Nokia's N97 Widget Competition kicks off, plethora of Twitter clients inevitable
by Jacob Schulman 
posted Dec 22nd 2008 at 8:02AM
You've seen the announcement and read our hands-on, and now the only thing on your mind is "how can I get a free pre-release N97 and give it to my friends at Engadget?" Well, apparently if you've got the coding skills, it could be as easy as writing a widget for this slick device. That's right, just have your submission completed by February 27, 2009 and you could walk away with a production version of this feature-rich handset, complete with your creation pre-loaded ahead of the public release. Hit the read link for all the details and to download a copy of the design package.
[Via The Nokia Blog]
[Via The Nokia Blog]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ILoveApple @ Dec 22nd 2008 8:59AM
The N97 is no more 'feature-rich' than any other high-end device currently available.
fikhl @ Dec 22nd 2008 10:56AM
It is...
ILoveApple @ Dec 22nd 2008 12:26PM
In what ways? It could even be said that the N97 is a pitiful device considering it'll be first available in the shops well into 2009.
Its specs are nothing special at all. Some people might say that the N97's strong point is the widgets... We all know what Nokia is like with software. The N97's homescreen won't function well until 2010 if the N95's software was anything to go by.
I hate to say it but the truth is that the N97 is the same as the N95 but with a bigger screen and a few extra buttons. Good job on innovating, Nokia...
dextius @ Dec 22nd 2008 3:46PM
Oh for the love of all.. it's running wimo... this phone doesn't count, sorry.
Opera != Webkit
3.2MP camera != 5MP camera
Winmo < Palm < Symbian (just my opinion here)
ILoveApple @ Dec 22nd 2008 4:27PM
Why is a webkit browser better? The Touch Pro renders pages much better than the 5800 does. Are you one of those people who's fooled by megapixel counts on phone cameras? The camera on the Touch Pro is just as good as the camera on the N95 8GB in daylight, it even has a better macro mode for Christ's sake... Why exactly does the Touch Pro not count?
When will you realise that Nokia are selling you OLD hardware? They're milking you. Sure, the N97 has a few more GBs here, some more MBs there and a few more inches over here, but what else? They could easily make a proper successor to the N95 but they choose not to. Please don't be fooled by Nokia, otherwise we'll be seeing N95s in different shells for the rest of this decade.
dextius @ Dec 22nd 2008 1:27PM
Show me a phone that has the following features.. (full disclosure, I own an N95-4)
1. Haptic touch screen
2. 5mp Carl Zeiss camera
3. Full Keyboard
4. Unlocked (no 15$ AT&T fee)
5. GPS
6. Webkit browser
7. Flash Lite support
8. Bluetooth A2DP
9. 802.11G
10. Forward facing camera (for video calls)
11. 32 gig internal memory (with expandable micro sd)
12. Can run quake 3 ;-)
Back in the day I had my treo 650, and I was happy, touch screen, full keyboard, RSS reader, PDAnet, and some simple games.. Go Go GO!! Fast forward a few years.. Palm sucks, terrible browser, no multimedia apps worth mentioning, same dinky screens, and the OS hasn't improved at all...
Buying the N95 was a big deal for me, no keyboard, no touchscreen, but everything else! The N97 is it, finally, I'll have the true successor for my old Treo from a feature perspective.
This is a big upgrade for me from my N95-4
1. 32gig Memory
2. Widgets
3. Camera cover
4. bigger screen
5. bigger battery
6. keyboard
7. Haptic touchscreen
8. NEW OS
9. Micro SD slot
10. Accelerometer support for apps built into the OS (the N95-4 lacks this basic ability though it has the hardware)
ILoveApple @ Dec 22nd 2008 1:43PM
I said feature-rich. The amount of memory is not a feature. To answer your question:
1. Haptic touch screen - HTC Touch Pro
2. 5mp Carl Zeiss camera - 3.2MP HTC Touch pro (The camera performs just as well as the N95 8GB in day light)
3. Full Keyboard - HTC Touch Pro has a better keyboard... More rows...
4. Unlocked (no 15$ AT&T fee) - HTC Touch Pro
5. GPS - HTC Touch Pro
6. Webkit browser - HTC Touch Pro has Opera.
7. Flash Lite support- HTC Touch Pro's flash support is much better than S60's
8. Bluetooth A2DP- HTC Touch Pro
9. 802.11G - HTC Touch Pro
10. Forward facing camera (for video calls) - HTC Touch Pro
11. 32 gig internal memory (with expandable micro sd) - HTC Touch Pro accepts MicroSDHC
12. Can run quake 3 ;-) - HTC Touch Pro. It also has a much faster processor.
... You were saying?... The HTC Touch Pro would have been out for almost a year by the time you can buy a N97.
It's not a new OS. It's still the same old Symbian.
raghavghei @ Dec 22nd 2008 7:57PM
did not include the size of the phone
comparing the touch pro and n97 is thinner looks nicer
raghavghei @ Dec 22nd 2008 8:01PM
http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/compare_results.php?phones[]=3294&phones[]=2879
nm almost same
Ron @ Dec 23rd 2008 1:02AM
Geez. Just 1 phone prize? How about top 5? Google was able to give 85% of their employees free G1s. Apple gave most employees iPhones when it was first released. Nokia, I'm confident you'll do a better job of motivating developers next time you release a new flagship product...
ILoveApple @ Dec 23rd 2008 6:21AM
Nokia have NEVER done anything to motivate developers. They do the complete opposite with their stupid symbian signed crap.