Former king of the smartphone heap Nokia yesterday announced its newest flagship device, the N9. The new handset is powered by MeeGo, the mobile operating system that Nokia and Intel teamed up to produce in response to the increasing dominance of Android and iOS.
Somewhat confusingly, Nokia distanced itself from MeeGo earlier this year, and formed a partnership with Microsoft to use its Windows Phone 7 OS is future smartphones. So while the N9 is something of a looker and a well-specced device, surely it can be nothing more than a dead end for prospective users?
The N9 sports a 3.9″ AMOLED screen, a 1GHz TI OMAP processor and a hefty 1GB of RAM. It has all the requisite sensors and connectivity you’d expect from a modern smartphone (802.11n WiFi, compass, gyroscope, proximity and light sensors etc.) and will boast a high-quality 8MP camera capable of shooting 720p footage.
Although Nokia’s software has been lacklustre as of late, its hardware has always been top-notch, and the N9 is no different. Taking some design cues from its chunky predecessor, the N8, the N9 is all screen up front, and simple, smooth lines with only a volume control and camera button to interrupt the bodywork.
The N9 will also support apps built on Nokia’s Qt framework, meaning although it is a different OS, many of the apps in Nokia’s Ovi Store will work on the handset from the get-go.
However, the spectre of Windows Phone 7’s imminent arrival on Nokia hardware still looms large. CEO Stephen Elop even took time out of the launch festivities to mention that the first WP7 Nokia devices are on track to launch this year – which seems rather like talking about your younger, more attractive daughter at her ugly sister’s wedding.
To add to the OS confusion, Nokia also confirmed it would be shipping as many as ten new Symbian devices this year, and plan to support the flagging OS through 2016.
The N9 is very much reminiscent of Nokia’s N900, which ran Maemo, the precursor to MeeGo. Solid hardware and an experimental OS, but very little long-term appeal for everyday users.
