I've held and played with almost every Nokia device (even very old ones), this includes the N97. Yea, it was pretty bad, but in time and with the latest firmware updates its pretty usable. Still not as good as the N900...

Anyhows, I urge you to get a hold of an N8 or a C7 for a few minutes - you'll be VERY surprised at the progress Nokia's Symbian has accumulated - its actually pretty snappy, and I know some people who threw away their iPhones for the N8 and they're VERY happy with this decision.