Yes, a full retail Nokia N97 mini is at AAS Towers and I'm currently scribbling away on the ol' parchment to bring you a full review for next week. Just to wet your appetite though, here's my detailed N97 mini image gallery, with comments by Rafe and myself. With slimmer form factor and higher use of metal, I'd sum up my impressions of the device after a day as 'feels like the N97 that the Eseries team would have come up with'. More, much more to come next week.
Read on in the full article.
i definitely wouldnt mind buying this phone. not for a top of the line features, not for the best on the market, not for a fast CPU. simply because this is a nice form factor with qwerty keyboard, a good sized phone, and good build quality and materials, and good RF and call quality. i'm done with thinking that nokia can compete in the high end arena, they can't. at all. but this looks like a good phone just as a PHONE function.
If only they'd put 32G of RAM in it!!
I lost patience with the N97 .. still have it but my main phone is the SE Satio (gee I'd like to have a forum on AAS .. hint Steve/Rafe)
I've never liked the keyboard layout, thought the D-Pad was a complete waste of space and still can't believe there's no on-screen qwerty keyboard.
What they really need to do with the firmware is make it far more modular.
Will I swap my N97 for an N97-Mini .. No .. I'm fairly happy with the Satio.
I like a Part 0 Review(s) . More to come in the future ?
😊 Regards jApi NL
It may sound drastical but IMHO, it is evident that the "Classic" N97 is a dead body. :icon4:
It will be either discontinued (or driven by market toward vanishing) in favor of the "quality-enhanced" N97 Mini (materials, NAND Flash, Camera module) or we�ll witness a new repetition of the N95 evolution. Anyone remembers ?? The N95-1 had only 64 MB of RAM. They doubled the RAM on further "hardware releases" (N95-2, N95-3 and N95-4/8GB) but again, the early adopters (like me) got stuck with a handicapped version.
Story repeats ??
Do us all a favor and let Rafe write the review. Less cheerleading and more balanced reporting.
I am expecting a version of the X-6 with a qwerty in the next batch.
It has everything the E75 does and some! (digital compass, carl zeiss lens, etc.). Then see if Nokia can pull their collective heads out of their ass in two or less years. If they can't I'd say go with Android!
Unregistered wrote:Do us all a favor and let Rafe write the review. Less cheerleading and more balanced reporting.
Stop kissing Rafe's but (or not!) and stop giving Steve such a hard time!
<Brit Spears Fan impression> Just leave STEVE ALONE!! GAWD!! LEAVE STEVE ALONE!! /SOB!
Jouten wrote:Stop kissing Rafe's but (or not!) and stop giving Steve such a hard time!<Brit Spears Fan impression> Just leave STEVE ALONE!! GAWD!! LEAVE STEVE ALONE!! /SOB!
You mean butt. If you are going to insult someone, at least spell it correctly. I think it is a fair request to have Rafe alone write the review as it will be closer to the truth and more objective than the typical Nokia cheerleading that tends to go on when Steve writes a review. Not that all of Steve's articles are bad but they are heavily Nokia biased even when the device is not good.
Unregistered wrote:Do us all a favor and let Rafe write the review. Less cheerleading and more balanced reporting.
Sadly neither of the two is capable of "unbalanced" reporting.
I guess Nokia is giving a big middle finger to all the idiots (including myself) who bought the original N97. I wonder if Nokia has learned now how to make a lens without scratching itself, or a gps that actually gets reception.
There isn't much balance amongst forum posters either. In fact there is very little balance anywhere on the web.
Unregistered wrote:There isn't much balance amongst forum posters either. In fact there is very little balance anywhere on the web.
To be fair, Steve does have some pretty good articles. His camera, megapixel, etc. articles are very good. My problem comes in when he makes completely ridiculous statements that the N97 GPS is great when the thing is still crap, or when he continually gives Nokia a pass. You have to wonder if he is getting paid. Journalists are now suppose to disclose when they are getting paid by companies to review or write articles. They way Steve falls all over Nokia has to make you look at almost anything he writes with a critical eye. Sites like AAS (AAN) are supposed to be sticking up for us in that they can speak directly to the masses and express opinions supposedly based on truth, but here I see quite a bit of cheerleading, blind eye turning, apologizing, etc... especially when the products are defective.
You guys are talking nonsense. Steve favours Symbian somewhat but he is unbiased in his reviews of hardware. He's had a go at Nokia hundreds of times.
