[sillbit]

Hi, all. I've been reading a lot on this board since I got my N97 a month ago. There have been lots of interesting posts, and I've learned a thing or two in the process. (And I've been using Nokia phones for over 10 years now.)

Let me start by saying that I'm not happy with my N97 (like a lot of other people), but I would still buy it today if I had to make the choice again. But it's not so much because the excellence of the N97 as the lack of alternatives. I looked long and serious at the iPhone, but basically rejected it because of two things. 1) Bad bluetooth support (more specifically I really want the sim-access profile, but bluetooth on iPhone is really bad), and 2) lack of good multitasking.

The second point is starting to loose relevance though, as the N97 don't seem to handle this very well either.

However, I've had three problems on my N97 which I haven't seen anyone else mention. Two of them very serious as well.

First the not so serious one: the address book on the N97 have dropped on feature that I really depended upon (and which it surprise me that Nokia removed), and that is that I can't see what groups an entry is a member of anymore. This is most annoying, and problematic. I use some profiles where only members of certain groups are allowed to get through to me. And I'm used to go to the address book, and look at an entry and check if that person is a member of the right groups. I can't do that anymore now. I have to go to each group I want to check, and then make a check for members in that group instead. This is much less efficient, and also problematic, since I don't have a good view of other potential entries in the address book that *should* be in the group, but aren't.

Very stupid, and I'm totally surprised that Nokia have removed this.

If anyone would drop a hint to Nokia that they forgot this, it would be great. I'll probably get around to sending them feedback about this as well, but not right now. I have more pressing problems, which leads on to my big issues.

My N97 occasionally crashes with a white screen that fades out, and just leaves a green line or something similar on screen. It then reboots, and the system is working again. However, last week, when this happened all my messages were lost. No trace of them. I was *not* happy.

A crash in itself is not acceptable, and I have way too many of them, but loosing all my messages makes it much worse. I had messages there that I didn't want to loose.

Ok, I thought. This is bad, but I do have a total backup made only a few days previous. I'll make a restore from that backup then. But to my dismay, the backup utility in OVI suite do not make a backup of messages. It do claim that it is making a backup of messages. But when I do a restore, it do not list messages among the things that can be restored. Even worse is that, unless the data in the backup file is encrypted, the messages aren't even in the backup file, contrary to the claim of the backup itself. I searched through the whole backup image for strings that I know were in the messages that I lost. They weren't there.

So, the backup application itself will not really make a full backup. And the phone can crash and loose data for you. This is really bad. Now, I wonder if anyone else have seen this, or know anything more that I might have missed.

For the rest of it, my N97 behaves as well as can be expected. I need to reboot it about every other day to get it back in order, and occasionally it crashes. But it usually works well enough to be atleast usable. But quality control at Nokia have slipped a lot, as well as the system design as such. I suspect that if this trend continues (and I suspect it will), the N97 will be my last Nokia phone, as I expect competition will soon have catched up on the features that they still aren't on top of.

As for the rest of it, I've seen many of the problems others have mentioned, but some of them aren't that big problems, and a few are misunderstandings by the users as well. If someone would ask me, I'd recommend them to wait a while before buying a N97. I wouldn't say it is total **bleep**, but it is not something I'd recommend with the quality of the software right now. But I can't really offer any suggestions for another phone with similar capabilities either. I'm hoping that Nokia will put some serious effort in to improving the phone rather soon, though.

Otherwise I will be looking for another phone in a few months time.

Another thing is that after roaming abroad, I needed to restart the phone to even connect with my native network again. Oh well, as I said, lots of reboots...

Oh, and yes, I do have the latest version, phone unbranded, and all that... And I'm in Sweden.

[tommytky]

Well, I’m using v11 firmware and I don’t have those problems you guys have but only and the only major problem:

It’s will reboot/shut down/turn off itself after few minutes using the browser EVERYTIME WITHOUT FAIL…

Anyone having this problem? Please post your feedback… Thanks.

P/S: Anyway, NOKIA, CAN YOU PLEASE AT LEAST MAKE A POST ABOUT ALL THIS PROBLEMS TO ALL THE USER, EXPLAIN TO US ABOUT THEM INSTEAD OF KEEPING QUIET AND MAKING THE USERS SUFFERING AFTER SPENDING THAT MUCH OF MONEY ON THE SERIOUSLY UNSTABLE PHONE YOU PRODUCE! I CAN TELL YOU, WE, THE USERS ARE EXTREMELY UNHAPPY!!! and thanks for making me a nokia fans no more...

[au_n97_user]

If you tap open Contacts and highlight a contact, or tap on then from the Favourites on the home screen (if you have them there) you will see two tabs at the top of the screen. Tap on the tab with the icon of three people and you will see the Group name that the contact is a member of.

I used Phone Switch to transfer my contacts from the N80 to the N97 and the Groups settings did not transfer over, I had to create groups and add contacts into them afresh on the N97.

