Apple iPhone 3GS vs Nokia N97 Comparison Pics

Obviously Apple iPhone 3G S is the winner.

I hate Nokia N97.

Nokia sucks

What people never say on these stupid indian phone sites is all the good that comes with the iphone.
“the n97 beats the iphone on most fronts except UI and apps”
Really? Even though you mention the fact that the iphone has a capacitive and the n97 has a crappy resistive touch screen, you don’t realize the BIG difference between them. You’ll be stuck pressing the screen just to make the n97 work. Of course clumsy fingers cause unintended taps on the iphone sometimes, but a few days later you get used to it, and it really becomes a breeze. Also, you don’t realize that, the iphone 3gs has a much gaster processor inside compared to the n97.
Games!
Apps!
MUSIC!!
No phone can beat the iphone in terms of music. It has inbuilt ipod for god sake.
The internet experience on the iphone is also way ahead of anything else.
Basically I see only two plus points of the n97:
It has a 5 mega pixel camera compared to the iphone’s 3.2, so you get higher resolution stills. (the software for colour correction and white balance is much better on the iphone though)
And some people prefer a hardware keyboard.

Give us reasons please .. No plain bashing

If I will have to choose from these two, definetly I will go for iphone instead of N97. I know that in somewhat ways iphone can’t compete with N97 but there is something which makes iphone stand alone from the melle of these high end phones bcoz of its classy look and its music experince. my full(100%) vote goes to apple’s item. Lets wait and watch for the N900 to come and is it user-friendly like Symbian device.

Nice point Satya. Some users might like the iPhone. Some might like the N97 . Its a personal decision. iPhone disappoints in basic functions like call handing and messaging. N97′s touch and UI is below par. WIsh we had a perfect phone ! But then we would not have much to talk about then

Varun, I don’t think you’ve used an iphone with a newer OS after 1.0
The call handling and messaging works like a breeze. There is nothing wrong with the call handling, though I can’t really debate much on that, what makes a phone better at call handling anyway?
The messaging in the iphone is WAY better, you can actually have conversations like you’re chatting to someone online.
I agree it had a few problems initially, but everything has been ironed out after os 2.0
The iphone is a nearly perfect phone. Specially with all the apps.

@naman

i absolutely agree with you.

@Varun your points are good but

“The N97 is a great device and beats the iPhone in most departments except the apps and the UI”

this doesnt make much sense. Yes the browser of the n97 has full flash support but even then is nowhere near the iphone, resistive technology sucks no one better than nokia knows, thats why theyve used capacitive in the x6 with handwriting recognition (which will be a treat if it turns out right). The display of the iphone speaks for itself even in sunlight (loses only to oled/amoled screens). Well there would be a long neverending list on this……..

and this is no bashing i use nokia and sony ericsson phones. If you would have said , the n900 comes to nearly beating the iphone that would have been more justified. This topic does not hold much and isn’t much debatable.

I would love to have a more debatable topic posted in fonearena, this is sorta old one.

n97 is not worth the price and battery sucks…

@naman,

I’m on 3.0 still face issues when on Airtel in India and ATT in USA.
The messaging on iPhone has drawn mixed reactions. Personally I ‘m not comfortable as it tends to group messages in a confusing manner.
No other mobile phone can even compete with iPhone on the Apps department. I have spent over $100 on the App Store !
But whenever i carry an iphone i carry a nokia phone just because of the battery life and call problems. Probably with iPhone 4G due in June 2010,We can stick to carrying a single phone

@paul Haha any suggestions for a debatable topic ?

The clear winner is Apple iPhone 3GS as it so much futuristic than N97 and N97 is nothing without GPRS facility because of its home screen gadgets they reqiure internet 24*7….

@Varun told you one didnt I, n900 vs iphone 3gs…..omnia hd against iphone 3gs, these would suit better

i have a N97 and its really hotttt…i havent found a single fault as yet!!

