Nokia has launched the little brother to the N97, the cleverly named N97 Mini, just three months after the former. But is less actually more in this case?
Nokia has basically taken the original N97, laid it on a table and hacked off a portion from the left hand side with a phone cleaver (if such a thing exists) to create the N97 Mini.
It then put in a screen 0.3-inches smaller than the original, scrapped the D-pad in favour of arrow keys, and overhauled the keyboard to be more tactile.
It's an interesting idea, and one Nokia tells us has been planned for a long time, despite some media outlets suggesting that the Mini was rushed out to compensate for a lukewarm reception to the N97.
The new chassis actually suits the N97 Mini, so much so that we wonder what consumer reaction will be should they be deciding between the two. Will it be a case of seeing the Mini as the obvious option, with little difference in the hardware and a £100 price cut? Or will the 'Mini' tag make it seem like the phone is the cheap and cheerful version of the range?
Another thing to note is the fact the N97 Mini (and the N97 soon) has got the new Nokia 2.0 firmware upgrade on board.
This means little tweaks like software updates, kinetic scrolling (flick to scroll to you and me) and new homescreen widgets from the likes of Elle and CNN, if that's the sort of thing you sprint out to buy a new phone for.
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