I don't use Ovi Suite at all, after reading these forums, I stuck to PC Suite for backups and so on, so I can't assist with your backup issues.

With your phone crashing, it is possible that the phone has lost its "link" or pointer to the Messages data store - I've had that happen when backing up using PC Suite - my messages were still there, it just looked like they had gone because the phone was looking on C rather than E.  Once I set my Messages back to E, all my messages were still there.

Messaging > Options > Settings > Other > Memory in Use is the place to find it.

Message Edited by au_n97_user on 09-Aug-2009 08:44 AM

[sillbit]

No, if you select the tab with three persons on it, you see *all* the groups that you have defined. Not only the groups the selected person is a member of. Try it again yourself and check. There is no way to find out what groups a person in the address book is a member of, except the very backwards way of going into a group, select a member in that group, and then you can, from the options menu show which groups this person is a member of.

So I cannot look up a user in my contacts, and see which groups he is a member of.

(Oh, and I have upgraded the contacts tool in the phone to the Ovi Contacts, so I actually have three tabs. Persons (With the List-looking icon), Ovi (with an Ovi icon), and groups (with the three persons icon)).

The messages are truly lost. Yes, I know that you can switch between disks for which to store the messages on. And yes, that one also changes once in a while and I have to set it back again. But my messages are truly lost (sadly).

[celios]

I think this sums it up for me, from Michael Jerz, a leading Symbian forum owner/admin (owner of my-symbian.com):

"I'm sorry but I must say that the N97 has really disappointed me to a point that I am switching back to using the 5800 or E90. Not because of its design or its supposed functionality, which are really OK, but because of its current instability and all kinds of small, nasty bugs and issues. I'm too tired with them. When I try to open the Messaging application from the home screen, the screen changes only partially, showing half of the home screen and half of the Messaging screen. I need to touch the slider to make the screen fully refresh. When I open one of the email accounts, and just tap the screen (which on the 5800 invokes the "Check for new email?" requester), on the N97 the Messaging application gets closed and the Home screen pops up. When charging the phone, in the final stage, the phone starts showing "Charging complete" and then again "Charging" some 20 times in a loop, and that's with annoying beeps. Something's still wrong with locking the screen. Sometimes it takes moving the Lock slider several times to get the screen locked or unlocked. And the N97 is the first phone for years that I often find unlocked in my pocket, with some applications started or phone call initiated, so it seems that the autolock function has some issues as well. And, what's the worst of all, the N97 seems to have the worst network signal reception/sensitivity of all phones I've used over the last 2 years. I live in a place with really poor coverage of my network (I'm planning to switch to the other network in a couple of weeks as it has a 100% signal). With other phones, it was really hard to have a normal phone conversation indoors, but it was OK outdoors (backyard, terrace/patio, open window, etc.). Since I started using the N97, I've been unable to normally talk even outdoors. Initially I was wondering if the network signal got even worse when the trees got leaves or for any other reasons but one day I took other phone and voila! everything went back to "normal".... This may not be an issue for people living in places with good network coverage, but in areas with poor network signal it may really prevent you from being able to use the phone... 

So for now I am switching back to 5800 and I'll wait until these problems get fixed before I touch the N97 again. I'll also hold on with publishing the review, or else it'd have to be a really negative one, probably the first such I ever wrote. " 

[nabilk111]

Hi, I agree with the three points mentioned.

- For group contacts, it is also lacking the facility to know how many members are in each group. The earlier e90 had this facility indirectly.

-  I 'm facing the same crash issue. But mine doesnt reboot.And even forced shutdown (by continued pressing the power key) is not available. So I had to remove battery!!!.

- Regarding not backing up the messages, that is also a serious issue, eventhough I did not try it yet. But Nokia should be able to fix it as it was an available option in e90.

[sillbit]

Oh, I have no doubt Nokia would be able to fix almost all the issues that people report here. The question is if they will, or if the development department have already shifted on to the next device, and the N97 will only get small updates from now on. The way I see it, the N97 is basically still in beta, from a software point of view (I can't complain about the hardware on my device, but others seem to have issues there as well). There are so many potential nice things this device could have done and have been, but it falls short on them.

Nokia should do a total rehash of the software, and not try to just fix the small things here, since there seem to be some serious shrotcomings in the whole thought process from the start.

They shouldn't really have released the phone when they did. But that's history now. Instead they are currently taking a hard beating for the N97 by their customers, and the rumour spreads. The next question is wether they will abandon the N97, and leave all those who bought it and try to keep it, in hope of improvement, behind and make the effort for the next device, or wether Nokia will try to really get the N97 in order, to make it the great device it could be.

[sissim]

I'm facing the same following problem: "Sometimes it takes moving the Lock slider several times to get the screen locked or unlocked." Relieved to read about it here because I thought I just wasn't

moving/pressing/pulling the switch properly.

