Nokia N97 or Nokia N900

Here is something to think about, what phone would you pick if you are going for the ultimate smartphone experience. Well, seeing the Nokia N97 and the Nokia N900 side by side, although that the second one is promoted as a mobile computer with some phone features, it comes clear that what we are looking for is something that every power user out wants. So having this two phones, which one should we pick? What are the main advantages and disadvantages of this two best of the best? Do we finally have the ultimate pocket sized mobile phone computer? Many questions and here some answers that might throw some light on this matter.

Nokia N97, Nokia N900 and other top smartphones

So besides the Nokia N97 and Nokia N900, the smartphones that can compare with this top line devices are the HTC Touch Pro 2 and Sony Xperia, I will say a pretty big competition going on here but I am illustrating this for other smartphone users running Windows Mobile as an opposite to Symbian and Maemo. Both phones stand up to this highly competitive examples and even stand out for some features they have.

Direct comparison

When you compare the N900 and the N97 side by side, they both share the same form factor with slide out keyboards, similar size with the N900 being a bit bulkier then the Nokia N97. Both phones are not exactly what you would name pocket friendly but with performance comes compromise.

The first thing you notice when you see this phones is that they have different operating systems. The Nokia N97 runs on Symbian S60 5th edition and Nokia N900 goes with Maemo 5 (based on Linux for those who are not familiar with the Maemo platform). So what does this mean for the user experience you will have with this phones. Well even with the new 2.0 firmware for Nokia N97 the N97 just seems a bit slower, the touch UI is less responsive and the overall experience is somehow like a forced S60 3rd edition smartphone on to a touch screen. On the other hand, the N900 running Maemo 5 runs very smoothly and everything seems to be fast and responsive, there are no lags and other problems.

When it comes to apps, there are plenty for both so this is not an issue. But if you have used Symbian S60 up to now the transition to the Maemo 5 Linux tablet might be a bit uncomfortable for you due to the completely different interface architecture of the platform. But judging from my personal experience, you will get used to it very quickly.

The advantages of getting the Nokia N900

Well to be honest much on the Nokia N900 advantages are based to the better hardware found in the internet tablet smartphone. So what are the main hardware differences between the Nokia N97 and the N900. Here is something that might give you a clue:

	Nokia N97	Nokia N900
RAM Memory:	128 MB	256 MB RAM (up to 1GB virtual RAM)
CPU:	ARM 11 434 MHz	ARM Cortex A8 600 MHz
Display:	360x640 3.5''	800x480 3.5''

As you can see from this few highlighted features you see that somehow the Nokia N900 is superior to the Nokia N97 having both more RAM and a faster CPU which beats the low amount of RAM application problem we have seen on the N97. Don't get me wrong the Nokia N97 is one of the best smartphones available on the market, but finally it has found it's match. The N900 looks like it has been designed with one thing in mind, performance! I have been using the N97 for a while now and I am satisfied with what I have seen so far, it surely has its problems, but as soon as the N900 comes on the market I would buy one. And if you want to know why, the reason for this decision is quite simple.

As a power user that expects his smartphone to do whatever he does on the PC, except maybe for resizing 1GB TIFF files with PhotoShop, I personally like the N900 a lot. It seems like you can do everything on it from email to browsing chatting and other Internet related tasks. With the amazing hardware and the Linux based Maemo 5 OS, you get a very powerful combination. The N900 becomes everything you expected from N97 and much more. So, if you get the N900 should you keep your old Nokia N97 and would you still use it. I am not sure if you have place in your pockets for two bulky phones.

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Found under: Nokia N97, Nokia N900, Nokia N900 vs Nokia N97, Maemo Nokia N97 or Nokia N900 - permalink Published on 24.09.2009 in Symbian Freeware Blog

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