I Only say there is no comparison with Apple 3gs i phone.

http://www.fonearena.com/blog/2009/08/28/apple-iphone-3gs-vs-nokia-n900.html

Working on Omnia HD vs iPhone 3GS

just wanted to know whtz the price of iphone 3gS in india as i have a iphone 3g which i picked up for 31k….is the price going to be the same or thers a diff???if any 1 can kindly mail me the correct price in indian rupees???

i have been using nokia phones for the last 8 yrs . but i must tell u this iphone 3gs is the clear winner here.

@Varun thats really gud man, keep it up,

already read the n900 one but waiting for the one with the actual device………

Hey Varun,

Thats exactly what I have been thinking of writing to you… Where does the Omnia HD stand in all this? I have been following you since long time & have learnt a lot about cell phones from that. Thanks a lot for that…

I planned to buy N97 long before it came to Indian markets, but when I saw it, I was kind of disappointed..I mean I wanted something which clearly stands out even on the looks front when I am spending 34K.. Then finally I decided on iphone 3GS…waited & waited & waited…& still waiting. Now I am tired of waiting & want to buy whatever is there currently on market. Thats when I started comparing Omnia Hd & even Samsung jet. I think omnia Hd has a lot to offer, especially after the price drop. Music, 8 mp camera, Hd recording, wi fi, large amoled screen, motion sensing, speed, symbian OS.. & even jet (in its price range) seems to be a good option with all the basic facilities packed quite well with only the document viewing/editing option missing.

I would like to understand comparison also on aspects like after sales service, samsung quality of service compared to Nokia & iphone, possibility of loading document viewing facilities on jet, facility of directly connecting to LCD projector for presentation etc in any of these phones, facility of connecting to TV and viewing photos/videos, etc.

Can you or anyone else help?
Dr. KG

hey kg,
i’m pissed off about the same thing. waiting for the 3gs.
but i suggest that since you’ve waited so long, just wait a bit more. almost everyone agrees that 3gs will release before the end of september.

@ Dr. KG

I think a tv out cable will work on normal tvs, and hdmi output on the hdtv, also if you have DLNA and have a tv with wifi you could output pics, videos etc. on your tv.

Jet comes with office document viewing out of the box, just like omnia hd (although jet is not a smartphone like omnia hd) so msword, excel, ppt and pdf can be viewed without any problems.

Remember jet has 800mhz processor compared to 600mhz in omnia hd, so it is much faster.

Is there anything else you want to know?

You throw iphone3gs from 2nd floor it would be finished…
But instead u throw n97 it would remain as it is…
Apple has no class in cmprsn with nokia for battery.life & durability..

I had been planning a lot last year to buy the Iphone 3G but delayed purchase on account of its high price. This time I will surely go in for the 3GS despite the pricing mainly because of its speed and the applications. Apple products stand out against its rivals. Waiting impatiently for its launch in India. I believe the Sales on mobiles is much higher in Maharashtra compared to the rest of India. Understand that in Mumbai at present its available for Rs.37,000 for 16 GB and 40,000 for 32 GB…but in the grey market.

undoughly if i will gonna choose from these two,, i definately go for iphone.. if someone give me n97 free i will reject..

@mayank: Haha Haha Haha Haha Haha… will reject it…

Iphone is just a big Shit, except of it’s UI. Though I don’t own it, when it comes to the daily uses one will has to go for the other option, (and it is Nokia which stands fisrt in all aspects). No matter, if N97 does not look as cool as Iphone, but it fulfil the all needs, where iphone lag behind. After all one has nothing to do with its UI which makes it classy.

But still I like to go for one when 3GS will be in. After all it just like a Shadi Ka Laddu. Jo Khaye woh bhi pachhtaye, jo na khaye woh bhi pachtaye. To kyon na kha ke pachtaye.

hi,4 me da winner is obviously da APPLE.its sleek,da feather touch,clarity………coz i use an APPLE nd my son uses da N97.

I have been checking everyday in the newspapers for the latest news on the 3GS. I just called Imagine – the resellers for Apple products and they said that they have no intimation but that I should check with Airtel and Vodafone since they will be selling the 3GS.

