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The Nokia N97 and the Nokia N900 are the two heavy-weight contenders for the Nokia Flagship crown, as both excel at what they do best. However, how do these two devices stack up against each other? There is really only one way to find out – stat clash: Nokia N97 versus Nokia N900…..

Take one Nokia N97 running Symbian S60 5th Edition and one Nokia N900 tablet running the Maemo 5 OS and what you have are two cutting-edge devices that have been designed to make the most of messaging and data on the move in quite different ways. Sure, they have a core sensibility that makes them both key Nokia devices but cut through the QWERTY keyboard and the 3.5-inch touchscreen and these are quite different beasts. Find out how different as we put the Nokia N97 and Nokia N900 head-to-head.

Screen: We know that both devices share the same 3.5-inch screen size. Both are resistive touchscreens to make the most of the latest apps and tools. However, while the Nokia N97 has a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels, the Nokia N900 romps home with a beefed up resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, making websites come to life and images really ping!

Check out our Nokia N97 review

Size & weight: The Nokia N97 has a full QWERTY keyboard, the same as the Nokia N900 but it sides on a specially designed hinge that brings the screen up to a nice 45-degrre angle. The Nokia N900 has a tablet mode and to access the QWERTY you simply push the screen up. This allows for a slimmer profile on the Nokia N97, as it meadures 117 x 55 x 16mm compared to the slightly beefier Nokia N900 size of 111 x 60 x 18mm. When it comes to size and weight, the Nokia N97 has a clear advantage, weighing in at just 150g, while the Nokia N900 is a chunkier 180g package.

Check out the Nokia N900 Hands-on

Processor: The Nokia N97 runs the ARM 11 434MHz CPU that we’ve seen in the Nokia 5800 and will also be used in the forthcoming Nokia X6. This is a great chip that handles the Symbian S60 5th edition OS with ease. However, the Nokai N900 is a different class of device, so needs as much firepower as possible, which is why you’ll find the 600MHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor that helps apps and tools load super-fast. What’s more, with the PowerVR SGX GPU with OpenGL ES 2.0 support you’ll find images and websites really come to life on this handset.

Check out the Nokia N900 Top Ten New Features

Memory: On the surface, this looks very much like a draw, as both the Nokia N97 and the Nokia N900 come with 32GB of built-in memory. Enough to house all your files, folders and media. However, did a little deeper and you’ll find that while the Nokia N97 has 256MB of NAND memory and 128MB of SDRAM, multiple apps will run smoother on the Nokia N900 thanks to its 256MB of SDRAM and 768MB of NAND Flash. Both can add up to a further 16GB of storage using its built-in microSD slot.

Check out the full Nokia N97 tech spec

Camera: Both the Nokia N97 and the Nokia N900 come with a great 5-Megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. However, when you take into account the screen resolution of these devices, you’ll find things start to shape up a little differently. We’re accustomed to the 2592 x 1944-pixel maxiumum resolution of the Nokia N97 but the Nokia N900 comes with a slightly different 2584 x 1938-pixel resolution. What’s more the Nokia N900 only comes with a 3x digital zoom, while the Nokia N97 sports 4x digital zoom. We’re not too sure why this should be but it helps give the Nokia N97 the edge.

Check out the Nokia N900 pre-order

Video: Taking still images is one thing but you’ll find that both handsets are great for capturing video too. The Nokia N97 can capture in 30 FPS (Frames Per Second) in a full screen resolution of 360 x 640 pixels. However, the Nokia N900 makes the most of its higher resolution screen by offering 848 x 480 pixels as a maxiumum capture rate. The downside is that this is at 25 FPS, so we may see a degree of jagging in video.