My N97 Mini Review

[JP]

INTRO:

It has been a while since I've reviewed a phone; over a year in fact. Truth be told, nothing has really motivated me to do one. Everything out has been either lacklustre or great with a fundamental omission.

The N85 was ok, the Omnia HD was great but lacking 850mhz HSPA, the N97 was a waste of time and the N86 doesn't have a keyboard...or the N97 Mini doesn't have a better camera..

Of all the options though, the N97 Mini has been my phone of choice lately and, to be quite honest, I'm not exactly sure why.

Phone Model & Firmware:
N97-5 (Mini) / 11.2.045

THE BASICS:

• THE CALLING EXPERIENCE [Overall 4/5]
  
  
  In my opinion, the calling experience covers everything from dialing a number, to reception.
  
  • DIALING: [4/5]
    Dialing numbers on this phone isn't bad. The keypad is nice and large so it's easy to access the keys. I just find that it takes greater concentration and
    precision to dial when compared to my N95 or N86.
    
    
    Furthermore, and again because of the touch screen implementation, you have to perform extra commands just to bring up the keypad or enter in touchtones. I think a dedicated keypad button or motion would be a sweet addition personally.
  • SOUND QUALITY: [4/5]
    Conversations are clear and crisp, I've never had any issues in this regard.
  • RECEPTION: [3/5]
    Usually reception is a given when it comes to Nokia.
    
    I've had the privilege of being able to compare the reception on this device side-by-side with a connected N86 and BlackBerry 9700 Bold, and can attest that on the same network in the same place at the same time, the N97-5's reception is marginally the weakest of the bunch. Just to be clear, all 3 devices are operating on the 850/1900mhz EDGE & HSPA spectrum of the Rogers Network in Canada.
    
    In my experience with the N97-5, more often than not, (a) it takes longer to find signal when emerging from no coverage zone like the subway and (b) occasionally has lower bars than the N86 in a fringe area. Its not uncommon for my N86 to have 2-3 bars on 3G while my N97 Mini is on EDGE, or for my N86 to have EDGE while my N97 is looking for reception. In comparisons with the 9700, it too gets reception faster than the N97 Mini.
    
    Unfortunately, the N97 isn't as good as it gets in the reception dept.
  • ERGONOMICS (THE FEEL): [5/5]
    Some phones feel awkward to hold to the ear including the larger N97 IMO. The N97 Mini on the other hand, with its excellent weight distribution, density, and smooth finish, has that quality feel of substance and comfort.
  • OTHER CALLING FEATURES: [unrated]
    
    • The Mute command is accessible while on a call but after using dedicated mute keys on my BlackBerry and E-Series, I'm left yearning for it on my N97 Mini as well.
    • A great feature of S60 Touch is how easy it is to get to the phone home screen from any other application or menu while on a call, just by pressing the phone icon near the top of the screen. See screenshot below:
      
    • Regarding the loudspeaker, a side-by-side comparison with my 9700 yields the 9700 to be a bit louder and clearer.
  
  
• THE BATTERY EXPERIENCE [3/5]
  Don't expect miracles from this device. The large screen and demanding applications will drain your battery. Manage it accordingly - buy a spare and/or take an extra charger with you. Fortunately, it uses the now common MicroUSB standard but there are still the occasional chargers that don't work with this device. I can confirm it works with the Motorola MicroUSB wall charger that came with my EQ5 speakers and my BlackBerry 9700 MicroUSB wall charger. It does not however work with the Jabra JX20 Pura MicroUSB charger.
  
• The MESSAGING EXPERIENCE [Overall 2.5/5]
  Save for the keyboard, the rest of the messaging experience on the N97 Mini (and its larger counterpart) is a disjointed, almost harsh, experience.
  
  • SMS / MMS: [2/5]
    If you're not new to S60, you already know that the SMS / MMS experience could not possibly score more than 3 out of 5. Three years after the introduction of the beta Conversation app, we have yet to see any improvements (though being able to customize your own dictionary is a welcome addition).
    
    Furthermore, and it's sad to say, but the N97's sms app cannot keep up with the pace of a BlackBerry or iPhone user as their native threaded implementation provides a more enjoyable, IM-like experience. (And I tried iSMS last week, I'm not sure why people rave over this, it's not even close.) There's a measurable delay opening the SMS window on the N97, especially if you're using a theme. In fact, I can send a short SMS faster on my N86.
  • EMAIL: [2/5]
    It's hard to believe that in 2010, I could have such a difficult email experience on any device.
    
    Email on the N97 Mini is a discombobulated combination of the antiquated default mail client, Nokia Messaging, and Mail for Exchagne.
    
    Surprisingly, the default client is the most consistent and functional of the bunch. I think everyone loves what Nokia Messaging is trying to do, but it looks to me like they're having trouble keeping up with the demands. It's a good client but very rough around the edges. For instance, and I know this is probably trivial to a few, but why is it that I cannot see the "connectivity / send / receive status" arrows when I'm in portrait mode? (you can see a thin remnant of the icon hidden in the top right corner.)
    
