Today in Barcelona at the Nokia World 2009 event, Nokia unveiled the next generation of its Nseries smartphones in the form of the touchscreen equipped N97. The S60 5th Edition equipped N97 is the first Nokia device to be announced that features both a touchscreen and a full QWERTY keyboard, and is also the first Nokia handset to feature the sideways slider form factor made popular by HTC with its line of Windows Mobile smartphones.
The new N97 is the device that Nokia has chosen to use to feature its new suite of apps and services, such as Nokia Maps 3.0, which now features satellite imagery and topographical maps and works with the N97's built-in A-GPS unit. The N97 will also be aware of its user's "social location", sharing location information with approved friends and family as well as taking advantage of the built-in electronic compass for simple pedestrian navigation directions. The new apps should look quite impressive on the N97's 3.5", 640x360 pixel resistive touchscreen(INFO) display. The home screen, which is completely customizable with live-data widgets, also takes advantage of the large display.
The sliding mechanism that reveals the QWERTY keyboard moves in an arc that leaves the display at a 35 degree angle to the keyboard, making for easy viewing both while entering text on the 3 row QWERTY keyboard or when watching 30fps video content. Inside the N97 is packed an impressive 32GB of built-in storage space that can be augmented with a microSD memory card of up to 16GB in size - for a possible total of 48GB of storage space.
A 5 megapixel autofocus camera equipped with Carl Zeiss optics handles the photo and video recoding duties on the N97, and any works of art captured with the phone can be instantly uploaded to the web thanks to quad-band GSM/EDGE and tri-band HSDPA 3G connections. If that's not quick enough, then it is always possible to use the built-in WiFi networking. Music is covered by a built-in media player and the N97's 3.5mm headphone jack, built-in stereo speakers, and A2DP Bluetooth stereo support. Nokia's famed S60 browser is also included on the N97, as well.
The N97's large 1500mAh battery is rated for up to 16 days of 3G standby time or over 5 hours of 3G talk time. GSM times are slightly longer. Nokia also claims that the N97 will be capable of up to 1.5 days worth of continuous music playback from a single charge when the phone is in offline (airplane) mode. The large battery does add to the overall size and weight of the N97, though. At roughly 147g (5.2oz), it's not exactly light. It is still pocketable, though, measuring 15.9mm in thickness.
Nokia expects the N97 to start shipping in Europe and Asia sometime in the first half of the year. A version of the device specifically for the North American market is planned to follow shortly after the global roll-out, but no specifics for that device have been announced yet. Nokia said that the N97 should sell in Europe for about EUR550 before taxes and subsidies.
Specifications for the Nokia N97
Operating System Symbian S60 5th Edition
Band GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz, UMTS 900/1900/2100MHz
Data GPRS/EDGE/WCDMA/HSDPA/WiFi
Size 117mm x 56mm x 15mm (4.6" x 2.2" x 0.6")
Weight 147g (5.2oz)
Battery Nokia BP-4L, 1500 mAh
Battery Life Up to 17.9 days GSM, 16.6 days WCDMA standby
Up to 6.6 hours GSM, 5.3 hours WCDMA talk time
Main Display 3.5" 16M color widescreen TFT, 640x360 pixel resolution
Camera 5 megapixel auto-focus with dual-LED flash
Video Video capture/playback, MPEG4 VGA (640x480 pixel) resolution at 30fps
Messaging MMS/EMS/SMS
Email POP/IMAP/SMTP
Bluetooth 2.0, A2DP (stereo), EDR
Memory 32GB, microSD memory card slot (up to 16GB)
Availability 1st half 2009 (manufacturer's estimate)
Other QWERTY keyboard, MP3/AAC/eAAC/eAAC+/WMA music player, A-GPS support, dual LED flash, micro-USB connector, 3.5mm headphone jack, TV-out support
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment