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The Nokia N97 measures 117.2 (L) x 55.3 (W) x 15.9mm (D) compared to the iPhone 3G's 115.5 (H) x 62.1 (W) x 12.3mm (D); the N97 weighs 150g compared to the iPhone 3G's 133g. All pretty similar.
The N97 obviously has the slide out QWERTY keyboard and features a tilting touchscreen, whereas the iPhone 3G is a single, static unit.
The iPhone 3G's 320 x 480 3:2 ratio screen is eclipsed by the Nokia N97's true widescreen (16:9) 640 x 360 pixels. Both measure 3.5 inches diagonally. Nokia definitely wins on this one, as not only will TV/DVD based widescreen movies fill the whole screen, but there's more resolution
Again, the N97 wins hands down on the camera front, offering five megapixels, Carl Zeiss Tessar optics, and a LED flash / video light. Yes, video. The N97 will shoot video at DVD quality (30fps). The iPhone 3G, by comparison, has no video functionality and a paltry 2MP camera with no flash or focus.
Both handsets are heavyweights when it comes to consuming multimedia content, with both phones loyal to their companies' services - the iPhone 3G obviously has access to a huge range of content via the iTunes Store, with all other content having to go via iTunes. The N97 has access to the Nokia Music Store.
Both can play a wide variety of audio formats, but the N97 manages WMA on top of MP3, AAC, eAAC and eAAC+.
Both play variations of the MPEG4 video format, but the N97 also supports Windows Media 9 and Flash Lite/Flash Video via the Internet browser.
The iPhone 3G utilises A-GPS and Google Maps, plus any third-party applications which use geo-location data, while the Nokia N97 has A-GPS and an electronic compass and uses Nokia Maps.
Google Maps offers 3D views of selected cities, driving, limited public transport and walking directions.
Nokia Maps offers multimedia city guides and navigation services, voice-guided car navigation, pedestrian-optimised guidance.
The N97 wins on navigation functionality, as the Nokia Maps system does seem to offer a wider range of options, however individual usage will vary depending on location.
Both phones offer HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity. The N97 has the full Bluetooth 2.0 A2DP implementation whereas the iPhone 3G has only basic Bluetooth.
Both handsets offer full access to Internet web sites, but the Nokia N97 offers support for Flash Lite 3.0 and Flash Video, so will be able to render pages more fully than the iPhone which doesn't. It's not immediately clear from the specs whether the N97 offers in-browser Java support, the iPhone 3G doesn't.
The initial Nokia N97 specifications don't explicitly mention which operating system is being used, but I presume, as an NSeries phone, it's Symbian-based. The iPhone 3G uses OS X.
The iPhone 3G comes with either 8GB or 16GB of fixed storage with no external expansion. The Nokia N97 comes with a whopping 32GB of internal memory plus up to 16GB of microSD expansion. Very nice.
iPhone 3G users have access to the standard range of useful applications plus a host of free and pay-for applications in the iPhone App Store via iTunes.
Assuming no restrictions, users will be able to install Symbian-based applications onto the Nokia N97.
Pricing and networks have not yet been announced for the Nokia N97, thought it's expected to have a pre-subsidy price of €599 (about £465).
Technically, the Nokia N97 beats the iPhone 3G in nearly every area - screen resolution, camera, web browser, video capability, storage - but of course it's an ewer handset.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Steve Jobs announcing a third generation iPhone at Macworld in January - before the N97 comes to market.
There's a lot of buzz surrounding the N97, and rightly so, but will its superior specs beat the "I want one" iPhone factor?
Time will tell. Do you want your phone to be Apple-flavoured or Nokia-flavoured? And what about the price - both are going to be fairly hefty and/or require a serious contract.
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With a 800×480 VGA screen, you can’t really go wrong right? Right. We’ve got to say off the top that this is the best-looking screen we’ve ever seen on a Windows Mobile device. It puts all the others to shame. It’s not just that the screen has an amazing resolution, it’s that the screen is vibrant and clear as day. If your vision isn’t top notch you might have to increase the font size in settings because it gets a little small with that super high-res. Sunlight couldn’t phase it either as we had no problem using it on the go outside.
