Nokia N97 indeed is one of the best devices around in terms of the vaious features it provides. It can be easily categorized under Premium Device anyone would want to own. However not matching to its stature is the software built into it, specially the UI.

Nokia has been known for improving the software with newer firmware updates, and has been successfully doing it for all devices including N95, N96, 5800 XpressMusic, and others.

 However, for a device like N97, I truly think it was not the right approach to launch the device with a firmware not so good and then release better firmware. The device software, as most of you would agree has UI not appreciable, in-fact it coming 2 years or more later to iPhone, should have matched if not bettered the UI. I do assume that the future firmware for N97 will have better responsive UI and better RAM utilization, however, the initial launch is what hits me.

My friends to whom I recommended the N97 say that the UI is really bad and the phone keeps hanging, because the firmware was old one, and then finally he returned the device and chose another one. However, after paying more than 33,000 Rs in India (and I am sure the price is equally high in all currencies around the globe), he was not expecting to be told to wait for the right firmware.

So my main worry is that, while it is a great idea to keep updating the firmwares to improve the software on phone for devices, it is not the case with devices which cost so much. Nokia needs to understand the different user bases it has and server the different User types differently. I hope Nokia would in future pay special attention to Premium devices it offers.

P.S. I am a die-hard fan of Nokia and would prefer a Nokia device even with this problem I mentioned earlier, as I am aware of the firmware updates. But I wanted Nokia not to make descisions which could drive users away.