Worse comes to worse if 3GS is not launched in India what is the next best scenerio? Buy in the grey market or maybe get it from Hong Kong as it is sold unlocked there I believe. Mini Shiraj how does your son like da N97?

I have both phones, but use the N97 more because it has better specs and I love the keyboard. I’ll compare the two phones below.

- Hardware – Both have good build quality, but I’d give the Nokia the edge, partly because I trust the Nokia brand more. I’ve had dozens of Nokias, and I’ve beaten the crap out of all of them and they still work! The capacitive touchscreen on the iphone is more vulnerable when it is dropped (speaking from experience here). Also, the resistive touchscreen on the N97 allows use while wearing gloves – try that on an iphone (very handy in the dead of winter)! The camera is a million times better on the N97 as well – 3mp? C’mon Apple. The QWERTY keyboard on the N97 is just awesome as well.
Battery life is better on the N97 I find.

- Software – iphone is better overall. It’s more user friendly, and is so smooth and slick. I like the Symbian OS on the N97, but do agree with some reviewers who say that it is starting to look a bit oudated. In general, the iphone is faster, as it does have a faster processor. Also, because you can’t really multitask with the iphone, you don’t compromise on speed or performance. On the N97, you can multitask, but performance and stability will occasionally suffer. Web browsing is slightly easier on the iphone, but I have no problem with the web browser on the N97. Also worth mentioning is the fact that the N97 plays flash, while the iphone doesn’t. But the pinch feature on the iphone is very useful when browsing the net.

- Specs – N97 has better specs, but it’s almost as if Nokia threw everything but the kitchen sink at this thing, and sometimes it doesn’t feel like the finished product – yet (fingers crossed that firmware updates will improve the phone). Also, my main gripe with the iphone is that it can’t perform some seemingly basic tasks/functions that other mobiles have been doing for several years, or that to enable these features I have to download additional apps (e.g. delete individual SMS, file transfer between mobile phones using bluetooth, forwarding messages). With the N97 on the other hand, I can truly say that I can’t think of any other features/functions that I would need or want that isn’t already on the phone. However, where the N97 does need improvement is smoothing out its performance. The N97 also allows you to personalise and customise the phone (with widgets etc), whereas the user interface on the iphone can’t be changed. The app store on the iphone is streets ahead of the pathetic ovi store. And as far as the resistive v capacitive touch screens go – there’s no doubt that the capacitive on the iphone is easier and slicker to use, but I personally have had no hangups with using the N97′s resistive screen. It’s actually very responsive and while some may think it’s a bit archaic, I don’t find a huge difference between the two.

- Overall impression – Personally, I feel that the N97 is the more complete mobile computer. The widgets are great and a lot of fun, and you can customise the N97. The main reasons I think that the iphone is the leader of the smartphones today is that it’s very user friendly, it’s smooth performance ensures fun and easy user experience, and it does have that “wow factor” – as a phone that revolutionised the mobile phone industry should. Still, the N97 offers more IMO, and once Nokia fixes its bugs and improves overall performance with firmware updates (which I’m confident they will as they have in the past), the phone will be just about perfect.

Those longing to buy the 3GS OFFICIALLY in India you got to wait till November this year. It’s under test at present – so I understand.

I am viewing this post from a long ago. People here are speculating like a fool that it(3GS) is going to lauch at this date and at that date. Ohho, stop it guys. If you really wanna have one get it from overseas.

hi varun i am planning to buy n97 in feb 2009 at date of launch its price was 35,000 now it is 31,000 are there any chances of further price drop

People, this is going to be bad news for many, but I spoke to apple distributers and people at Airtel, and the iPhone, will come to India by the end of October or early November. The date is not yet finalized, and apple is still in talks with the carriers, to offer a better deal or something. Also, the iphone is coming to china at almost the same time at Rs 36000 (exchange rate) so that’s my best guess for the price. Though I think it’ll be slightly cheaper in India, as China’s getting a special custom made version.

