Nokia N97 mini pictures

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Nokia N97 mini gallery

Nokia N97 mini Introduction

The Nokia army of touchscreen smartphones gets larger by the hour and the Nokia N97 mini is surely one of the most interesting new recruits. The Finnish company has obviously reconsidered its priories and now focuses on optimization, rather than expansion with its flagships.

Nokia N97 mini official photos

The original Nokia N97 was the first sign of that as it hardly offered any ground-breaking features, instead relaying on the good all-round performance. However the first high-end S60 touchscreen handset left enough room for another similar handset in the portfolio and Nokia feel that its downsized version is enough to fill the gap.

Key features

• Slide-n-tilt 3.2" 16M-color resistive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution
  
• 5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash and VGA@30fps video recording
  
• Symbian OS 9.4 with S60 5th edition UI with kinetic scrolling
  
• Slide-out three-row full QWERTY keyboard
  
• ARM 11 434MHz CPU and 128 MB of RAM
  
• Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G with 3.6Mbps HSDPA support
  
• Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS
  
• Digital compass
  
• 8GB onboard storage
  
• microSD card slot with microSDHC support
  
• Built-in accelerometer
  
  
• 3.5 mm audio jack and TV-out
  
• Stereo FM Radio with RDS
  
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.0
  
• Web browser has full Flash and Java support
  
• Nice audio reproduction quality
  
• Office document viewer
  

Main disadvantages

• The S60 touch UI is still inconsistent
  
• Outdated camera interface and features
  
• No DivX or XviD video support out-of-the-box
  
• No smart dialing
  
• No office document editing (without a paid upgrade)
  
• No camera lens protection
  
  
• No FM transmitter (though that may be stretching it too far)
  

Nokia N97 mini vs Nokia N97

• More compact (113 x 52.5 x 14.2 mm, 75 cc vs 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm, 88 cc)
  
• Lighter (138g vs 150g)
  
• Smaller display (3.2" vs 3.5")
  
• Less internal memory (8GB vs 32GB)
  
• Smaller battery (1200 mAh vs 1500 mAh)
  
• No lens cover
  
• No FM transmitter
  
• Arrow keys vs D-pad
  

The N97 mini has quite a task on its hands, constantly being compared to the moe high ranking Nokia N97 even though it comes later to the market. As usually happens in such cases, the price difference that would have been present if both handsets were launched simultaneously is reduced and the balance of powers has shifted.

Nokia N97 mini at ours

Still the reduced display (and mostly body size) is a welcome change for many users, who used to find the Nokia N97 intolerably bulky. We certainly hope it's got a few tricks up its sleeves so it can put up the original N97 a good fight and differentiate enough beyond size and pricing. Well, we're about to check that and much more in one of our trademark reviews, starting with the unboxing on the next page.

Nokia N97 mini review

We’ve had two QWERTY Nokia smartphones on the SlashGear test-bench this past week, and the surprising thing is how differently the respective user experience is. Our Nokia E72 review went live earlier today; now we turn to the Nokia N97 mini, viewed by many – for better or for worse – as the Finnish company’s second attempt at the N97. Second-time lucky or still well short? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.

To understand the N97 mini, you have to put it into context with the original N97 it’s a “miniaturised” version of. The Nokia N97 practically epitomises the difficulty in balancing hype, consumer anticipation, cutting-edge hardware and delivery schedules: when it was first announced in December 2008 it promised a compelling package of the latest in smartphone technology, but by the time it hit reviewers’ hands in June 2009 it proved to fall well short of expectations.

Since then Nokia have pushed out a significant new firmware release that addressed many issues with the original smartphone, and of course they’ve also delivered the N97 mini, a more compact version of the N97 intended to address many of its shortcomings. We pulled no punches in our N97 review, so the N97 mini has plenty of work to do in order to impress us.

Physically, as you might imagine, it’s a smaller phone. The original N97 is 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm, tipping the scales at 150g, while the N97 mini is 113 x 52.5 x 14.2 mm and 138g. That means there’s less room for the display – which slips from 3.5- to 3.2-inches, though sticks at 640 x 360 resolution – but it also means it’s a far more pocket-friendly handset. Interestingly, there are minimal hardware concessions involved elsewhere: the N97 mini doesn’t have a sliding lens cover, but it does keep the 5-megapixel autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual-LED flash, together with a front-facing camera for video calling. The GPS and A-GPS are still present, together with ambient light, orientation and proximity sensors, and connectivity doesn’t fall short either: the N97 mini is packed with quadband WCMDA 850/900/1900/2100 as well as Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, WiFi b/g, a microUSB 2.0 connection and a 3.5mm headphones socket.