    There's a home screen widget and audible alert to inform the user of new emails but if your phone happens to be on vibrate mode like mine often is, and you prefer using other widgets instead, you wont get a new email alert. Despite the many bloggers asking for this feature, the Nokia Messaging app continues to omit it. Even the default client and Mail for Exchange have it.
  • INSTANT MESSAGING (IM): [2/5]
    The phone only comes preloaded with an Ovi Chat client which hasn't really taken off yet in North America. The client itself is ok but it's not that reliable. Occasionally it shows shows contacts as being offline when they're online and doesn't receive IM messages from others.
    
    Nokia Messaging has been promising something in this space for a while as well but if it doesn't have home screen indicators like it's sister email client, you can forget it.
  • QWERTY: [4/5]
    I actually enjoy the N97 Mini keyboard and consider it a substantial improvement over the N97. The keyboard buttons have just the right amount of tactility (yes that's word lol) to them and depress with ease. Contrary to what the critics say, the spacebar placement is clever and convenient.
    
    The only thing I think the BlackBerry has on this is their symbol placement (i.e. there's no dedicated currency key on the N97 Mini) and ease of ALT / SHIFT commands. I prefer holding a key to capitalize the letter than getting the symbol. I don't mind using shift keys and often find myself still using them to access symbols instead of holding the letter down.
  
  
• THE BROWSING EXPERIENCE [3/5]
  The browsing experience on S60 these days is past its prime. I've had to turn flash off to shorten the page loading wait times. Also, it's 2010 and this device still can't open a new browser page window on demand.
  
  I suggest supplementing it with Opera though I'm still confused as to why I cannot set it as a default browser from this menu:
  

THE OTHER STUFF THAT MATTERS:

• DISPLAY [4/5]
  After being spoiled by the brilliant Samsung Omnia HD display I used for a bit, I can only bring myself to say that the N97 Mini's display is good but a little underwhelming.
  
  There's nothing necessarily wrong with it but it just doesn't have that WOW factor that the BlackBerry Bold and Omnia HD has.
• CAMERA [4/5]
  Photos from the device are decent. Check out my Flickr album for comparison photos taken by the N97 Mini and the N86.
• ENGINEERING [Overall 5/5]
  If there's one thing the N97 Mini has going for it, it's the build quality. In its closed form, it's a lean and elegant device accentuated with subtle, yet gorgeous metal components. As I mentioned earlier, it's an absolute pleasure to hold this phone to the ear and talk.
  
  While open, the keyboard feels great to hold and type with. There's absolutely no wobble or loose parts on my unit.
  
  • SLIDER QUALITY: [5/5]
    The phone glides (not slides) open and close with ease, always culminating with that comforting snap at the end.
  • MATERIALS: [5/5]
    The Mini's build quality is beyond that of any E-Series I've used (incl. E71, E72, E51) and is one of the best phones I've ever handled. The metal and plastics all have a high quality feel to them.
    
    I still have the screen protector on so can't comment on the scratch-resistant screen.
• PERFORMANCE (SPEED & STABILITY) [3/5]
  This is the N97 and Mini's Achilles heel. I'm not that technical so I don't know if its due to the "ARM 11" processor or the "434mhz CPU Clock Speed" as noted on Forum Nokia. What I do know is that I cannot recommend this phone to many people, strictly due to the laggy performance.
  
  At times, the phone is extremely responsive and snappy and reminds me of why I love the phone so much. At other times, the lag / delay / unresponsive nature of the phone leaves me frustrated and thinking of my N86, no lie...it's that bad sometimes.
  
  I recently learned that using themes significantly impacts performance so I'm currently stuck using boring default themes and not able to enjoy any of TehkSeven's or IND190's latest & greatest offerings.
• AESTHETICS [5/5]
  When it comes to aesthetics, the Cherry Black N97 Mini is a sexy _____. Its polish and finesse give it that baller / bourgeoisie look.
  

BUGS & PERFORMANCE ISSUES:
No phone is perfect and this phone is no exception. I've compiled a list of some of the issues I've experienced while using this phone. I could only hope that Nokia fixes them all in due time.

• Laggy music player; takes long to open the Playlist selection
• Lag on homescreen, music player widget lag (i.e. you can often count 2-3 full seconds before the player responds to your command)
• Adjusting volume on any screen except in the music player is a hit or miss...
• 8 times out of 10, the Gallery app doesn't have enough memory to open the photo list and shuts down most other apps in the process.
• Ram leak. After a few hours of use you'll notice your hovering around 15-20mb RAM with no apps open
• Still cant copy/paste in the browser or any other WRT (Web Runtime) widgets unless you go into portrait mode...a royal pet peeve and most of the time not worth it
• The phone gets laggy when obtaining reception after emerging from an area of no coverage
• Screen transitions should be implemented. I see two or more different screens simultaneously far too often
• Disable auto-theme preview, it's a nightmare changing themes
• The T9 is inferior to other Nokia O/S iterations
  
