The N97/N97mini are expensive, do-it-all devices and because of that it warrants some care and looking after. There are times when some things might just not work properly on the phone. It’s not just the phone but also the accessories that come along with the phone that might just go kaput.

How about if you could actually troubleshoot these problems and tell the Care Center people your diagnosis? Maybe you won’t even need to visit the Care Center also after troubleshooting it on your own.

“So how do I do it?” is what you must be wondering. Don’t worry you don’t need specialized tools or anything. Simply download and install this application, Nokia Diagnostics from Nokia Betalabs.

Some of the tests include

1. Network Coverage test
2. Internet connectivity test
3. Battery charger test
4. Loudspeaker &
5. Earpiece test

This application is currently supported only by S60 5th edition. So apart from the N97/N97mini; it will also work on the 5800 (all editions), 5230, 5233, 5530 and the X6.

Here is a video of how it works…

Now with the new firmware out for the N97, we thought of shifting the focus a bit and thought of doing a post on the N97 taking on the HTC Touch2.

Let’s see what the N97 is all about:

• Nokia flagship device
• 32GB built in memory with a Micro SD slot for expanding the memory to 48GB (64GB unofficially)
• 3.5 inch resistive touchscreen, 640×360 resolution and 16.7million colour support
• 5MP camera with Carl Zeiss lens
• S60 5th edition with a customized homescreen
• Widget support
• QWERTY keypad
• GPS
• WiFi

and now let’s have a peek at the HTC Touch2:

• Windows 6.5 Professional
• 512MB ROM with Micro SD card support of up to 16GB
• 2.8 inch resistive touchscreen, 240×320 resolution and 65k colour support
• 3.2MP camera
• Touch FLO screen
• GPS
• WiFi

The HTC Touch2 features an extra something under it’s sleeve, a touch-sensitive zoom bar. The HTC touch2 has a 1000mAh battery. Armed with a lowly 3.2MP camera without flash and autofocus and a mono speaker beside, it certainly seems to be the perfect device or the low end market. Being a solely touch dependent device (stylus included) the QWERTY on the screen is a mini QWERTY and would be a big downer for people looking for a touch and QWERTY  equipped device.

With the device supporting Flash, Youtube will work properly on this device. RSS feeds are smartly organized on the Touch2 and makes life simple on that front. The Touch FLO has a music player of it’s own with a lot of features, including a equalizer. Of course, you can opt for the less intuitive Windows Media Player that is embedded within WinMo 6.5.  FM radio is present on this device. Google Maps does duty on this device and will locate you on the map with the GPS chip inside the phone. A-GPS is also there to speed things up. Weather updates are available through the Touch FLO and is a very good inclusion. Active Sync helps one to sync data between the PC and the phone, a feature which has been a big advantage for business users. Windows Messenger is present within the device and allows one to chat on the MSN and Yahoo contacts, but be wary of the fact that it is slow.

Continue reading…

A few days back a Nokia employee posted within the Nokia Discussions Board, informing their readers about the upcoming V21 firmware for the Nokia N97, it mainly will be consisting of bug fixes, and improvements.  Here’s a snapshot of what to expect.

Continue reading…

On the 21st of January, Nokia made a huge announcement about making drive by navigation free. A number of devices were supported. The N97mini was readily supported, but the N97 was not. This disappointed the users of N97 a lot. But Nokia promised a version for N97 within a week. True to it’s word, Nokia has today launched Ovi Maps with free drive navigation for the N97.

Picture courtesy, Nokiaaddict.com

The OVI Maps is compatible with Nokia N97 phones running firmware version 2.0.x and if you don’t have it, you will have to update the firmware to get maximum benefit from the software. You can do so right here.

Note-The version 2.0.x hasn’t been released in all regions so some people might be left out but not for long since Nokia promises to bring it out very soon.

Ovi Maps brings about some significant extras to the navigation stream. Not only is turn by turn (driving) navigation free, you also get a lot of premium content. Weather, events, places to go, visit… it’s all there. Lonely Planet and Michelin will be providing this content. So I strongly urge you to update the Maps on you N97.

Tell us what you think about it….

Nokia N97/N97mini, a masterpiece of a device. Yes it has shortcomings, but you still love that phone of yours. But recently while tinkering you bricked the N97/N97mini and now can’t get it past the welcome screen… Well my friend ‘alsiladka‘ has the solution to it.

Here’s the video demonstration of it:

(normally you would find the video embedded here itself, but for some reason it’s not showing the way it should. I am posting a link to the video for the time being until it can be sorted, please bear with us)

Note: Thenokian97.com is not liable for any problems arising from the above procedure.