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80 of 83 people found the following review helpful.
Seriously well put together phone - with one goof
By lightstream
January 9 2010: I amended the review to add some details about a couple problems I've had with the phone, slowdowns which lead to lockups and twice it suffered a system crash that leads to wiping out the phone's memory. I devoted a lot of the amended review to a hassle I had with Nokia's customer service. I realize that's unfair and irrelevant to the review of the phone, so I removed it.Although it says I bought the phone from Amazon I actually bought it direct from Nokia. I canceled the Amazon order when I thought they had the wrong color. I'm sorry that happened because buying it from Amazon would have been a better experience. (another edit: since installing the new firmware, any stability issues the phone had seem to have been solved)My original review:The quality of the materials and the fit/finish & construction is the first thing I noticed, taking this out of the box. It has nice surfaces everywhere, a shiny steel bezel on the front and highlights around the bottom section, a matte black (brownish) metal finish on the bottom with a steel battery door and camera lens bezel. The battery door latches securely (and easily) unlike any phone I've ever owned. The phone feels heavy in a high quality way. It fits in your hand in a way that makes it feel much thinner than you would expect from the measurements. The flare at the bottom makes it feel more secure in your hand. The raised lens bezel makes it easy to avoid inadvertently using the camera lens as a finger grip.so many pros...-- Touchscreen is very responsive and has kinetic scrolling and it's easy to stop the screen without accidentally launching something.-- Browser is full screen and looks great. (embedded con - I'm not sure I like the controls that pop up for some basic stuff like "back" or bookmarks. I can't find an easy way to backtrack in sites without bringing up the clunky set of controls.)-- The 3-row back-lit keyboard is easy to see in dim light, and it looks awesome with the gray and orange illumination. The layout works great for me, I'm already comfortable with how it works and find it much nicer than keyboards with 5 rows of keys.-- 16 x 9 screen has excellent color and brightness, even outside. Perfect format for watching movies full screen.-- Has native support for Flash and java so Youtubes and flash based websites look like they should. (does not support Flash 10 - hopping for an update)-- When you open the keyboard the screen tilts into a good viewing angle, either for typing with your thumbs or setting it on a table. Works great for watching videos, you don't have to prop it up on something.-- Stereo speakers sound great for speaker phone. (edited to add: the speaker quality continues to impress me. They also work good for listening to the FM radio.) Music sounds outstanding through headphones, it sounds like a high-end MP3 player. Music Player has the best sorting, album art, searching, Playlist creating and ID3Tag editing I've ever seen on a phone - wow.-- Accelerometer is pretty fast and all menus and screens and all but a few third-party apps have a landscape mode. You have to turn it on, it's off by default. The keyboard forces a landscape mode.-- This is the most customizable phone I've ever had. Nothing is locked in place, put it wherever it works best for you. I've already downloaded about a dozen themes and love how much you can personalize the appearance of the menus and screens, even the icons.-- The widgitized home screen is of course just as customizable but has another feature I wasn't expecting. You can swipe your finger across it and hide all the widgets so your phone display is just the wallpaper you chose and the clock at the top. Another swipe brings them back.-- Call quality and signal strength is very good - what you would expect from Nokia. I'm replacing a Samsung Eternity and this phone is a dramatic contrast, it's so much better.-- All the phone stuff, voice dial, speed dial, endless contact list with all the fields you could ever need, excellent contact list access/search, full MP3 ringtones, etc. It's all there and implemented very well.-- It comes loaded with apps, all of which can be removed if you want. Email is available in a couple different ways, a pay push system or free mail client in the messaging bundle. POP3 or IMAP.-- App stores for Symbian S60 are plentiful and there are loads of free apps and themes as well as ones you pay for.-- GPS is fast to fix on a location and stays locked on very well. Works much better outside than it does indoors.-- WiFi was easy to set up with MAC address and WPA security on my home system. It seems a bit flakey about staying connected or the phone deciding which network to use for certain apps, GSM or WiFi. I haven't found the way to configure this yet but I'm sure it's in there somewhere. (edited: a call to nokia support took care of this. There is a way to make it ask which connection to use when launching)-- Headphone jack has video out and hands-free mic & music controller inside the single 3.5mm plug. A nice set of headphones with mic and music controls is included but no video cable.