  • There's no way to go to "Previous" symbol
  • The 'learning' feature includes punctuation. For instance, if you type "BAR?" and then want to type "CAP.", it will default to "BAR?" because the last phrase typed. This is different than any other Nokia implementation I've used as punctuation should never change the word.
• Unnecessary extra part to house the SIM card. Just adds the risk of loss and being unable to use the SIM without the loose part.
• Often can't delete an image just taken. An error msg pops up.
• The Facebook app ruins the quality of photo uploads effectively eliminating any Carl Zeiss advantage
• The RSS widget always disables the 'Auto-Update' feature whenever you turn the phone off
• Have intermittent PC Suite connectivity issues
• I find predictive text input with the QWERTY categorically useless. Instead of doing productive things like changing an "i" to an "I" or "Im" to "I'm", it suggests words with letters that aren't even physically or synonymously close to the word you typed.
• My screen emits a high-pitched sound similar to the 16,000hz sound on this hearing test page

CONCLUSION:
Ironically, in spite of its shortcomings, it's still my #1 phone of choice, followed closely by my N86. That said, I would be doing an injustice if I recommended it to other people in its current state.

If you're a patient user that could live with a few bugs here and there, you might enjoy this phone. However, if you're somebody who doesn't have time for the occasional powercycle and common lag, you should probably consider something else.

All things considered, I'd give the phone a 3.5 / 5 rating. Had this device run smoother, I'd easily give it a 4/5

P.S.:
The latest firmware seems to have made this fully compatible with my iTunes album art collection. (i.e. the album art no longer has to be specifically set as "Front (Cover)" as it did before)

Another nice feature is being able to tap any indicator in the top right corner of the screen to open a shortcut / submenu and provides me with instant access to the indicator's context.

[THETRUTH#34]

JP as always a honest and fair review, keep it up.
I love what you said here,
Ironically, in spite of its shortcomings, it's still my #1 phone of choice, followed closely by my N86. That said, I would be doing an injustice if I recommended it to other people in its current state.
Great work

[Jimmy_K]

Good review and appreciative of the honesty.

I'm kind of shocked that Nokia hasn't figured out something as basic as a well-functioning modern email and messaging application. No IM-style threaded messages in a modern smart phone in 2010? It boggles the mind.

For those in the know, does it have something to do with the core functionality of Symbian S60 that can't handle an updated messaging application? (I've also read that S60 has issues with 720p video recording, so who knows...)

[ynohtna_lude]

good balanced review and echos my thoughts as well... except for the email since I've ever only used the default client and don't know any different so I think it's functional enough for my needs

[samsung.user]

I think it does have something to do with symbian. On the n900 sms and im are all threaded by default. And the thing I absolutely love is what happens when you get a new sms, email, or im. A little card flies across your screen. It says who the text is from and also a little preview. Small enough to not get in your way, but big enough to be able to read the info. It then hovers for about 2 seconds where you can click it, it then leaves and your task switcher changes slightly to let you know you have a new message. Very unintrusive and I couldn't think of a better way.

I hated on my n86 when I would get a new text it would completely get in your way. And pretty sure there was no way to ignore it. You had to acknowledge it to resume what you were doing.

I'm sure the next symbians will be better in regard to texting and notifications. Thanks for the review.

[RogerPodacter]

JP said it better than i've tried to say it. but the n97 mini despite its low RAM, its a near perfect mobile phone from a physical standpoint. its growing to be my favorite phone in a long time. nice review.

[newtype]

The N80 is my favorite phone of all time, but the N97 Mini is still very good in it's own right. This review hits many of the right notes, however, I've not experienced many of the bugs you listed...but then I have one or two that you didn't list.

All in all, great review, JP -

[netborn]

Very good reading, nice work. Also thanks for the tip about returning to the in call menu.

[jm01dc]

can you expand upon why you like it more than the bold 9700? I will say that I had a n97 mini euro version from womworld to trial (still need to throw up my opinions/review), and the aesthetics of the phone is GREAT. Not to mention I love having the latest ovi maps for free. Your comments about email are spot on, I had myw ork email connected through mail for exchange and gmail through nokia messenging and to say it was a cluster was putting it lightly, absolutely terrible execution. Even with s60 5th in a pretty bad place in my opinion, when it was $379 on dell last week, I thought it was a great buy for what you get.

THAT said, I'm currently rockin the n900 and besides poor battery life (still working on that), ovi maps 1.0, and a somewhat brickish design (although i don't mind it for some reason) its a pretty cool device.

[JP]

can you expand upon why you like it more than the bold 9700?

They're not comparable. For email and messaging in general, the Bold 9700 blows this out of the water. However, for music, camera and other media capabilities, not to mention superior build & touch screen, this is better than the Bold 9700 IMO.

Different strokes for different folks at the end of the day.

Thanks everyone for the support!

[newtype]

If my volume buttons worked every time I used the music player, I could *almost recommend this phone to a friend.

*but still couldn't because of the poor email functionality