The original N97 is an odd thing, full of contradictions and strife. On the one hand, it’s a clumsy, unwieldy, clunky, basically obese phone that was given a lukewarm reception by many in the industry on its release. On the other hand, it’s a top-drawer smartphone that blows most of its competitors out of the water and shifted two million units in a little under three months, almost single-handedly (or double-handedly, along with the even more impressive 5800) keeping Nokia’s quarterly finances just mildly shocking, when by all rights they should have been utterly shocking.

We think this is due to one of two things. Firstly, it might be that the so-called industry are just a bunch of cynical old gits who like to pan everything as soon as it’s released, regardless of how good it actually is. Or, it might be because while the N97 was flawed in many ways, the public still recognised it’s greatness and wanted a piece of its (high in saturated fat) pie. And recognising that both of these are probably true, we can’t help but feel the Nokia N97 Mini is going to sell like little low fat, low-GI, high fibre, free range, wheat grass infused hot cakes. Because it is literally exactly the same phone, just in a physical package that actually feels not only good, but right. And feeling right is one of the hardest things a phone can achieve, but boy does this little thing do it.

And yes, yes, we know the mini Nokia N97 is not exactly exactly the same, but all the changes (that you’ll find in this Nokia N97 mini review) are so minor that we can’t even be arsed talking about them. All you’ve got to realise is that if you’ve been tempted by all you’ve read or heard about the N97, only to then find yourself wondering why someone has placed a small car in your hand when you’ve gone along to test one out, then the mini is just what you need. It’s as simple as that. And, simple as it is, this is why we think people are going to be flocking mini-wards faster than you can say get your Nokia N97 Mini deals here.

The impending release of the Nokia N97 is raising a few eyebrows, mainly who will get the exclusive launch of one of the most coveted handsets of 2009. Early Nokia N97 reviews have already been positive with many business users suggesting that they would much rather go with this phone over the Iphone. The big question is, who has Nokia done a deal with to decide who gets first release of this qwerty keyboard, touch screen, push email monster of a phone. The one that would make most sense is the Nokia N97 on Vodafone, as it does not have a killer handset of its own at the moment apart from the Blackberry Storm which has not been the most well received of handsets. Then you may see the Nokia N97 on orange, after all they do have exclusivity on the 5800, the other touch screen mobile phone from Nokia. The outsiders though would have to O2. If they could pull it off and be the first network to launch the Nokia N97 on O2 it would be something of a masterpiece. Having the iphone and the N97 would provide enough of an incentive for plenty of people to switch to their network. I guess we will have to wait and see who manages to pull off the coup of 2009!