Why you bother reading the articles is beyond me. If you think everything is biased don't come to the site - make your own website - All About Nokia Haters, All About Cynicism or whatever you like.
Williamoni wrote:You guys are talking nonsense. Steve favours Symbian somewhat but he is unbiased in his reviews of hardware. He's had a go at Nokia hundreds of times.Why you bother reading the articles is beyond me. If you think everything is biased don't come to the site - make your own website - All About Nokia Haters, All About Cynicism or whatever you like.
Right on! People should just STFU n go elsewhere n not worry about it. But u see these same idiots articles after articles, repeating the same thing over n over n over n over..and after all the harsh critisms, some of 'em still went ahead n bought that POS N97. Then they come back n cry about it n pour out their misery over n over n over..AGAIN! God..GET A LIFE! U gotta wonder who're actually the bunch of Nokia apologists here.
Hello,
I'm curious about how usable the N97 Mini cursor/arrow keys are compared to the d-pad on the N97 and a d-pad on a S60 3rd edition phone. (For gaming and for general use.)
Please consider posting a brief comparison/review.
Thanks,
-Marc
marcb wrote:I'm curious about how usable the N97 Mini cursor/arrow keys are compared to the d-pad on the N97
Yes - good question and worthy comment. One of the good things about the D-Pad on the N97 was that the right-handed person could operate the D-Pad under their left thumb whilst having the right hand free to screen-tap (especially right-screen-sided virtual controller buttons). Maybe this will be the left-hander's N97 being the other way round?!
Tim
If i want to make a quick text entry without opening the keyboard, is there a way to do that in the mini apart from handwriting recognition?
malerocks wrote:If i want to make a quick text entry without opening the keyboard, is there a way to do that in the mini apart from handwriting recognition?
You could have the Notes app assigned to a 'homepage' Shortcuts slot - tap it - tap the screen in the middle - then use on-screen T9 (assuming it's the same as the non-mini N97).
Tim
First, Steve is a journalist, in the public eye. He is not above criticism or scrutiny. While many of his articles are rather good, he constantly exhibits a Nokia bias and a willingness to forgive the unforgivable. This is what I feel knocks his credibility. Other than this I find the articles informative. I know enough not to rely on Steve for a fair assessment of Nokia products. Once you are armed with this, you can wade through what he writes and get the info you need.
Back to the N97 Mini, how is the slide mechanism? I liked the N97's. It was, in my opinion, about the only thing right with the phone. Also, how is the keyboard, and key travel? Is the response and feedback good enough to type in the blind or do you need to constantly look at the screen to make sure your input was registered? How is video playback?
I can't understand the hype about the N97 mini. It comes with a smaller display, a less powerful battery, only with 8 GB RAM instead of 32 GB and is more expensive. The firmware ist the same and the only thing that speaks for this unit is the more compact form-factor. I'm still happy with my 'big' N97. Does anybody know when the Sandisk 32 GB micro SDHC-Cards will come along ?
Unregistered wrote:I can't understand the hype about the N97 mini. It comes with a smaller display, a less powerful battery, only with 8 GB RAM instead of 32 GB and is more expensive. The firmware ist the same and the only thing that speaks for this unit is the more compact form-factor. I'm still happy with my 'big' N97. Does anybody know when the Sandisk 32 GB micro SDHC-Cards will come along ?
The mini is cheaper going by handset only price. But the form factor is massively important to me, I could never put up with the N97 monster back to the 80s size phone. As for the specs, I would never need all that RAM.
Unregistered wrote:smaller display, a less powerful battery, only with 8 GB RAM instead of 32 GB
Does anybody know when the Sandisk 32 GB micro SDHC-Cards will come along ?
Use of metals in build. Double the size of C: drive. Agreed - don't see why their skimping on E: drive memory (not RAM - which is the same as N97 - 128MB). And why not more RAM given the N97's problems? RAM is physically tiny. And cheap. And why drop battery size? If the 1500mAh can fit into the E52 surely it can go in here! It must all just be marketting and Nokia doing 'what they can get away with and still sell' at the same price as the N97?!
There does seem to have been a (comparatively) huge amount of time between release of 16GB MicroSD and 32 - you're right.
Tim
Williamoni:
It's called Stockholm Syndrome. People who are trapper, such as prisoners, fall in love with their captors.
In answer to the various comments about review writing and balance.
