Nokia N97 Mini Review

It’s hard to like the S60v5 again after using a Maemo device like the Nokia N900. I’ve been trying to use the Nokia N97 mini to write a thorough review, but I always ended up putting it down quickly. Want to know what I think in one sentence? The Nokia N97 mini looks damn good and packs a lot of features, but I would recommend other devices before this one.

HARDWARE

The Nokia N97 mini was well-designed. It’s shiny with nice combinations of curves and lines. It feels good in the hands, too.

Size. It’s a little smaller than the Nokia N97 making it more pocketable. Here’s a size comparison between the two N97’s. I didn’t have problems putting it in my jean pocket.

Build Quality. Nokia added stainless steel to the back of the phone with the battery cover and the camera bezel. It adds a premium look and feel to the hardware. The hinge for the slider is very smooth, yet provides nice reassuring clicks when the device is closed or open. The N97 mini is a solid device. I found no wobbling, creaking, or loose parts to complain about.

Internals. Inside the Nokia N97 is a single-core ARM 11 microprocessor clocked at 434MHz with 128MB RAM. That’s similar to the original Nokia N97. It isn’t a powerhorse if you compare it to other recent devices. For example, the Nokia N900 runs at 600MHz with 256MB RAM. A big concern for power users is the RAM. I found that running multiple applications like Gravity for tweets, web browser, Mobbler for streaming music, and Nokia Messaging for emails take up a lot of the RAM. This could be good or bad depending on how you look at it, but the phone silently closes one of those apps without warning to free up memory. This wouldn’t be a problem if Nokia gave the N97 256MB RAM instead.

Display. The Nokia N97 mini has a 3.2 inch touchscreen display with 640×360 resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio. The pixel density of 229 PPI makes it relatively sharp. Let’s compare it with other touchscreen devices.

• I can’t really say if the screen on the Nokia N97 mini is responsive or not because of inconsistencies. Scrolling through lists and pages varies between applications. It’s sometimes smooth and fast on one application, while slow on another.

Keyboard. I’m a fan of the Nokia N97 mini’s keyboard. I got used to the layout very quickly found myself typing texts and emails really fast. Unlike the Nokia N900, there are actually spaces between the buttons so they don’t feel cramped. The buttons provide adequate tactile feedback, but I recommend leaving the keyboard sounds ON for a better typing experience. Just like the the 2.0 firmware on the original Nokia N97, long-press on the keyboard outputs the corresponding symbol on top of the letters.

Video recording on the Nokia N97 mini is fine, but I wish it offered more. It records at 640 x 360 at 30 frames per second by default, but there’s an option to record VGA (640×480) too. I like that you can use the LEDs to provide light for video. I wish there was autofocus because the Nokia N97 mini seems to lock focus on far objects. This is great for landscape videos, but people talking to the camera could be sharper. Forget about objects up close.

Widgets. You can install widgets on the home screen of the Nokia N97 mini. These are useful to get quick information without the need of opening individual apps. Android and Maemo however already improves on this by allowing users to have more than one page of widgets with different sizes. On the N97 mini’s homescreen, I included Facebook, calendar, music player, email, app shortcuts, and clock.

Mobbler and Music Player

Ovi Maps. Unlike the Ovi Maps in Maemo, Maps for S60 is actually pretty good for navigation. It’s not free, but a 30-day license in the US is available for about $7. I’m not sure about other regions. If you’re searching for places, I recommend finding it on the Google Maps application and bookmark it for later use on Ovi Maps. Walk navigation is surprisingly useful too. It helps guide you along pedestrian areas, parks, or over crossings while walking. 3D landmarks display buildings for better orientation.