I would definitely wait for a S60v5 E-series device. In fact since they are spinning phones into E-series devices like the E55 and E75 are Xpressmusic devices that were made into E-series devices with the nice E-series software and features we could hope for an E-series N97.
Maybe they want to keep that widget interface for N-series but they would be boneheadedly stupid to do that in today's converged device scene. Today's and future Blackberries are getting to be serious multimedia capable phones.
If they take the N97 and build it to E-series standards, FINISH THE SOFTWARE and make it reliable, and create an E-series homescreen specific to what a business person would want for a business home screen AND a simple swipe takes you to your widget/gadget screen with whatever you want on it. In fact there should be multiple such customizable screens.
The main thing really is that they typically need a whole year to get a software version reliable enough to run on an E-series device and that time frame doesn't seem to be changing despite competitors that release entire new generations of phone platforms in that kind of time frame.
On top of this, one would hope that some reasonable amount of thought is placed on making a business specific homescreen. That means easy access to internal company data no matter how you are authenticated. A widget that uses the correct proxy server (and logs you in so note to Nokia: HTTPS over proxy - support it) to get to internal company web reporting applications. Easy customizable widget based access to e-mail, contacts, documents, search and company intranets. This has to be done. I can guarantee the likes of RIM and Palm are working on this level of information access in organizations.
I don't think the N97 addresses much for the business user as much they used it as a cop-out to not make an E90 successor. But when they do, why do I have a feeling it will be based on the N97 but minus the 5MP camera to make it smaller. It won't be out for a year to two years hence why they they tried to tell us the E75 is going to be that E90 "replacement". I thought it was joke to even suggest that. Have these people looked at an E90 screen and then a stupid 240x320 E75 screen?
One other thing: contact search is a must, also it is about time that text prediction got a little more intelligent as in iPhone 3.0 where it will suggest names in your contacts while typing. It will be the last time I will need to spell my name for the primitive S60 dictionary. In that sense really many little things need to implemented to stay competitive. Exchange server search is a must now. HTML is a must. Some kind of threaded SMS and even E-mail view is a must. What's the point of a 3.5'" screen if you can't easily follow an e-mail thread easily? It happens quite a bit in organizations and it would make sense to let people view their message with some history and background. The modern business tool must allow that today. Also fast indexed search is also a must today - everyone is doing it. It's the only way to rely on your phone when you need relevant data to a situation.
The thing is none of this has been demonstrated for the N97 at all. I hate to be so negative, but when the rest of the smartphone world is thinking of moving to that level of information gathering, storage and search, it is an embarrassment to spend 5 minutes demonstrating just Kinetic scrolling. Yes it is important but come on, I'm not going to write home about that in this day and age. The device needs to be rethought at the level that Nintendo rethought gaming when they made the Wii. If Nokia could rethink the touch device and the touch business device at even half the level that Nintendo rethought the gaming console everything will be fine.
EDIT: Quick note about the 5800 MFE implementation. It wasn't bad at all honestly. The extra screen area helps. The one tap access at the homescreen is nice (top right corner). The lack of homescreen preview wasn't great. The bad scrolling made reading longer e-mails a chore (should be fixed for N97?). The ability to sort really helps. The lack of search sucks. All in all, MFE was one part of the platform that I didn't have complaints about. Could it be better? Sure, but it wasn't bad.
The whole S60 implementation of tabs on top does not translate well at all to touch (as on the 5800). They are far better off just putting reasonably large arrows on top instead of making the user guess as to which tab they will select or whether the user hit the little tiny arrows instead. If anything left and right swipe would be perfect to emulate S60 tabbed behavior. I wonder why they didn't even do so little for the 5800. I wonder if other than the browser and its widely publicized kinetic scroll if they bothered to do such obvious things for the N97 in the other menus. I wonder if they need 100 people ranting about that before they do even something so obvious. It's just poor form in putting out a UI that seems so obviously thoughtless in its execution. I'm not yet convinced that this one will the one to show a modicum of polish in interface. Especially that required to match the current E-series in actual use.
