Nokia N97: Is it worth the price?

The launch of a new model at the top of Nokia's famous N series is always a major event in the world of mobile phones.

The N95 was a landmark phone, which integrated a great camera, GPS (Global Positioning System) and media capabilities for the first time in a consumer phone. Though it didn't receive as much attention as the iPhone, it has a strong claim to being the best phone of 2007.

In 2008 Nokia launched the N96, which added more memory but was considered by some a rather disappointing successor.

Now in the summer of 2009 Nokia has launched the N97, one of the most anticipated phones of the year.

What makes the phone so special?

Just like the N95, the N97 extends the range of what phones can do and provides a combination of features never seen before on a single device. Simply put the phone takes all the standard features of the N series and adds a much bigger 3.5-inch touchscreen as well as a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. For good measure it also packs in more memory than any phone in the market today.

Ever since Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, touchscreens have been the rage in the world of high-end mobile phones.

Their advantages are obvious; by doing away with a keypad they release space for a bigger screen, which comes in handy for watching videos or surfing the web.

Secondly touch interfaces are sometimes more intuitive to do things like navigating menus and scrolling through your photo collection.

The N97 has a resistive touchscreen unlike the capacitive touchscreen of the iPhone. It's not as responsive as the iPhone but on the plus side it supports stylus use and features like handwriting recognition.

Compared to the earlier touchscreen Nokia 5800, the N97 is a lot more responsive and user-friendly. It also boasts a 360X640 resolution, significantly higher than the iPhone.

As of today the N97 has the largest memory of any phone currently available. The phone comes with 32GB of internal memory and also a micro-SD card slot.

With 16GB cards now available this means a total memory of 48GB.

Combine this with the big screen and this makes the device ideal for music and video. The video player supports a number of formats including MP4 and flash video but not AVI.

The N97 is the first N-series phone with a physical QWERTY keyboard, which many users prefer to touchscreen keyboards.

The keyboard itself is a little wide and the space key is rather small and awkwardly placed. However the keys have a nice texture and after a while typing is quite comfortable.

The addition of a QWERTY keyboard to the N-Series is a good example of the blurring between high-end consumer and business phones.

Another feature attractive to business users is the inclusion of the QuickOffice suite with the mobile versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

Good cameras are a major strength of the N series and the N97 is no exception.

It comes packed with a 5 Megapixel camera with auto-focus and an LED flash. It shoots video at 30 frames per second and the phone also comes with a video editor.

There is a second front-side camera for video conversations, which should become feasible once 3G services are launched in India.

The main disappointment is the lack of xenon flash so the camera won't be as good for indoor pictures as, say, the N82.

There are lots of other features as you would expect on a high-end phone. It comes loaded with Nokia Maps 2.0 and also with GPS for location based services. You also get a proximity sensor and an accelerometer, which allows the phone to detect motion. TV-out allows you to output the phone display to your television.

Finally an FM transmitter lets you listen to your music on your car radio.

Of course all this technology isn't going to come cheap and the N97 will cost around Rs 35,000.

Is it worth the price?

There is no question that the device brings a lot to the table and is arguably the most versatile piece of hardware around. At the same time Nokia still has some way to go before developing a truly user-friendly touch interface. And of course the price will probably drop quite quickly in the coming months so it might make sense to wait.

As with any high-end device it's probably best to try it yourself before buying it. Check out at your nearest Nokia Priority Dealer and there is a good chance they will have a live demo unit for you to try.