In a nutshell: The N97 Mini is a "lite" version
of the N97 smartphone. The phone is very easy to use, with the twin
benefits of a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a large ultra-hi-res
touchscreen. The use of the word "Mini" is relative, as
the N97 is still an extremely powerful multimedia device, with a
5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, music, video, email,
facebook and other apps, and GPS. Connectivity includes WiFi, HSDPA,
Bluetooth & USB, plus the bonus of a 3.5mm audio jack. Slimmer
and lighter than its big brother, the N97 Mini also seems to have
more stable firmware, and feels like a more polished product. Best buy:
*Free* with half-price line rental from Dialaphone
(Black) or Dialaphone
(White).
Review:
November 2009.
The
N97 does what it says on the tin. It's a slimmed-down version of
the Nokia N97. The N97 is Nokia's
flagship phone, so it can afford to have a few features shaved off
in order to cut down on the size and the cost. There is no such
thing as the perfect phone, but the N97 Mini acknowledges the compromises
that have been made in cutting it down to a more manageable size,
and the design is intelligent and very usable.
The
N97 Mini looks almost exactly the same as the N97, except that it
is smaller. The sliding QWERTY keyboard is just the same as on the
N97, except that the 4-way navigation button has been removed to
shave a few millimetres off the size. Even the funnily-positioned
space bar is in exactly the same space, but the strange thing is
that we've got used it completely and it feels quite natural now.
The screen is smaller, but at 3.2 inches it is in no way a small
screen, and is perfectly big enough for the job it has to do. It
has the same ultra-high resolution as the N97 (640
x 360 pixels and 16 million colours) and
is a superb display for watching videos, browsing the web or editing
documents. Having the benefit of a physical keyboard makes the requirement
for screen real estate less pressing, and the format works very
well indeed. We'd prefer the N97 Mini's keyboard plus touchscreen
combination to a pure virtual touchscreen setup any day.
Like
its big brother, the N97 Mini has an information-packed and customisable
home screen, packed with widgets streaming live information such
as facebook, email, texts, the date & time, weather forecasts
and RSS feeds. Yes, we know it's not an iPhone, but with the mature
Symbian operating system backing it up, there are more than enough
apps to keep most people happy. We love the way that the home screen
gives one-touch access to most of the features that you'll use regularly,
and the integration seems to work very well.
Browsing
web pages works very well. The screen is slightly smaller than the
N97 of course, so the font can sometimes be rather small, but there
are easy controls to scroll and zoom, and the web browsing experience
is generally very good. The always-on 3G internet connection helps,
and with HSDPA giving download speeds of up to 3.6 Mbps and WiFi
offering 54 Mbps, you can almost imagine that your using a laptop
rather than a souped-up mobile phone.
The
camera is the same as the one on the N97, which in turn is essentially
the same as the camera in the old N96.
But it's an excellent camera nevertheless, and outperforms most
smartphones. The sensor is a respectable 5 megapixels, but it's
the quality of the Carl Zeiss optics that makes it perform so well.
The dual LED flash isn't as powerful as the xenon flash on the Sony
Ericsson Satio, but it's more than a match for most camera phones.
Video recording is excellent too, with the ability to record at
VGA format and 30 frames/second. A secondary front-facing camera
is available for video calling too.
There's
a powerful Nseries music player included, and an FM radio with RDS
too. As you'd expect, the music quality is top-notch, and not only
is a good quality set of stereo headphones supplied, but the 3.5mm
AV connection lets you plug in your own headphones too. The
memory isn't as large as in the N97, but still, with 8GB of built-in
memory and the ability to add a 16GB microSD card, you can hardly
say that the memory is small. The maximum storage capacity would
give you enough space for between 6,000 and 10,000 music tracks
or a couple of dozen full length movies!
The
N97 Mini also has built-in GPS and a-GPS receivers, and you can
use these to find your location, to geo-tag photos and to navigate.
