Here’s an interesting surprise… a rumored Nokia N97 Mini gets pictured in the wild. It seems to have a smaller body, smaller screen, omitted lens cover, and a different keyboard layout. I think I might like the keyboard, but I’m not sure about a smaller touchscreen. We’ll have to wait if this is indeed a real device.

Thoughts

Keyboard. Moving the d-pad to the right will probably only affect gaming controls, but it’s not one of my important usage. Spacebar is closer to the center, which should make some people happier.

Lens Design. I see 2 positive things about the camera lens and one negative. Let’s start with the negative: People want lens covers!

A positive factor on this rumored Nokia N97 mini is that a missing lens cover means no scratches caused by the cover on the Nokia N97. Another positive change I see is there’s a separation between the flash and camera. The Nokia N97′s camera is flushed with the dual-LED flash causing washed out photos on one side if there were scratches.

Internals. I have no idea what kind of battery or if it has more RAM or CPU. Would current Nokia N97 users replace their devices if it does?