Nokia N97 mini unboxing video:

You also still get the unusual form-factor, with a sliding-tilting display that is strongly spring-loaded. That reveals the redesigned keyboard, the biggest change of which is the removal of the D-pad on the left and the introduction of four regular arrow keys. We were scathing in our feedback of the N97’s keyboard, criticising its lack of travel and poor finger-feedback; the N97 mini’s ‘board is better, with buttons that are certainly more responsive than on its bigger sibling, while the missing D-pad means there’s less reaching to be done with the left thumb. Still, it’s not a home-run by any stretch of the imagination and there’s a sluggishness to the response that makes typing feel slower than on other hardware keyboards. Nokia have increased the size of the spacebar – which is still offset, and sits just underneath where your right thumb rests – and the function key is better placed on the far left rather than the far right.

Unfortunately you’re still stuck with the one-position screen angle, which is results in plenty of hand-tilting as you try to thumb-type and see the display at the best angle. The touchscreen itself uses a resistive panel rather than the currently fashionable capacitive, but is reasonably responsive and accurate nonetheless. OS is S60 5th edition, Nokia’s attempt to bring finger-friendliness to Symbian, and it remains a mixed bag. The recent firmware 2.0 update for the N97 also applies to the N97 mini, and addresses many of our original complaints, particularly in terms of the visual appeal and the introduction of “kinetic scrolling”.

It’s still not as attractive as, say, Palm’s webOS or the iPhone, and many of the menus still seem to merely be bigger – i.e. finger-sized – than they were before. Lists continue to respond differently to taps depending on whereabouts in the OS you are: settings, for instance, usually respond to a single tap, whereas lists of items (such as email messages) take one tap to select and another to open. We can partly see the logic in this, but when other platforms use the more intuitive press-and-hold to deliver the same, Nokia’s system begins to look unnecessarily fiddly.

The display aspect is less than ideal too, particularly when you’re dealing with emails. We can’t find any way to show the email list with sender and subject split across two lines, and as such you get both a sharply truncated name and very little of the subject line. It’s difficult to triage your inbox without actually going into the message itself, which adds a few unwanted steps to the process. On the plus side, the N97 mini does have extensive email account support, including the basic POP and IMAP together with Mail for Exchange, and where the E72 dropped the ball in dealing with our Exchange-like Kerio Mail Server, the mini handled it with no problems whatsoever. We did experience a couple of odd connection issues, however, where the smartphone would “forget” by which method it was meant to pull in new emails; we wish Nokia would make things a little more straightforward, using whatever the active connection is (whether WiFi or 3G) without the user needing to be so prescriptive.

Like the E72, the N97 mini’s browser supports full HTML with in-page Flash video, which means no separate app is required to play back YouTube content (among others). Of course there’s still no multitouch zooming, and instead the N97 mini uses double-tap to zoom; unfortunately webpage text doesn’t reflow accordingly, and despite the accelerometer the screen orientation doesn’t flip even if you turn the phone on its side, you have to push out the keyboard in order to get a landscape view. Still, pages render pretty much as you’d expect from a desktop browser.

Firmware 2.0 also brought with it the latest version of Nokia Maps, and as with the E72 it’s been a pleasing experience seeing what the rivals of Google Maps have come up with. The N97 mini includes a digital compass and locks onto a GPS signal quickly, while the app itself does a better job than its rival in presenting that data on-screen. Various map-types are provided, including a traffic overlay, and it’s just as easy to pull up walking directions as it is driving (though once the trial licence of pedestrian directions runs out, you’ll need to pay for the functionality). There are still no spoken guidance prompts, however, unlike the Google Maps Navigation beta for Android in the US.

Nokia have won many admirers over the past year or two with the quality of their cameras, and the N97 mini’s 5-megapixel autofocus shooter is reasonable. Our general dislike of LED flashes – which we find have a very narrow “sweet spot” outside of which they either over-saturate the subject or prove hopelessly lacking in power – is tempered by decent low-light performance with the flash switched off. Give the N97 mini an outdoor shot however and you’ll find acceptable results; we were also particularly impressed by the macro close-ups, with the phone automatically switching into the necessary mode to keep nearby subjects in crisp focus. The onboard 8GB of memory is less than the original N97’s 32GB, but slot in a microSD card and you’ll have up to 24GB to play with. You can find sample shots in the gallery below.

The camera will also shoot 30fps 16:9 aspect video in MPEG4 640 x 360 resolution, which turned out to be smooth and reasonably watchable. You can switch on the LED flash to act as a video light, though autofocus no longer works. Once you’ve shot a clip you can upload it to various media sharing sites, including Flickr and Nokia’s own Ovi gallery.

