Nokia N900: The Real N97

by Timi Cantisano on August 29, 2009

nokia_n900

Yesterday, Nokia has released news and official specs of its much anticipated Nokia N900
. While this isn’t the N97 or a product that’s in the same class, I think its important to look through the specifications for this device. When I initially saw the device in a couple leaked shots a few weeks ago it really didn’t catch my eye, I expected it to be similar to what Nokia had offered in the past with the N800/N810. A great device that was restricted because it only had the ability to surf the internet via Wi-Fi. But with the official release I was able to see that this device is different. It supports cellular signals which means that the internet will be available anywhere you go, and not only internet but calling as well. Why is this device important?  By looking at the specifications I think this is what the N97 should have been. So it comes to mind that maybe Nokia purposely put a lower CPU/less RAM in the N97 because it wanted to have a clear segregation between its MID and Mobile devices.

Below Ive listed the improved specs over the N97. I encourage N97 Fanatics to check out the N900 site. Its truly an amazing device.

  • 800 × 480 pixel resolution
  • TI OMAP 3430: ARM Cortex-A8 600 MHz, PowerVR SGX with OpenGL ES 2.0 support
  • Up to 1GB of application memory (256 MB RAM, 768 MB virtual memory)
  • Full QWERTY onscreen keyboard
  • Quad-band GSM EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 WCDMA 900/1700/2100 MHz
  • Maximum speed PS 10/2 Mbps (DL/UL)
  • Adobe Flash™ 9.4 support
  • Video recording at up to 848 × 480 pixels (WVGA) and up to 25fps
  • Video playback file formats: .mp4, .avi, .wmv, .3gp; codecs: H.264, MPEG-4, Xvid, WMV, H.263

Nokia N900 Video:

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  • Perry
    I haven't bought the N97 or the N900 but im deciding. I like the look of the N900 with Maemo 5 but the battery life is shocking so I have heard. The N97 is good but to be honest i prefer N97 Mini because it has no where near as many bugs and i know nokia are working on it but sooner or later people will stop buying them. So which one do people think as young phone fanatic should get, at the the moment i have to N95 8GB and love it but time for my self to move on in the phone world!
  • Daniel
    Divx playback on the N97 would be great. I think it's shit how the N97 was shown in Dec 08 and released 7/8 months later, and this one is shown and is basically out within a month. Not fair at all. I think being the top of the range phone for Nokia, it should be awesome. The N97 doesn't have the wow factor for me anymore. Unfortunately...
  • amad08
    The firmware ver 20 will make our N97 great smartphones with full kinetic scrolling and more RAM and more widgets .. just wait for next month only.
  • davidmizzi
    I just got the N97 a month ago.I like the device but it needs more ram some times it hangs .
    How can i free some ram and does anyone if i could upgrade my N97 with ARM Cortex-A8 600 MHz?
  • talv
    i was thinking the same thing but i figured a memory upgrade would be easier to do im just not brave enough to start dismantling my n97 yet!
  • davidmizzi
    well i've allready found a clip on youtube on how to take apart the phone and send a mail to the complay who produce the chip for the n900.

    all i missing is a bricked/brokrn n97.......but im working on that.
  • putualbertolee
    I start thinking about selling my N97 that I bought 2 weeks ago -- of course I will loose some money (thank you Nokia) -- in order to be able to buy E75 instead (what the F occured to me when I chosed N97 instead of E75 on that day, it was my fault that now I can't phone my asterisk box at the office). No, 3rd party apps like Nimbuzz and Fring is unnaceptable for the voice quality (I read somewhere it is not actually using the SIP stack, but instead they route the calls first to their servers... -- using their propietary protocol???).

    Or... should I wait until the next update (this september?). But I now doubt that it will have that native SIP client, because it's promised to have Skype instead, and SIP is a direct threat to Skype, so.... (Nokia bowing to Skype).
  • putualbertolee
    Come to think of it: actually I've done weeks of research (and waiting) before I bought Nokia smartphone. I actually was waiting for E75 to come into mexico, and I knew that S60 5th does not have SIP client. But, even that, on the last seconds I decided to buy N97 because I had a kind of trust that Nokia will provide a fix for that soon. So I didn't think I was stupid for changing my mind on that point.

