Whats happened to Nokias WOW factor?

Is it me or has Nokia started becoming a tad, well, boring? Now I know due to the financial situation that every company is struggling to keep their head above water, but it just seems to me lately that Nokia have just lost what they used to have back in the good old days.

Firstly, There used to be so much hype around new Nokia phones. The N90 and N91 were the first ones. I remember when they were announced as the first Nseries phones, I knew straight away that i wanted to own one of them, and to this day i still the the N91 as a groundbreaking device despite the size and issues it had. Next came the N93, the successor to the N90, which again was groundbreaking in being the first phone with Optical zoom in a flip design, and again, even though it was chunky, it was a one of a kind phone. Next was the big one, the N95. Everyone knew about the N95, being the first phone with a GPS, 5MP Camera, and Nokias first slider, and the worlds first dual slider. Pretty much everyone who ever used a phone new what the N95 was, and even people who didnt use a phone knew what it was. That was really the peak in Nokias handset range and its been their best selling and most popular phone. But since the N95 was released 2 years ago, I cant help but think its all a bit bland, and the same sort of thing. Take the N96 for example, specs wise its very very similar to the N95, but with a bigger memory and looks different. Apart from that, its fairly similar, and I really hope that Nokia dont go the same way as Motorola have with the RAZR range, and use it and use it until its dead and they have admitted defeat! In my opinion, its time to move on, and along comes the N97.

Now the N97 is a strange one. I cant decide whether its going to be a winner or not. To me, again, its just a N95 but with a bigger memory (again) and a touchscreen. Everything else looks very similar specs wise. Obviously its not quite the same, running S60 touch, but in essence its essentially the same specs! And, where does if fit in the market? We have the iphone, the G1, the Blackberry Storm, the HTC Touch HD, so where is the N97 going to fit in? All the leading phone providers (In the UK at least) all have touchscreen flagship handsets, which begs the question, where the the N97 fit in? Will it be sold alongside the flagship phones, being pushed to one side like all the other phones in their range, like the Samsung Touchscreens, or will the networks embrace it? Really, the N97 deserves to be up there with the flagship phones, the G1s, the iphones, the Storms, but i just cant see where it would fit in, as there isnt any networks left to take a flagship phone on! 

One thing which frustrates me the most is the length of time it takes for Nokia to actually get the handsets onto the shelf. Lets take the N96 for instance. It took a good 6 months from the device being announced to actually being available, same with the N95, same with the N91, and its going to continue with the N96, and this is where I believe Nokia are loosing it. The joy with people like Apple is that they announce a product, and then 3 or 4 days later, you can march into your local store and walk out with a brand new product that was announced just days before. Its not the same with Nokia. By the time the device had been announced and actually released for sale, its old news and it gives the competition time to fight back.

Has Nokia really lost their WOW factor? Not quite yet, but they are heading that way. Don’t get me wrong, I love Nokia and would only ever buy a Nokia phone as in my opinion they are head and shoulders above the rest, but slowly are the starting to lag behind. They are still using the same camera modules they used 2 years ago, they are using the same designs and they did 2 years ago, and it just seems they are living in the past. It feels like the N95 is starting to Break Nokia rather then make them and its time they moved on from the N95 and tried something new in the Nseries range. Lets hope the N97 is as good as its lived up to be, and it will be the start in many more groundbreaking phones.

Do you agree or disagree? Leave your comments and opinions Below.

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