As for consuming media rather than producing it, the N97 mini has the same audio app as on the E72 only with larger, finger-accomodating icons. The interface is lacking in comparison to something like the iPhone, but it’s serviceable and there’s a link directly to Nokia’s Music Store (though not Comes With Music, which the company don’t offer on this handset) for on-device downloads. As with the N97 there’s an FM radio (which requires a wired headset be plugged in) but no FM transmitter; Nokia say the short-range transmitter – handy for in-car use – couldn’t be squeezed into the N97 mini’s reduced casing. Video playback is in a separate app, and consists of a simple folder-browsing UI for local content together with a Video Feeds browser which allows you to access streaming content.

Access to all of these apps is usually through the main menu, called up no matter where you are in the phone by pressing the single hardware button on the fascia. However, like its sibling, the N97 mini’s homescreen is made up of six rectangular widget panels which can be rearranged and edited. Among the options are standard shortcut bars – each offering room for four icons linking to your commonly-accessed apps – as well as frequent contact shortcuts, an AccuWeather forecast widget, Mail for Exchange widget and a clock with links to the alarm settings and calendar. There’s also a Facebook widget which ties into Nokia’s somewhat sluggish Facebook app. This shows galleries, wall posts and offers one-tap access to the camera and on-device gallery so as to make uploading shots easier, but is tardy in its responsiveness – especially when updating the Facebook wall – compared to similar apps on rival platforms.

Phone performance was strong, with the N97 mini tenacious with a signal. We experienced no dropped calls in all of our testing, and both parties reported clear and crackle-free audio. Battery life has proven slightly better than what you’d expect from a current-gen smartphone, capable of going two days with regular use (and judicious use of the peak/off-peak push email settings). Nokia quote up to 430 minutes of GSM talktime (240 minutes of WCDMA) or up to 320 hours of GSM standby (310 hours of WCDMA).

Build quality is better than the N97, with a sturdy case and touches of metal in the screen fascia and battery cover; we’re also quiet fans of the “cherry black” finish (though you can also get the N97 mini in “garnet”). Less impressive is the flex in the plastic screen surround up above the earpiece, though to be fair that’s our only real point of concern about the N97 mini’s construction.

Overall, then, we feel a whole lot warmer toward the Nokia N97 mini than we did toward the original N97. Its slimmed-down design and improved software have taken much of the sting out of ownership, and the compromises – the absence of an FM transmitter and the smaller onboard storage – are minor in comparison to the far better keyboard and sturdier build. Still, none of what it offers is quite a home-run in the smartphone game right now; the OS is improved but still feels drab and mildly clunky in comparison to rival platforms, and the QWERTY ‘board is a long way off the best we’ve played with in recent months.

Bizarrely, if they’ve beaten anything, Nokia have killed off enthusiasm for the N97; the two handsets will go on sale alongside each other, and the UK store even has the N97 mini at £429 and the original at £449. Having lived with the N97 mini we’re not sure why anybody would plump for the original, frankly. As for the mini itself, we must admit to being more enthusiastic about the Maemo OS and its potential than we are about this current device. Nokia obviously have some good ideas left in them, but the N97 mini feels like what the original N97 should have been, rather than a new product in its own right.

Nokia N97 hits high street as iPhone 3G S rival

Flagship £499 Nokia mobile available sim-free now

The Nokia N97 mobile phone is now available to buy from UK Nokia stores, being pitched directly against Apple's new iPhone 3G S in the battle for supremacy in the smartphone market.

Nokia's latest flagship handset, the N97, is joined by the Nokia 6700 Classic and the 8Mp Nokia N86 on its launch day, over six months after Which? reported on Nokia's specifications for the new N97 handset.

Which? has a preview of the N97 giving first impressions of its features prior to a full test in the Which? test labs.

Customers queued outside the Nokia Store on London's Regent Street to buy one of the first N97s, although as the N97 launch coincided with the launch of the Apple iPhone 3G S, its rival predictably attracted the majority of media coverage.

Which? tech expert Al Warman said: 'The 19 June 2009 will be remembered as the day that the Apple iPhone 3G S was launched, but the Nokia N97 has been eagerly awaited by many consumers who prefer Nokia smartphones to Apple mobiles, as not everyone wants to be tied to the O2 network or buy music through iTunes. The Nokia N97's Qwerty keyboard, 5Mp camera, and memory card slot, allowing a total 48GB of storage, offer functionality that the iPhone 3G S simply can't match.

'Consumers wanting to buy the latest fully featured smartphone, or indeed any mobile phone, should read expert Which? reviews of over 170 mobiles before buying.'

