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Typing on the Nokia N97 Mini is a breeze thanks to the Full Qwerty Keyboard.
And here’s a little bit about it.
Now, the N97 Mini might look a lot similar to the Original N97 (because…it is!) , but pop open the Qwerty Keyboard and you’ll notice the main difference.
There’s no Dpad !
Well not exactly. There’s still “Direction Keys” on the right hand side, but ofcourse, they dont feel as great as the Dpad on the Original N97. Maybe because it’s on the right side, and I’m used to having Dpad’s on the left side in controllers, gamepads and what-not. But it’s great that it’s there, and it really does help navigate the Symbian S60v5 OS. And yes, it does take getting used to.
Another thing that takes getting used to, is the Spacebar on the N97 Mini. Just like the Original N97, it’s oriented towards the right side, instead of centered like on typical keyboards.
But just like with the Original N97, you’ll get used to this in a day or too. Before you know it, you wont even notice that the spacebar’s not centered. It’s in the perfect position for your right thumb, which is one of your primary ‘tools’ in typing on a Mobile device anyway.
Otherwise the keyboard’s pretty good. Each key, as you can see, is raised up on it’s own individual button. Key’s are also better spaced out compared to the Original N97, and most importantly of all, they have great feedback to them. When you press a key, you can feel a reassuring ‘click’, so you know that alphabet’s going to appear onscreen. On the Original N97, the feedback on the keyboard wasnt too great, which led to situations where you might have to press a key more than once, because you werent sure if the keypress registered. Not a problem with the N97 Mini’s keyboard !
The key’s on the N97 mini also seem to be more “flattened”. Somewhat of a cross between the keys on the E75 and the Original N97.
The N97 Mini’s keyboard is also arranged differently compared to the Original N97 or the Nokia E75. You have the ‘Backspace‘ and ‘Enter keys’ at the right side, and the ‘Caps Lock‘ and ‘Symbols‘ Key on the left.
There’s also a function key (represented by the Orange arrow) which when pressed, lets you type the Orange Symbols on each key.
It’s also worth mentioning that the N97 Mini allows you to longpress a key, to get the alternate Symbol assigned to it. For example to get the ‘@‘ symbol, i’d longpress the ‘A‘ key.
Backlighting on the keyboard, is also pretty good.
Each individual key is nicely lit, and there was so light leakage at all, which really helps with the Premium feel of this device.
Owing to it’s size, the N97 Mini feel’s great in your hand in landscape Keyboard-Out mode.
But of course, you’ll need both hands to type on it. You can try, but it’s not a job that can easily be done without two hands. For those situations, you could just turn it back into portrait (Slide-closed) mode and use the on-screen T9 Dictionary.
Otherwise, when it comes to the Onscreen Typing features, and software and Predictive Text, the N97 Mini is practically Identical to the Original N97. You can take a look at our Detailed look at Typing and Text Input on the Original Nokia N97 to know more about it.
All that being said, Typing on the Nokia N97 Mini is actually a very pleasant experience. The keyboard is useful for anything from short bursts of text to typing long emails. With the N97 Mini, Nokia definitely improved on the keys of the Original N97. Too bad they had to take the Dpad out though.
Here’s a short video on The Touchscreen and Keyboard on the Nokia N97 Mini. Just to give you a better idea :
Have you tried out a Nokia N97 Mini’s Qwerty Keyboard ? Any thoughts that you’d like to add to our post ? Questions ? Do let us know in the comments y’all.
Clinton is currently based in New Delhi, India and is executive editor for UnleashThePhones. He is responsible for all editorial decisions, and covers all forms of Mobile things.
Cj is addicted to caffeine, social media, and technology. Always up for a good conversation, you can reach him through the contact form, his website, on Google Plus 
or on Facebook or Twitter: Follow @clintonjeff
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