Nokia announced the Nokia N9, its first MeeGo-based smartphone, in Sinagpore early Tuesday morning. It's a beautiful phone, but Nokia has already stated that is has largely abandoned Meego in favor of Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. Still, the N9 is shaping up to be a pretty impressive device, and boasts some interesting design choices.
The most intriguing feature on the Nokia N9 is a gesture called swipe. There is no home key on the phone—when you're in an application, swiping from the edge of the display will pull up your home screen. There will be three different home screen views, designed to focus on apps, notifications, and switching between activities.
The Nokia N9 features a 3.9-incled AMOLED screen made from scratch-resistant curved glass. According to Nokia, the N9's polycarbonate body enables improved antenna performance, which may result in better reception, better voice quality, and fewer dropped calls.
The N9 will also come fitted with Near Field Communication (NFC), allowing you to easily share images and videos between devices by touching them together. By pairing the N9 with NFC-enabled Bluetooth accessories, you should be able to get the devices working together with just a simple tap.
There's an 8-megapixel autofocus camera with a wide-angle lens and HD-quality video capture. Nokia claims that the large lens aperture will enable good performance even in low-light conditions. The N9 will also feature free turn-by-turn driving and walking navigation with voice guidance in Maps and a new dedicated Drive app.
According to Marko Ahtisaari, Nokia's head of Design, "…this is just the beginning. The details that make the Nokia N9 unique—the industrial design, the all-screen user experience, and the expressive Qt framework for developers—will evolve in future Nokia products." Just how far this will develop, and how widely available the Nokia N9 will be is unknown, as Nokia has been devoting most of its attention to its upcoming Windows Phone 7 devices.
The Nokia N9 will be available in three colors—black, cyan, and magenta—with 16GB and 64GB storage. Pricing and availability have not yet been announced. Check back with PCMag for a full review of the Nokia N9 when it has been released.