With two of the most influential phone makers set to release their flagship handsets tomorrow, we thought it a perfect time to weigh the refined Apple iPhone 3G S against the keyboard-toting Nokia N97.
With a faster processor, more storage and a sweeter camera, the iPhone 3G S plugs (almost) all of the gaps in the iconic touchscreen device, whilst the Nokia N97 offers a sexier form factor, a new widget-based homescreen and bleeding edge features, but which is best?
Join us as we delve into a world of stat-based wonder!
Size: The handsets measure up pretty closely, the N97 is a hair longer and 7mm narrower than the 3G S, explaining the 16:9 widescreen ratio of the screen. Depth is an understandable extra 4mm, a tiny amount considering it’s also housing a fine 3 row QWERTY keyboard within that slender frame.
The iPhone 3G S is cosmetically almost identical to the 3G model, meaning the dimensions are also very similar. Opting for a slightly wider and stockier build than the N97, the iPhone is a touch more unwieldy in smaller palms, resulting in two handed use to perform even the simplest of tasks.
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Weight: The iPhone 3G S is around the ideal fighting weight for a smartphone at 135g, weighing a couple of grams more than the previous model, possibly due to a new battery (more about that later…). The N97 is a bit more tubby at 150g, that keyboard providing convenience at a significant additional weight.
Winner: iPhone 3G S
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Screen: The touch screen big boys of the N97 and iPhone are neck-and-neck, both boasting 3.5″ TFT displays. The usual gamut of accelerometers and proximity sensors for rotating and preventing accidental presses when plastered to your ear are included, but the 3G S has a number of display features that put it firmly in the lead.
The capacitive touchscreen of the Apple device results in an incredibly responsive touch experience that also supports features like multi-touch to zoom whilst browsing the net or viewing pictures, whilst the N97 has a somewhat slower resistive touchscreen.
This results in no multitouch, and a distinctly less intuitive experience, but it does still have a full keyboard and a d-pad to fall back on, making typing and texting much easier.
Those not used to typing out messages might find the iPhone screen tough at first, but a bit of practice (with some predictive help) will see you going at full pelt in no time! If that newly-found speed results in lots of thumbprints on your shiny 3G S, a new oleophobic coating allows oil to be easily cleaned and the screen remain viewable.
Winner: iPhone 3G S
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Camera: Whilst neither device is leading the pack in the megapixel race, both the iPhone 3G S and Nokia N97 have had massive improvements to their paparazzi power over previous models.
The Nokia N97 has a 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss optics lens, autofocus, and an LED flash for night-time photography.
White balance, contrast and sharpness options are also included, but it stops short of the face/smile detection features the have become commonplace in a lot of phones touting cameras of 8 megapixels and above.
Quality rather than quantity is the most important thing, and still images and 30 frames per second VGA video capture are both incredibly decent.
The iPhone 3G S camera is a generational leap beyond the woefully underwhelming 2 megapixel snapper on previous models, finally bringing something at least comparable to the current generation of smartphones.
Apple took a lot of flak for sticking a camera with no autofocus and no flash on their high end device, and the new 3.1 megapixel lens does now offer all manner of focusing and auto-balancing features, making for quality shots. Still no flash though, but we can’t have everything I suppose!
The video recording is an entirely new addition however, and is really quite impressive. VGA at 30 frames per second, the 3G S offers some silky smooth video, and easy uploading to YouTube. There is even a mini-editing suite on the device to trim down the fat and create your perfect movie.
So whilst the N97′s camera may well be better overall, the 3G S deserves an honourable mention for being so much better than it was.
Winner: Nokia N97
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Battery: Another gold star for ‘most improved’ where the 3G S is concerned, managing to boost both 2G talktime from 10 to 12 hours, audio from 24 to 30 hours and internet over Wi-Fi from 6 to 9 hours. This improved battery is probably what resulted in that little weight gain over the iPhone 3G.
These stats are not too bad in comparison to other handsets too, offering more two and a half hours more 2G talktime than the N97, but an hour less on 3G.
The standby time is no match, however, with the impressive 400+ hours on the N97, leaving the 300 hour standby time for the iPhone in the dust.
Winner: Nokia N97
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Memory: The beefiest (and priciest) iPhone 3G S has seen a memory jump to twice the size, now offering 32GB of internal memory for music, movies and apps. This matches the Nokia N97′s mammoth memory but with an SD card slot for a cheeky extra 16GB, the slider steals ahead once again as it can go up to a mind-expanding 48GB.
Winner: Nokia N97
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Special Skills: It may be the last round, but it is equally by far the most important for the iPhone 3G S. This new and refined model might still lag behind other handsets on paper, but it’s the user experience and features that makes Apple’s device take such a prominent role in the mobile game today. The new 3.0 update adds features which might sound so 2001, but will be integral to daily iPhone usage in no time.
MMS messaging, a landscape virtual keyboard for easy typing, tethering to a laptop for browsing the web and a greater integration with the iTunes store takes the iPhone back into the forefront of mobile tech, whilst the new 3G S adds handset specific features like a digital compass (to orient Google Maps to the direction you are facing) and Voice Control, proving gimmicky and essential in equal measure.
Faster HSDPA and a faster processor for better web access and 3G gaming are enhancements the iPhone sorely needed, and will be warmly received. Being in the fortunate position of getting the technology and user interface so right first time allows them the luxury of incremental improvements.
They may not have the most powerful machine to use on the market, but it’s easily the best all-rounder.
The N97 running on software very similar to the 5800 means that the user experience will still prove very familiar to Nokia users, maybe even too familiar to those expecting a super cool flagship device.
The widget interface on the homescreen links into your favourite social networking or news sites, updating live, but the downside is that the user interface lacks uniqueness or refinement.
An FM radio transmitter, great GPS functionality and a Flash-supporting web browser are all great, but common to a number of other devices.
The Ovi Store is Nokia’s answer to the App Store and pre-installed on the N97, but is still an unknown entity at present with few must-have apps.
And as it comes with nary a single game on it, you’ll have to spend a little cash to have some fun, then you realise the games are of the old-school phone variety, a million miles from the slick 3D affairs available on the iPhone 3G S….
Never was the adage of something being more than the sum of its parts more true than when describing the 3G S in comparison to the N97.
Nokia’s device should, and does, hammer it in a number of areas, but at the end of the day, Apple’s phone still has everyone else flailing to play catch-up, despite being only the third iteration.
By focusing on features and functions that they feel should drive the advancement of phones rather than getting caught up in the technology arms race, the iPhone is able to court new users swayed the refreshing and gorgeous interface, get them enjoying (and paying for) movies, music, games and applications directly on their phone, and keep them current with new software based updates on a regular basis.
The N97 improves things in many ways but is still built on old Nokia foundations, and it shows. To compete, they need to innovate that little bit more, bring new things that others may want to emulate, rather than chasing the gold.
The 3G S might not be much of a change for current iPhone owners, but it is still a world away from the competition, and that’s what counts.
Winner: iPhone 3G S
The Nokia N97 is certainly the other must-have smartphone at the moment, and despite the best efforts of some to destroy it, it still proves to be a very popular choice (particularly amongst shoppers on Omio!).
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