    But their silence on this matter is deafening. Now I do feel stupid. I thought I would be able to say "screw you" to iPhone-heads out there for their lack of SIP-calling capability, but... I guess now it's more like "screw us".

    Oh, what's the relevance with N900 blogpost: I just felt that Nokia simply drops N97 for their new toy to be pushed in to the market :| . I checked the nokia.conversation site: it's filled with N900 announcement, and the latest thread about SIP client in newer N-series dated back to December 2008 (!) without any (favorable) resolution: http://conversations.nokia.com/2008/12/08/nokia...
  • The N97 will have a Skype application in future firmware, hopefully sooner rather than later. Not sure about SIP. About the E75... the screen size is much too small for me and the d-pad is oddly placed when the phone is open. That's why I passed on it.
  • putualbertolee
    What is it the problem that stops them from bundling SIP client on their newer "smart"phones? Is the SIP stack in S60 5th edition so broken that even the guys in Nokia can't develop a client on it???
  • You know what I have no idea. That's a really good question.
  • putualbertolee
    Nope, there _is_ and there _will_ be *no* native SIP client in N97. It's an exclusive feature of E series, someone said: http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/discussions...

    Wow: N97 650 USD vs E 75 that costs much less..., and turned out E75 is more useful. Awesome Nokia.
  • putualbertolee
    I hope the upcoming firmware update of N97 includes native SIP client (that works), a SIP API for Java (JSR 180), and of course kinetic scrolling, and more room C. I'm dissapointed by the fact that I can't program SIP in Java for N97 (or any Nokia phone using the 5th edition of S60): http://discussion.forum.nokia.com/forum/showthread.php?p=636505#post636505
  • I just get the feeling future updates for the N97 will of course have to be decent now that the N900 is about to come out. I cant see Nokia just 'dumping' a device thats only been out a couple of months.
  • audioxbliss
    personally, i like my n97 just fine. perfect size for me. i am yet to find another phone that fits in my pocket and hand so well... the n900 seems a bit larger, so i may consider it in the future, but definitely don't consider it to be the one device that destroys the n97. in summary, the n97 makes me happy :)
  • I agree. Despite this announcement of the N900 I am still happy with the N97 for now, and I cannot wait for the upcoming firmware. Eventually I will probably pick up the N900 if they come out with a ATT 3g version.
  • Matt Towsey
    Whilst I love my N97 I am having signal issues with the phone, as are a lot of people in the UK. Having seen the N900 I feel a bit bummed as this phone looks like everything we were promised the N97 would be. I'm torn about keeping the N97 which is great as a mini laptop but struggling as a phone or moving to the N900 when released. After all it's primary use is as a mobile phone and it's not always usable in this way. Also I am still having memory issues with my C: drive. I'm down to about 4mb and bleeding memory fast. I've done all the usual tricks, clearing the cache and dmgr files. Also all apps that can be are on E: drive and I've cleared as much as I can but the memory keeps dropping but thats another matter for another thread ...
  • talv
    especially those of us who bought one days before this announcement :(
  • putualbertolee
    Oh dammit.....
    So now my N97 is obsolete :(
  • No no. Im sure the upcoming firmwares will improve it. But the N900 is def. a slap in the face for N97 owners.
  • coolmoon
    are you bastard? why you are placing these kind of stupid comments to owners of N97... go to hell with your phones
  • calsavara
    After seeing the details of this new phone, I thought about selling my N97 so I could get this one. It took me some time to get used to all the issues that N97 comes with. I now enjoy it, but the UI on Maemo and the RAM memory on N900 are great things that I would like to try in the future.
  • I was thinking the exact same thing. The only drawback is that for US owners the 3G bands are not available
  • Good points you made Timi. Right now no 3g variants for AT&T bands have been announced, although oddly enough a T-Mobile NAM 3g version is confirmed. So if you're on T-Mobile then you should be extremely excited.
  • zen
    agreed with the comments above. also, the N900 has a smaller battery and is a larger than the N97. So i don't think I would give up my N97 anytime soon. One thing I hope nokia upgrades on the N97, is to allow the use of virtual memory similar to the previous tablets. It would definitely help with the RAM issues facing the N97
  • I might be wrong, but isn't the N900 slightly smaller than the N97?
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