The most descriptive overview of the layout of the Nokia N97 Mini you will ever find.

Apr 8, 2010 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

The phone is layed out as follows.

You hold the phone with the screen toward you, in your right hand. Your thumb can feel the rocker switch that is used for volume control and by talks for one handed operation.
Your middle finger can feel the toggle slider switch that turns on and off the key and screen lock.

You cant feel it because you don’t have a finger in that area, but on the left of the phone, under the volume button, you will also find a button for the camera. I’m told by my girlfriend that it’s a particularly cool camera too. It’s a real pity that OCR software doesn’t work with it.

Above the key pad switch on the right side of the phone is a small charger / micro USB socket.

On the top of the phone you will find the power button. To the right of this is a standard headset jack.

On the front of the phone, I.E, the area where the screen is located, is one physical button. This is the menu key and is also used by Talks as a modifier key. This button is located on the bottom left.

To the right of this button are two stationary touch buttons. The first one is answer and the second is hang up. This means that the hang up button is on the bottom right, and the answer is in the middle. These do not have any tactile markings to signify where they are but this really isn’t a problem. In fact, when talking, it is very comfortable to reach the hang up button.

This describes the phone when it is closed.

When the phone is open, you will find a qwerty keyboard, arrow keys, a back space and a function key.
To open the phone, hold it in your right hand as explained earlier. The screen will slide to your right. I find that this can be done with one hand by pushing with your index finger against the very smooth partnearest the top. Of course though, everyone will have a different way of doing this. I just mention it because I don’t know why really, but doing this with two hands or without holding it properly in my hand feels unnatural and as if I’ll break the screen if I do it too forcefully.

When the phone is open and still resting in your right hand, the qwerty keyboard is now on your left with the screen on your right.

Turn the phone around so that the qwerty keyboard is facing you with the screen further away.

The longest button is the space bar. This seems like it’s badly placed but it is just one of the many ways that this phone has some surprisingly well thought out ergonomic features. It is really nice to type on this and the space bar is actually perfectly placed when you get use to it. I’ve used a lot of keyboards of this size and none have been this comfortable.

The function key is the middle button on the far left.

The arrows are on the right at the bottom. Working from right to left, you’ll find right, down and up. The up arrow is as you would expect above the down arrow.
The enter button is above the right arrow.
The back space is above the enter.

Full stop, or period for you American people is one to the left of the up arrow.
Comma is one to the left of the back space.

For convenience, considering I’ve already explained everything else, here are a few common symbols that you will probably want while typing on this phone.

Apostriphy function key and k.
@ function key and a.
# function key and h.
Exclamation mark function key and m.
Question mark function key and n.

There is one thing to note when the phone is open to expose the qwerty keyboard. The soft keys are no longer on the bottom left and right. Key one is on the bottom right and key two is on the top right.

Key 3, 4 and 5 are between key 1 and key 2 in this view.
When the phone is closed, key 3, 4 and 5 are above key 1 and 2 as explained in my second review on www.lalrecordings.com/accessiblephones

This is a very lengthy explination and description. I hope it answers your questions.

Believe me when I say, this phone is exceptionally well designed. I don’t think I’ve seen so much thought ever go into a Nokia phone. They have exceeded my expectations and I really think anyone who is looking at a touch screen phone should seriously consider this.

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