The UK Mobile Phone Blog

Nokia officially unveil the Nokia N900!

At this rate, Nokia aren’t going to have anything left to reveal at Nokia World come next week; the Finns have officially lifted the lid on the Nokia N900. No more making do with leaked images and rumoured specs, this things the real deal and is set to blow the touchscreen market wide open. So what’s so impressive about the new Maemo powered N900? What features have surfaced that weren’t in the original leak? What else do you need to know about Nokia’s next big handset? Read on to find out…

It will come as no surprise to learn that the N900 will run on the Linux based Maemo operating system. Maemo 5 supports multi tasking letting users run multiple applications at once. Managing open applications and switching to and from as well as closing programs is made simple thanks to the dashboard. Hit the dashboard key and you’ll be given an overview of what’s currently running. Symbian phones have been doing this kind of thing for years but the way Maemo effortlessly handles multi-tasking is what sets it apart from the rest. This is backed up further by a 600MHz ARM processor putting it in line with the likes of the iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre in terms of processing power. The impressive processor is backed up by up to 1GB of application memory; 256 MB RAM and 768 MB of virtual memory. Other perks of Maemo include the option to download apps from a dedicated Maemo app store, add widgets and shortcuts to the home screen and set up several home screens which you can then customise and navigate between similar to HTC’s Sense UI on the Hero.

Nokia are also confident Maemo can offer the next step in mobile web browsing. Sporting a browser powered by Mozilla technology, the N900 promises to deliver the internet as it would look on any computer with full support for Adobe Flash 9.4 meaning online videos and interactive applications run flawlessly on the phone. Combine that with the beautiful 3.5 inch WVGA touchscreen display and slide out QWERTY keyboard and you’ll be surfing like a pro in no time. The touchscreen is, as previous reports suggested, resistive so while this rules out any kind of multi-touch input, it does mean a stylus can be used and also, Nokia claim, promises to be their most responsive and user friendly touchscreen effort to date with kinetic scrolling offering the kind of navigation found on Apples celebrated touchscreen device. The leaks we’ve previously covered were also spot on in terms of the design of the phone. With a design that looks like a cross between the iPhone and a Nokia N96, the N900 looks great; sleek, classy and powerful. As it’s wider than the N97 it also looks sturdier and while it lacks the tilting slide mechanism, it makes up for it with an N96-esque kickstand. Be warned though, this phone is no light-weight. At 181 g and 18mm thick, the N900 certainly makes its presence known.

What else can we expect? Well, the N900 packs in a 5.0 Megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens and Dual LED Flash. The N900 sports the same memory capacity and expansion options as the N97; 32GB onboard and 16GB respectively. HSDPA, Wi-Fi and GPS are all pretty much a given and the N900 also implements some new Geo-tagging features meaning that for once it may be more than just a novelty in a camera phone. At a glance the N900 lacks a headlining feature. There’s no 12 Megapixel camera or HD video capture, Nokia are instead targeting the user experience in the same way Apple and Android has shifted the focus. Nice touches such as grouping Emails, texts and instant messages together so they appear as one conversation clearly shows Nokia is learning from its peers.

Without a doubt, the Nokia N900 is one of the most important phones for Nokia in years. Get it right and the late comer to the touchscreen party could be catapulted to the top of the pile. Wrong and the N900 will be branded as just another iPhone wannabe. With the N900 expected to launch as early as October, we wont have to wait long to find out how Nokia’s most powerful touchscreen measures up. Click here to register for updates for the Nokia N900 and keep an eye on the blog for more news from Nokia World as it happens next week.