Nokia N97 Analysis: Compared to iPhone 3G and Google G1 Phone

iPhones seem to be everywhere these days and even the release of the G1 phone hasn’t really had an impact on their growing marketshare. Palm have also announced that they will soon be launching their new smartphone called the Palm Pre, which is getting a huge amount of buzz at the moment. Thus bringing us to the final major player in the market who is yet to release a smartphone that can actually take marketshare and thats Nokia.

Nokia announced about three months ago that they will be releasing the N97 which is their rival to the iPhone. The N97 will be release in the 2nd quarter of 2009 and its sure to raise some eyebrows.

Here at Crenk we are still yet to get our hands on a new N97 test version, but I thought I would provide our readers with a basic overview of the phone and how it compares to iPhone and G1.

Nokia N97 - compared to the iPhone3G and G1

3.5 inches screen size

( iPhone3G : 3.5 inch ; G1 : 3.2 inch )

640 x 360 pixel resolution

(iPhone3G : 320×480 pixels ; G1 : 480×320 pixels resolution)

16:9 Aspect ratio,the same as that of TV,PC Monitors etc

(both iPhone and G1 have aspect ratio of 3:2 )

Resistive touchscreen display with tactile feedback

(both iPhone & G1 boast a capacitive touchscreen(feather touch sensitive) )

Sliding QWERTY Keyboard

( iPhone : No physical keyboard ; G1 : Sliding QWERTY Keyboard )

Inbuilt WiFi,Bluetooth,HSDPA,A-GPS,3G

( Both iPhone and G1 have it )

32GB Onboard memory (expandable through microSD card upto 48GB as total capacity)

(neither iPhone nor G1 go beyond 32 GB as total capacity )

Battery : 1500 mAh (Heavy duty ! )

(iPhone : 1400 mAh ; G1 : 1150 mAh )

5 MP Digital Camera (DVD quality video capture)

(iPhone : 2.0 MP ; G1 : 3.2 MP )

OS : S60 5th Edition

(iPhone : iPhone OS 2.2 ; G1 : Android 1.0 )

Weight : 150 g (approx.)

( iPhone : 133 g ; G1 : 158 g )

Price : $550 (before network subsidies so expect it to go way cheaper than this)

(iPhone : $199(min.) ; G1 : $179(min.) )

Conclusions:

After a direct comparison with all the feature of the n97, G1 and iPhone3G the Nokia is by far the leader from a hardware perspective. However, it terms of the software and the OS, Nokia is a long way behind Google and Apple but this is expected.

The key also is that the App Store has made a huge impact on making the iPhone such a big success, and with the Android Market just being launched I’m sure that the G1 will slowly gain more and more marketshare. Where does this leave Nokia? Nokia really need to think hard and long about how they are going to open up their software to outside developers and then allow the average user the ability to pick and choose the applications that are right for them. OS has never been a strong point for Nokia, but it is about time they actually improved this sector if they are going to continue to be a major player in the smartphone market.

Also that the 'App Store' is something that has played a very critical role in making iPhone a worldwide success and now the same thing is occurring in the form of 'Android Market' for G1, Nokia(being 'new' to open developer support for apps) can't afford to reach the standards set by the other two veteran smartphones(specially iPhone)

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