Nokia Maps is included, as well as a digital compass, and a 10-day
trial licence of a Walk-and-Drive navigation system.
One
compromise that the designers have made to reduce the overall size
and weight of the device is to reduce the capacity of the battery.
The battery is a 1200 mAh Li-Ion battery, instead of the 1500 mAh
one supplied with the N97. Despite having a smaller LCD display,
the N97 does suffer as a consequence, although the battery performance
is no worse than comparable touchscreen smartphones.
To
wrap up, we feel that the N97 Mini is a perfect example of an intelligent
compromise. Yes, the screen is smaller, and yes, the battery life
is shorter. But the phone is significantly slimmer, lighter and
quite a bit cheaper too, bringing the power of the N97 within reach
of a whole new market segment. The big bugbear with the N97 was
probably the lumbering old Symbian operating system under the hood.
Symbian phones often have a tendency to freeze or reboot at the
most annoying times, and the N97 was no exception. The Symbian OS
is still present in the N97 Mini of course, but it seems that Nokia
have tweaked and polished it and the whole system feels more robust
and stable. N97 Mini users can benefit from all those early adopters
who beta-tested the N97 on Nokia's behalf! It's funny, but somehow
the "lite" version of the N97 feels like a better product
than the original. It's proof that size and specification aren't
everything. By taking the time to test and to gather user feedback,
Nokia have polished the rough edges of their flagship product and
created a new and better one. Ah, now if only they could do that
with every phone release!
Features
of the Nokia N97 Mini include:
S60 5th edition Symbian interface
5 megapixel camera (2592 x 1944 pixels) with
Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, dual LED flash, 4x digital zoom
and geo-tagging
Video camera: MPEG4/3GP VGA video capture at
640 x 480 pixels and 30 frames/second, 4x digital zoom and video
light
Front camera for video calling: 176 x 144 pixels
Display: Resistive touchscreen, 16 million colours,
640 x 360 pixels (3.2 inches) with orientation sensor, proximity
sensor and light sensor
Digital music player (supports MP3/AAC/eAAC/eAAC+/WMA
formats) with playlists and equalizer
Stereo FM radio (87.5-108 MHz/76-90 MHz), RDS
Built-in GPS navigation with Nokia Maps application
and digital compass
Speaker independent name dialing
Voice commands
Voice recorder
Integrated hands-free speaker
Speed dialing
Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email (SMTP, IMAP4, POP3,
Mail for Exchange)
Viewing of email attachments – .doc, .xls, .ppt,
.pdf
Java games (DJ Club Tour included)
Advanced contacts database with support for
multiple phone and e-mail details per entry
Memory: 8 GB plus microSD memory card slot (up
to 16GB)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, USB 2.0,
TV-Out, (WLAN 802.11 b/g), 3.5 mm stereo headphone plug
Internet: Full web browser with Flash video
support, RSS reader, WAP, GPRS class A, WCDMA/HSDPA (3.6Mb/s download),
WLAN (up to 11Mbps/54Mbps)
Quadband plus 3G
Size: 113 x 53 x 14 mm
Weight: 138g
Talktime: 240 minutes (3G) - 430 minutes (2G)
Battery standby: 320 hours
Nokia N97 Mini
Consumer Reviews
Love
your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other
people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review
this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a
forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear
words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!
