I had pretty much decided to go with the Palm Pre, but the more I read about the Nokia N97, I may just get that. Why?
- Tethering over WiFi
- Don’t have to switch to Sprint
- 5MP camera with good lens
It won’t have the sexiness of the Pre, or the iPhone for that matter, but I’ve come to depend on WiFi tethering and using my phone as my only camera. Tethering over Bluetooth may be possible, but that’s pretty sucky if you’ve ever done it. My N95 does WiFi tethering using JoikuSpot and it’s just SO nice to be able to turn my phone into a WiFi hotspot whenever I want. The Pre’s and rumored upcoming iPhone’s 3MP camera offering just doesn’t cut it and I bet the lens will be crap.
So I guess I’ll have to hang onto my aging N95 for a bit longer. The N97 isn’t even out yet and I’ll have to wait even longer for a US version. Tethering my N95 to my 2nd gen 32GB iPod Touch makes things bearable, but an all-in-one device would be much simpler.
Still, I have limited will power and if a new iPhone appears, particularly if it multitasks–my biggest gripe–I could be convinced.
UPDATES:
2009-04-11 – The N97’s resistive touchscreen (as opposed to a capacitive one, like the iPhone) might be a big negative for me. Some people that have actually seen it have been less than impressed. Guess I need to rethink.
2009-05-04 – This demo of the phone makes the screen interaction looks pretty nice. I might be back on the N97 bandwagon. This supposed to ship in July for $699. Here’s the official demo page and here’s the preorder page. I must say I’m pretty tempted to give them my creditcard number.
2009-05-08: I pre-ordered it using coupon code on here. Saved $175! Have no idea how long deal will last. Actually I think I missed out on at least $20…seems the discount was higher yesterday based on posts in this forum.
@jimjim: I think I can handle a little sluggishness. I’ve kinda now decided to wait until the iPhone 3.0, Palm Pre and N97 are all out and some real hands on comparisons. It’s all about trade-offs and I want to be able to intelligently weigh everything. With the iPhone you get a slick interface, but a very close system. The Palm Pre looks nice, but its Sprint and untested. I see the N97 as a step up from my N95. If I had to point to one single Nokia feature that I’m having the hardest trouble giving up, it’s the 5MP camera.
What do you think about the reports of slow processor speed? I was all excited about the N97 too, until I heard about that.