The Nokia N97 Mini is a smartphone that delivers despite its ‘old’ operating system. It may not be as good as its current rivals, but it still has a lot of features that can help you stay connected.
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The Mini is thinner, smaller, and lighter than its predecessor (the N97), but is still packed with various connectivity features such as GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM Radio, and HSDPA. The 3.2-inch resistive touchscreen is responsive, while its slide-out QWERTY keyboard made it easy for us to compose messages.
The home screen can display up to six different widgets, with us being able to put Facebook, AccuWeather.com, Music Player, Mail for Exchange, and our favourite contacts, in addition to the date and time icon on the screen. The silver key below the screen brings the user to the main menu, allowing users to go straight to the Calendar, Contacts, Music, Web, Messaging Photos, Ovi Store, Maps, Movies and TV, Settings, Games, and Applications.
The 8GB of memory (expandable to 24GB) is perfect for users who want to store their music, photos, and videos on the Mini. Users can store audio files saved in MP3, WMA, AAC, eAAC, and eAAC+ formats, video files in MP4 and 3GP formats, and JPEG photos. The unit also comes with an FM tuner in case you want to listen to your favourite FM show during your daily commute.
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Audio playback was good, but listening to it using our favourite headphones was even better. Videos can be displayed in full screen, maximising the phone’s 3.2-inch screen. Photos taken from the 5-megapixel camera were good, with images looking sharp.
Besides having multimedia capabilities, the N97 Mini also has various applications aimed at business users. The unit supports Mail for Exchange, can open Office documents and PDFs, and even has a built-in Dictionary, Converter, and Calculator. The built-in web browser was able to display the Smarthouse website without problems, although we had to manually reduce the size to 50 per cent in order to see the whole page. There is a double tap feature that allows a user to zoom in and out, but it could have been better if they included gestures that simplifies website surfing.
The N97 Mini lasted for two days, making it the perfect phone for power users. Turning on the Wi-Fi or GPS function reduced the battery life, but it still lasted for a day.
Despite not having the fastest processor, flashiest user interface, and latest operating system, the Nokia N97 Mini was still able to perform and get the job done.
