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Nokia N97 Mini review

By Clare Hopping, 15 Dec 2009

Rating:

Price as reviewed:£347.82 ex. VAT SIM free

The Nokia N97 was an all-round disappointment. Now its younger brother, the N97 Mini has been released, but does the cut down features mean business? We review this pocket-sized handset to find out.

There are still issues with the running speed of the Nokia N97 Mini though, especially when compared to a smartphone of similar stature. Take, for example, the Samsung Galaxy, which has an almost identical technical specification as the N97 Mini – 8 GB internal storage (with a microSD slot, compatible with anything up to 16GB), 128 MB RAM. With only a marginally faster processor, it boasts an impressive speed difference. In fact, the Samsung Galaxy speeds along well, even with multiple applications open – just as a smartphone should.

However, the Nokia N97 Mini, like most Symbian S60 v5 devices, struggled with one application open, often pausing and stalling, making us think we’d crashed it. This is one point that is simply inexcusable from a smartphone. After all, its main duty is multitasking.

The multimedia qualities, however, are slightly more redeeming. The five megapixel camera takes impressive pictures, boosted by its dual LED flash in dark lighting conditions. Now and again, you may notice that the flash does white out many features, but that’s no real issue. One thing you will find that’s fast on the Nokia N97 Mini is the auto focus. It is fast at adjusting, making photos crisp and clear.

One rather disappointing area with the Nokia N97, is that the price hasn’t seen a huge drop. As the N97 Mini is being marketed as a slimmed down version of the N97 (more than just with the size), it’s rather alarming to see that it is only £30 cheaper SIM free. For that extra £30 you get 24GB extra internal storage, a larger screen and better battery life.

The Nokia N97 seriously needed an update to make it a competitor to other smartphones with a QWERTY keyboard and touch screen. Has Nokia achieved that? No.

The update is minimal – if anything, the spec has been reduced. It may be more pocket friendly and the firmware has been tweaked slightly (to an edition you can update the original N97 to anyway), but it’s still missing a fast processor, and smooth sliding mechanism.

For an extra £30 and a software update, you can get the beefier option, although we’d recommend steering clear of any Nokia touch screen device operating on Symbian and head straight over to the N900.