The Nokia N97.
I bought this phone late 2009 and I have to say I was extremely excited to have saved up enough to buy one. They were going for about £400 then on ebay. ALOT of money, for a similar price I could have got an iPhone, but I loved the fact that it has a slide out keyboard. Being an avid texting fan, I opten for the N97. having watched many reviews on YouTube and looking at countless images, and playing with it the the local shop. It seeemed to have so much. A 5mp camera with a flash, touch screen and full qwerty keyboard. Front facing camera, easy internet wifi, that was the main attraction for me. It shows up just as it would on a laptop. The size of the screen, built in with an excellerometer was an appealing feature for that.
After getting it I loved it, couldn't think of anything else I wanted more. However, after having it I would say about 2 to 3 months. I began to find flaws. Firstly the unlock/lock button would not work. I would have to slide it 4 to 5 times in some cases to get the phone activated. And calling someone the phone would just crash, I couldf stiull talk, but could not hang up, I ended up having to take out the battery everytime I wanted to end a call. Or telling my friend to hang up.

Aside from that it has been laggin in application. Whilst on the subject of applications. There is one major problem. The lack of them. Unlike the iPhone which in heind sight I would have gone with to start, The Nokia uses Ovi Store. A bit cute for a couple of application, a couple of games, but thats it.
Im confident if you looked at the entire store you would not find over 3 you liked, and suprise suprise, they cost well over £5. Or you can allways get a couple of free ones, but really killing red boxes with blue boxes becomes tiresome after completing all 3 levels.

For an overview here is my rating.

Functionality : 4/10
Internet browsing :9/10
Texting: 8/10
Looks: 9/10
Overall performance/ease of use : 3/10

I would stay away from the N97 and if you like the design, go for the Mini, where Nokia have adresses the glitches.

Thank you.