The Nokia N97 Mini is a smartphone that delivers despite its ‘old’ operating system. It may not be as good as its current rivals, but it still has a lot of features that can help you stay connected.

The Mini is thinner, smaller, and lighter than its predecessor (the N97), but is still packed with various connectivity features such as GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, FM Radio, and HSDPA. The 3.2-inch resistive touchscreen is responsive, while its slide-out QWERTY keyboard made it easy for us to compose messages.

The home screen can display up to six different widgets, with us being able to put Facebook, Music Player, Mail for Exchange, and our favourite contacts, in addition to the date and time icon on the screen. The silver key below the screen brings the user to the main menu, allowing users to go straight to the Calendar, Contacts, Music, Web, Messaging Photos, Ovi Store, Maps, Movies and TV, Settings, Games, and Applications.

The 8GB of memory (expandable to 24GB) is perfect for users who want to store their music, photos, and videos on the Mini. Users can store audio files saved in MP3, WMA, AAC, eAAC, and eAAC+ formats, video files in MP4 and 3GP formats, and JPEG photos.…

A rising number of smartphone Web browsers are being used to access social networking sites, an indication of how the online services are extending beyond the PC.

In January, almost one in three smartphone users accessed social networks with their mobile browsers, up more than 8 percentage points from a year ago, Web metrics firm ComScore said Wednesday. The number of cellular phone users in general connecting to Facebook through a mobile browser grew 112% from a year ago, while Twitter experienced a 347% jump.
“Social networking remains one of the most popular and fastest-growing behaviors on both the PC-based Internet and the mobile Web,” Mark Donovan, senior VP of mobile at ComScore, said in a statement. “Social media is a natural sweet spot for mobile since mobile devices are at the center of how people communicate with their circle of friends, whether by phone, text, email, or, increasingly, accessing social networking sites via a mobile browser.”

ComScore measured smartphone and other mobile phone use only through the use of the devices’ browsers. The numbers do not include access by the nearly 6 million phone users who only use mobile applications.

In looking at mobile phone users as a whole, Comscore found that more than…

Nokia today launched  the Nokia C5, the first in its new Cseries line of phones. The company describes the C5 as a “smart phone packed into a feature phone body.”

It runs on the Symbian S60 OS, sports a 2.2-inch display and includes a 3.2 MP camera. The phone has a new feature that allows you to see your friends Facebook status messages in the contact directory.

The phone will ship in Q2 in Europe and Asia, with a price before subsidies or taxes of 135 Euros.

No word on U.S. availability.

The company today also attempted to explain its new naming convention for its phones. There are four groups of phones; in each group they will be numbers from 1 to 9, with lower numbers carrying lower prices. “Within each series of devices, we’re seeing a new range of numbers, from 1 to 9, each signifying the range of functionality on offer, and the approximate prices of the devices – 1 being the lowest and 9 being the highest,” the company said.

“Nseries remains the flagship and most advanced range of products. Xseries comes next and focuses on social entertainment. Eseries remains focused on productivity and business whilst Cseries represents the core range of…

Company IDC published a study Worldwide Converged Mobile Device Market. The report says that in 2009 Apple sold 25.1 million handsets iPhone, while in 2008 sales totaled only 13.8 million units. Apple showed the best result in the fourth quarter, shipped 8.7 million iPhone.

The gap between Research in Motion (BlackBerry), which ranks second in the smartphone market has fallen. By the end of 2009, RIM owns 19,8% of the market, and Apple – 14,4%. However, if we consider only the fourth quarter, Apple takes 16%, while RIM - 19,6%.

Nokia continues to dominate the market, despite a slight decline in the proportion from 40% in 2008 to 38,9% in 2009. During the period the Finns had sold 67.7 million smartphones. Fourth place situated HTC, realized 8.1 million telephones (4.6% market share). Samsung with 5.7 million smartphones (3,3% market share) closes the top five.

In general, in 2009, users are happy owners of 174.2 million smartphones, which is 15,1% more than in 2008.

In 2010, more buyers are likely to be moved off the fence as rivals fight to gain a piece of this most-lucrative part of the handset market.  Several new vendors are set to enter the market and established players will battle to maintain market share by lowering prices. “Economic recovery mixed with pent-up demand will create positive conditions for handset vendors in both developed and emerging markets in 2010,” Ramon Llamas, an IDC analyst, said in a statement, obtained by Reuters.

More than 200 million smartphones are expected to ship in 2010, fueled by falling price points that will be lower than $150, IDC said in a report.

South Korean firms Samsung and LG Electronics, the world’s No. 2 and No. 3 handset vendors, are planning to aggressively market new models, hoping to sharply increase smartphone sales, while new players like Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and Dell Inc. (NYSE: DELL) are ramping up their offerings.

“The smartphone wars will be good news for consumers, but the fierce competition will inevitably place downward pressure on vendors’ pricing and margins,” Strategy Analytics’ Mawston said.

The usual suspects will lead smartphone sales in the United States, including RIM and Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT). But look for the Android and…