N97 and N97 Mini

OspreyO

OspreyO

OspreyO

Soldato
Joined
12 Dec 2006
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A lot of people seem to be selling off their N97/N97 mini. I know the problems of them, with the low ram etc. But if looking for a cheap media phone with a good camera/video, and music and video play back and a PDA/PIM. Is the N97 and N97mini worth it.
 
Hate that stupid phone. Destroyed my enthusiasm for smart phones. Also ended up giving up the ghost completly 3 months before the end of my contract. I hated it that much I went back to my N95 for a couple of months before the end of my contract and didn't even send it back to get repaired. I regulary abuse it because I hate it that much.
 
osc89er said:
The fact you have cited low ram and not that it isn't fit for purpose suggests otherwise?
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I was assuming it would still be better than my E71 which I don't really like. Also the N97 Mini has more ram, so between that and perhaps updates to both the N97, and the mini I thought perhaps they'd fixed a lot of things. Then again the software on my E71, is pretty rough, so I'd probably have the same issues with the N97.

Mainly it was because they are now cheap, and I'm on a tight budget.
 
The reason why me and few others wont look at another Nokia is because of that half baked phone.
Did you know that nokia put that phone out half baked? (not fully ready) they used custmers to tell them what the problems were with the phone...and boy was there problems with this phone....did you know that this phone had inherent problems from day one?
Problems that even after 3 or four updates could not be repaired...i could go on but i dont want to remind myself of the pain and agony that i went through................look im breaking up here...........im getting to upset...to say any ...more...im sorry.
 
Yep it was indeed garbage, the problems I encountered were:

> GPS was pot luck as to whether it would work or not
> Lack of RAM caused the random closing of apps
> The ruddy camera cover scratched the lens
> The Lock / Unlock button fell off for fun
> 3g Signal issues were common place
> Random lock-ups resulting in a battery pull.
> In built browser was awful (especially when paired with the RAM issue)
> It got toasty warm when playing music

After a fight with Voda I got mine replaced for a different handset.

On paper it could have been on of the best handsets yet but awful planning, underpowered hardware, poor execution and woeful support all combined make it an end user nightmare.
 
I never understood why Nokia released it with an ARM11 CPU. The Samsung i8910 absolutely flew with its Cortex-A8. Cutting corners on hardware specs was the cause of most of Nokia's smartphone problems.
 
Tunney said:
I never understood why Nokia released it with an ARM11 CPU. The Samsung i8910 absolutely flew with its Cortex-A8. Cutting corners on hardware specs was the cause of most of Nokia's smartphone problems.
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...along with an inherently bad OS! :p .

Just had a look on eBay and the N97 mini is still going for £100+? :eek: :confused:. I thought you said they were cheap?! For that price you can get an Orange San Francisco (see the huge thread on these very forums) which is an excellent budget phone (I got my girlfriend one). P.S. Try get an OLED screen one if you can find one, if not then it doesn't really matter though.
 
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ManCuBuS said:
Yep it was indeed garbage, the problems I encountered were:

> GPS was pot luck as to whether it would work or not
> Lack of RAM caused the random closing of apps
> The ruddy camera cover scratched the lens
> The Lock / Unlock button fell off for fun
> 3g Signal issues were common place
> Random lock-ups resulting in a battery pull.
> In built browser was awful (especially when paired with the RAM issue)
> It got toasty warm when playing music
.
Click to expand...

I've had all the issues except 3g/2g signal issues and the button falling off, BUT, my casing is nearly falling apart, in fact I glued the aluminum casing around the screen back on today. Disappointing build quality for a nokia.
Lack of ram can partly be fixed by removing a lot of the crappy widgets that came with it. But I still manage to make it do what I want, HTC Desire HD as my next phone though, I'll only really miss the FM transmitter ( yeah I know they're a tenner off the bay thats not the point, I want it in my phone at all times without an extra device in my pocket, it's handy for spotify on work radio or in a mates car with no aux).

If it only had more ram and a faster CPU, the phone would be so much better, I must say this will put me off nokia for the future too. I don't really have much against the OS, I find it easy to use, BUT, it need FAR MORE raw power, at least a cpu twice as fast.


I still love the keyboard though, so much nicer to type on than on my dads desire Z.
 
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Woe be unto you if you get this phone be unto you!

Do you guys remember the ring tone defaulting to the Nokia ring tone? how about when ever you connect the N97 to your pc it would default your text message to the phone if you had it set to your memory stick so you had to remember to set it back.
 
snowdog said:
I still love the keyboard though, so much nicer to type on than on my dads desire Z.
Click to expand...

Yep I agree for all its inherent and unforgivable faults that it did have the best keyboard I've used on any device.

Other positives were:

> FM Transmitter - superb addition and worked very well.
> Camera was superb - even by todays standards (when not scratched of course)
> Locally stored navigation maps - about time Android allowed this.!
> Tilting screen was ace
> 32gb on-board + MicroSD slot

But none of the above can take away from the terrible experience of the basic hardware flaws and design faults.
 
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