The Nokia N97 is available in both black and white and costs £499 Sim-free from Nokia stores. You can also buy the N97 from Nokia's online store. The N97 is available only sim-free for one week, until 26 June when it will be available on 3, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone, and through Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U stores. Full tariff information is not confirmed but consumers will be available to get a free Nokia N97 on Vodafone tariffs of £40 or above,

Review of Nokia N97

This article is a review of the Nokia N97. I will compare its features with its biggest competitors in the mobile communication industry. Nokia N97, is a phone released by Nokia to compete with Apple’s iPhone 3G/3GS and HTC series. The phone is an improved version of Nokia 96 and with certain added features. This gadget is loaded with a number of applications and is the one of the best ‘smart phones’ currently available in the market. The sliding keyboard, for instance, is the USP of this gadget, its memory and multimedia features are bound to give its users an unforgettable experience for years to come.

Let’s have an in-depth look at some of its cool features:

Internet: This is the best feature of N97 in this category since it supports HTML, XHTML with RSS feed support. It also supports a large number of technologies like Bluetooth with A2DP, WLAN, Wi-Fi and Micro USB and has 3G support. It has a built-in support for social networking sites, with applications like ‘face book apps’. It also has a GPS Navigation system which guides the user to reach his/her destination. In this internet category, I shall rate it 4.5 on a scale of 5 due to its excellent features which it has to offer to its users.

Multimedia: It supports a large number of video formats for DVD quality. It supports major image formats including Jpeg, png, jpeg2000 and bmp. The 5 Megapixel cameras is a major disappointment, since its competitor (iPhone) shows off an 8 Megapixel camera. N97 has a high resolution of 2595 x1944 pixels. It also supports a 20x zoom and digital zoom. The email and SMS support is not as good as Blackberry but has lot of applications like SMS, instant messaging MMS and push Emailing. It also offers good music library support. Hence, in my opinion the phone should get a 3.5 on 5 for its not-so-good multimedia support.

Memory: The memory feature offered by N97 is extremely great; it gives you a feeling of a large power house in hand! It has a whooping 32 GB inbuilt memory and 16 GB support from the micro SD card expandable up to 64 GB. The phone support both GSM and CDMA technologies. It allows 6.6 hours of GSM talk time and 7.1 on standby. Thus the device undoubtedly gets a 5 on 5 for the memory support it offers.

Thus overall Nokia N97 is an extremely cool phone with some unmatched features. The phone is available at a price tag of 700$ (approx.) which is a bit expensive in comparison with the mobiles available in this range. The Internet and memory are the best features of this ‘smart phone’. This phone is good investment for any gizmo geek as it has attractive, worthy-of flaunting looks and a great superb application support.

All Information About Nokia N73

The Nokia N73 is a smartphone by Nokia officially described as a "multimedia computer". In common with other Nokia 'Nseries' and 'Eseries' phones of its time (late 2006), the N73 comes loaded with many software applications, including contacts, messaging, picture and video galleries, a music player, a Visual FM Radio, RealPlayer, an IM client, a WAP browser, a full web browser based on KHTML/WebKit, a Microsoft Office document viewer, a PDF viewer, an Adobe Flash Lite viewer and some games. The majority of these applications support background execution; for example, one may listen to music while browsing the Internet, and then may switch to write a text message or e-mail, without having to close any applications. With the exception of newer Sony Ericsson phones like K550 and W610, non 'smartphones' typically cannot do this or can do it in only a very limited way; for example, only the music player can run in the background. The feature which most distinguishes the N73 from other 'N'- or 'E'-series Nokia mobile phones is the 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera. The N73 does not support Wi-Fi.

Java applications as well as Symbian (S60 release 3) applications can be installed to or removed from the phone by the user, using either the Nokia PC Suite software, which is included with the phone, or the installer application on the phone itself. Notably, Nokia supports firmware upgrades to the N73 to be made by the user via a module in Nokia PC Suite or directly over-the-air. Since the N73 supports access via Bluetooth and USB Mass Storage (amongst other methods), it is possible to transfer large collections of files to and from it using any computer that also supports either Bluetooth or mass storage via USB (e.g. Microsoft Windows, Linux; Mac OS X etc.). The N73 uses a database system for the supplied 'Gallery' applications (which permanently run in the background, in order to reduce seek and operation times) and again these databases can be updated locally on the device itself. This means that supported image, video and audio files can be placed almost anywhere in the file system and browsed easily, and in the case of MP3 audio files, by ID3 tag (e.g. 'album'; 'artist' etc.).


