A good phone (Nokia N97 with Contract)

Member Name: clairemarks

Product:	Nokia N97 with Contract
Date:	05/11/09 (43 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: nearly eveything

Disadvantages: memory mixed up when you first get the phone

I have always been a mobile phone fan and like to have a decent phone. I am currently with 3 mobile and am on a contract. I have an upgrade every 18 months.


I was due for my usual upgrade so started looking around. I had the Nokia N95 8gb at the time and really liked the lay out and have always been fond of Nokia mobiles in the past so this drew me to the Nokia N97. I was quite impressed with some of the reviews this mobile was getting and it looked very stylish so after looking and researching a few others I decided to go for this one. The mobile comes in either black or white. I thought it looked better in the black so I went for that one.


The phone comes with a usb lead for downloading items to and from your computer, headphones, a pen for using on the screen, charger and screen wipe. I was a little disappointed that it did not come with a bag to put the phone in, which I found surprising considering how much the phone does actually cost if you buy it on "pay as you go"


The first thing that I noticed about this phone was it was a "touch screen" phone. I think this is properly the "in" thing at the moment. This function works quite well. I like the idea of having the pen with the phone too so you do not always have to use your fingers. I know in cold weather when I am wearing gloves the pen does come rather in handy.


The phone has a similar lay out to the Nokia N95 as some of the applications are the same, for example the maps are on both phones. I found the maps and sat nav a lot easier to use on the older model though which I sometimes find annoying. The phone also has the same fetchers and the contacts and messages are the same so I did not find this confusing which was good.


The phone does flip to the side so it looks like a laptop. I thought this was great as you can use the little keyboard to write messages etc rather than using the touch screen. The screen will also turn to landscape as soon as you flip it so it makes it easier to use. The phone's screen is nice and large which is goos for when you decide to go onto the internet. Sometimes the screen has too much glare which does make it difficult to see items on the screen, This is not a major problem as you can purchase anti-glare sheets from Ebay which I did.


The camera is great and with it having 5 mp its just like a digital camera. My mobile takes better photos than my usual camera which is good for me as I have my mobile on me at all times and you can never be sure when an embarrassing family event will take place. There is also a lens cover of which the N95 did not have so this will prevent the lens from being scratched.


There is also a menu button which makes the menu easier to access. The phone also allows you to have a lot of different things open at the same time so I can go on the internet as well as sending a message and I wont loose my web page which I found very useful. The phone is also wireless so you can use the internet on the phone from your home provider without using your mobile phone provider. There is also a useful lock button at the side which makes it easier to lock the phone when not in use. The battery life is quite good. I use my mobile a lot and always manage a full days charge.


I love the idea that this mobile has a built in dictionary as it is so useful. The graphics on the games are also better than the N95. I think this is because the screen is much bigger although the phone is now slimmer. I like the idea of it also having a drawing application which I find useful if I want to quickly write down my shopping list or if my children are bored on long journeys in the car, the pictures can also be saved.


The phone can be updated via the Nokia website so you can get the latest applications etc. I have yet to do this.


There are some things that I do not like about the N97 too though. I have read a lot about people moaning about the crap memory the phone has. The truth is that it has not. Its got a 32g memory which is fantastic. The only reason why people moan about the memory is because Nokia crammed that much stuff onto the phone it displays "memory full" all the time if you have any more than 20 messages. The phone will also refuse to let you download songs etc. The reason for this is because the phone memory is over used. Nokia installed so many applications into the phone;s memory it gets too full and needs sorting. I had this problem for a week before I finally realised what I needed to do. The sim memory was empty so I just transferred items into that and also deleted some applications that were not useful to me. There was a weather report that was installed that actually took up 1g of memory so deleting the ones that I did notwant made my life so much easier. I now dont have the "memory full" sign flashing every few mins and I know can store music etc until my little heart is content. I also did not like how hard it was to change your tones. It took me forever to figure it out as I am terrible for never actually reading the manuals.


The phone is a good phone but had a few hiccups at the beginning which can be easily resolved with a bit of patience. I would recommend this mobile to others but I think Nokia need to improve the phones memory and maybe make the sim memory smaller in order to do this.


As this mobile is on contact. I am not really sure of the price but I have seen these on sale for £400+ so would recommend getting one on cantract as it might work out cheaper in the long run

Summary: would recommend getting this on contract as it is very expensive