Nokia has announced the next flagship smartphone in its venerated N-series line, the N9. The N9 features an all-new design and interface that eschews the button-heavy designs of past Nokia devices.
Nokia is calling the design of the N9 an "all-screen" affair, and that description seems to be quite accurate. The slab-style phone is dominated by a 3.9-inch, AMOLED(INFO) display with Nokia's ClearBlack technology that offers FWVGA (480x854 pixel) resolution. The body of the phone itself is a single piece of polycarbonate, not the usual metal materials that we are used to seeing with Nokia's N-Series of phones. Nokia says that the body of the phone flows seamlessly into the slightly curved display. There is a volume rocker and shortcut key on the right-hand side of the phone and a power/unlock key on top, but other than that, there don't appear to be any buttons on the N9, not even a camera shutter key, which is a shocking departure for Nokia.
Despite the spartan design of the N9, it is neither the slimmest nor the smallest phone on the market. It measures 12.1mm at its thickest point, though it does taper down to 7.6mm at its thinnest (Nokia's specific measurements are 116.45mm x 61.2mm x 7.6?12.1mm (4.58in x 2.41in x 0.3-0.48in)). The N9 weighs a comparatively light 135g (4.76oz), thanks to the polycarbonate construction of the body.
Powering the N9 is a 1GHz, Cortex-A8 TI OMAP3630 processor and 1GB of RAM. Versions of the N9 will be available with between 16GB and 64GB of built-in storage, though there is no support for microSD expansion. Connectivity-wise, the N9 has a penta-band WCDMA 3G radio for true worldwide capabilities that support the 850MHz, 900MHz, 1700MHz, 1900MHz, and 2100MHz frequency bands. It also as a quad-band EDGE radio that supports the 850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, and 1900MHz frequencies. Nokia has equipped the N9 with 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi support, as well as Bluetooth 2.1 and a GPS chip. The N9 even includes NFC support. All of these radios are fueled by a 1450mAh battery that Nokia claims should provide 7 hours of talk time on 3G, or almost 19 days of standby time.
The rear of the N9 sports an 8 megapixel, autofocus camera that's complete with a Carl Zeiss lens and LED flash. It can record HD video at 720p (1280 x 720 pixel) resolution and 30 frames per second. The camera has a wide-aperture (f2.2) lens that Nokia claims will provide better shots in low-light conditions. There is also a front-facing camera for video calling.
The N9 features an all-new interface underpinned by the Linux-based MeeGo operating system. Nokia has simplified the actions of closing apps and navigating between homescreens by relegating everything to a swipe action from the side of the screen. When a user swipes across the screen, they are presented with a vertically scrolling app tray. Swipe again and you will get to the unified notification screen. One more swipe will take you to the multi-tasking screen where you can see tiles of apps that are running and open or close them. The new system is very elegant and fast, and offers a visually pleasing way of handling multi-tasking.
Pre-loaded on the N9 are Facebook and Twitter apps, as well as Nokia's Maps application for turn-by-turn navigation, and the Mail for Exchange email client. Users can also access Nokia's soon-to-be-renamed Ovi Store to purchase and download more apps for the N9.
The Nokia N9 really looks great, with striking industrial design and what appears to be a beautiful and elegant UI. The only question to remain is, what will happen to it (and its MeeGo operating system) when Nokia launches its Windows Phone powered smartphones, due by the end of this year? With as much R&D as the N9 has obviously had, why didn't Nokia just pursue this MeeGo platform instead of switching to Windows Phone in the near future? Oh, and will it have a competitive assortment of apps available to users? We will have to wait and see. The Nokia N9 is due to hit stores "later this year", and will arrive in three colors: black, cyan, and magenta. In the meantime, take a look at a couple of videos Nokia has put together highlighting the N9 and its new interface.
