We loved the Nokia N97 but it wasn't perfect. So it was with great enthusiasm we received the Nokia N97 Mini – basically the same as the original but smaller, better looking and with updated software. Really, it's what the Nokia N97 should have been, although we're sorry to report that Nokia missed the opportunity to sort out some of the N97's problems.

 

Style and handling for Nokia N97 Mini

The Nokia N97 Mini is, we're told, 8% smaller than the original N97. It certainly fits nicely into your palm, but it does mean the screen has shrunk from 3.5 inches to a still perfectly acceptable 3.2 inches. What has really suffered is the internal memory, which has been knocked down from 32GB on the N97 to just 8MB on the Mini.

One of the software upgrades on the N97 Mini is 'kinetic scrolling', which theoretically means you can scroll faster by swiping the screen harder (this feature is also available as a free upgrade to the N97). We suspect it would work better if there wasn't the resistive, pressure-sensitive screen to contend with; it's accurate and quite fast, but you do have to press down hard to navigate.

The full QWERTY keyboard is a definite improvement over the original model, which was just too large for our liking. The Nokia N97 Mini has no D-pad on the keyboard, so the keys are nicely spaced and comfortable to type on. This is helped by the matt rubber keys; and the keyboard slides in and out smoothly.

It would be great but one minor niggle – that predictive text doesn't automatically add in contraction –  does put the Nokia N97 Mini behind the BlackBerry Bold 9700 in terms of typing ability.

 

User interface on the Nokia N97 Mini

The Nokia N97 Mini offers six customisable widgets, including two shortcuts bars, on its home screen. You have a good choice of preloaded widgets including CNN News, Bloomberg and Metro for news, and, for social networking, MySpace and Facebook. The latter is excellent, giving you live updates on status updates, friend requests, event invitations and pokes. It's all displayed clearly, albeit in a dated, blocky format. It would have been good to be able to sync Facebook friends with your phonebook, though.

Nokia handsets have always been intuitive, and the Nokia N97 Mini is no different; it's easy to use as both a phone and an internet device. The only slightly confusing thing is that some options require you to click once while other need a double click. This leaves you wondering whether your selection is loading or if you should have tapped twice.

Navigation is easy using a combination of touch-screen and keyboard controls, and the screen looks particularly good when viewed in landscape. Unfortunately, and despite the N97 being fitted with an accelerometer, landscape only works with the keyboard pulled out, making for browsing discomfort. It does, however, automatically flip to landscape when you play a video.

 

Messaging on the Nokia N97 Mini

The Nokia N97 Mini features the excellent Nokia Messaging, which supports push-email for up to 10 different accounts including Hotmail, Gmail and Microsoft Exchange. Setting up and using email is the sort of straightforward process you get using a desktop computer. We found it easy to set up and access subfolders, and flag messages. It's just a pity you can only delete messages one at a time.

You can sync your phonebook contacts with Outlook and back up your media files using Microsoft's Ovi PC software.
Your emails, text messages and Facebook updates stream to your home screen, and tapping the alert once will take you directly to the app.

Ovi Store, Nokia's download shop is not as well stocked as Apple's App Store or the Android Market and offers an unpredictable selection of apps; for example, you can get Windows Live Instant Messenger but not Twitter. An odd little app we quite like was Candle Touch, a pointless but fun virtual candle with a flame you can push out or strike back on.

 

Web browsing and maps on the Nokia N97 Mini

The full HTML browser makes for fast internet access for full internet sites. Most load in less than 10 seconds and look pretty good, although the touch-screen did freeze occasionally while browsing. There's no tabbed browsing, but you can open multiple windows, and bookmark pages easily.

The new Ovi Maps 3.0 isn't that different from the N97, which was great anyway. It's a great  service with a handy 'what's nearby' feature and a range of search options. We got an accurate fix in a second, and moved quickly. We're not sure why the digital compass has disappeared, though: you can't see the direction you're going in anymore.

The N97 Mini has the same camera as its predecessor – five megapixels with a Carl Zeiss lens – but no lens cap. Photos come out clear, although indoor shots looked washed out. There's a good selection of settings to choose from for auto settings, flash, exposure and white balance. It's just a shame that you can't see what settings you have picked on the screen.

 

Verdict for the Nokia N97 Mini

 

The N97 Mini keeps the best features of the original model – the quality QWERTY keyboard and the five-megapixel camera – and packs the powerful software into a slender chassis. But Nokia has failed to fix the biggest problem: it's just not quite as slick as its competitors, and will therefore lose out.

 

Click Here to Buy an N97 Mini On Vodafone