Nokia N97, Symbian and ScummVM
Nokia has always been ahead of the game when it comes to functionality. It tends to produce phones that stick out in the collective memory not because of their good looks, but because they did not compromise on features and in general would allow the general public to see what phones from rather more average manufacturers would be doing a year and a half later. Particular Nokia smartphones that fit nicely into this category are the N9300i with its long body and ultra-widescreen display (which gives even the new LG BL40 Chocolate a run for its money) or the original N95 before it was given a face lift with the 8GB version. Nokia often refuses to court the mainstream with its smartphones and the N97 is no exception. Many critics have slated the N97, berating it for the slightly outdated look of the interface and its chunky, large design. However these naysayers are actually missing the point of the N97. The Nokia N97 is not a phone for the casual user. It is arguably the only hardcore phone left on the market. Whilst other users are being treated as technophobic silly-nannys by the iPhone, N97 users are getting to grips with an established and infinitely malleable system with widespread community support.
That system is of course the Symbian mobile operating platform. The various iterations of Symbian have been used in Nokia’s smartphone for many years now and its inclusion in the new N97 surprised some observers. Because Symbian is based on relatively old code, it has had to be significantly adapted in order to work with touch sensitive screens and the use of widgets and live updates. As such the Nokia N97 does not look or behave in the ultra-modern, aesthetically pleasing manner that rival smartphones running Android or Windows Mobile do. However, with age comes wisdom. Symbian has been around in its various forms for long enough to have built up a huge, global following. It is possible to go online and find support for virtually every kind of application, function and program imaginable. That means with a little bit of time and effort you can get an N97 to emulate and run programs and games from a wide range of other platforms. The N97 already comes with class-leading compatibility and functionality straight out of the box, but with some experimentation you can expand its capabilities beyond anything offered by rival manufacturers. In many ways this makes up for the under-stocked, unwieldy nature of the Ovi Store and as such negative comparisons between the N97 and the iPhone are unwarranted. The Nokia N97 is simply in a different league.
Arguably the best product of the Symbian community is the mobile version of ScummVM. For anyone who remembers the early 90s, the chance to play all of the best adventure games from the golden era of the genre is sure to be exciting. The opportunity to play these games on your mobile phone is even more so. ScummVM is a community-generated, open-source project that allows just that. You can peel back the years and ensure compatibility with all of your favourite titles from the good old days, whether it’s The Secret of Monkey Island, Broken Sword or Beneath a Steel Sky. The best thing about projects such as ScummVM is that they are always going to be free because of the huge amount of support that the global programming and software development community puts into them.
You can download ScummVM and install it onto your Nokia N97 in a matter of minutes. Let’s face it, if you are an N97 owner you are probably pretty technically adept in the first place. You might already know about ScummVM and hopefully this will remind you of the splendid opportunities for mobile gaming nostalgia that it opens up. You can even download a few freeware versions of classic adventures from the site and it is totally legal.
Of course there are many more apps and programs made for the Nokia N97 that can be discovered online for free. The Symbian community is there to help owners of all Symbian devices and so if you are stuck at any point you will always find someone to lend a hand online. If anything, the N97 is a great way in which to get into computing, learning the ropes on a small, relatively simple mobile platform and gaining skills that you can subsequently use in other areas.
The Nokia N97 proves that Nokia is a manufacturer that refuses to pander to the mainstream and Nokia owners tend to be technically literate rather than simply trend followers. Nokia has proved its future dedication to the hardcore crowd with the announcement of the N900 handset. Rather than choosing to pick up the awkward and restrictive Windows Mobile, or the popular but underdeveloped Google Android for new handsets, Nokia is again giving those with a bit of knowledge the chance to utilise a highly adaptable and powerful operating system; Maemo 5. This Linux-based platform will already have widespread support for software and apps at the time of its release and while it may not be as user-friendly as the latest iPhone, it will offer flexibility and functionality that no other mobile can aspire to. In conclusion, do not be afraid of the Nokia N97. It may look hefty and it may lack some of the flashy visuals sported by its peers, but it is a powerful and flexible device to its core.