Steve has been writing about mobile device for far longer than I have and is very experienced and delivers high quality content day in day out. Personally, I think he's a better writer than I am.
Each of us writing on AAS has different writing styles and 'voices', and you may prefer one over the other (the feedback I get supports this - the number of people complaining about each style tends to even out over the long term). We always strive for balance in our reviews. We also aim to inform and entertain so you can make your own decisions.
From a purely practical point of view it's not really possible for one person to do all the reviews.
The writing team, collectively, has many years of experience and has tried and enormous number of devices (both Symbian and non-Symbian). I think it is that perspective that is most informative and valuable (or, put more bluntly, we have more knowledge, more experience, and a better understanding of both the individual devices and, very importantly, the overall context, than the vast majority of readers).
Of course people are entitled to their own opinions and I know I speak for all the team when I say reading constructive comments and feedback is one of the pleasures of writing on the two-way-web. I would hope that the writings on AAS help people make better decisions, but I imagine everyone would also include their own opinion / thoughts / experience when making a decision.
As with any writing though you should consider it in its context and make your own judgments about what weight it should carry for you. I've said repeatably that different people will view a device in very different ways. In or review we try to point this out as far as is possible (but it is impossible to write a qualifier for every view point for every review).
Honestly the comments in this thread rather irritated me. I've always had a policy of having minimal moderating on AAS, but I wonder if, in instances like this, it wouldn't be better to clean things up and just leave the N97 mini related content (that's what people reading this thread subsequently would what to see).
As such, going forward I would also ask that people try and keep the comments on topic. If you genuinely have concerns about content quality etc. you can email me directly.
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In terms of N97 versus N97 mini - I do think the mini will outsell the classic, but there's also space for the N97 - people may want more internal memory space out of the box, FM transmitter, and/or a bigger screen. I know a lot of people on this forum have experienced issues with the camera slide / GPS etc... and I imagine the N97's coming out of the factory now have these things fixed and the new software...
That said I think I'd probably choose the N97 mini, especially as I imagine the price will drop a bit over the next few months, but it's not an easy call (I like the FM transmitter for example, but am not that bothered about screen size or internal memory). YMMV.
N97 mini mechanism - seems excellent in the ones I have tried (note I don't have one, but have seen quite a few at various events / shows). Nothing between it and the N97 as far as I could tell.
Hey can anyone tell me the name of and where I can find the theme that is loaded on the white N97 that was used in size comparison photo in the detailed N97 mini image gallery. It is realy cool, and I would like to try it.
Thanks
gc
This Pic
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rafeblandford/4077407451/in/set-72157622615208885/
You can get that theme here - http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/10690_microUSB_marches_on_Symbian_th.php - it is the Symbian Foundation theme.
>This image shows the reflectivity of the screen in bright light. The N97 mini has a standard TFT >screen (in contrast to the N97 which has a transflective TFT screen). This means that the N97 mini >is slightly brighter than the N97, but isn't quite as good in bright outside light conditions. It is the >same technology / screen as found on the Nokia 5800.
This makes it automatically discarded for me. I need to be able to see the screen.. and I don't really understand why is this aspect so much neglected by phone makers in general... it's barely understandable in a physical keypad phone, but on a touch screen one IMHO is unforgivable!
Rafe wrote:You can get that theme here - http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/news/item/10690_microUSB_marches_on_Symbian_th.php - it is the Symbian Foundation theme.
This theme is far from perfect. Apply the theme and try to modify home screen widgets (add/remove/settings). Fail. It is pretty hard to see anything...
ccrobopid wrote:>This image shows the reflectivity of the screen in bright light. The N97 mini has a standard TFT >screen (in contrast to the N97 which has a transflective TFT screen). This means that the N97 mini >is slightly brighter than the N97, but isn't quite as good in bright outside light conditions. It is the >same technology / screen as found on the Nokia 5800.This makes it automatically discarded for me. I need to be able to see the screen.. and I don't really understand why is this aspect so much neglected by phone makers in general... it's barely understandable in a physical keypad phone, but on a touch screen one IMHO is unforgivable!
If it is the same as the Nokia 5800 then it will be perfectly usable and visible in all conditions, because my 5800 is. Not as good as in indoor lighting of course, but still more than visible enough.
Maybe when colour e-ink appears on the market, but then you won't be able to see it in the dark.....the perfect screen isn't out yet.