Is Nokia N97 the real iPhone killer? Well, we have been seeing a lot of “iPhone Killers” lately, but none so far has actually lived up to the expectations. The latest news in the air is that the new Nokia N97 is the real iPhone rival and it’s the fight people have been waiting for. First, let’s have a quick recall of the tech specs for the Nokia N97. The touchscreen QWERTY smartphone touts a large 3.5-inch touch screen, 32GB of built in memory, QWERTY sliding keyboard, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera. Now, let’s see if the N97 is a real threat to the iPhone.
Design: A sleek design and the technical features are the two things that matter the most. The N97 resembles the Sony Xperia X1 when it’s open and when closed, it looks like most of the large touchscreen phones we have on the shelves. The N97 is thicker than the iPhone 3G. Moreover, it’s somewhat longer, but narrower than the iPhone. I won’t blame the N97 for being thicker than the iPhone because the thickness is a result of the inclusion of the QWERTY keyboard. So, it totally depends on the user if he loves to go for the QWERTY-equipped N97 or the slim iPhone.
Camera: Nokia N97 is, without a doubt, winner in this case. Compared to the iPhone’s 2-megapixel camera, the N97 comes with a whopping 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera module with autofocus and DVD quality video recording.
User Interface: Well, it would be too early to comment on the same, but still, user interface is the area where iPhone rocks. The iPhone’s operating system and the elegance of its user interface is its USP. Anyway, after having a look at a video posted at Engadget, we can say that the interface for the N97 is quite slick and looks respect-worthy for an S60 device. It looks to be a resistive touch screen, not a capacitive. More and more features have been stuffed on to a single screen. But still, I just love the iPhone user interface.
GPS functionality: Both the iPhone and the N97 have built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS functionality. While the iPhone supports Google Maps, the N97 comes with new version of Nokia Maps called Nokia Maps 2.0 Touch. In the Nokia Maps, users have the power to add elements to the maps to make them more functional. So, N97 does have an edge over iPhone here, but time will tell if the Nokia Maps with “dynamic nature” will really beat the popular Google Maps.
Widgets & Third-party applications: We all know that there are hundreds of widgets and third party application being developed for the iPhone since its launch, so it would be interesting to see if there would be more than enough applications being developed for the Nokia N97 in the near future. Nokia N97 has support for widgets.
Note: AppStore is the iPhone’s greatest advantage over the Nokia N97. Apple is always adding new features and fixes for the iPhone.
Salient features of both the handsets:
Noteworthy points:
• The N97 does 16:9 video. The iPhone doesn’t even do video.
• N97 has a 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera with auto focus that put’s iPhone’s 2-megamixel camera to shame.
• Unlike iPhone, the N97 has the “copy and paste” feature.
• Unlike iPhone, the N97 GPS has does turn-by-turn and has a built in compass.
• Unlike iPhone, the N97 comes with replaceable batteries.
• Apple iPhone overpowers N97, when it comes to user interface and third party applications
Well, if we talk about user interface, iPhone still rules every handset out there, but when it comes to other multimedia functionalities, Nokia N97 looks to be the winner. Anyway, it would be too early to comment, so we need to sit back for a while and see if the Nokia N97 is really an iPhone killer.