N97 mini

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DS248

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#57198 5-Feb-2010 15:14

Looking to buy a new smartphone.

Avaliability of free maps & voice guidence etc of interest as will be travelling in UK - Europe in a few months. Hence Nokia seems the obvious choice.

Initially struggling to decide between the N97 mini, N900, or even 5800.

Very tempted by the much better screen on the N900 but it seems rather heavy for a phone (& of course somewhat dearer).

Other models were also very attractive (esp UI & screen-wise); eg. Nexus One & Omnia HD (i8910), but it seems every phone has its issues :(. Omnia HD seems particularly attractive - some very positive user comments (eg Cnet) but also quite a few unhappy with lack of (or slow) firmware fixes / upgrades (http://samsungi8910omnia.com/). Battery life is much better & reviews also suggest better GPS fixes, but alas no free maps etc. Ruled out Nexus One due to data charges for GPS use (map download - assuming Europe maps are available)

In the end I guess it is the free maps & voice guidence that is driving me to Nokia & on balance have been inclining towards the N97 mini, despite its 'negatives' (screen, & by some reviews an under powered processor & 'dated' UI).

Before I take the plunge, I would be interested in opinions on the following

1. Relative merits of the N97 mini vs N900 & Omnia HD.

2. Are there any catches to buying parallel imports of those 3 phones?

I read one thread (another phone) where the version available from parallel importers did not seem to be the same spec as the ones bought through normal channels (missing video out in that case).

Edit: corrected N97 to N97 mini in a couple of places. Not interested in the original N97.

Handsomedan

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#296434 5-Feb-2010 15:24

I have a 5800 and basically, the N97 mini is that phone with a slightly higher pixel count on the camera and a qwerty keyboard.

Personally I'm very happy with my 5800. It's an import.

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langdon4487

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#296538 5-Feb-2010 23:05

Handsomedan: I have a 5800 and basically, the N97 mini is that phone with a slightly higher pixel count on the camera and a qwerty keyboard.

Personally I'm very happy with my 5800. It's an import.

I have blackberry 8100.
But now i wish to buy a new smart phone.
Does n97 covers all the features???
from where can i get more information about that????

BrentR

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#296562 6-Feb-2010 07:44

You won't have any issues with the N97 Mini not having TV out.

N900 won't have Navigation, sure it has Maps, just not navigation.

Have you thought about the X6 also. Its got much of what the N97 has just minus the QWERTY keyboard. But it does have a capacitive touch screen.

DS248

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#296573 6-Feb-2010 09:49

Yes, looked at the X6 but put off by:

+ No voice-guided navigation license
+ No office document viewer preinstalled
+ Doesn't charge off microUSB
+ Very poor sunlight legibility

(http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_x6-review-439.php)

NZtechfreak

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#296581 6-Feb-2010 10:22

Ok, I've owned the i8910 (Omnia HD), and the N900, and I've had an N97 on trial from WOMWorld (similar to the N97 Mini, the N97 Mini addresses some weaknesses of the original handset), so I'm reasonably well placed to comment here.

First off, since maps is a primary concern the N900 is out straight away. Its a good device, but a little unfinished UI/OS/software-wise at the moment.

To be honest the 5800 is great value for money, and if the hardware keyboard and camera aren't particularly important to you I would get this one over the N97 Mini.

The i8910 is a great phone, better than all of Nokia's current offerings, but you will of course not have the same availability of free navigation software. Regarding updates - there have been quite a few actually, but they haven't rolled out across all regions, and some key features like system-wide kinetic scrolling took a long time to come. I would recommend it highly over the others, barring the maps issue. You could see whether the inbuilt maps client, Route 66, has Europe-wide maps though - it may cover that area, I never looked into it since it doesn't do NZ maps. I was using Garmin for NZ maps, excellent for around here. Nokia maps will work on this handset if you hack it, but voice-guidance would still be a paid service.

You should be fine with buying them all via parallel importers - the thread you are referring to was saying that some of the 5800s sold via parallel importers don't have the TV-Out cable included - the feature itself it still present.

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DS248

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#296816 7-Feb-2010 16:53

Thanks for the valuable feedback.

I am now inclining to the 5800 as an 'interim' solution (maybe 2 yr horizon), with the N97 mini as second choice. Hopefully by then other makes will offer free voice navigation, or Nokia specs will have caught up to others. Price of 5800 makes more sense for an interim solution.

Pity the 5800 Navigation version does not seem to be available in NZ yet, though I guess it will be dearer than the current version. Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) & the car kit etc would be handy. Can't wait though as I have a 2 week trip o/s coming up very shortly.

Odd thing is my current phone (Motorola V3) died on Friday night out of the blue - opened it to check the charge & both screens just black. Key pad lights up & shows up on PC via USB, but that's about all. Does not ring if call it. Tried re-charging to no avail (should not have been fully flat anyway). My son tried a firmware update, but hit problems.

Handsomedan

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#303231 1-Mar-2010 11:21

DS248: Thanks for the valuable feedback.

