Nokia N97 vs Nokia N86

There is no doubt that the Nokia N97 has a huge weight on it’s shoulders after Nokia reported a 90% drop in sales for last year.  The N97 is the new flagship model but is a different form factor from previous flagship phones like the N95, N95 8GB and N96 as it now has a slide out QWERTY keypad and a large touch screen.

What did surprise me was the….well… shockingly poor announcement of the 8 mega pixel N86 device back at Mobile World Congress.  The N86 had no mention during the keynote, the only way we knew about the N86 was the small text link of a promo video down the side of the page which appeared later on.  Heck, even I missed it initially and was let down at no 8 megapixel announcement until Christian text me on my way back from London, saying it was now announced.

Now comes the problem I have and i am sure many others out there have, which will be the phone to buy!.

So here is a bit of information to help you decide

The Nokia N97

• 3.5 Inch Touch Screen
• 5.0 Megapixel Camera
• 32GB Internal Memory
• Slide Out QWERTY Keyboard
• Widget Homescreen
• 150g Weight
• 30fps Video Recording
• Ovi Store Launch Handset

The N97 has been branded the ‘all singing all dancing’ multimedia computer that does everything apart from make a cup of tea (although maybe when the OVI Store comes out?).  The large touch screen is a big selling point for a lot of people and of course ANY phone with a touch screen now will be compared to the Apple iPhone.  The 5,0 megapixel Carl Zeiss camera is traditional for N-Series devices now and the N97 still keeps the “DVD Like Quality” video recording which many people use (Steve Litchfield uses this feature on phones for his ‘Phones Show‘ so take a look and see what the quality is really like.

The N97 thankfully broke away from the N95 standard which Nokia have used over and over and over and over and over again with phones like the N95, N95 8GB, N85 and N96.  The QWERTY keypad is a great selling point for heavy texters or people who enter a lot of data and like having a full keypad.  Another phone which did this well was the HTC Tytn2 aka MDA Vario 3 on T-Mobile.

Nokia really do class this as a multimedia powerhouse by packing in 32GB or internal memory plus allowing for expandable via MicroSD cards.  If you ever manage to fill up 32GB on a mobile phone, you deserve a medal.  It is nice to have this large memory out of the box though because on a screen the size and quality of the N97 you can convert your own movies into MP4 and store them on the phone, plus have a large amount of space left over for all those Ovi Store Apps, Photos and Music.

The new ‘Widget’ homescreen is something I am looking forward to trying out for myself as you can add your own widgets which are small applications onto the main screen to personalize your N97.  As a big Facebook addict I looked at the Facebook widget where using a data connection yo can get updated on friends status updates, your new invites or new messages without having to do a thing, its all done over the air.  You can also add your main contacts to the homescreen with a photo so you can call/email or text them with only a few touches of the screen thus saving you time.

The N97 will be a very expensive device at launch and Sim Free you will be looking to pay anything up to £700 for the phone as it comes with a hefty premium from a lot of online stores.  The N97 will launch in June/July and should be available on most networks around the world.

The Nokia N86

• 2.6 Inch OLED Screen (Non Touch)
• 8.0 Megapixel Camera
• 8GB Internal Memory
• Traditional Keypad
• Traditional Symbian Home Screen
• 149g Weight
• 30fps Video Recording
• Kick Stand For Watching Video

The N86 is more of a traditional Nokia handset and is the upgrade to the N85 which although is not that old, had some reliability issues with the hardware i.e. the top cover coming off.

The N86 is the first 8 megapixel phone from Nokia and as expected on high end camera phones, comes with a Carl Zeiss lens to get the best quality photo possible.  It also comes with a dual LED flash, it is a real shame there is no Xenon flash on here as that would have made the N86 pretty perfect.

You also get a dual slide mode which is great for N-Games, photo/video viewing and for controlling music. The N86 also comes with a kick stand at the back like the N96 so you can stand the phone on it’s side again for when using multimedia features.

To be honest there is nothing much else to say about the N86, it is your expected next stage camera phone from Nokia but packing a 8 megapixel camera.  The N97 has had most of the press because of the large touch screen and slide out keyboard, but don’t let this fool you, the N86 looks to be an awesome camera phone.

Expect the N86 to launch in July for around £550 sim free because of the premium you pay on a new device like this.