I’m looking at the new Nokia N97 flagship smartphone. It seema like a worthy upgrade replacement for my existing Nokia N95 8GB. For a Mac OS X user, a big question is if there is an iSync plugin available for the N97? Or an easy hack of an existing plugin to use with the N97?
I’m taking an interest in the N97 because, well, I just realized that my N95 8GB is actually worth $400 trade-in value to the telcos. Of course, the N97 is also a pretty good phone. Something that, finally, I consider an upgrade from the N95 8GB.
The N97 prices vary greatly between the different telcos. SingTel, with a reasonably low-end 24 month contract plan, sells for $598; M1 for $638 and StarHub for $888. It looks like SingTel has the best offer. I wonder whether they still have the $30 discount when you order online after 9pm.
The problem with the N97, however, is that it seems to have received quite a number of criticisms for its slow processor and lousy QWERTY keyboard (poor tactile feedback, etc). The N95 8GB has dual ARM 11 332 MHz processors, while the N97 lists only one ARM 11 processor running at 434 MHz. The N95 8GB also has 3D graphics hardware accelerator which is not mentioned for the N97. So, then again, I’m not sure after all whether the N97 would really prove to be a worthy upgrade to the N95 8GB.
Update (27 Jun 2009): I’ve heard that Nokia Multimedia Transfer now supports the N97. Nokia web pages do not specify N97 support, but once the Nokia Multimedia Transfer software is run, and it checks for updates, it will download new plugins which will detect and use the N97 device.
iSync was available on previous versions of Symbian OS so I dont think it will be problems with new version …
It is not correct that the N95 has two ARM11 cores; rather, it has one ARM11 core plus a DSP core (used for graphics processing).
The chipset is TI OMAP 2420. Look it up.
I do have a Nokia N97 and I am regreting having spend such amount of money. The phone does not sync with my mac. Even more, some times it does not even appear as a USB drive. I have upgraded and now the keyboard layout is not correct. The gps takes enormous amounts of times to know my position, and sometimes it does not connect at all. I have the feeling I have bought the most expensive useless pieces of electronics. I should had bough the iphone.
There is an N97 iSync plugin. Head over to http://nokia.com/isync and select the n97.