I am now inclining to the 5800 as an 'interim' solution (maybe 2 yr horizon), with the N97 mini as second choice. Hopefully by then other makes will offer free voice navigation, or Nokia specs will have caught up to others. Price of 5800 makes more sense for an interim solution.

Pity the 5800 Navigation version does not seem to be available in NZ yet, though I guess it will be dearer than the current version. Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) & the car kit etc would be handy. Can't wait though as I have a 2 week trip o/s coming up very shortly.

Odd thing is my current phone (Motorola V3) died on Friday night out of the blue - opened it to check the charge & both screens just black. Key pad lights up & shows up on PC via USB, but that's about all. Does not ring if call it. Tried re-charging to no avail (should not have been fully flat anyway). My son tried a firmware update, but hit problems.

Funnily enough the Navigation version is exactly the same but with a "free" lifetime guidance licence. That's become a moot point now.
You can get parallel imported black 5800's so they look much the same as the Navi version.

My only gripe with the 5800 is that the memory card that is shipped with it is crap. Complete rubbish. Many a forum has discussed tyhis and I have upgraded to a Sandisk unit which really is excellent.
My phone used to crash and the card became inaccessible at times - as it turned out it had nothing at all to do with the phone. Just a rubbish memory card.

With regard to the TV out cable thing - it's not just a missing cable on the ones that were sold without the TV Out capability - it was missing the ability to actually output the signal through a cable to the TV - due to a glkobal hardware shortage apparently.
Since been sorted out but there may be the odd handset out there for sale without these goodies.

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n4

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#303242 1-Mar-2010 11:56

Handsomedan:
My only gripe with the 5800 is that the memory card that is shipped with it is crap. Complete rubbish. Many a forum has discussed tyhis and I have upgraded to a Sandisk unit which really is excellent.
My phone used to crash and the card became inaccessible at times - as it turned out it had nothing at all to do with the phone. Just a rubbish memory card.

This sounds familiar - looks like I should get a new memory card...

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DS248

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#303245 1-Mar-2010 12:04

Funnily enough the Navigation version is exactly the same but with a "free" lifetime guidance licence. That's become a moot point now.
You can get parallel imported black 5800's so they look much the same as the Navi version.

My only gripe with the 5800 is that the memory card that is shipped with it is crap. Complete rubbish. Many a forum has discussed tyhis and I have upgraded to a Sandisk unit which really is excellent.
My phone used to crash and the card became inaccessible at times - as it turned out it had nothing at all to do with the phone. Just a rubbish memory card.

....

I had to make a rush decision as my old phone died after business hours of the Fri & I was leaving for UK the following Wed pm. Based on the limited feedback I got, and on Nokia advertising indicating the 5800 MusicExpress as being one of the 10 or so existing handsets currently compatible with the free navigation, I went with the 5800 ... parallel imported and all. I would have preferred the Navigation edition, but it was not available. It is a decision I am now "inclining to regret".

Big issue is that the phone I received appears to be an early version from a near eastern country (pre-loaded with Arab music, the Quran and Prayer Times). It has only v2 maps and it now seems it may not be upgradable to the v3 maps that includes the free navigation. Many posts about owners not being able to upgrade old handsets. Did read one person who managed to upgrade with a significant hack, but still did not have full functionality.

Will keep trying, but in the meantime I would urge caution before buying a parallel imported version of this phone. At the very least, make sure in advance that it has, or is compatible with v3 maps.

DS248

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#303246 1-Mar-2010 12:10

n4:
Handsomedan:
My only gripe with the 5800 is that the memory card that is shipped with it is crap. Complete rubbish. Many a forum has discussed tyhis and I have upgraded to a Sandisk unit which really is excellent.
My phone used to crash and the card became inaccessible at times - as it turned out it had nothing at all to do with the phone. Just a rubbish memory card.

This sounds familiar - looks like I should get a new memory card...

Personally do not appear to have encountered this problem so far, but at 8 GB the preloaded card is rather on the small side, given the phone has minimal internal memory.

n4

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#303251 1-Mar-2010 12:40

DS248:
I had to make a rush decision as my old phone died after business hours of the Fri & I was leaving for UK the following Wed pm. Based on the limited feedback I got, and on Nokia advertising indicating the 5800 MusicExpress as being one of the 10 or so existing handsets currently compatible with the free navigation, I went with the 5800 ... parallel imported and all. I would have preferred the Navigation edition, but it was not available. It is a decision I am now "inclining to regret".

Big issue is that the phone I received appears to be an early version from a near eastern country (pre-loaded with Arab music, the Quran and Prayer Times). It has only v2 maps and it now seems it may not be upgradable to the v3 maps that includes the free navigation. Many posts about owners not being able to upgrade old handsets. Did read one person who managed to upgrade with a significant hack, but still did not have full functionality.

Will keep trying, but in the meantime I would urge caution before buying a parallel imported version of this phone. At the very least, make sure in advance that it has, or is compatible with v3 maps.

This can be addressed reasonably easily by changing your region/product code, as covered in other threads. There is no reason not to be able to upgrade your handset and get the free navigation/maps (v3). On the other hand, I got a parallel imported 5800 and v3 was available for my version without issue.

Sorry, getting a bit OT for a thread on N97 mini...

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