-- Camera is excellent from what I can tell, haven't tried the video recorder yet.you get the idea... I really like this phone. It does everything and does it in a mature way, the OS feels like it's no-nonsense, something made for adults.Now the cons (including a big one - oops nokia!)-- limited video codec support. No DiVX. Player is from Real Player. I'm looking for a video player app to replace it - any suggestions would be appreciated.-- photo viewer doesn't recognize folders. This means all your contacts, album art, phone photos and collections of photos are all in one list, not necessarily sorted in the order you would expect. It's a pain to do anything with photos (my old phone worked the same way). ***I see there are third--party apps that seem to address all the issues.*** <-- this is not true. I was thinking the Resco Photo Viewer took care of this problem but it doesn't. I haven't found anything that does. A Nokia update might be able to address this and also make the photo viewer usable.-- GPS has an indicator to show it's running but it doesn't show if it's connected to any satellites. (edited: some of the GPS apps have a satellite signal strength indicator on the screen, but this doesn't help when multitasking.)-- some of the menus and built-in apps like the media player have a bland retro look. A bit of skinning would have helped, smaller boxes, less 3-d shading and touches like that. Simpler would have been nicer. Maybe some different fonts.-- There's a blinking indicator for unread messages that won't stop flashing. I've marked everything I can find as read but it continues blinking. (solved: messages stored on the SIMM card caused this - thx to the comment that pointed this out)-- The screen is a little stiff to flip up, but it's spring loaded so once it gets going it flies into place. Getting a fingernail under the back part really helps pop it into place. A small indent back there would have helped.-- USB connector is uncovered (dust) and is placed on the front so it's a bit awkward using it while plugged in - also the connector is mounted upside down which is mildly irritating.-- not a con but I haven't figured out where the mic is - so I'm not sure if I'm putting my finger over it.-- Here's the big one... The bottom of the phone has the camera lens bezel on one side and a flare on the other side to make it sit flat on a flat surface. The space in front of the lens bezel is enough to make it tip when you type on that side of the keyboard. [This is only a problem if you type on the keyboard while it's sitting on a flat surface, like a desk. Most people type with their thumbs while holding the phone so for them it wouldn't be an issue. (edited to add this clarification)]The original N97, the design this phone was based on, has a lens cover in a shroud that extends to the front of the phone. Leaving the lens cover off the mini created the problem. The designers must have not thought it through (or tested their design) but it clearly is a flaw Nokia needs to correct.This phone is just too cool to give up on so I used a wooden matchstick to steady it and then realized I could just glue it to the case.I put a photo of my matchstick mod in the user photo gallery. If anyone else comes up with a solution for the tippy case I'd love to see it, I'm hoping to use the mini for at least a few years. (someone in the comments pointed out that using a case with the phone would also solve the problem.)My wife found another solution for the "foot" problem. She gave me a package of leather dots that quilters use as a thimble, stuck right on the tip of their finger. These things stick to the case really well and you can pull them off of the case without leaving any mess behind. Two of them stacked together make a perfect height for the foot.Edited - 03-05-10: I added some photos to the gallery. These are to show the ThimblePad foot in place and also the clarity of the Clarivue screen protector. Plus I added a couple of shots that are just sheer affection for the design of this phone.Edited May 16, 2010: I upgraded to the new firmware recently and my phone is more stable, the UI is faster, memory is optimized better so multitasking never hiccups and my battery life is outstanding. I'm getting three days on a single charge even with fairly heavy usage. Right now I'm at a bit more than 48 hours since I charged and my battery shows 100%. A week ago after going 72 hours the battery still showed 27% when I plugged it in for the night. I just put my rating back to five stars, I love this phone more every day.Edited - July 1: I took the "foot" off the mini and the stylus string broke so I have a naked phone again, like just out of the box. I really like it this way and I found something useful for the tippy keyboard. A quarter (US) slipped under the corner works perfectly to stabilize the case. I'll live with this solution for a while and see how it works for me. I still have plenty of the leather feet so I can always go back to that. I like the phone the way it is though. I still haven't seen any phone for AT&T's 3.5G that is anywhere near as functional or well built as the mini for the price.I've been carrying it unprotected in my pocket for six months and it looks as good as new (I do have a clear screen protector). No scratches and the finish is still beautiful. I find new functions all the time and have settled on about ten favorite themes. I love this phone.
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful.
At last!
