N97 mini

QWERTY. The six letters that mean the world to BlackBerry fanatics has a new champion in Nokia. With both the N97 mini and the E72, Nokia’s taken a path well-trodden and chosen to focus on optimising the current generation of products, rather than expand wildly into new product designs. How do these two fundamentally different phones, brought together for their love of QWERTY, stack up? More importantly, are they that much better than the devices (N97, E71) they seek to replace?

The N97 mini is, to be fair — and for better or for worse — viewed by many as the second attempt at what was a brilliant concept that failed in execution and timing, the N97. The mini nomenclature refers to the thinning down of the N97 on two specific counts.

First, a smaller screen on a smaller body with reduced internal flash memory from 32GB to 8GB. And second, a drop in price. The N97 needed both, so what’s to complain? The feature list is impressive as well, a 3.2-in display, a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard with a tilting screen, impressive applications and 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics to boot.

The GPS and A-GPS are still present, together with ambient light, orientation and proximity sensors. The design is solid, and the reduced weight has meant that the mini can be shirt-pocket stuff finally. And finally, the keyboard is far better that the N97’s, with far more responsive buttons, plus no D-pad means your left hand ends up running around a lot less with the mini.

E72

But my biggest complaint about the N97 remains with its smaller sibling. With the Symbian S60 5th edition platform, Nokia’s still not got finger-friendliness down pat for the platform, and the user experience remains a mixed bag. Sure, some menus are bigger, but menus are still awkward and largely unintuitive in this day and age.

Much like the E72, the N97 mini’s browser supports full HTML with in-page Flash video, which means no separate app is required to play back Flash content like YouTube. The display is still resistive, which we can now officially say is so-last-decade, and with no multi-touch, zooming is clunky when compared to certain other phones. And problems with the battery remain, with Nokia replacing the N97’s already troubled 1500 mAh battery with a disappointing 1200 mAh battery in the mini.

Honestly, the mini is what the original N97 should have been, rather than a whole new product. Nokia’s touchscreen efforts are better spent with the newly announced N900 and Maemo OS than flogging the dead horse that is the current Symbian S60 platform.

The E72 has none of the mini’s problems —there’s no touchscreen so no comparisons to the touchscreen segment, and the battery is the same spunky 1500 mAh Li-Ion model that made the E71’s longevity legendary. As the successor to the hugely popular E71, the E72’s a hugely anticipated smartphone, but with almost six months between its APAC launch at CommunicAsia Singapore and its launch in India, appeal is bound to pale. Much like the E71, the E72 is a smart and sleek handset, and the generous use of metal trim lends a premium feel, not to forget one that collects fingerprints like never before!

E72

The good news continues with the keyboard which, despite the downsized space bar, is still very usable. New to the E72 is an optical trackpad — brushing your finger across the centre pad is recognised as directional control. I personally prefer the E71-style d-pad, but the E72’s system is reasonably responsive, and is really a matter of preference. Messaging options are really where the E72 comes out into its own, with plenty of account type support onboard. Basic POP and IMAP4 are of course accounted for, together with Nokia Messaging, ActiveSync, Lotus Notes Traveller and Mail for Exchange.

The only real disappointment I saw with the E72 was its 2.36-in 320 x 240 QVGA display, primarily because I’m surprised that Nokia didn’t squeeze in something more impressive. Higher resolution and bigger displays are fast becoming the norm now, and the flagship business device deserved better. Some of that blame goes to the Symbian S60 3rd Edition FP2 OS, and Nokia really needs to up its game so that users start believing they have a modern platform in their hands, and not a device that’s living with years of legacy.

So would I recommend the E72? Most certainly, if you’re not hung up on owning a BlackBerry (or aren’t forced by corporate policies!) and don’t need a touchscreen phone, this is the business-oriented cell phone to buy. One that will allow you to do your job and do it in style!

• Rating: N97 mini: 7/10, E72: 8/10
• Price: N97 mini: Rs 30,939, E72: Rs 22,989
• URL: http://www.nokia.co.in/