What the likes of Naman wont tell you is that all the fanboyism that comes with every purchase of Apple Products. ;-P

And the lock-down.

And the fact these things are made to increase Apple’s revenue, and hence made to last 1 year only(Looking at my shitty iPod 3g). On the other hand Nokia phones are known to be rugged; one can replace battery etc.

And the best feature of all is the fact that it is based on free and open platform, which means that you are not bound by the tight clutches of Steve Jobs.

One can do WHATEVER one wants with the Maemo platform, one doesn’t need permission from anyone else. Its your phone and you do whatever you want.

What does that mean for average consumer ??? Instantly over 20,000 application are available for Maemo.

One can even install a media player like Mplayer of VideoLanPlayer and full fledged Desktop environment like Enlightenment and KDE.

Imagine using full fledged Office suites like KOffice.

Imagine. Thats a feature bought to you by freedom.

How ironic is that the company which is known for their Super bowl advert is the biggest control freak around.

I can make one prediction, the platform that will succeed wont be the one with most restriction.(Case in point, Google Voice)

Instantly over 20,000 application are available for Maemo. ?

Any links to the Repository ?

@Anmol

Well Good point there. But there’s a reason for the fanboyism. Apple products are just so fun to use that it makes people fans…
Anyway, if you’re just huge fans of open source stuff, and freedom to do what you want, go buy HTC Hero. thats actually a good phone.
Nokia sux in the smartphone department.
I agree that their phones are rugged. But they are ugly and bulky.
They have bad touchscreen. And the software is ancient and sux.
I know that the iPhone has its share of drawbacks, butt its still the best there is.

And ya about the removable battery, what’s the bg deal seriously. Most people don’t keep 2 batteries. They just keep one battery in their phone and charge it. Apple is sensible about most things.

Just checked in the grey market for 3GS. Cost is Rs.39000 for 16GB black in colour. As mentioned earlier the launch is expected sometime in November – so guys be patient a bit more and buy it officially. Its definitely worth the wait.

http://wiki.maemo.org/Easy_Debian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian

Dude Maemo is based on GNU/Linux Debian, and it have around 25000+ apps in current stable relese, maybe more for testing.

Imagine my friend, using OpenOffice, Firefox, Google Chrome, Vlc etc etc.

Infact imagine having your desktop in your mobile, just take it to office and login through nx server-client.

I don’t care about the form, but the potential.

I have already wasted enough money on devices which are shiny today but due to all the restrictions die out quickly (Looking at hardly used Palm Lifedrive).

Nokia may launch new device like Apple, but Debian Maemo, Qt and an army of developers will keep the expensive device alive.

That is why PC rules the market not Apple.

I will add to this as soon as i will get some work done.

Today I have gone to bangalore for purchase in grey market. I find difference of prices from one seller to seller (41,000 and 38,000). Both the shops are in same compound and I could not find why they have told like that. Under the above discussions i feel that we have to wait until it launched in India.

Hope you guys are not getting bored of my comments.

I am in Delhi now and the first thing I did was to check on the grey market price of the 3GS. Its 44,000/- for the 16th GB which is way higher than the price quoted to me in Mumbai (Rs.39000/-) Another month and hopefully the 3GS will be officially launched in India.

Hello friend,

Suggest you wait till the official launch which is expected in November 09. Dont buy in the grey market is my advice to you. Once it is officially available here the grey market price will fall automatically.

Thanks you apaul for responding to my earlier comment and sorting out some of the queries….
It has been really frustrating waiting for the 3GS & still no indication of the launch in India. Lets see how much one can keep the patience and wait…

Hi again…..if any of you have a personal friend working with Airtel or Vodafone then you could get some latest information on the launch of the 3GS. I know someone in Vodafone and understand that it will be launched sometime in Nov.09 since it is under test here in India (presumeably for the internet speed?)

yes,Apple iphone is great phone ever.other mobile phone can not beat iphone.Its unique phone.It has great feature .Apple has given international level product.Only three company given international level product,it is-Apple,Motorola and T-Mobile.Nokia has bad quality product.Its feature is too boaring.Nokia mobile phone style is too bad.

