Nokia N97 mini
(Credit: Nokia)Nokia World 2009 began on Wednesday in Stuttgart, Germany, and to kick things off, the Finnish cell phone manufacturer introduced several new handsets, including the Nokia N97 mini.
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.
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Nokia N86
(Credit: Bonnie Cha/CNET)Piggybacking the Nokia N97 announcement, the Finnish cell phone manufacturer announced on Wednesday that is has begun global shipments of the Nokia N86 8MP.
The N86 debuted at GSMA 2009 and is an 8-megapixel camera phone with advanced features, such as a mechanical shutter, variable aperture, and a dual-LED flash. The S60 device also has 8GB of internal memory in addition to a microSD expansion slot that can accept up to 16GB cards.
Other highlights include a 2.6-inch, scratch-resistant OLED display, stereo Bluetooth support, Wi-Fi, e-mail support, an FM transmitter, a 3.5 millimeter headphone jack, and video-out capabilities.
While it's being shipped worldwide, Nokia did not announce a specific North American version of the N86 at this time. For now, you can buy it unlocked for around $524.
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The Palm Pre: it's now really official.
(Credit: Palm)We've long said that the Federal Communications Commission holds a treasure trove of information on upcoming cell phones, and this week it's really true. Over the past few days we've seen not only the (cue trumpets) Palm Pre pass through the agency's gates, but also a Nokia N86 with an 8-megapixel camera, the of the Nokia N97, and a dual-mode (CDMA/GSM) HTC Touch Pro 2. It would seem that everyone is getting ready for the busy month of June when the Pre will make its long-awaited debut in two weeks and the N97 should go on sale.
Because the FCC has to certify every phone sold in the United States, not to mention test its SAR rating, the agency's online database offers a lot of sneak peeks to those who dig. And to save you the trouble, Crave has combed through the database for you. Here are a selection of filings from the past week on new and upcoming cell phones. Click through to read the full report.
Alcatel OT-800A (messaging phone)
HTC Touch Pro 2 (GSM/CDMA)
LG 100C
LG GC900f
Motorola (CDMA/EV-DO)
Motorola VT208-O
Nokia (RM-356)
Nokia N86 (8-megapixel)
Nokia N97 (NAM)
Palm Pre
Samsung SCH-R351
Samsung GT-M2510
Samsung GT-S5600V
Samsung GT-S8000
Samsung SCH-I220
Samsung SCH-W830
Samsung SGH-T401G
Samsung SPH-W8700
ZTE-G R630p
ZTE-G R830
ZTE S610
As if the first week of June wasn't packed enough with potential smartphone announcements, here's another one to throw into the mix. According to The Nokia Blog, the North American version (NAM) of the Nokia N97 will ship on June 2.
The Nokia Blog reported on this after it learned that the Finnish cell phone manufacturer contacted one of its North American distributors with the date. The N97 is available for preorder now from Nokia's Web site for $699. If you order now, Nokia will also throw in a free Nokia Bluetooth headset with your purchase.
Nokia N97
(Credit: Nokia)Twenty-four hours after teasing us with news of a major product announcement, Nokia officially took the wraps off its mystery smartphone on Tuesday at the Nokia World 2008 conference in Barcelona, Spain. And despite some close guesses, no one got it quite right, so without further ado, let us introduce you to the Nokia N97.
Part of the company's high-end N series of multimedia computers, the N97 trumps all previous models with a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard and a tilting 3.5-inch touch screen (anyone else reminded of the AT&T Tilt or Sony Ericsson Xperia X1?). Yes, there's the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, but the N97 includes phone capabilities and is designed for the "needs of Internet-savvy consumers."
For example, the smartphone provides easy access to a number of social-networking sites, and the Web browser supports streaming Flash videos. The N97 also introduces something Nokia calls "social location," which uses the capabilities of the integrated A-GPS sensors and electronic compass to automatically update users' social networks, or let them share their location via photos or videos with friends.
The Home screen can be personalized with widgets of favorite Web and social-networking sites. Finally, the N97 is 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 Symbian-based smartphone also features a music and video player, a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, and a whopping 32GB of onboard memory that can be expanded with a 16GB microSD card.
The quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) world phone is HSDPA-capable handset, but it currently supports only the 900/1900/2100MHz bands (AT&T's 3G network runs on 850/1900MHz, while T-Mobile runs on 1700/2100MHz). There is integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, however.
... Read moreOn Sale Now: $540.57 - $599.99
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