Nokia N97 Mini Now Shipping Stateside [Nokia N97 Mini Released in US]

The Nokia N97 Mini, a downsized version of the Nokia N97, is now shipping in the United States from some retailers. The Nokia N97 Mini had been released earlier Europe (around October) but is now available here in the US from online stores Amazon and Dell.
According to a statement from a Nokia Vice President, they had sold 2 million units of the regular Nokia N97 by September 2009, which apparently was some sort of impetuous for them pursuing the Mini. The N97 Mini features a ‘pocket-friendly’ design and form factor and is only around an inch-thick, although CNET’s reviewer reports that the mini “isn’t all that much smaller than the N97.”
The Mini will come with a controversial QWERTY keyboard (the placement of the space bar is almost universally unpopular), 5-megapixel camera, 8GB of flash memory, a microSD slot, WiFi and Bluetooth. As with the European version, the Mini carries the ‘Livecasting with Ovi’ software where you can geolocationally post your status updates. Ovi Maps is also included, and the Mini of course comes loaded with Nokia’s S60 5th UI software.
You’ll be happy to know that these Minis will also come with the software updates in the European versions. The Nokia N97 Mini will set you back $480 and is being sold at Amazon and Dell.