[cadex]

I got low batt warning from my n97, several minutes later my phone automatically turn off.

I just forgot where I put my charger so I choose to fill the battery by using cable data through PC

(I can guarantee this PC clear from virus) the PC didn't detect the device then the lamp turn on after around 2 hours the lamp turn off so I unplug my N97. and I try tu turn it on, but it still unable to turn on..can anybody help me solve this problem

[kman00]

That happened to me a few times, restarting your PC should fix the problem

[jrob123]

Hi,

If you are a long suffering N97 user like me and are not getting the help you need from Nokia come and join a facebook group that was set up for people to vent their anger on this dreadful phone.  Search on facebook for 'I hate the N97' or use the following link http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=304397227282

It's only a small group at the moment, but maybe Nokia will sit up and take notice if this starts to grow.

:-)

[FrancoItaly]

I am 1 of lots of N97 users with a los of problem with my Phone. I using N97 since 8 month and i'm realy sad to say that thiz phone NOT respond to me as well as i thought. The phone is realy leazy, i had to wait too long for open any app and sometimes it stop and i need to reboot it for turn it back(exuse my english). Another problem is the camera where thw lens cover at the end scratch the lens(incredible) and now the camera is imposible to use. Nokia is not responding at all when i wrote them and they say to me to go to a Nokia center where they told me that they have no supply and that they don't respond to this kind of problem. At the and i'm now an unhappy Nokia user that will not gone to buy a Nokia ever in all my life. I think that no one want to be trated like this and that is unaceptable that a firm like Nokia can not fix same problem like that. N97 is a crash! A device with 32GB of memory and ONLY 128MB of ram it's a shame!! I trust them and i thught that they know what are they doing but i wrong so big. Evidently they don't know! N97 is good as internet device perfect browse but i had problem with Nokia Messaging that can not dowload atachment files and it use to crash down every day. The red and the green keys don't work, so you can't answer or reyect calls with them!! Good sound, good reception, nice screeen, good cam but imposible to use as i told before, i'm using the second firmware update so all those problems are two times unfixed, well i don't know if this massege has any sense or if will exist any answer by the firm but i'm so tired to look for a solution of all this problems that seems to not exist. I hope to recive any help by Nokia if still exist!

[N97_Dan]

Problems I have had with the N97 (so far!)

Phone keeps crashing and restarting

GPS connection is very unstable

Internet connection is unstable

Side lock button doesn't always work

Contacts have option for anniversaries but these are not linked to the calendar

The phone memory is too small

Ovi Maps needs to be loaded onto the phone memory so wasting the 32gb hard drive

Ovi Maps doesn't always load detail correctly

Ovi keeps crashing

Phone does not connect to a computer unless you turn the phone off and on whist connected via a USB

So far... 

Will keep you posted, my suggestion if you haven't bought it or can change it is do so!

[lenny_]

I have soo many problems with my N97 it isnt funny.

Here are a list of the problems, if anyone can help, please let me know.

1. Music player doesnt open songs, only when i reboot phone it works.

2. Photos dont load, only when i reboot phone it works.

3. Videos dont load, only when i reboot phone it works.

4. Cannot update, computer goes BB5 ADL Loader connected in incompatible mode, when i have connected it via PC Suite! 

I've already tried reformatting the phone, EVERYTHING, and still functions the same. Im on the firmware 11

[synth_fg]

---

lenny_ wrote:

I've already tried reformatting the phone, EVERYTHING, and still functions the same. Im on the firmware 11

---

There's your problem

You need to update to at least fw v20 for the N97 to have most of the significant issues ironed out of it,

[lenny_]

As i said, i cannot update to the latest firmware, weird

[synth_fg]

If an update is not available either OTA or via NSU then it is likely that you have a branded handset,

You need to get onto your network about approving the firmware so that nokia can release it to you

[hpy_85]

Yeah, I'm having the same problem as what you have mention. Will they solve this problem? I'm very regret of buying this phone & cost me so much trouble.

[synth_fg]

Vanilla N97's just recieved a further update to v22 ?

If your network has not approved it for release you have to take it up with them

[n97bluetooth]

Just to add to everyone's woes about the n97. Try taking a photo with low light or no light requiring the use of the flash and am sure you will see a white portion (which means an over exposure image due to the to flash) on the part of the image nearest to the flash.

I pointed this out to my network  provider since they supplied the unit and they replaced it with the n97 mini which does not have that problem (but has its own set of shortcomings). The white portion on the image is due to poor product design of placing the flash too near the lens.This product defect alone i believe warrants a product recall.

Now with my n97mini though I have problems with "memory full" prompts that come out when I connect my unit to my bluetooth headset. I have posted a topic on this problem in this forum which I hope someone can respond to.

I have been using nokia units for the last 12 years and quality is not the same. Have the many Phd officers that nokia had claimed to employ when the company was still new cashed out their vested options already and left. So sad.