Nokia launched the N 97 multimedia smart touch phone (Nokia just calls it Multimedia Computer ). The most distinguishing feature of N97 is that it has a physical Qwerty keypad to help in messaging and mailing. Another touted feature is the 35 degree kickstand that helps in watching videos but can be bothersome if you drop the phone.

Looking at the spces, it has a 5 Mega Pixel Camera with Carl Zeiss Optics, 32 GB Flash Storage, a huge 3.5 inch screen with a decent (by HTC Touch HD's standards) resolution of 640 x 360, Wi-fi, GPS, FM Transmitter, 3.5 mm jack and a digital compass too. The styling is different than the N81/N96/N85 clones we saw from Nokia and we welcome that. Apart from the huge storage and the huge screen there's not much in it to differentiate it from it's other N-Series Brothers and Sisters like N85 & N96. The N97 is basically a Qwerty version of Nokia 5800 with double the storage of N96 and having all the features of N85. The N97 also supports widgets on it's home screen. The N97 also has a social feature which Nokia calls "So-Lo" which allows your friends to update their location and status.

Nokia seems to have learnt from it's mistake of N95 and N96 & has equipped the N97 with a 1500 mAh battery which should be adequate for a phone of it's size. The phone comes with a Digital Compass and Nokia Maps 3.0. The N97 is expected to begin shipping in the first half of 2009 at an estimated retail price of EUR 550 before taxes or subsidies. Nokia is definitely impressed to make the N97 it's Flagship of 2009. How much of a fight will it give to Sony Ericcsion Xperia X1 and a possible HTC Touch HD Pro is to be seen.


Detailed Specs of Nokia N97 :

• 5 Mega Pixel Auto Focus Camera with Dual LED Flash
• VGA (640 x 480) 30 FPS Video Capture
• Qwerty Keypad
• 3.5 inch Touch Screen with resolution of 360 x 640 pixels
• Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and Proximity Sensor
• 3G, HSDPA, Wi-fi & GPS
• Quad Band GSM
• Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
• MPEG4/WMV/3gp video player
• MP3/eAAC+/WMA/AMR/RealAudio player
• Digital Compass
• FM Radio & FM transmitter
• Micro SD card slot
• 32 GB Internal Memory
• TV-Out
• Symbian OS v9.5, Series 60 rel. 5
  
• 1500 mAh Battery
• 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9-18.3 mm dimensions & 150 gm weight

After numerous leaks, Research in Motion (RIM) finally announced the Blackberry 9500. It will be exclusively sold by Verizon in US, Vodafone in Europe & Telus in Canada. After the final specs were released a notable omission is the lack of Wi-fi in the Storm. That seems to be a big mistake on part of Blackberry to make an iPhone rival Touch Screen Smartphone without Wi-fi functionality. In present times, Wi-fi has become a must in High-end Smartphones & RIM's decision to not pack the 9500 with Wi-fi could hurt it in 9500's sales. Especially when Nokia has started to put Wi-fi in all of it's new N-Series & E-Series phones. In Windows Mobile world, almost all phones have Wi-fi in them. The decision is also confusing as the Blackberry 9000 Bold already has Wi-fi in it.

The Blackberry Storm 9500 will be sold through Vodafone networks and will be free on monthly plans of 35 GBP and up with an 18-month contract.The Blackberry Storm 9530 is the variant of the handset that will be sold in North America through Verizon & Telus. Along with the quad-band GSM and 2100Mhz UMTS support that the 9500 model has, it will also offer CDMA2000 1xEV-DO support. The 9500 Storm will be available for purchase soon.


Detailed Specs of Blackberry 9500 Storm :

• 3 Mega Pixel Auto Focus Camera with LED Flash
• 3.3 inch Touch Screen with resolution of 360 x 480 pixels
• True Haptics
• 3.5 mm headphone jack
• 624 Mhz CPU
• 192 MB Ram
• 3G, HSDPA & GPS
• Quad Band GSM
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Video player DivX/WMV/XviD/3gp
• Media player MP3/WMA/AAC+
• DataViz Document Viewer/Editor
• Micro SD card slot
• Blackberry Maps
• Landscape virtual QWERTY keyboard
• BlackBerry OS
• 112.5 x 62.2 x 13.9 mm

Samsung today officially announced the M8800 Pixon. The phone is the second 8 Mega Pixel shooter from Samsung after the i8510 Innov8. Smape had yesterday posted a hands on of the device & Mobile Review even posted a detailed review of the phone. The M8800 Pixon has Quad-band GSM support and Tri-band 3G with HSDPA and is fully capable of global roaming. It stands at 107.9 x 54.6 x 13.8mm and weighs mere 109 grams. Featuring a 3.2-inch display with a resolution of 240 x 400 pixels the Samsung M8800 Pixon comes as a direct rival of LG KC910 Renoir.

The Samsung M8800 Pixon also include a GPS receiver, built-in accelerometer, FM radio with RDS and microSD memory card slot. In addition to taking exiting 8 megapixel photos its camera is capable of recording WVGA(740 x 480 pixels) videos at 30fps, which is a benchmark in mobile phones till now as Nokia N-Series phones shoot at VGA(640 x 480) resolution only. The Pixon will even have DivX playback and SRS Virtual 5.1 Channel Surround Sound to compete with Dolby Mobile Technology found in LG KC 910 Renoir.

The glaring omission in the Samsung M8800 Pixon specs sheet is the Wi-Fi connectivity which would have made it a complete mobile phone. It is expected to start shipping in mid-October and will retail at 550 euro (880 US dollars).


Detailed Specs of Samsung Pixon M8800 :

• 8 Mega Pixel Fixed Focus Camera with LED Flash
• 720 x 480 & 640 x 480 30 FPS Video Capture
• Face recognition with smile detection and blink detection, WDR (wide dynamic range), ASR (advanced shake reduction), GPS geotagging, ISO 1600
• 3.2 inch WQVGA Touch Screen with resolution of 240 x 400 pixels
• DivX playback
• SRS Surround Sound
• 3G, HSDPA, & GPS
• Quad Band GSM
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Video & Audio Player
• FM Radio with RDS
• Document Viewer
• Micro SD card slot
• ShoZu integration - direct image and video upload
• Landscape virtual QWERTY keyboard
• Handwriting recognition
• 107.9x54.6x14.9mm dimensions & 110 gm weight