Average
rating from 49 reviews:
Reviewed by lauren from uk on
7th Mar 2010
currently on my second n97 mini and its a nightmare i LOVED this
phone for the first 3 days i had it until pr robs kicked in, a few
to name would be: the screen freezing no sinal battery dying too
quick cutting out through calls buttons stop working. it has been
nothing but trouble - avoid this phone!! Rating:
Reviewed by 88mmspg from UK on
3rd Mar 2010
Had this for 2 months now and am very impressed. No hanging, no
dropped calls. Some of the interface behaviour is a bit 'cluncky'
but you get used to it. It is such a capable platform and with OVI
maps now free becomes a totally useable SatNav. This is the holy
grail of devices as it is everything in one small elegant package:
SatNav, Camera, music player, video player, video camera storage
device, Web browser and with the keyboard it is just so useable,
no messing araound with on-screen touchpad keyboards. Oh and you
can connect it up to a TV too!!!!! Daft thing, the MicroSD card
is internal which is crazy considering the 5800 has an external
slot. Overall - Brilliant and I would highly recommend it. Rating:
Reviewed by drdave from uk on
26th Feb 2010
had many problems when i first got the phone but since the software
update it has been a dream. not one issue with it since. a very
capable phone. Rating:
Reviewed by iangriff from uk on
25th Feb 2010
great mobile, one simple flaw though so be warned.the signal antena
is placed at the bottom right of the phone, so when you hold it,
the signal will disappear. many many reports of this on many forum
sites. try putting both hands over the bottom and watch your signal
bars go out. very poor design fault in my opinion. whats the point
of a mobile if you cant make or receive calls?? Rating:
Reviewed by Sonia from England on
23rd Feb 2010
I love this phone i really do, but i have to say it is awful. i
have already sent it back once i got a new one but am now sending
it back again it's even worse that the first. everything on the
phone is all you could ever need its such a shame that it freezes
and isnt very quick. I am 16 and all my friends at school think
its obviously an amazing phone until they take it off me and use
it and realise it just isnt fast enough. I would understand freezing
etc from a cheaper phone but these are selling for around £300-£400
its crazy. Thats a lot of money and i just do not believe it is
worth it. fab fab fab! design however absolutely love the design
really original and is so different to other phones out there. What
a shame. but anyway i still love it :) Rating:
Reviewed by Max from England on
21st Feb 2010
I have had this phone for just under a month now and it has completely
gone. I can no longer use the phone due to all of the touch functions
are dead. The phone switches on alright but cant use the thing.
I think all N97 Mini's have problems with them. A couple of my friends
have had then not that long ago and they have all broken. The phone
is excellent in all other ways except the fact that they will brake
in 1 way or another. I really did expect more from Nokia. Rating:
Reviewed by mark from uk on 20th
Feb 2010
To be fair to this phone I do really like it except for a few annoying
issues. The first is the low hardware specs - there's just too little
ram which does slow the system down a bit and often when using the
browser it will suddenly exit, a problem I haven't had since my
old n73. The processor could also do with a big boost. A dedicated
3d graphics chip would have been excellent as found in the n95 8gb
and my last phone the n82. The device is still OK though all in
all, it looks beautiful and definitely feels expensive. It handles
all features although you may want to upgrade to opera mini as the
built in browser REALLY annoys me with its text size that can only
be changed on mobile sites for some reason. Photography is excellent
and music quality is impressive. Overall a good phone but it could
have been so much better! Rating:
Reviewed by dan from england on
17th Feb 2010
Brilliant functions, no problems with software, satnav is now completely
free for this phone with ovi maps, with a cheap satnav mount it
can be used as an excellent satnav system and is far better and
quicker at finding any location than my friend's navicon satnav!
Brilliant camera, wifi, qwerty, and the apps.... wow great apps
to be honest, far better than the iphone and feels like a solid
build in the hand and runs like a dream, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Rating:
Reviewed by hamza from uk on
17th Feb 2010
very good... but a bit to slow Rating:
Reviewed by Fish from UK on 15th
Feb 2010
This is a nice phone that should rate highly but I second the remarks
from another poster about a serious problem with holding onto a
signal. Breaking up and dropped connections have proved a real hassle
with the N97 mini. I guess this is a good example of why paying
too much attention to internet review sites is a mistake. After
a month of owning hte N97 mini on Vodafone, I find this website's
review of it to be woefully misleading. Rating:
Reviewed by Pesmi from England on
14th Feb 2010
Seems great to start, but I had 2 and they both broke, now I have
a htc hd2 which is much better Rating:
Reviewed by scoobydoobydoo from england
on 5th Feb 2010
i was really looking forward to this phone as an upgrade from n96
which has been a fantastic phone, but sadly, very disappointed.
the thing just constantly freezes requiring the removal of the battery
to get it going again. this happened mostly after a call ended with
the screen still saying incoming call. looks great but just doesnt
work! sent back to vodafone and sticking with n96 for now :( Rating:
Reviewed by Brian from England on
4th Feb 2010
All the reviewers here must spend their lives within 20 yards of
a phone mast! If you read the user forums over on Voda or Nokia
you will see that there is a serious problem with this phone (and
with the N97) - it's ability to hold on to a signal is appalling.