Maybe they want to keep that widget interface for N-series but they would be boneheadedly stupid to do that in today's converged device scene. Today's and future Blackberries are getting to be serious multimedia capable phones.
If they take the N97 and build it to E-series standards, FINISH THE SOFTWARE and make it reliable, and create an E-series homescreen specific to what a business person would want for a business home screen AND a simple swipe takes you to your widget/gadget screen with whatever you want on it. In fact there should be multiple such customizable screens.
The main thing really is that they typically need a whole year to get a software version reliable enough to run on an E-series device and that time frame doesn't seem to be changing despite competitors that release entire new generations of phone platforms in that kind of time frame.
On top of this, one would hope that some reasonable amount of thought is placed on making a business specific homescreen. That means easy access to internal company data no matter how you are authenticated. A widget that uses the correct proxy server (and logs you in so note to Nokia: HTTPS over proxy - support it) to get to internal company web reporting applications. Easy customizable widget based access to e-mail, contacts, documents, search and company intranets. This has to be done. I can guarantee the likes of RIM and Palm are working on this level of information access in organizations.
I don't think the N97 addresses much for the business user as much they used it as a cop-out to not make an E90 successor. But when they do, why do I have a feeling it will be based on the N97 but minus the 5MP camera to make it smaller. It won't be out for a year to two years hence why they they tried to tell us the E75 is going to be that E90 "replacement". I thought it was joke to even suggest that. Have these people looked at an E90 screen and then a stupid 240x320 E75 screen?
One other thing: contact search is a must, also it is about time that text prediction got a little more intelligent as in iPhone 3.0 where it will suggest names in your contacts while typing. It will be the last time I will need to spell my name for the primitive S60 dictionary. In that sense really many little things need to implemented to stay competitive. Exchange server search is a must now. HTML is a must. Some kind of threaded SMS and even E-mail view is a must. What's the point of a 3.5'" screen if you can't easily follow an e-mail thread easily? It happens quite a bit in organizations and it would make sense to let people view their message with some history and background. The modern business tool must allow that today. Also fast indexed search is also a must today - everyone is doing it. It's the only way to rely on your phone when you need relevant data to a situation.
The thing is none of this has been demonstrated for the N97 at all. I hate to be so negative, but when the rest of the smartphone world is thinking of moving to that level of information gathering, storage and search, it is an embarrassment to spend 5 minutes demonstrating just Kinetic scrolling. Yes it is important but come on, I'm not going to write home about that in this day and age. The device needs to be rethought at the level that Nintendo rethought gaming when they made the Wii. If Nokia could rethink the touch device and the touch business device at even half the level that Nintendo rethought the gaming console everything will be fine.
EDIT: Quick note about the 5800 MFE implementation. It wasn't bad at all honestly. The extra screen area helps. The one tap access at the homescreen is nice (top right corner). The lack of homescreen preview wasn't great. The bad scrolling made reading longer e-mails a chore (should be fixed for N97?). The ability to sort really helps. The lack of search sucks. All in all, MFE was one part of the platform that I didn't have complaints about. Could it be better? Sure, but it wasn't bad.
The whole S60 implementation of tabs on top does not translate well at all to touch (as on the 5800). They are far better off just putting reasonably large arrows on top instead of making the user guess as to which tab they will select or whether the user hit the little tiny arrows instead. If anything left and right swipe would be perfect to emulate S60 tabbed behavior. I wonder why they didn't even do so little for the 5800. I wonder if other than the browser and its widely publicized kinetic scroll if they bothered to do such obvious things for the N97 in the other menus. I wonder if they need 100 people ranting about that before they do even something so obvious. It's just poor form in putting out a UI that seems so obviously thoughtless in its execution. I'm not yet convinced that this one will the one to show a modicum of polish in interface. Especially that required to match the current E-series in actual use.
. in the email they give me a serial number for my n97, is that the imei? i'm going to go ahead and get a certificate so i can sign apps, just wanted to make sure thats the imei. thanks