Nokia N97 Mini review

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.

N97 Mini
IT Pro Verdict

The Nokia N97 Mini doesn’t improve enough over its elder brother. We were expecting faster multitasking speeds, a better slide and an improved touch screen. Instead, we got much the same, albeit with a firmware update and for only £30 less.

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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.

Verdict

The Nokia N97 Mini doesn’t improve enough over its elder brother. We were expecting faster multitasking speeds, a better slide and an improved touch screen. Instead, we got much the same, albeit with a firmware update and for only £30 less.

Networks: Quad band 850/900/1800/1900/EDGE/HSDPA Dimensions: 52.5mmx14.2mmx113mm (WDH) Weight: 138g Battery: Li-Ion 1200 mAh, 6 hours talk time, 310 hours standby Display: 3.2in, 360 x 640 pixels Camera: 5MP camera with video Memory: 128MB RAM, 8GB storage, microSD card slot Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, GPS

Clare Hopping
Clare Hopping
Freelance writer

Clare is the founder of Blue Cactus Digital, a digital marketing company that helps ethical and sustainability-focused businesses grow their customer base.

Prior to becoming a marketer, Clare was a journalist, working at a range of mobile device-focused outlets including Know Your Mobile before moving into freelance life.

As a freelance writer, she drew on her expertise in mobility to write features and guides for ITPro, as well as regularly writing news stories on a wide range of topics.

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