The Nokia N97 comes with a whole new Homescreen that is far more user-friendly than previous Nokia Homescreens. Nokia’s own research showed that 85 per cent of your time is spent accessing the Homescreen. With this in mind, we felt it was time to give the Nokia N97 Homescreen a review – see how we got on…
If Nokia’s own research is to be believed then we spend, on average, up to 85 per cent of our time using our phones connecting with the Homescreen. That’s an awful lot of time, so making sure this page is as personable to you as possible seems key to success.
With this in mind, the Nokia N97 sees a whole new interface that makes the most of the 3.5-inch screen, as well as the touchscreen nature of the S60 5th Edition OS.
Check out our full review of the Nokia N97
The first thing you notice about the Homescreen is that it’s built around size zones. The top one is fixed and covers the standard clock, date and connection status. Hold down on any of these points and you can customise them – the clock can be digital or analogue for instance, as well as allowing you to set the zone and alarm.
By default, the Nokia N97 ships with two of these zones populated with four apps each and the other two with single loading apps. However, you can mix-and-match this arrangement. Changing what you want in each zone is simple, simply hold down on the screen and a dialogue box with Settings and Remove will pop up. You then simply choose from the range of options available.
This mix-and-match approach really works, as it means only the apps, or contacts, you use the most need to be on the Homescreen, so cutting down the amount of time you’ll need to get the job done.
The final zone, at the base of the screen, is likewise fixed and is for your email. However, the four lozenges in the centre of the screen can are all interchangeable, so you can load up and populate them with the apps and widgets you use the most.
Finally, you can set the wallpaper in the background, which once again is accessible by simply touching the screen and holding down for a moment or two. What we like about the Slideshow function is that you can choose the range of images from your gallery, as well as how often they change. The default is every ten minutes but you can reduce this to every minute if you like.
What's more, if you want to get rid of the zones to show someone your images, just swish on the screen and they'll move out of the way. Repeat the move and the lozenges come back - it's a simple trick but it's one we like and it's quick and easy to do.
The Nokia N97 Homescreen is a great step forward and we found it works really well. The variety of tools you can set up means you can access the phone a lot quicker, which should mean you’ll spend less time on the Homescreen, which after all is the aim of the game.