I hate Nokia Phone.

Well I agree with you that the Iphone is a super and the best amongst all but I would not say that Nokia is bad. After Apple I would place Nokia in the second place.

Abhay even though I agree with you that iphone is still the best smartphone in the world, you definitely don’t know what you’re talking about.
Motorola is a useless phone company right now. They haven’t had a good phone since the razr. Their attempts at smartphones (the post iphone kind) have been jokes till now. They are trying to recover, and they probably will, they are about to launch a promising android phone called blur, but please they’re hardly the best phone company in the world right now.

And T-MOBILE????? Are you kidding me? t-mobile doesn’t even make phones! they are a cellular provider like AT&T, airtel, vodafone, whatever. They just put their name on the phones that they provide!.

Nokia is the leading phone company in the world!! they made the most stable, durable, and reliable phone for a while now. Its true that they’re ugly compared to other phones these days, but thats for durability. However its true that so far they have utterly failed at making even a decent smartphone. Eversince the iphone and the other ‘catch up’ phones nokia smartphones are looking like jokes. the n97 is a complete failure. its the worst for nokia itself.
But they are finally catching up with the up-coming n900 which is one hell of a phone. Even though the UI isn’t as user friendly as the iPhone, its very usable and has great software features. (compared to the n97 where the software simply SUX)

for now the second best smartphone company would be htc. maybe they are better than apple infact. The HTC Hero is the best phone to compete with the iPhone right now. The only thing holding it back being the lack of apps on the android marketplace and a slower browser. ( it even has flash support!)
Now they even launched HTC HD 2 which is AWESOME even though its winmo based.
seriously. cmon.

Hi again… I fully agree with Naman. There is no one to compete with the Iphone so far. Yes HTC is great but the classy look of the Iphone coupled with the UI, the touch, the speed and the superb applications that go with it are awesome. You want the best….then wait for the 3GS….few weeks more of waiting. I would say its worth the wait.

i am sorry Naman.I am forget something.I am talking about LX-TM SIDEKICK phone,not T-Mobile.maybe nokia is leading mobile company,but in usa ,there is no value .

i think both phones are great. however i am concerned about the fact that apple would always come up with newer and upgraded versions of their products almost every year. example: how many generations of ipod nanos have been released? and shortly after the release of the iphone, the iphone 3gs came out, same with the ipod touch and its newer version. i got a little bit pissed off when i bought the first generation ipod touch because shortly after they released the latest version which the first gen ipod touch lacked some features. i am afraid that the iphone 3gs will soon fade out as apple will continue to produce newer versions, and it will be a waste to having to keep up with the fast production of new versions. plus, i think that the ipod feature in the iphone will consume battery extensively, and it would be quite useless given that there are separate models of ipods that are solely dedicated to music.

on the other hand, i think that nokia does not produce better or upgraded versions of their products as much as apple, they produce new phones, but not similar to any model. also, i think that the value of the n97 will last longer than the iphone. it is a good phone actually. it is easier to text and use its features.

come to think of it, wouldn’t it be a better solution to just buy an ipod touch and buy the n97? it would be like buying both anyway. that’s what i did (though my ipod touch came first a year before the n97 released), and i am happy.

Hi, actually your thoughts and mine are very similar.Nokia too is improving on their high end phones like Apple.I am very very keen on buying the 3GS and then a thought occured to me ‘why not buy the 3rd generation ipod touch 32 gb and another touch phone but then that would mean carrying two gadgets. Incidentally do you have the 3rd gen ipod touch? If so how do to find it and are able to use the Wi-fi easily? Out here it costs 18500/- for a 32 GB whereas abroad it works out to 140000/-.

I will wait till the end of November as I understand the 3GS will be launch sometime in November this year.

I actually have the first generation ipod touch. It really pissed me off when I found out they were going to release the second version back then with all the improvements and stuff. So I’m kind of expecting that soon, another generation of the iphone would come out. Two gadgets ain’t half bad, at least I can balance the battery life of the two instead of having to charge every single day.

