Nokia N9 announced

Nokia today announced the N9, their first (and perhaps only) MeeGo device of the year. Codenamed Lankku (which is Finnish for 'Plank' - ironic isn't it?), the N9-00 features a curved Gorilla Glass 3.9" AMOLED screen with 858 x 480 resolution. It runs on MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan.

Inside the N9 you will find a 1 GHz TI OMAP3630 (ARM Cortex-A8) processor and PowerVR SGX530 GPU, both nicely backed up by 1GB of RAM to keep things moving along. Other specs includes Bluetooth 2.1, NFC, GPS receiver, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, TV out, micro SIM slot, proximity sensor ambient light sensor, compass, front camera and 8MP AF camera with a fast f2.2 lens and 720p at 30fps video recording. Oh and it has a quad-band GSM and penta-band WCDMA radios, making this a proper world phone. There are no micro USB OTG or HDMI out features. The battery will not be user accessible.

It will come with 16GB and 64GB storage and be made available in black, cyan and magenta hues and will be on sale "later this year".

The N9 looks like it may turn out to be a decent product, with good though not market leading specs. Rather than allowing myself to get hyped by the announcement, like some of my friends are, I am cautiously optimistic for it. It is very easy to get hyped for a new gadget, and I am sorely reminded by the N8's announcement followed by the launch six months later. I even paid for one full price, only to see the value drop through the roof. Built quality was shit and I will be lucky to get back 1/4th of what I paid for. So you will forgive me for not jumping for joy and reaching for my wallet when the N9 gets released "later this year".

Will Nokia fix the built quality issues with the N9? For my friend's sake and Nokia's, I hope so.

In a pre Windows Phone 7 world, this would have excited me. What I am seeing here instead is a phone built for the die hard Nokia fans who were promised so much in the past and are now finally getting their due. This isn't a comeback phone, or one aimed at the masses. Like the N900, the N9 will likely remain a niche phone, one that will satisfy their fans' need for a wee bit longer while we wait for their Windows Phone 7 Mango devices.

More info available at the Nokia Swipe site.