By R. A. Dumas
I'm a gadget nut, with a particular affinity for Nokia and Symbian, which I find far more robust and user friendly than many of the other options out there. I've used a number of Nokia E-series products, and returned to my E71 again and again - like many people, I think it's one of the best smart phones ever made. Nonetheless, I recently tried the N97 (twice). I returned the first one - it was clearly not ready for prime time. The second time around was better, because the firmware was more evolved; however, the phone was just too big for me, particularly after using the E71.When the N97 mini became available, I was initially put off by the negative reviews, including those that made it seem like less than the n97, but for about the same cost. I'm glad I ignored those reviews. This is a phenomenal phone, starting with the phone. In my opinion, Nokia is matched only by Blackberry when it comes to signal strength and call quality, and I don't understand why professional reviews just gloss over the phone capability - for me, it's one of the most important features of a phone. The home screen is highly modifiable - something that was a deal killer for me re: iPhone (I don't want to know that I have an email; I want to be able to see the email itself without having to dig down through four menus). The web browser is snappy and excellent. The size is perfect. Build quality far exceeds that of the N97, and is on par with the E71. The touch screen is very responsive - I've read a lot about resistive vs. capacitive; however, I was never comfortable with the iPhone but feel that mini works very well.If you're on AT&T and are bemoaning the fact that you can't get a decent Android phone, then get this. You'll be happy you did.All and all, very pleased with the purchase. The only cautionary note is that if you use all of the widgets and leave things on, like greader, facebook, etc., you'll def. run into battery issues. But you would with any phone.
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful.
The Swiss army knife of the phone world
By J. York
I have had this phone for a little over a week now and am quite happy with the results so far. Before I begin though, I feel like a few caveats are in order. 1) If you are expecting an Apple iPhone UI experience in terms of simplicity and whistles and bells, you will be disappointed with the OS employed by this smartphone (Symbian S60 5th Edition). 2) You definitely need a data plan to get full use of this phone - preferable through AT&T to take advantage of 3g speed. 3) This phone uses resistive touch screen technology - as such, it is not as sensitive as that used in many commercial touch screen smartphones on the market in the US. If you're coming from that background, you'll find this a little difficult to get used to. That said, if you live in a colder environment, you'll be able to use this phone while wearing gloves.With that out of the way, here are the impressions I have:1) This is a well-built phone with nice use of metals and higher quality plastics. It feels great in the hand - solid and compact. There is no creaking whatsoever (you can't even tell straight up that the phone has a keyboard) and the hinge seems durable and well designed - time will tell. On the negative side, I have noticed that there is a little light leak coming from a couple of the keys and the camera key also feels a little stiff.2) I found the keyboard to be tactile and I was able to adapt to it pretty quickly. There is enough space between the keys to make typing a relatively accurate experience. The space key is slightly offset which may throw some people.3) The overall feel of the OS is pretty zippy. Coming from a Nokia N95 8gb, I am definitely experiencing a speed increase in menu transitions and application load times.4) The out-of-the box firmware appears quite stable. I've had the phone for over a week and have not experienced a lock-up yet. My previous phone would crash at least once every couple of days so stability is a key issue for me and this phone (so far) appears to pass muster.5) The home screen is completely customizable. This is a great feature and gives you virtually one touch access to the things you use the most - be it applications, contacts, music player and a whole range of web widgets (facebook, email, weather)6) The GPS gets fast locks especially when use the assisted GPS function (allowing the phone to access data from the internet to obtain a quicker GPS fix). The phone also comes preloaded with map data for the US and Canada. For voice navigation you'll need to purchase a license from Nokia. I find their service to be accurate and okay value for money.7) The camera takes excellent pictures for a phone and is one of the main reasons I bought this phone. I am noticing a slight improvement on the camera module from the N95 even though the specs are virtually the same. I imagine that Nokia have tweaked the camera processing software somewhat. Worth mentioning though is that the quality is never going to be as good as even a rudimentary compact camera - especially in low light conditions. That said, always having a camera on your person for on the fly photography is awesome. It's also great to be able to upload to flickr or facebook upon capturing a photo you want to share.8) The music player does a nice job and provides rich sound. There is no FM transmitter on this model (unlike the N97 standard) so connecting it to a car stereo will have to be through Bluetooth or wired using the headphone socket (it is a standard 3.5 jack)9) Connecting to a computer is simple. Nokia provides the OVI suite which helps to sync your calendar, music, photos/videos etc. You can also download new maps and backup your phone data using this software. Unfortunately, you'll need a PC to install it. Using a Mac still allows you to access the phone in mass-memory mode so you can drop down music to the phone manually.10) Battery life is pretty good. Ultimately of course it depends on how you use the phone as to how long it lasts. If you're using data heavy widgets and GPS, you're battery will become depleted quite quickly. It easily lasts a full day of average use (couple of calls, 10-15 text messages, an hour of music while browsing the internet on Opera Mini, reviewing some emails from my Gmail account and taking 2 or 3 photos)11) You can get a whole range of 3rd party apps for this phone - free and paid for. I recommend downloading Opera Mini (an alternative browser), Fring, (a VOIP application which allows connection to the Skype network) and Joikuspot (a app that turns your phone into a wireless hotspot and comes installed on this phone). Nokia's own OVI store can be used for downloading apps but I have not had great experiences with this method - I find their app store to be poorly organized and the access point is slow and klunky. There are other stores out there where apps can be downloaded which provide a better experience in my eyes.12) As it currently stands, you'll likely have to import a case and screen protector for this phone. I'm sure this will change in the coming months.All in all, this is a great phone - it is extremely versatile and has coped well thus far with all I've thrown at it. It does lack the wow factor of the iPhone or the n900 in the user interface department but if you can get past that and want a functional, aesthetically pleasing smartphone this is a decent option.