I’ll be the first to admit, I am not a gadget freak. I don’t jump up and down upon  hearing the launch of a new smart phone or go straight out and buy it, I’d rather wait for people to start using the device, read the reviews and then make a decision from that point on.

Apart from the basic functions of a phone, I’d like my smart phones to be sort of like my “away-from-home” computer or at least as close to that as possible. So the most important for me to look for in a smart phone is it should enable me to do some work-related tasks, such as reading and writing e-mails, browsing, writing notes, chatting and doing conference calls with colleagues and clients. And It would be cool if the phone can also act as my digital camera and music player because I hate having to carry so many things in my purse.

When I saw Nokia N97, the first thing that I noticed was the combination of touch-screen and a qwerty keyboard. I love it! I can use the full touch screen with just one hand, but when I needed to type things, I just slide the phone and use the keyboard “communicator-style”.

This phone has so many features that it seemed a bit intimidating at first, but then after playing with it for a few hours I realized that, just like my other Nokia phones, it is very easy to use. And once I got the hang of it, I could start exploring all the fun little widgets – applications that are available on the desktop. Among many, I’ve got maps, accuweather, kompas.com and facebook at the tip of my fingers. The facebook widget, I have to admit, is a lot better than the other facebook mobile application I use. The status updates are displayed on the desktop in real-time. It also has a better layout and is a lot easier to navigate. If you’re the type of person who needs to be constantly connected to your facebook account, you will find this very useful.

There are a lot more other widgets to discover using N97 that I can download from Ovi store, Nokia’s brand new digital store. I have a feeling it’s going to keep me busy and entertained for a long time to come! Needless to say, if you want to maximize all these cool widgets, you need a reliable and possibly unlimited data plan, which worried me a bit because I don’t have that yet. However, I can also use the Wi-Fi connection whenever possible. To me, this is something Nokia should think about – providing an affordable and unlimited data plan so N97 users can maximize the features without worrying about breaking the bank. I am sure it would be the icing on an otherwise already very tasty cake.

Other things that I think are worth mentioning are the memory aspect and the 5MP camera in this phone. With an internal memory of 32 GB, I don’t have to worry about not having enough memory to store my music and images. I can finally leave my digital camera and iPod at home!

I’ve only been using N97 for a little over a week and still have plenty of other features to master. But I think it’s already safe for me to say that N97 has met my needs and beyond. I am looking forward to try going out a full day without my laptop and use this to get some work done – and find out if it can really be my ‘away from home’ computer.

Of course it doesn’t hurt that this thing looks so stylish!

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