Music Edition, Internet Edition and Special Edition
In addition to the basic N73, Nokia subsequently released the N73 'Music Edition'. It has technically the same hardware as the N73, but the 'multimedia button' on the keypad has been replaced with a button that starts the music player. The Music Edition also includes a 2GB memory card and the phone is completely black. The Music player on the Music Edition supports Album art and visualisations, while that on the regular N73 does not. It also has an improved control interface where 'play', 'pause', 'stop', 'next' and 'previous' may all be selected directly by simply pushing the phone joystick in the appropriate direction rather than having to scroll through on-screen buttons for these controls and then select them as on the ordinary N73. The Music Player application stays in the background at all time (even when music is not being played) in the Music Edition of N73. In the latest firmware versions this application can be terminated, but doing so prevents from using the Music Edition remote control to start listening to music, until the application is started again by using the phone's keypad.

N73
The 'N73 Internet Edition' was essentially the Music Edition, but retaining the 'multimedia button' function, rather than a dedicated 'music button'. The 'N73 Internet Edition' is not available in the Middle East and North Africa.

However, all three versions of the N73 appear to be being updated to have the same software as each other, essentially making them the exact same phone – the V4.0726.2.0.1 dated (26-06-2007) updates the standard N73's Music Player to the same version as the Music Edition's enhanced Music Player detailed above, while keeping the 'multimedia button' function, essentially making it an Internet Edition. Although Nokia N73 Software version 4.0735.3.0.2 & 4.0736.3.2.1 was released October 2007, some might not have availed this firmware version, because of limited actions to other countries.

As of 2008 the new firmware version of this smartphone (not ME) is V4.0812.4.0.1 (exclusively released for Asian phones) updates with the standard features still with Nokia Maps Application is installed by default. (Requires an external bluetooth GPS receiver.), Nokia Lifeblog, PTT, and Search applications carried on from the V4.0726.2.0.1 plus the latest addition is the Nokia Mobile TV application is also installed by default (Requires an external Nokia Mobile TV Receiver SU-33W) which is an application available on N77. The camera is much improved from earlier firmware. The phone now takes only 27 seconds to boot. It took 47+ seconds in earlier firmware. Also, the N73 has 20 MB of ram available after boot. A little change was users may not be able to install the N-Gage application which is modified to work in N73. Exceptionally making it better compared to ME because of its multimedia keypad rather than having only a single usage button, same features of Music Player like ME that supports Album art and visualizations, enhanced control interface and also available on start screen when menu key is pressed and hold after the phone boots up.

Later, June 2008 Nokia release firmware version 4.0823.4.4.1.which added improvements on its interface. 4.0839.42.0.1 was released on September 2008,which is a beta version of 4.0839.42.3.1 released same date and not available in some countries.

Also, during recent UK Nokia poster campaigns, the black (ME) version of the phone was advertised without the term 'Music Edition', and the O2 UK shop sells the N73 in both Silver/Plum and Black, with the Black version having the multimedia button rather than the music button.

Nokia has also released another model of the N73 called the 'N73 Special Edition' in the Middle East and North Africa. The phone was released during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2007. The phone has the same hardware as the other editions of the N73 but comes pre-loaded with Islamic applications and the phone is completely white.

Nokia also released N73 Special Edition in Indonesia without pre-loaded Islamic applications.

Reception
The Nokia N73 is the best selling phone in the N Series, and one of Nokia's best selling phones, owing to its balanced features and attractive price.


Other specifications

Feature	Specification
CPU	Dual CPU, CPU Type: ARM 9, CPU Clock Rate: 220 MHz
OS	S60 3rd Edition (initial release)
Memory	Max User Storage: 42 MB, NAND Memory: 128 MB, SDRAM Memory: 64 MB, ~14 MB Free Executable RAM Memory, Memory Card: Mini SD
Video recording	Yes (Format: MPEG-4, 3GP. Maximum resolution: 352x288 pixels. 15fps.)
Browsing	Yes. Comes standard with a full Web browser
Multimedia Messaging	Yes
Voice calls	Yes
Video calls	Yes
Push to talk	Yes
Java support	Yes (MIDP 2.0,CLDC 1.1)
Bluetooth	2.0 + EDR (A2DP -i.e. Support for stereo bluetooth headsets available with firmware version 4 or above)
Data cable support	Yes
E-mail	Yes
Other	Flash Lite 1.1
	Stereo speakers
	Stereo headset
	Mobile TV application (Requires an external Nokia Mobile TV Receiver SU-33W)
Colors	Silver and Plum White and Pink White and Red White and Brown Silver, Blue White and Sand Black (Music Edition, available later as a standard color) White (Special Edition)