Nokia N97 mini user reviews
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User reviews11
Mary Oswell 5 August 2011
Good: Size. Radio. Camera quality.Fruity French guy I inadvertently set up as default voice on satnav. "Favourite" contacts.
Bad: Touchscreen - unresponsive and inaccurate; Speed of apps, especially camera. Lousy text address function - no "recent" list - too many options on everything; Absolutely useless OVI computer link ; Very hard to use without looking; no "back" button on internet screens; sudden drop-off of charge - battery ok, but full to zero not gradual enough;
Comment: All my children have iPhones. I thought this would be a Nokia version of the same thing but it almost makes me cry with its slowness, its clumsiness, its lack of user-friendliness. Can't wait for upgrade date to arrive.
The problem is that although it gives lots of applications, useful things like Satnav (free!) and email, not to mention all the other cheerful logos that do such interesting things, it is actually quite hard to make a quick phone call and almost impossible to send a quick text. Emphasis on "quick". Nothing is quick. No shortcuts, no intuitive, user-friendly systems. Think it might make a good fishing weight, but hard to attach line. Handy to lob at an intruder, I would think, and useful to prop a window open. I would not buy this phone again.
tji6969 2 June 2011
Good: Qwerty keyboard
Bad: Everything else ... Screen lock temperamental, screen orientation slow and unpredictable, touch screen useless
Comment: This is the worst mobile I have ever owned. The touch screen is imprecise and unresponsive and the screen lock switch is opposite to the camera switch. Consequently trying to answer a call becomes a nightmare, you either switch the camera on, or you switch the screen on but it has the wrong orientation and the touchscreen won't work properly in landscape!
I would definitely not buy this phone again or indeed recommend it.
Sam Braithwaite 1 April 2011
Good: keyboard
Bad: touchscreen, camera, crashes all the time, battery life.
Comment: dont get this phone
Virgoalpha24 16 March 2011
Good: Querty Keyboard, Camera
Bad: Everything else!.
Comment: if you are thinking of getting this phone then please read this review carefully before you do.
I have to admit this is the worst handset I ahve ever owned. The system crashes daily, the battery has less than a days life and that is when you are not using the phone.
The internet is slow, there are no features to speak of and the interface is about as exciting as watching water boil.
It is in essence a £10 phone with better graphics, in fact you are better of with the £10 phone as you can be sure the battery will last at least a full day.
Emily Taylor 31 January 2011
Good: It's small
Bad: Internet, Battery
Comment: When I first got this phone it was fine. Now I've had it less than a year and it won't stop going wrong. I've sent it back for repairs and had it sent back saying it was all fixed - it wasn't it still doesn't work. Most the times I slide the keyboard off now it turns the phone off. The internet doesn't work correctly so can very rarely get on the internet using wi-fi and 3g. A slight knock (even if it's just against my leg) turns it off. It is awful. Had I had prior knowledge to how useless this phone would be I wouldn't have got it. Unfortunately, I am stuck on a 24 month contract and the company I have received my phone from will only repair it until my warranty is up and then they want nothing to do with it. I would NOT recommend this phone to anyone! It's not even lasted me a year
Ajeesh Madhava Vijayan 6 January 2011
Good: Maps, Camera, OVI Store, Sleek model
Bad: Touchscreen, Hangs sometimes, Some problems while connecting USB, Symbian OS
Comment: i bought this phone 5 months before. The phone is above average.
PROS:
But the symbian OS underperforms when compared to other OS Phones. The camera is excellent when outdoor. The map (GPS) software is also excellent.. Thats the major qualification that motivated me to buy this smart phone.
CONS:
Touchscreen is not at all excellent and it makes me ill sometimes.
The phone hangs sometimes (mostly restarts while attending calls but it occured me for some occassions.. i dont know the real problem)
It wont charge when it is connected to the system via USB.
Overall the phone is an above average
liam_omuk 30 December 2010
Good: Free Sat Nav, Full Physical Qwerty Keyboard, Ability to use as a 3G Modem.
Bad: Very Poor Touch Screen, Crashes, Unlock Switch
Comment: I was really excited to get the new N97Mini 12 Months ago and got a 24Month Contract, now i'm stuck with the worst phone I have ever had!