Even picking the thing up to use it invariably loses you 2 bars
signal strength at least, not good when you are in a medium reception
area. On the plus side it looks good, the screen is great (although
I do have quite thin fingers, and unchewed nails, which helps!),
and if you are in the city centre it all works fine. Just don't
expect anything out in the sticks Only 2* I'm afraid - it is after
all supposed to be a phone. If they can fix the signal problem it
would be 5* Rating:
Reviewed by sam from england on
28th Jan 2010
Josh from the UK, i have also had this problem with the phone, i
researched it on the internet and found that it was a problem with
one of the applications from OVI store itself, i noticed that messenger
had been deleted for the nokia n97 mini due to it being incompatible,
this may have been the case for you, if anyone has this same problem,
do a google search for Nokia N97 mini hard factory reset. This will
reset the whole phone taking the applications back to how it was
when you got the phone new, took a few attempts for me to get all
the keys pressed at the same time for the reset, however my phone
is working perfectly now, as earlier reviewed, this is the best
phone out on the market, a must buy, despite this minor problem! Rating:
Reviewed by Bruce Henderson from England
on 27th Jan 2010
I have owned the N97 Mini for a while now and I am delighted with
the overall performance. I use the internet access all day everyday
for email and Facebook and I find the GPS very useful for locating
the nearest petrol station as I ride motorbikes most days. If I
had to pick a problem, the only let down I have had has been answering
calls, the swipe the phone to answer does not always work immediately
which can mean some calls have gone to answer phone. Overall I am
delighted with the phone. Rating:
Reviewed by josh from united kingdom
on 21st Jan 2010
please listen to this review i got a conrac out on he 30th of december
with a n97 mini, awesome phone great software really easy after
6 days i turned it off woke up in the morning to turn it on and
it freezes at the nokia screen, go to phones for you they give me
a complete replacement phone, take it home i drain he battery so
o give it a full charge phone turns off yet again wont turn on past
the nokia screen, i take it back i demend a completely different
phone but store policy is 3 phones then a non like for like can
be arranged, so i take another one home i let it drain but this
time ahaa i charge it just before it dies, the charger got so hot
the plastic outer casing started to go soft, i have now taken this
phone back and i am using a samsung H1 with the 360 software and
after getting used to it it is by far the best phone on the market.
as for the n97 mini software and list of stuff it CAN do brilliant,
as for it actually doing it you might as well not have a phone. Rating:
Reviewed by Jude from UK on 15th
Jan 2010
Am sorry but i find this hard to accept, this website rated the
satio for having very buggy firmware but the same holds for this
phone as well. Orange UK even stopped selling it because it was
unusable yet it gets 5 stars and the satio gets 2 stars despite
it being a 5 star phone this is very biased. Lets be hones upgrading
your satios firmware fixes its issues then y were u so hard on it???
This N97 mini is no better Rating:
Reviewed by nicholas from england on
13th Jan 2010
had this phone for two days now at first hard to get used to but
now got used to it this phone is amazing great sound and picture
quality good camera easy to install applications and a very stylish
and sleek looking phone.i would recomend this phone to anyone. Rating:
Reviewed by Benson from UK on
13th Jan 2010
The review didn't mention the missed feature of VoIP. On E63, N95
and etc, VoIP is a fascinating feature that enables you to make
call as usual but over the Internet and at lower price. N97 mini
and N97 has sadly removed the feature. It is said new firmware will
add it and there is also an official patch in SIS format. But, from
this, you can see the design of N97 mini and N97 is not flawless.
