The Nokia N97 is the new flagship device from Nokia and while it would be easy to say it ticks all the right boxes, Nokia seems to have made sure there are plenty of surprises awaiting the average user.

Has it been worth waiting for? You can believe it, check out our full review for the facts on the Nokia N97...

When we think of flagship device, we think of cutting-edge both in terms of design and features and the Nokia N97 brings everything you want and need from such a device in one 150g package.

The design is simple and understated with the minimum number of function keys on the main body. This is intentional, as it forces you to make the most of the 3.5-inch touchscreen display. The first thing you’ll notice about the screen is how bright it is. Sure, critics have moaned that it’s not AMOLED but we’re happy to report that images looks sharp and the 640 × 360-pixel screen looks great.

Check out the Nokia N97 tech spec

Then there is the Homescreen, which has been designed to be more intuitive and interactive from the start. With eight zones working in six lozenges when in Portrait mode, or two banks of three in Landscape mode, you can move them around. What's more, each one can be set up to reflect the way you want to use your phone. For instance, hold the screen down and the Settings tab allows you to populate each zone with the widgets and apps you use the most.

Once you get away from the Homescreen, this is still most noticeably a S60 5th Edition OS, so you can make the most of downloading apps and games. Nokia has bundled a whole slew of apps of with the Nokia N97 but you can add more from the Ovi Store – this is the first Nokia device to support Ovi Store straight from the box.

We were impressed with how quickly the device responded to loading and running apps. We're aware there was a little dismay when the processor, a 434MHz ARM 11 CPU was announced, but all fears should be allayed, as the Nokia N97 is as quick and nimble as everyone was hoping.

Camera Action

When it comes to features, the 5-Megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens, which comes with a decent autofocus, that works really well. We were more than impressed with the video quality the camera delivers. You can record in widescreem 16:9 as well as standard 4:3 aspect ratio and choose from three quality settings, which makes video easy to handle. There is a lens cover and with dedicated shot and zoom buttons it’s easy to get to grips with. There is a secondary camera for in-phone video

One thing we weren’t expecting from the Nokia N97 was the audio quality, which is loud and sharp. It’s not as crisp as the audio on the Nokia 5800 but then this isn’t a dedicated music player. Still, it’s a nice touch and shows Nokia hasn't limited the N97 to just business functions.

Also packed onboard is GPS, so you can geo-tag images and video. Then there is Bluetooth and Wi-Fi as standard for transferring images and other files.

QWERTY thoughts

However, the real show stopper for the Nokia N97 is the keyboard. As we’ve said, is full QWERTY, and comes with a navigation pad on the left-hand side. The keys feel great but our one criticism is there seems to be quite a lot of space that could have been used by having slightly larger keys.

So, is there anything we don't like about the Nokia N97 after a few days of use? Well, the navigation pad works exceedingly well, as does the rather small Space bar. However, we don’t like the secondary function key being down on the right-hand side, as it would have been a more natural fit on the left-hand side.

The Nokia N97 isn’t intended as a ‘my first Nokia’ as this is very much a high-end business phone with emphasis on email, messaging and staying in touch. However, we’ve been impressed with the multimedia features it also has, making this a great smartphone for people to aspire to owning.

Check out the Nokia N97 image gallery: