place it in a tray – I have chosen to take the N97 with me as a replacement. Now what I’m trying to do here is pit an decent laptop (which I’ll call Laptop X) against a capable mobile phone to truly see if mobile devices can really stand up to computers. Before moving on, I’d like to state that this trip has really changed my mind about “mobile computers” so much that I felt the need to invest in a netbook or – logically – the Nokia N900 which I believe would solve most of the issues I faced with the N97. It is to be noted that my final verdict was in favor of the N97; I was never disappointed with its overall performance and the numerous issues I was able to tackle with the help of it.
Let’s kick off with some quick specs of Laptop X: it’s got a core 2 duo processor, 3GB of RAM, 14” screen, a 3-hour battery life, a 160GB HDD, and runs Windows Vista. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are there of course, and 1.3-meg webcam as well.
Getting ready for my trip initiated by pimping up the N97; I’ve loaded it with all kinds of useful and useless stuff to keep me company throughout the journey. I would have normally gone for the E71 but since the N97 has got a kick-ass 3.5” screen, it was never an issue deciding which device will get the chance to fly with me to Germany.
Once on board my flight and during my stay in Berlin, here’s how I’ve used the N97:
- I listened to music for about 3 hours during the entire trip
- Used Gravity for updating my status on Twitter
- Used QuickOffice for jotting down some notes (I have purchased a full editing license for it)
- Used the camera to take photos at the event, and during my sightseeing sessions in Berlin
- Used the Facebook widget to upload several photos to my account
- Used Slick for chatting with my family and friends in Lebanon (MSN account)
- Used the voice recorder during an interview
- Watched Ice Age 3 for the billionth time while waiting for my connection on the way back
- Used the GPS and Nokia maps to get around Berlin city
- Geotagged my photos
- Used the web browser for research and for posting a blog entry.
- Sent emails using the Google Mail application and the Yahoo! Mail mobile website
- Used the Ovi Store to download a couple of new applications
- I have set different alarms for several occasions
- I have used RSS feeds on the homescreen and set them to auto-update for staying up-to-date with Nokia World in Stuttgart.
- I’ve fired off N-Gage a couple of times for some light gaming sessions.
- I always carried an extra battery with me (that of the E71) but never used it.
What I liked about the N97 during this trip:
- With some heavy shooting during one day, some twitting, and a dozen messages sent, the battery still made it till the end of the day.
- When the battery is low, the little white LED next to the USB port flashes a couple of times for a visual alert. Simply brilliant if you have headphones on and listening to something else or if the TV is too loud and you cannot hear the phone.
- It never crashed on me although it went nuts for a couple of times (gallery not accessible, email application not exiting, etc)
- Got 3 questions about it, 2 of which were at both the German and Turkish airports.
What I did not like about the N97 during this trip:
- The Facebook widget kept asking me to sign in, again and again, whereas it should have saved my credentials to make the process a bit easier for me. This still happens most of the time.
- Entering numbers on the upper row of the keyboard is a pain in the neck. Good thing the upcoming firmware fixes that by letting you input numbers with a long press of the keys. It’s not rocket science; it should have been made available with the initial firmware.
- Locking/unlocking the phone is not a smooth process; the phone would sometimes unlock after locking it and vice versa.
- Sometimes the GPS took too long to get a lock.
- At times, zooming in on pictures causes the Gallery application to quit unexpectedly
How I think my laptop would have served me better:
- Browsing: nothing beats the big screen. Size does matter and I’m a sucker for big screens.
- The mouse pad: though kinetic scrolling within the browser of the n97 is pretty cool, the real browsing on a laptop/PC can never be topped.
- Skype: would have been nice to communicate with the family using my laptop’s webcam.
- Editing photos: though not totally necessary during that trip and while the N97 offers some basic editing tools, nothing beats using Photoshop for some fine-tuning.
- Storage: 160GB top the 48GB (internal + microSD) but why would you need so much storage on a 5-day trip? Unless you’re willing to take your whole movie collection with you, 32GB is more than enough. Even that could easily accommodate 20 full-length hi-res movies.
- Blogging, emailing: full-sized keyboard and 14” screen… what more could you ask for?
- Gaming: being a gaming-freak, I would have enjoyed playing Call of Duty while waiting for my connection.
Having said all that, my final verdict on the N97 was definitely positive. Though I’ve had a love-hate relationship with the N97 for the past month, I came to realize that one can really grow into it. With the new firmware (v12) which fixed some bugs and drastically improved the overall speed, and with some heavy typing on the not-so-comfortable keyboard, you can actually get used to the whole thing and feel…comfortable using it. At the end of the day, having a single gadget that can store all kinds of crazy data you might have while serving you as a camera, MP3 and video player, a mobile GPS unit with voice guidance and walk mode, a personal digital assistant, a voice and video recorder, a text messenger, and well a voice communication device, is just awesome. Convergence at its best.
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