So, I'll only give them 4 stars. Rating:
Reviewed by Matt from Slovenia on
13th Jan 2010
This phone outperforms any WinMo phone in my opinion. IT's well
built with it's metalic casing, touchscreen is very responsive,
the only downside is double tapping and only 6 panels on home screen.
Other than that it's graet: i used samsung omnia for awhile...hated
it..slow, unresponsive, did what i didn't want and didn't do what
i wanted, the only great thing about it was the super-sized bright
amoled screen. Love the music player and the supplied earpiece is
great. Physical keyboard is better than any virtual one. All-in-all
a winner for me and another great phone from nokia that works out
of a box. Rating:
Reviewed by qwertyuiop from ireland
on 12th Jan 2010
I have this phone and think it is excellent. My only concern is
if I see the n900 I may regret getting this one. I love how small
and solid it is though, it just feels great and looks beautiful.
I definitely recommend it. Rating:
Reviewed by Ponduri from Singapore on
12th Jan 2010
This is supposed to be the best from Nokia. Good Things- The touch
screen is the best among all other phones out there. Very stylish
phone in the market. Decent Photo quality with 5 MP CarlZesis lens
mini Views are new concept and makes the usage of phone very easy.
Overall Very Good Phone to get addicted to. The Bad: The quality
of the build is poor. The QWERTY Key board skin is coming out. Phone
will hang in booting if phone was unplugged from the system without
checking the saferemoval. This happens majorly if you are usig a
memory card (External). Rating:
Reviewed by Tom from England on
11th Jan 2010
Amazing phone, great keyboard, great music player, great homescreen
and fantastic messaging capabilities. Ovi store could do with more
apps but otherwise brilliant. Rating:
Reviewed by sam from england on
3rd Jan 2010
Wow. I searched for a while looking for a phone with all the features
i wanted. I first went for the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, however
problems with a company meant that i did not receive it, this sent
me looking for better. The Nokia N97 mini had a much better camera,
better design, better keyboard, it basically has everything that
all other smartphones have to compromise on. I managed to get mine
for £300 brand new from Ebay making it a very competitive price
for the features gained. The phone out the box is particularly easy
to use, the wireless is excellent and the ovi store at nokia enables
a web browser to be downloaded, opera mini, this allows all webpages
to run out of mobile mode and as normal, which is great for a mobile
phone. The GPS is brilliant and will locate your position for free
and 10 days directional navigation is included with purchase of
the phone with extra days costing £1.50 per day, or a cheaper subscription
fee. The Nokia ovi store i think is brilliant and allows a very
wide range of applications to be downloaded for free with more to
buy. The best ones so far for me have been Youtube, iplayer and
msn messenger which is great with the wifi. The iplayer application
on a wifi connection allows hour long programs to be downloaded
in a few minutes. Nothing much else can be said apart from, BUY
ONE. Best phone i have ever used or owned, in every way better than
the iphone and with an epic amount of apps to be downloaded, excellent.
Rating:
Reviewed by JoshuaDinoTan from Singapore
on 30th Dec 2009
OUTSTANDING, but disappointing for a flagship device. Especially
from Nokia. Rating:
Reviewed by Cristiano Ronaldo from Spain
on 29th Dec 2009
Dis pone is really is goad. i have one today in conntract. must
is be a 5 star. Rating:
Reviewed by kukisan from uk on
29th Dec 2009
having used the mini for a month now all i can say is wow! after
sending back two satio's i was realy worried about the symbian os
but its faultless compared to the satio's sony take a leaf out of
nokia and build your's a bit better next time. Rating:
Reviewed by jude r anderson from united
kingdom on 28th Dec 2009
got this phone as an upgrade,i thought i would give nokia another
chance after having loads of problems with other n series phones
before,well after having phone an hour it began to freeze after
calls so had to turn phone off and on to remove freeze screen and
battery would"nt last a day,really hard to use i would not recommend
this phone to anyone,nokia has lost its way,same old problems as
with all nokia n series phones,i now have sony w995 brilliant phone
with no problems Rating:
Reviewed by S from UK on 27th
Dec 2009
Excellent phone***** Rating:
Reviewed by ? from USA on 23rd
Dec 2009
It is a really good phone i'm glad i brought it. Thx nokia Rating:
Reviewed by Ahmed Jama from England
on 17th Dec 2009
the best phone ive had so far. words cannot describe this phone..was
considerinng getting N900 but this is almost as handfful nd slightly
cheaper.amasing A must get phonne for christmas.. Rating:
Reviewed by Darren from UK on
16th Dec 2009
hate it.got it has a upgrade and it went back the following day.
