Well, the good news is that you are not dreaming, this phone is real and it is scheduled for release towards the end of this year. It is called the Nokia N91 and it is already on my acquisition list for some point in the future. infoSync World has a review of this amazing phone. Talk about a come back from years of relative mediocrity in the mobile phone world!
Who would have thought: after dragging its feet for several years, Nokia is finally making a jump to the forefront of mobile technology again. Part of the maker’s new N series of multimedia handsets, the Nokia N91 smartphone unveiled here today in Amsterdam is destined to give Sony Ericsson’s W800 walkman phone a solid run for its money – unless it runs out of battery life first.
In addition to all of the above features this sexy number also incorporates all the other applications you generally find on series 60 phones (PIM applications and suchlike). It looks like the phone also comes with the Opera browser (I am more of a fan of NetFront) and it looks darn good to boot.
But wait, there’s more. Nokia also released two more souped up models, the N90 and N70.
The clamshell N90 features a Carl Zeiss lens and a 2 megapixel camera:
It’s a bit big and a bit plasticky, but who cares when it looks to become the best cameraphone to grace western shores this year? Nokia’s N90 is a bit of an unwieldy beast, but nonetheless impressive: it’s the first Series 60 smartphone to feature a 262K colour, 352 x 416 pixel display – double the resolution of its venerable predecessors, focusing heavily on imaging with a 2 Megapixel integrated camera.
Relying on Carl Zeiss optics, the N90 flips just about any which way you’ll want it to. Operating in three different modes, the clamshell handset can be used in shape of a regular phone, in a video recording mode – held much like a camcorder – and in a still shot mode with the lens barrel rotating and the external display acting as the viewfinder. At 65K colours 128 x 128 pixels it’s quite a bit smaller than the internal display, but still works well.
Not only focusing on the megapixels, Nokia also included more advanced imaging functionality such as autofocus and a macro mode in the N90. Furthermore, the built-in flash can be set to either on/off, automatic or red eye reduction modes, with users also able to adjust brightness and white balance. Pictures can be taken in resolutions up to 1600 x 1200 pixels, however the N90 is also able to record video in CIF format at 352 x 288 pixels, the quality of which is impressive – and even more so when viewed on the high resolution screen of the N90; it’s a must-see.
It also features GPRS/EDGE/3G capability and all the other stuff you get with a series 60 phone. It also features an HTML 4.01 compliant browser.
As for the N70 –
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a 6680 in disguise. Unveiled today here at the Destionation (sic) Multimedia event hosted by Nokia in Amsterdam, the Nokia N70 is the spitting image of the Finnish handset maker’s current top-of-the-line smartphone – harbouring a few, important differences that sets it apart.
A dual mode, tri-band GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 MHz smartphone with 3G, the N70 mimics the feature set of the 6680 closely. For instance, it retains the dual camera setup found in the 6680, yet ups the resolution of the main camera to 2 Megapixels as opposed to 1.3 Megapixels in the 6680. The front mounted camera remains unchanged at 0.3 Megapixels, and fortunately so does the sliding cover on the back which protects the lens and automatically opens the camera application when opened.
Also to be found in the imaging department is an integrated flash with anti red-eye, along with a range of applications for editing and processing both still images and video on the N70 as well as on the PC. Similar to the N90 and N91 smartphones also launched today, the N70 is also capable of playing back both audio and video in a range of formats, including MP3, AAC, RealAudio, H.263 and MPEG4.
I like the anti red-eye effect on this one. As with the other two phones, the N70 features USB 2.0 connectivity and the usual range of series 60 applications. It also appears to come with speaker independent voice dialling (a huge advantage over phones that don’t have this feature given how long it takes to train a phone to recognise your commands).
My favourite phone is the N91 and I am going to keep a keen eye on this one as time goes by. Assuming this phone raises the bar, it really won’t be too long before mobile phones truly reach parity with dedicated PDAs and supercede them.
(via infoSync World)
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