Some Good Reasons for Getting the Nokia N97 Mini

Riding on the trend of producing mini versions of bigger, heftier or costlier handsets, Nokia officially announces the Nokia N97 Mini at the recently concluded Nokia World 09 congress.  Consumers should be happy that the mini version is not a step-down from the upscale feature-rich N97 Nokia flagship smartphone.  There’s just a few ergonomic updating to the body to make it more comfortable in the hands with a better build and feel. It’s actually more an improvement over the creaky N97 casing and more pocketable size that comes with the same features at a lesser price tag.

What makes it a Mini?

Apart from a smaller casing and a QWERTY keyboard that’s smaller and less friendly to use, you get 8GB of internal memory instead of 32.  The N97 mini gets a smaller body measuring 4.4 inches tall by 2 inches wide by 0.5 inch thin while its heftier brother measures 4.6 inches by 2.1 inches by 0.6 inch and weighs 138g compared with 150g on the N97.  It features a tilting 3.2-inch resistive touch screen instead of 3.5 inches and the same full slide-out QWERTY keyboard but with smaller keys and without the directional keypad.

Then there’s the battery life difference.  The mini uses a smaller lithium ion 1200mAh battery (BL-4D) while the N97 uses a 1500 mAh (BP-4L).  Hence, talk times are reduced by about 2 hours from the 9 hours on the regular N97.  Music playback gets reduced by 8 hours from the 40 hours on the N97.  Lastly, the Mini comes in garnet or cherry black, while the N97 comes in black or white body.

Apart from these, the Mini sports the same features.  Nokia, however, made sure not to repeat the same creaky and clunky body cover on the N97.  Now whether the market wants the difference at a €100 reduction on the N97 SIM-free price tag, its release this holiday season should show if Nokia made the right move.

N97 Features in the Mini

Powering the Nokia N97 Mini is the same ARM11 processor clocked at 434 MHz running the same Symbian OS v9.4 Series 60 release 5.0. The 3.2 inch TFT display gets the same 360 x 640 pixel resolution with 16 millions colors.  A smaller display area somehow gives the Mini a more brilliant screen with better color density.

They’re both the same quad band GSM with 3G /HSDPA/HSUPA data connectivity.  Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR and A2DP as well as WiFi 802.11b/g, stereo FM with visual radio are in both handsets, You get the same 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss autofocus camera with dual LED flash and geo-tagging from its GPS receiver. VGA video recording at 30fps while the secondary camera at the front for video calls can do VGA recording at 15fps. All the software for phone, messaging, client email, internet browsing and social networking access are there.

Conclusion

If you have a bigger hand and doesn’t mind a creaky body, get the N97.  Otherwise, a virtually identical handset with a firmer, smaller and lighter body, a slightly more brilliant display and €100 cheaper are good enough reasons to get one.  But if you already own the N97, the smaller keyboard and screen size, shorter battery life and lower internal storage can be discouraging.  Better have one for your teenage kid though.