some good features but not easy to use Rating:
Reviewed by Michael from UK on
15th Dec 2009
I received this phone from Vodafone as an upgrade to my contract.
I like the ringtone, which is a normal bell sound and business like.
I also like the camera which focuses on the subject and then allows
you to take a photo with one tap on the screen. The home screen
is also good, with widgets that give access to favourite contacts
and direct access to some features. The touch screen makes texting
the easiest yet. However, after a few days I noticed that when I
put the phone on to charge it would keep charging itself. The phone
will charge itself in the normal manner when connected by a USB
to my laptop ie stopping charging after a while. The headset supplied
has a 3.5mm jack pin, although the bezel at the base of the pin
is too large and therefore the pin will not push fully home. As
a result I found the headset suffered some interference and the
quality of sound was poor. Rating:
Reviewed by Oyvind from Norway on
13th Dec 2009
At last I found "My phone". The n97 mini does a great job, it's
sleek and performs excellent. Even the headset that follows the
package outperforms many of the expensive headsets you thought you
had to buy to make the mp3 player work optimal. Just remember to
change the equalizer settings to pop or something other than the
standard settings. After I had downloaded a free weather-program,
currency converter, Merriam-Websters English/English and some other
small stuff, I fell in love with the phone. It connects perfectly
to my bluetooth in the car and it fits right into the standard phone
care holder. I couldn't hope for more. I just hope it is sturdy
and will keep for some years. The way it's built gives the impression
that this never will be an issue. Rating:
Reviewed by simon from uk on
13th Dec 2009
I've been using this phone for about a week now and I cannot find
any major dislikes. I have never liked Nokia handsets before this
one and i have not gotten on well with many touchscreen devices;
omnia, iphone or lg. My last Nokia was years ago, it was the 6820,
I believe - it had a fold across keyboard (correct me if i am wrong)
and as I was someone that was constantly messaging; I had felt this
was the way forward. Since then it was replaced by a Sony ericsson
for a loyal 4 years, in this duration I had attempted to use up-to-date
touchscreens but i felt the omnia was let down by its OS and the
iphone novelty was not for me - that and messaging was tricky. The
Nokia N97 mini is fantastic, the physical keyboard is great and
makes e-mail and texting ever so fast. Infact, I am using it right
now to write this very review! The Nokia ovi app store has some
great apps, however I only needed the one, a countdown timer, which
was free. Bonus. I havent found a copy and paste command yet on
the device, battery life cannot be faulted, it lasts the day on
heavy messaging and moderate wifi internet browsing. Connecting
mailboxes and to wifi is very straight forward. Using the device
is very easy and navigating through menus is a synch! I absolutely
love this device. If you are someone that texts alot and are not
patient enough with doing all those texts on a touchscreen only
based phone - this is the device to get! Great job nokia. Rating:
Reviewed by Ali from England on
10th Dec 2009
This phone is one of Nokia best phones yet and I can see them competing
against the Iphone in the future. The look, style, slide open keyboard,
battery life, etc is outstanding and very impressive. The operating
system is similar to the N95 and could have done with abit of improvement
but I have to say I am really happy with it. If you are used to
Nokia's and there operating systems or Menu's, then don't look no
further. Its surprisingly stable and it has that unique style to
it that's made me glad to have bought it. I would love to see this
Nokia with a Android operating system, I can then see it competing
against the Iphone quite easily and over taking it. I have tested
the Motorola Blur, Samsung HD8910i and I have preffered the N97
mini over both of them. Nokia have made some good phones and this,