The Phone crashes all the time, usually just as you receive a message, the only way to fix it is to take out the battery and switch on again. The touchscreen is the most unresponsive thing i have ever used, answering calls can take 5 or 6 swipes, useless when in a cradle.
The free sat nav is great though it does sometimes take you on some strange routes and a couple of times its taken me to the middle of no-where but in most cases its great. It needs an internet connection to get its first route so you have no chance navigating FROM a low signal area.
Its main problems seem to stem from the stupid trigger unlock switch and the auto-rotate, it takes 3-4 seconds to re-adjust to being turned round and gets completely confused as to whether the screen is locked or unlocked, you'll spend ages pulling the trigger again and again trying to activate the screen.
The Ovi Store is awful, extremely slow, very unresponsive and impossible to log into - I have had the phone for a year and havent downloaded any apps because it wont log in to the ovi-store, not that theres anything worth downloading.
You will need to regularly delete your old messages because after receiving 250+ the messaging area grinds to a halt due to low memory.
The camera is ok in good light very poor in low light. It will often turn on without you asking it to and even when you do there is no way to take a picture in a hurry, expect 30 secconds between wanting to take a picture and actually being able to!
In a world of IOS and Android, This phone is miles behind, very unresponsive and buggy, you will be looking at your friends phones wishing you had theirs over this, in my opinion, steer clear!
Sherif Khalil 17 December 2010
Good: You have a fully fast,small office in your pocket.....and yeah,good price too
Bad: Resistive screen,speakers ....and not a lot of apps
Comment: it's a good phone,good battery life...does what it really says it can !!!
i would recommend it if you're a symbian or nokia fan,but if u're an Apps geek...then it's not for you !!
Darren Wood 21 July 2010
Good: Everything when it actually works
Bad: The screen freezes ALL THE TIME, it switches off for no reason, it drops calls when texts come through and all this with ALL the updates and scrubbed and re-istalled the operating system 3 times !
Comment: DONT BUY IT!
Serge 7 January 2010
Good: Most compact phone in its class (by far)
Bad: It can't be used like a mini-laptop, on a table (but then, which phone can?)
Comment: I have to disagree with the "review" on this website. Anybody can see that the mini looks better than the original N97. But the differences don't stop here: there have been noticeable improvements in many aspects:
The materials look and feel nicer, and overall the phone is more robust (the battery cover, for example, won’t break like the predecessor’s).
The phone software has been updated and is much less prone to bugs.
The display is more reactive, and kinematic scrolling has been added with the software update.
The keyboard is not only better laid out, it has also more travel and tactile feedback has been much improved. It works absolutely fine - much better than on the similarly sized Nokia E75, for example (which I also own and like). By the way, I am a southpaw, and I don’t mind at all that the space key is offset.
The lens cover on the N97 caused scratches on the lens. This is not the case anymore.
The screen’s brightness, while maybe not class leading, is absolutely fine. And Nokia phones do support 16 millions of colours, which shows. Screen reflections are fairly low compared to other smartphones. The speakers sound loud, clear, undistorted.
In industrial design, subtle changes can make a big difference. Aesthetically speaking, I did not like the N97 at all. But I like its younger sibling very much indeed.
Now about S60 being ‘boring’ and ‘dull’: Of course, if you’re constantly looking for something ‘new’, you can claim that. But a user interface (or operating system, for instance) is not only supposed to be entertaining. Customisation, for example, is very important. Or multitasking, for that matter.
The N97 mini comes packed with installed software. You can use it as a mobile office, a GPS, a voice recorder, a web radio, FM radio, media player, social media tool, scratchpad; you name it, right out of the box. And it does work.
Millions of users are satisfied with the S60 platform. Cosmetic updates, while not essential, will come in time. The same applies to multitouch and capacitive screens (which btw the N900 also lacks, and nobody complains).
If you’re a gadget geek willing to change phones like socks in order to have the latest hip stuff, this may not be the device for you. But if you want a fully functional touchscreen smartphone with an excellent keyboard, running an established platform AND with a pocketable size, there’s not anything else on the market right now.
I just can’t understand how a bricklike device with an incomplete feature set can get 8.4 points, and this handy gem only 7. Maybe it should have been properly tested.