A week before its Nokia
World 2010 event, Nokia has let loose with information about its next
generation of smartphones, indicating news that the much-anticipated N8 will
launch at the end of September.
According to Engadget,
based on an article that ran in the Finnish newspaper Kauppalehti,
the Nokia N8 will be available
by Sept. 30. A machine translation of the Kauppalehti article shows that Tapani
Kaskinen, a senior communications manager at Nokia, told the Finnish paper that
N8 "advance orders begin shipping 30 September."
The phone enthusiast blog E's
Phone Blog reported, "Those of you who have ordered the Nokia N8
directly from Nokia should receive it on Tuesday, September 28th, 2010. The Nokia N8 is the first
phone to run on Symbian 3. Personally I have to say that I'm pretty impressed
about this device, and I think that it will sell quite good. For instance here
in Finland, you'll
have to pay 499€ to get this thing and this is cheaper than what you'd have to
pay for a competing device with roughly the same specs."
And the NokNok
blog, which focuses on Nokia phones, said: "The Nokia N8 is coming and
will be exclusive to Nokia Online for a whole week before it goes on general
sale. That's right; the Nokia N8 will go on sale here in the UK
on the 23rd September. How do we know? Well, it seems Nokia has been buying Ad
Word space and leaked the story itself."
The Kauppalehti article cites FIM technology analyst Michael Schroeder as
indicating that although the Nokia N8 is a breakthrough device for Nokia, its
potential as a competitor to the iPhone and Android devices is limited by the
Symbian platform as the phone's underlying operating system. According to the
translation, Schroeder says the Symbian application range is still in its
infancy compared with the iPhone.
The Nokia N8 introduces a 12-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon
flash and a large sensor that rivals those found in compact digital cameras.
Additionally, the Nokia N8 offers the ability to make HD-quality videos and
edit them with an intuitive built-in editing suite. Doubling as a portable
entertainment center, people can enjoy HD-quality video with Dolby Digital Plus
surround sound by plugging into their home theater system. The Nokia N8 enables
access to Web TV services that deliver programs, news and entertainment from
channels like CNN, E! Entertainment, Paramount
and National Geographic. Additional local Web TV content is also available from
the Nokia Ovi Store.
In addition, Nokia said social networking is second nature to the Nokia N8.
Users can update their status, share their location and photos, and view live
feeds from Facebook and Twitter in a single app on the home screen. Calendar
events from social networks can also be transferred to the device
calendar. The Nokia N8 comes with free global Ovi Maps walk and drive
navigation, guiding people to places and points of interest in more than 70
countries worldwide.
Although the Symbian platform is the leading smartphone operating system and
Nokia is the primary driver of Symbian phones, the cell phone giant has been
slow to introduce high-end smartphones that appeal to users, particularly those
in the U.S.
market. That has negatively impacted Nokia's bottom line, as many customers
have chosen the iPhone and Android as alternatives. A win with its new
smartphones would be welcome for Nokia.
For developers, the N8 is Nokia's first device to be integrated with Qt, a
software development environment that simplifies the development and makes it
possible to build applications once and deploy across Symbian and other
software platforms. Nokia has also made the Nokia Qt software development
kit (SDK) available to enable developers to start realizing the potential of
Qt.
Meanwhile, Reuters
on Sept. 6 reported that Nokia will release its E7 smartphone at Nokia World in
London on Sept. 14. The Reuters
report said:
"The cell phone maker will unveil its new flagship model E7, which
comes with a large touch screen and full keyboard, at the show in London,
two sources with direct knowledge of Nokia's plans told Reuters.
"Nokia will also introduce to the public its new N8 model, which is the
first phone to use the new Symbian 3 software, along with other new
smartphones, the sources said."
In a Sept. 6 post, Nokia
Conversations, the official Nokia Blog, said what to expect at Nokia World
2010: "Last year, it was the Nokia N900, X6, N97mini and Nokia Booklet on
the hardware side. On the software and services side, it was where we first
heard about Nokia Money, the Ovi SDK and navigation API.
We don't know what could possibly be in store this year, but we're hoping for
several magnitudes of awesome."
It appears Nokia's Kaskinen and others have let at least part of the cat out
of the bag. More news will be forthcoming on the developer front, as the Nokia Developer
Summit 2010 will be held in conjunction with Nokia World in London
Sept. 14-15.
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Enterprise Mobility News & Reviews 