To the people who are saying that they should buy an ipod touch and a different phone. makes sense to a degree, but cmon, the whole point is that you don’t want to carry two devices. Of course you could just carry around a laptop, but no its too big not portable enough. Thats why you want a smartphone. And then if you have an ipd touch. yes it’ll work for most things. But it’ll only work on wi-fi, which limits it quite a bit. An iphone can do much more than ipod touch. Think of all the photography and photo-editing applications. Think Facebook on the go and all that.
I think we can all decide that n97 sux. Go to phonedog.com, gizmodo.com, engadget.com, any site you want, everyone hates it. Sure the hardware is great, nokia’s good at that. But the Software and battery life sux real bad.

People who don’t like sms app in iphone, just download an app that handles sms the way you like it (there are a few)
People who say that iphone is not good for general prupose calling. WHAT IS WRONG with it?
It can make calls it. it can recieve calls. It can do everything a phone can do.

OH and other people who say a nokia can also call and stuff like that just buy a 5 thousand rupee phone and done with it. Why do you even need a smartphone?

Other people tired of waiting for the iphone an looking at alternatives. I don’t know about omnia, but trust me you don’t want to buy windows mobile. crashes and hangs too much.
Don’t even think about samsung jet. It has good specs and is pretty good, but the software is just OK.
The best iphone 3gs replacement available in india is htc hero.
It runs on android, and some good apps as well. the android app store is nothing compared to the iphone app store, but is the next best store there is.
Android on the htc hero has been modified by htc to make it even better and good looking.
There is multitouch-support and full flash support. its a very good browser only slightly slower than the iphone one.
There are only a few drawbacks to the phone compared to the iphone:
No syncing with itunes, so slightly more work to put music on it.
The processor inside is slower so it can’t run as fast as the iphone 3gs. It’s more like iphone 3g. you probably won’t notice. but if you use 3gs first, switching to hero would seem slow!
and finally obviously not so many games available.

People who can’t wait for iphone anymore. Trust me just go and buy hero. its awesome.
And people who can wait. lots of people have told me that its coming in november for sure. And these people have been saying so since august end, so i think they’re not lying like peopl who just keep saying next month everytime.

iPhone is shit !

A little birdy tells me that the 3GS will most likely come in December. My fingers are still crossed. Can’ think of buying another smart phone except the iphone.

Although the iPhone3G S is a very smart phone, it not intelligent enough to compete against the Nokia N97 Mini.

The Nokia N97 mini is like having a mini super computer on your pocket. The features of the Nokia N97 Mini are very impressive compared to the iPhone.

I suppose you own both the smart phones…do you? In what way is the Iphone inferior to the N97?

i’m going to purchase apple iphone 3gs or nokia n97 mini within couple of weeks.i like to go for 3gs but b’coz of my network provider vodafone which is giving unlimited downloding n surfing for nokia in just rs299/pm as compare to 3gs for which they r providing only 250mb in rs 499/pm nd after that 5ps/10kb.in that case suggest me which is best?
Naman what u say?

I recently got myself an iPhone 3gs and I couldn’t be happier. Obviously if you are going to have to unlock the iPhone, there will be a few problems at first that not everyone can solve. The YouTube app and gps may give you problems at first and you have to install the fix from cydia. Apart from that as a phone I think iPhone is miles ahead of n97. Which has an utterly useless software. Also vodafone gives 500 mb for 500 rs. So yeah Internet may still be cheaper on the n97. So overall it’s still a mixed decision. At this stage I would ask you to buy neither of the phones and wait for a few months of you can. There will be a new iPhone by June and tons of awesome android phones in the Indian market even before that. The way android has been progressing it’s almost at par with iPhone in terms of everything bit media and games. And many phones have good media capabilities. So if you are not interested in the iPhone apps and games android may be a better choice for you. So you should wait for a few months. And if you have to buy a phone right now ask yourself are you willing to pay a little extra each month for a much better phone. If yes buy the iPhone.