is one of their best phones yet. Nokia should consider integrating
with the Android operating system on their phones and they could
easily over take the iphone with their eyes closed. Rating:
Reviewed by Daoda S. Kamara from Liberia
on 8th Dec 2009
I like this phone. It's nice Rating:
Reviewed by Meri from London on
6th Dec 2009
I purchased N97 mini a week back, but I am really disappointed by
the phone. I was using iphone, I hoped Nokia must have brought a
good product to compete with the market, moreover I read outstanding
reviews on the net. The design is sleek and the phone looks beautiful,
but the touch screen is resistive and not comfortable to use. Web
browsing is not easy, the phone freezes in between. Screen resolution
does not look catchy, and the apps are nothing in comparison to
iphone. The best part of the phone is, the keyboard is very easy
to use. Overall the phone is an average and does not mark to the
expectation. After giving it a try for four days I have sent it
back and planning to buy HTC HD2. Rating:
Reviewed by Simon from London from England
on 1st Dec 2009
I got this hoping I could replace a Backberry. No chance. Pros:
The sound quality is pretty impressive, even the radio! Screen is
good, camera picture/video quality is excellent for a small devide.
Relatively easy to use. Cons: the menus in my N27 mini was different
to what was wriiten in the manual, even Nokia couldn't resolve that,
when texting or emailing it was difficult to get the input right
with touch screen keypad or handwriting (once you are used to a
keypad like B'berry), difficult to customise the main screen and
it keeps changing if you accidentally hit the screen, and so on.
I wish I could keep in just for sound quality and for the camera.
But my email/text more important, and it is not easy to manage them
with this phone. Hence it got to go! Rating:
Reviewed by shrey from UK on
30th Nov 2009
this is awesome phone. i just love it! Rating:
Reviewed by sid stannard from wales
on 22nd Nov 2009
excellent unit. Upgraded from an SE c902, and it's far superior,
with all the features one could need; experiencing short battery
life though... Rating:
Reviewed by Dave from UK on 22nd
Nov 2009
I was due an upgrade from my n95 and wasn't even sure if I wanted
to upgrade as I was happy with it. i had been looking at several
phones for a while and opted for n97mini. Copying contacts, messages
etc was so easy and done via bluetooth in minutes. The new screen
is so clear and slide out keyboard good for longer text, like this
review, which I am doing on my phone. The touch screen took a bit
of getting used to, but so did riding a bike. I am very happy with
this phone and think I made a wise choice. I upgraded at Phones4u
who were fab. £50 trade in on a ve y old phone. Rating:
Reviewed by Raj from UK on 20th
Nov 2009
This phone has put my trust back in nokia. I hated all the N series,
until i upgraded to N97 mini. I tried very hard to look for faults
in this phone as i am very fussy and send it back. But after 7 days
without any problems i can honestly say this is a excellent phone,
not on the same par as the iphone, but will give it a good run for
its money. A nice size, good touch screen and battery life is sufficent
enough for a smartphone. Rating:
Reviewed by Harry from England on
19th Nov 2009
I just bought the phone yesterday; and to be honest i was very impressed.
for one the screen quality is amazing and the touch screen response
is instant and i haven't had any faults with the phone so far. my
uncle had the original n97 and to be honest that wasn't as great
as it regularly crashes and you have to take the battery out etc.
broadband speeds with the 3G and accessing emails is so easy and
fast. the QUERKY keypad is an much easier way of typing rather then
using a touch screen keypad. overall i am so impressed with the
n97 mini and do not plan on replacing it for another phone for a
long time (partly because i have a 24month contract ha ha) Rating:
Reviewed by Rob from Uk on 19th
Nov 2009
This phone is certainly not an Iphone killer as suggested above.
