Nokia is back
don’t you love how gadgets are pushing the envelope of innovation this time. i almost completely forgot about Nokia. for more than a year it has been overshadowed by iPhone euphoria (iPhone is the most overrated product of all time).
but everytime we shop, we always go back to the basic fundamentals of what a gadget can really do for us. it is about tailor-fitting. and i guess Nokia is about giving us a message that they are selling a mobile phone for their customer’s connectivity requirements and not a bling-bling that makes their life miserable.
i guess nokia has succeeded in doing that but i am pretty sure iPhone is not yet ready to give up the fight. for the past years, the mighty iphone stood out, portrayed the trailblazer role and won the innovation-savvy market.
but i have a huge trust in the resurrection of the classics and i do hope nokia and blackberry will stick to their roots and maintain their leads in their niche.
from CNET News, here’s a quick look of what Nokia N97 can do for us.
As the little brother to the Nokia N97, the smartphone actually isn’t all that much smaller than the N97. The mini measures 4.4 inches tall by 2 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick (compared to the N97’s 4.6 inches by 2.1 inches by 0.6 inch) and features a 3.2-inch tilting touch screen. It still offers a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard sans the directional keypad, but judging by the press shots, it looks like Nokia didn’t do anything about the wonky placement of the space bar.
However, the big news about the Nokia N97 mini isn’t so much about the physical design but rather what lies beneath. The mini will run new software that adds improvements to the user interface, including more home-screen widgets and flick scrolling, and incorporates more social networking tools.
One such tool will be Lifecasting with Ovi, which lets users post their location and status updates straight from the N97 mini. In addition, the device will come with loaded with a new version of Ovi Maps where you’ll be able to access content from Lonely Planet, Michelin and Wcities.
Other highlights of the S60 5th edition phone include a 5-megapixel camera, 8GB of onboard memory with a microSD expansion slot, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Unfortunately, the announced version does not support North American 3G bands, but we suspect Nokia will launch a NAM version as it has with the N97 and several of its other smartphones.
The Nokia N97 mini is expected to ship in October with an estimated retail price of 450 Euros (about $640 U.S.). In addition, Nokia announced that it will release a software update and make Lifecasting with Ovi available to the N97 in October as well. Other announcements from Nokia World 09 include the Nokia X3 and X6 and new services.
