Nokia N97 Unveiled

Today at the Nokia World 2008 conference in Barcelona, Spain Nokia announced the N97. The new handset from Nokia isn't expected until spring of next year, but that doesn't stop Nokia from hyping it up as the next iPhone killer today.



The N97 features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 3.5" - 16:9 aspect ratio - touchscreen and a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss Tessar lens and dual LED flash. The phone also comes packed with 32GB of onboard memory and if that isn't enough it can be expanded with a 16GB microSD card.

For connectivity the N97 is a 3G phone that can also do HSDPA speeds of 7.2Mb/s (obviously, if your carrier can handle it) and features integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. There is also A-GPS (assisted GPS) with an electronic compass.

For software the N97 runs on Symbian S50 5th Edition. Users will see the addition of home screen widgets that enable you to update social networks automatically with your status and location as well as related pictures or video. The N97 will also be fully compatible with Nokia's Ovi Internet services, which include the Nokia Music Store, Nokia Maps, and the N-Gage gaming platform--though these services have yet to fully launch in the United States.



The down side to the N97 is going to be the estimated price tag which is reported to be about $700 before carrier subsidies. The Nokia N97 is expected to begin shipping in the first half of 2009, so we'll have to wait until then to see how low the subsidies will bring it.