Stuttgart, September 2009, Nokia World announces the introduction of the N97’s “mini-me” – a shrunken replica of Nokia’s latest Symbian flagship. What we knew about it back then was that it had a weird color which would appeal to fashionistas, a smaller screen and memory, and a slightly tweaked keyboard. Holding it now in my hand and looking at it, those are still the first things that come to mind. But just because it’s a smaller version of the N97 doesn’t mean it shall be treated as a lesser handset. Never. The N97 mini will get its share of fame on this site as I open up the first part of my review with the usual “first impressions” piece.
UNBOXING:
Let’s start with the box. (Skip to “Physical Aspects” if you don’t care)
Almost half the thickness of the original N97 package, the mini’s box looks awesomely classy.
Open it and you get another layer of carton with nokia.com/nseries on it; remove that to reveal the masterpiece. Handset and battery (BL-4D) are in separate compartments and nothing else is around. Lift that entire plastic holder and you get the accessories:
- Nokia CA-101 USB cable
- Nokia AC-10E USB charger
- Nokia WH-701 in-ear headset (finally!!) – has a remote control
- Nokia Ovi Suite DVD
- Catalogs, Ovi Store flyer, and warranty card.
Physical Aspects:
Got everything back in, placed the plastic holder on top and took out the handset. It feels great. First thing I did was trying to remove the back-cover. It looked like metal and I had to make sure. A sticker on it shows you how you should do that, as it’s nothing like the classic N97 cover: in order to open it you have to lift it from the side and not the bottom since it doesn’t cover the entire back like on the N97. Once you do, you toss that cover on the desk you hear the chime; it’s definitely metal (not that you can’t notice that with your eyes and hands). The rest of the weird stuff will be covered within the next part of the review which will be entirely dedicated to the physical aspect of the phone.
A few points before firing it up:
- It feels very solid; it’s like an Eseries. (perhaps should have been dubbed “E97”?)
- It fits very well in the hand – identical to the 5800XM
- Sliding mechanism feels more robust than the N97’s
- The keys on the keyboard are more spaced out, less slippery
- Tactile feedback on the keys is improved. The keys have been softly raised to provide that.- There’s no camera lens protection
- The device feels so slim
- Nokia N97 mini Designed in Finland
(this is what you can read on the back of the “hinge” under the screen when device is slid open)
Fired it up, here’s what I noticed, in random order:
- 3 original N97 themes are there in addition to one bronze which matches my handset’s garnet color. (darker than the E72’s “gold” color)
- The menu key feels like it is rubberized and lights up entirely, not just on the circumference
- Send and end keys are located farther to the right (they’re not centered)
- The keyboard lights up in beige and orange: main characters are in beige, symbols and numbers are in orange.
- Screen is responsive, wouldn’t say way better than the N97; operation is a tad faster; it feels slightly snappier than its sibling while inside certain apps but that could be because my N97 is loaded with apps an stuff… further testing will help me decide.
- Software version is 10.0.020 dated 14/10/2009
- Internal phone memory (C: drive) out of the box is 242MB and storage memory (E: drive) is 7GB.
- I counted around 13 widgets installed and 8 full games in addition to some apps like BirghtLight, RotaryDialer, and Calc.
The phone is plugged in to suck some juice from the mains before I proceed further with the testing process. In very short terms: I love it. Next up is the physical aspect part, but meanwhile feel free to @ me on twitter or post your inquiries as comments under this post. Just like the E72, I’m here to answer all your questions.
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