Nokia is one of the few brands of cell phones I haven’t owned. Why, I’m not sure; I probably just liked other phones better. So, given that omission, I decided to dig into one of its newest smartphones, the N97. What I’ve found is both good and bad.

First, the good: this phone is loaded. It has a sleek, minimalist design without a lot of button clutter, and a 3.5″ touchscreen. Internal memory is up to 32 GB, and it has expandable memory up to an additional 16 GB. The camera is 5 megapixels, plenty for taking sharp pictures. The video camera, naturally, is the same megapixel rating, and can take up to 30 frames of video per second. That’s substantially better than the specs for the iPhone’s camera (and the video camera that’s part of the new iPhone 3G S).

The N97 also includes built-in GPS, synching with e-mail and a standard media player. But what I like best about it is the keyboard. It’s a slide-out model with a screen that tilts. In my opinion, this is the best type of keyboard. It’s laid out landscape-style, so the keys aren’t cramped at all, making typing a much more pleasurable experience. All in all, there’s a lot to like.

The major downside with the phone is the application store. It’s becoming pretty much a smartphone requirement these days to have third-party applications that can enhance the usability and fun of a phone. But, from initial reports, the Ovi Store, which is what Nokia calls its app store, is having serious problems.

To begin with, there were fewer than 1,000 apps available as of June 26. That’s a pittance compared to the many thousands (or tens of thousands) of apps available for the iPhone, Android phones and BlackBerries on the market. It means you’ll be much more limited in your choices, at least initially.

The bigger issue is that the Ovi Store, according to this story from TechCrunch, is a nightmare.  TechCrunch said that downloads were terribly slow, apps that were there previously would suddenly disappear, and that navigation was a complicated mess. Nokia followed up that most of the problems were caused by a heavy volume of downloads at the store’s opening. My response: well, what did you folks think was going to happen when you opened the store? Duh. If you, readers, have any new information on how the store is operating now, please pass it along.

Bottom line: the N97 is a fine smartphone, for the most part. If your main interest in a phone is the applications you can use on it, you might want to wait a bit until there are more available, and Nokia has straightened out the issues.