Nokia launched its 2009 flagship model, the Nokia N97 with much fanfare in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, ahead of the Palm Pre and the new Apple iPhone which are expected to be available in the next few months.

Techgoondu had the chance to lay our hands on a Nokia N97, which Nokia says will bring the power of a mobile computer to a compact package.

The N97 is well-designed in several aspects, including its large 3.5-inch touch screen, solid build quality with a slide-out screen and an extensive suite of onboard software.

Because the N97’s screen slides upwards and outwards at an angle to reveal the QWERTY keyboard, the amount of space available for the keyboard is limited. The result is that Nokia can only accommodate 3 rows of keys, as compared to 4 rows found on the E series phones.

The limited number of keys also means more alphabet keys would have to double up as symbols, leading to the increased use of the shift key when entering symbols. While the keys are more spaced out, I found myself spending more time typing on the N97 keyboard as compared to the E71.

The space bar is also awkwardly placed towards the right side of the keyboard, and this may slow you down considerably especially if you’re typing long e-mail messages.

Unlike the E75 which provides a physical alphanumeric keypad in addition to a QWERTY keyboard, the N97 offers an onscreen alphanumeric keypad in portrait mode. That means you still have the option of typing with a single hand for quick SMS replies without bringing up the N97’s QWERTY keyboard.

In his opening address to the media and invited guests at the launch event of the Nokia N97, Chris Carr, vice president of sales in Nokia Southeast Asia Pacific, noted that mobile phones are set to become the most important gateway to the Internet. In addition, mobile Internet users are also demanding a more customized experience on their cellphones to reflect their rising amount of activity on social networking sites.

The N97 allows you to customize a home screen in a portal-like manner that includes shortcuts to applications such as e-mail, Nokia’s Ovi store, weather information and widgets from a pool of content providers such as the Singapore Exchange, Bloomberg and local newspapers. Facebook and Twitter widgets are also available for you to access these services directly.

Browsing the web on the N97’s touch screen is a tad different from what you’d do on HTC devices and the iPhone as far as finger gesturing is concerned. You can’t really flick your finger to scroll down a web page. Instead, your fingers have to be kept on the screen while you scroll.

The N97 comes with a five-megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens. Pictures appeared vibrant onscreen, though the built-in flash took a couple of seconds to recharge between snapshots.

My goondu take on the N97: the overall experience can be fine-tuned further. I noticed some software lag while switching from the portrait mode to the home screen. Users of the Nokia E71 will have to spend some time getting used to the N97’s keyboard layout. Active users of social networking sites, however, will appreciate the convenient widgets that come with the phone.

The N97 will retail in Singapore for S$1,028 (without Comes with Music service) or S$1,228 (with Comes with Music). Prices also include a three-month Nokia Maps navigation license.