David Carrington

Soon I’ll have my hands on a Nokia N97, but will I switch? Here’s the factors that have influenced me switching handsets in the past:

1. Nokia 5120 – My first handset. It worked. It made calls. It sent texts. It was enough.
2. Nokia 3310 – It was smaller, cooler, played games, and was my first contract phone.
3. HTC BlueAngel (MDA III) – Windows Mobile, music, camera, big colour touch screen, WiFi, bluetooth and infrared. Amazing.
4. HTC Elf (HTC Touch) – While the BlueAngel rocks, it’s a brick. This phone is half the speed but also much smaller. I accepted that compromise but always hated the slowness.
5. HTC Touch Diamond – Still HTC, still Windows Mobile, but this time the screen was beautifully clear, I had 3G, GPS, a reasonable camera, and a much faster processor.
6. HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1) – Oh no, another brick! I debated with myself quite heavily about whether this was worth getting. The Android OS finally convinced me I wanted to switch. I’m a huge Google fan so this phone suits me really well.

In all I have 4 Windows Mobile devices. When upgrading between them I thought in terms of a PC: Processor speed, RAM, screen, etc. Sure they’re phones (except one), but they act very much like small PCs. The CPU and RAM were really important. I mention this because my ideal handset right now would be an Android phone that has a faster hardware and more memory. I don’t mind the size but I would prefer a better battery.

Now I’ve won a Nokia N97 and I don’t know how much I’ll like it.

Here’s the theory:

• it’s slower (434 MHz vs 528 MHz)
• it’s got less RAM (128 MB vs 192 MB)
• … but has a completely different OS
• a better camera (5MP carl zeiss lens vs 3MP)
• and a fairly kick-ass battery (1500 mAh compared to 1100 mAh)

The S60 operating system is going to be the deal breaker.