*****EDIT: I have used the phone full-time for around a month now and am in a good position to supplement my review with the following comments regarding features that I have discovered/missed in my original review and bugs that I have encountered with the firmware shipped with the device (namely v. 10.2.020).13. Voice/phone capabilities: It is testament to this phone's many other features that I neglected to mention the overall voice capabilities of the phone. They are pretty much what you come to expect with Nokia devices in general - I have owned 4 models in my life and each one has provided strong voice functionality. General reception on the phone is excellent, voice comes through nice a clear and I've had no complaints from the other end. One related negative point here though that I would like to add is that the speakers on this phone are not quite as impressive as other devices that I have owned. They just seem a lot less powerful and considerably more tinny. As a consequence, I have limited my speakerphone use to quiet areas.14. I got a nice case for the phone from PDAIR. It is a leather holder of sorts that houses the phone nice and securely. It doesn't add too much bulk to the phone either. I also got a screen protector from the same supplier.15. Update on the battery use: Again, I am relatively impressed with the longevity of the battery vs. my personal daily use. I do not use any data heavy widgets but I have activated the push email feature of my email client (Profimail). I typically push my regular non-business email so it's not on the go for 12 hours a day but I receive at least 15 emails/day. This has been added to my regular usage as noted above (namely couple of calls, 10-15 text messages, an hour of music while browsing the internet on Opera Mini and taking 2 or 3 photos). I typically have around 4 bars of battery left when I plug it in to charge again overnight. If I have a day when I really intend to use it heavily, I plug it into my computer at work to give it a little extra juice. One thing I have noticed when doing this is that I am unable to access my music through the device (likely due to the computer recognizing access in mass memory mode (where my music is stored) as opposed to just charging the battery). This is a little inconvenient but maybe there is a workaround that I haven't discovered yet.16. Firmware bugs: First up, don't be put off by the following remarks: None of them are real deal breakers for me and they will likely be cleaned up in the next firmware update. Being an early adopter of devices, you come to accept that there will be some issues and you just hope that they don't impact regular use too much. This is the case here: a. I noticed that when you are receiving a call and need to activate the screen using the screen release button on the side you sometimes have to flick the switch several times to get the screen to activate. This can be irritating when you need to get the dialer application up when you are using some automated system (i.e. calling your bank etc.) b. I noticed that on occasion (and the exact situation that inspires this still undetermined) the phone does lock up for a good few minutes before resolving itself. In the past this has happened when I've had a few 3rd part apps open and then tried to access the music player. I resolve this typically by restarting the phone. Ultimately, this may be due to 3rd party app incompatibility or it may be some sort of firmware issue. If anybody has had a similar experience, I'd be interested to know what your conditions were. Again, this hasn't happened many times and in all probability, a 3rd party app was to blame. I also want to add here that I have never the type of lock up where you need to remove the battery. c. Memory management: If I could change this device in any way, I would have given it 256mb of ROM as opposed to the 128. That said, I have only encountered memory out errors twice and both were due to trying to access the photo gallery. (As a side note, the photo gallery needs to optimized somewhat, it takes a while to load the images etc. and feels sludgy overall. This is somewhat annoying as the photo taking capability of this phone is where it excels in comparison to other devices yet trying to show off some of the images you've taken and having to deal with the slow gallery interface removes some of the wow factor for users of other devices). I recently purchased a program that gives me all kinds of data regarding the phone including available ROM memory and I have noticed that the amount of ROM you start off with after restarting the phone is slowly chipped away at even if you correctly close applications that you are finished with for the day. This is likely due to all the system process background apps that are loaded as you use the phone throughout the day and ultimately probably lends to some memory out errors. Again, I've only encountered this a couple of time and if you remain diligent in closing apps that you are finished with (you'll conserve battery this way too) and restart the phone every once in a while, you'll likely not encounter this too often. d. There is an error with the standard profile/ring tone whereby despite assigning a ringtone to a profile, the software chooses something different for certain people calling me. I can't explain this at all and have checked all the settings.My original conclusion still remains and, as the firmware becomes more mature, this phone should get better with age.
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Cheap product!