Audio quality
We didn’t put the speakers through our normal tests just yet to be honest. We tried a couple MP3s and they sounded good, not great. The speaker volume in general could have been a little louder and the sound could have sounded a little fuller. Speakerphone was the same. We’ll report back with more detailed findings.
Notification lights
If you’ve seen the Sidekick LX, you’ll know what we’re talking about. There are 4 independant notification lights on the four corners of the X1. These are LED lights that change through various colors. Unlike the Sidekick, you have complete control over the notification settings. Only want people to think you’ve got a UFO in your pocket when you’re getting a text message? No problem. There’s a lot to choose from to suit your own needs. The lights offer a nice touch and weren’t too over-powering and bright which we were afraid of. The kids will love it.
Call quality
Calls came in and out with crystal clear quality. The ear speaker was plently loud and the party on the other end said we sounded like we were on a land line.
Data Connectivity
Name something you’d like to see in a mobile device… HSDPA? Wi-Fi? GPS? The X1 has all of it. T-Mobile USA lovers will also be overjoyed at the fact that an AWS 1700MHz version is coming. Our unit had the 850MHz/1900MHz US 3G bands so we were rockin’ over HSDPA just fine. In fact, web browsing was abnormally fast. We didn’t find much of a difference between browsing over Wi-Fi or HSDPA. That’s probably due to the bottleneck of the phone in general, but it was a pleasant surprise.
Build quality
Another winner for Sony Ericsson. While the device isn’t the lightest phone on the market, we think it’s build quality is almost second-to-none. Maybe even iPhone status. It’s just so sturdy and well put together. We have to give HTC some mad props on this one. Could you please try and incorporate some of this newfound metal addition into some of your devices HTC? Please. The sliding mechanism was fantastic even though the device isn’t a normal “flat” slider. Major points for build quality.
Usability factor
This could be subjective depending on your view of Windows Mobile, but we found the X1 to be on par or better than any Windows Mobile device we’ve used. Baring the keyboard issue, (see below) there wasn’t anything that hindered us from taking full advantage of the device. When closed, the device gives you access to all necessary shortcuts on the bottom front of the unit. Slide it open and you’ve got access to everything you could want. People have wrote us and asked about how it is to use the phone when the QWERTY keyboard doesn’t have directional keys, but they’ve overlooked something — the optical joystick. This works wonderfully well and doesn’t have a learning curve. It’s a natural extension of what we’ve been forced to use in the past. There was a “cursor” menu in settings but no cursor showed up on the screen. You also have full control over the sensitivity of the optical joystick. Making phone calls was comfortable and we didn’t have any issues with people hearing us or us hearing them.
Keyboard
The keyboard is a sensitive area for many people. Anyone who follows us know we take it very seriously — we put them all through the ringer! So, it pains us to report, that at least with our particular unit, the keyboard wasn’t great. It didn’t take time to get used to it, it just didnt perform like the way we had hoped. The reason is because the keys almost are completely flush with the case and don’t give good tactile feedback when pressed. Odly enough, the spacebar was actually ok. It faired the best out of all of them. We understand why there really is no travel in the keys — there is a huge sliding mechanism right over them — but we would have liked to see a little more feedback when typing. They have this triangular pattern on top which does make it easy to feel them, but you don’t get a good response when actually pressing them down. The backlight on the QWERTY ‘board successfully helped us find the keys when it was nightime, but that still didn’t help when typing. We said this before, but if we had to compare the keyboard to anything, it would be Sony’s UX-series computers. It’s the same exact thing.
The Samsung Omnia is the latest in Samsung's TouchWIZ phones for the global market, and also the most advanced
“The Window-Mobile 6.1 Samsung Omnia SCH-i910 is the best Verizon phone we’ve seen for photos, video recording, and Web browsing.”
However, it looks like there are some cons:
“Frustrating touch screen and accelerometer. No standard headphone jack. Video playback can be jerky”
I witnessed some of those frustrations myself when I played with the Omnia at the PDC. The concept is cool and the display is awesome but the overall performance was sluggish. Not sure if I’m a fan of widgets either…
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