It's a good phone but just too similar to the original N97. Its
almost what the N97 should have been in the first place. Its more
like a 5800 with a key board and updated home screen...nothing more
nothing less...an overall good phone but certainly not excellent
or outstanding. Rating:
Reviewed by - from UK on 12th
Nov 2009
Excellent phone, no complaints Rating:
Reviewed by Mick from UK on 11th
Nov 2009
First impressions - I've had my N97 Mini for 4 days, a free upgrade
on Orange from an N95 (it's an unbranded phone, I upgraded via Phones
4 U). So far I'm very happy with it. Basic usability - calls are
clear and easy to make and take. A minor issue is when calling automated
lines which request the first or fifth letter of your password (Orange
was the guilty party!) - the dialler in call mode does not have
letters displayed which makes life a bit difficult! Texting is straightforward
and input is easy, both via that onscreen alphanumeric keypad and
the qwerty hardware keypad, I prefer the latter for long messages,
the onscreen keypad is better for a quick reply. The contact list
is standard Symbian, very flexible and easy to use. I find the qwuerty
keypad very handy when browsing the internet, and when onscreen
links are too small for my fat fingers (the keys are quite small,
and the top row is slightly masked by the phone body) the arrow
and enter keys work fine. The browser itself is the standard Nokia
offering, adequate if not terribly exciting. I also installed Opera,
which occasionally throws up an out of memory message (but continues
to work normally). On the subject of memory, I read in reviews and
forums that the standard N97 suffers from inadequate space on the
c: drive - reports of between 20 and 40 mb free. Nokia appear to
have addressed this in the Mini, and I have 240 mb free on my c:
drive. The mass memory is 8 Gb which is plenty for me, but you can
add a hot-swappable card up to 16 Gb. I just have an old 2 Gb card
that was in my N95 installed. The camera is on a par with my N95
- fine for snaps in reasonable light, and can replace a dedicated
camera if you're not too ambitious, if you want to take lots of
low light or action pictures then you need to take a proper camera.
Music player will be familiar to anybody with a recent N-Series
- I find it intuitive and does the job. The headphones are adequate,
and there's a standard jack if you want to use your own. The touchscreen
is responsive, and the menu structure will be familiar to anybody
coming from an S60 phone, but the double touch to open a menu item
in a list is slightly counter-intuitive at first, (icons open on
a single touch) however it becomes second nature very quickly. Some
items have moved around, however, and it took me about half an hour
to find the sync settings to synchronise my new mobile with Google
- but once I found it, it all worked seamlessly. The calendar again
is familiar to Symbian users, intuitive but slightly inflexible
- you can't schedule something to repeat on a 4-weekly or 12-weekly
basis, for example, you're stuck with weekly, monthly and annual.
The display is bright, clear and sharp with excellent colour reproduction
- November in the UK sadly does not provide conditions for me to
comment on its performance in bright sunlight, but in normal conditions
it is excellent. The battery lasts the day, but with not much to
spare, although to be fair I have been playing around with the phone
a lot. I guess it's no worse than the N95 battery, but certainly
no better. Overall, and on brief exposure, I'm very happy with my
new phone and would recommend it. Rating:
Reviewed by josh traynor from u k on
9th Nov 2009
best phone ever ipone killer Rating:
Reviewed by MINT from ENSLAND on
8th Nov 2009
EXCELLENT PHONE , HAD N95 BEFORE AND THAT WAS GOOD BUT THIS IS THE
ONE ITS GOT IT ALL ,ON VODAFONE AND NO PROBLEMS WITH CRASHING ,CAMERA
LENS ,BATTRY LIFE , PS LITTLE TIP GET THE BLACK HANDSET NOT THE
WHITE LOOKS A LOT BETTER , GET ONE YOU WILL LOVE IT . Rating:
