This is the phone of all phones people. It seems to me that almost a decade ago we all had these candy bar phones with Snake on it or Tetris. It could make phone calls and text messages. They couldn't even take pictures, or have color displays. These were the industry standard back then, and they were mostly Nokias in every ones pockets. Now adays we all have color displays, with cameras built in. We can send and receive pictures, play more advanced games (snakes is extinct now), browse the Internet at some capacity. We have mp3 ring tones, and all sorts of special features which are now standard. And it would seem like Nokia is all but disappeared, but they haven't. In fact they are the #1 cell phone manufacturer in the world, though they have more presence in other parts of the world than they do in the US, they are the leaders of the cell phone industry. And on December 2nd they officially announced what has been rumored for a long time. The Nokia N-97 is due to release mid 2009, though i would assume the US release will be later in the year.
This will be the next phone of the already existing N-Series phones made by Nokia, but will be the start of a new era within the existing series. This will be not only their first touch screen phone, but also the first phone with a full querty keyboard. The one thing noticeable about it is that it has the likeness of the AT&T Tilt a.k.a HTC TyTn (titan)II. One major difference is that the face of the phone is used by more screen than said Tilt, without the large and chunky nav buttons on the left hand side. It seems to be a cross between the Tilt and the iPhone, though it has a style all it own, they have learned and borrowed from past advances in technology and taken it a FEW steps further. Here are some of the highlights of the MANY features of this phone in detail.
Specs:
5 mega pixel camera with Carl Zeiss Tassar Lens and "DVD quality" video capture at 30fps, and dual LED flash (no xenon yet). One thing i like very much is on the lens there is a little slider that covers the lens and protects it from dust and scratches, allowing for a more durable image quality. Another thing is that this is a dual camera phone, which is kinda the wave of the future so to speak. It will allow others who have this feature, the ability to do video chat. You have the 5mp on the back, like any other phone, and you have another one on the front (as seen in the top left hand corner of the image above), its hard to say what the quality of that will be, but i would guess it would be between 2-3.2mp camera, also good for taking self portraits.
32GB built in memory with a Micro SD expansion slot adding an additional 32GB, for a grand total of 64GB. Pending further advancements in mobile solid state memory, this could change by the time the phone is released. This allows for thousands of hours of MP3's and hundreds of hours of video.
DVB-h OTA (over the air) live TV. This is not a world wide service as of now, but in years to come, you will be happy to know that your phone had the foresight to include this nifty feature, allowing you to watch live TV right from your phone, without needing a data connection. And the best part is, it doesn't need to have an obnoxious antenna to extend out of the phone to pick it up.
A-GPS (assisted global positioning satellite) this can also just be referred to GPS 2.0. It basically takes about 10 seconds to locate where you are in the world, yes, the world. I has Nokia Maps 2.0 covering over 100 countries, and that is a free service. Voice nav comes with the purchase of the add on from Nokia.com (one time fee) but the maps are free and always updated.
HSDPA a.k.a. 3G, capable of 3.6 mbps high speed Internet, similar to DSL. And thanks to the Symbian OS, you can use the 802.11 g/b WiFi (another feature) and reverse it to act like a WiFi hub, or a Hot Spot if you will. This means that wherever you are, if you have a signal, you can use your phones data connection to access the Internet with your laptop, or have your friends iPhone use it to connect to the Internet via their WiFi. Very cool feature in my opinion.
I can only speculate based on the data but, a battery capable of up to 1.5 days of continuous audio playback or 4.5-hours video. That would have to be at least 1450mAh of power, a step up from the N-96's paltry 950mAh batter, which only lasts about 4 hours of continual use, less if watching a video (2-3 hours). It could possibly be higher capacity than that, but given the slim size of the phone, i don't see that being possible, but its definitely not smaller.
A 3.5-inch wide screen 16:9 touch display, displaying 16 million colors at 30fps (video), allowing you to see on your phone what it was really meant to look like.
A graphics accelerator built in for the N-Gage games, giving smooth 3D graphics unique to the N-series phones. The N-Gage software is free of charge, while most of the games you have to pay for, they do have many games with free trials.
This phone is unlocked and unbranded, meaning that you can take it with you when you switch carriers, as long as you use a SIM card to do so (Verizon users are out of luck).
This is just a sample of the main, but many features that this phone has. I have included a video from YouTube.com that shows a product demonstration/promotion of the N-97. All i can say is that when its released in the US, i will be trading up my N-96 for this piece of technology art.
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