All eyes are in Barcelona for Nokia World, the only other manufacturer aside from Apple where heads turn to see what the Finnish phone giant unveils next. And today they unveil the world’s most advanced phone – the Nokia N97 which will retail at 550 Euros without any form of subsidy.

The most physically immediate stand-out feature of the N97 is its kick-out full QWERTY keyboard, hidden behind a 3.5-inch widescreen 16:9 touch display that tilts smartly above the keys. Both control methods neatly coexist and are tailored to ensure every experience, be it messaging, social, entertainment-focussed or otherwise, are manageable via the most instinctive physical toolset available. The touchscreen promises to be exploited to full effect, even when inactive, courtesy of a new homescreen that automatically sucks in live information via custom widgets sat on a S60 5th Edition backbone. [source]

The N97 is Nokia’s flagship phone for the first half of 2009. Specs are through the roof and by the book with 3.5mm headphone slots, HSDPA (not sure if this is HSPA compatible though), WiFi, A-GPS, Bluetooth, 640 x 480 touch screen, 32GB of onboard memory and an expansion slot of up to 16GB. The phone comes with a decent 5MP camera. They call this state of the art – but where’s the Xenon flash? LED flash doesn’t seem to cut it anymore these days especially when you’re taking night shots.

What makes the N97 interesting is the revamped S60 5th edition home screen that is in a way similar to the 5800 XpressMusic phone. The screen UI is “always on” even in the background consistently pushing information to the front due to a selection of widgets which the OS will support. Great!

The N97 pushes the limits of the Nseries to the next level. And thank god for this. The Nseries platform was in serious need of a speed, features and UI update given that it’s Nokia’s backbone for most of their high end phones.

[image c/o press photo]

Post from: Cellphone9

Just got home from the Nokia N96 launch at the Silver City and apart from the drinks and overload of cheese and parma ham, I took home a Nokia N79 — well at least a certificate that says I can pick up my new phone next week. Wow, what a treat! There was a huge raffle and Nokia / SMART was giving away a bunch of N79’s and N96’s.

You see, I badly needed a new phone and if I had to buy one, I’d go for an unlocked 1st generation iPhone or a Nokia N71 to replace my BlackBerry Pearl which is still in the shop. The Nokia N79 will really fit my needs – I’ve been praying for a sign from above to help me decide on a good buy, and this was it! Here are a few reasons why the N79 is such a good deal:

- I recently lost my iPod nano, and not that I’m very interested in the music aspect of the N79, but rather this unit hails from the N78 that comes with a built in FM transmitter. I’m an avid listener of podcasts and audiobooks on the road so this phone definitely makes up for the iPod + FM transmitter option. And it’s going to be hard to lose this, as it is also going to be my primary cellphone.

- If you’re a fan of the lightness and overall real estate of the N82, you’re going to love everything about the N79 as it has the same light (even lighter?) real estate and better (bigger!) keys. The phone also comes with three interchangeable covers.

- 5MP camera, 802.11g WiFi, GPS, HSDPA conectivity — you can’t go wrong!

I can’t wait for next week!

[photo c/o Nokia PR]

Post from: Cellphone9

At some point in a phone’s life, engineers would decide that it no longer needs an overhaul. The upcoming N79 is a proof of this postulate I have when it comes to “matured phones.” A phone reaches its peak (fastest UI, best real estate design, OK features) when all that’s left to add are neat covers. The N79 is a downgrade of the N82 – no Xenon flash, but it has a 5MP Carl Zeiss lens and brings forth much of the bells and whistles of the N78 and N82. Call it a midpoint in terms of features (I don’t really care – it has WiFi and HSDPA, so those are great already). In terms of design, the main difference would be a better looking (and hopefully more comfortable) keypad.

Do the Xpress-on covers really matter? I remember when Nokia was still “young” it made a killing selling overpriced phone covers for customization purposes. Today, 3rd party phone accessories manufacturers can get away with casings for about $2.00. OR … since Nokia makes so many phones, 3rd party accessory guys don’t bother much with these in-between models?

Post from: Cellphone9