Nokia announces Nokia N9, a MeeGo Smartphone that uses QT platform today at Nokia Connection 2011. It has a 3.9-inch screen and the body is made of one piece material and smooth at all corners.
The first time I saw this phone, I liked it very much. The design and quality is superb. This is not the first time I mentioned about Nokia’s design and built quality. From the first look, you know that a lot of time is spent just to design it. During Nokia Connection 2011, we were told that it is made of a single chassis.
If you look at the front view, you might notice that it is squarish. Do not let that fool you. It is super smooth on the edges. The glass is curve too. So, when you put everything in a single package, you get a well built, nice designed phone.
Secondly, it has awesome colors. Not many manufacturers dare to use such vibrant colors. Kudos for Nokia for daring to be different. It comes in black, cyan, and magenta. Personally, I think magenta is actually a nice color.
Here are some shots of N9.
Back
Close up of the camera. It is 8-megapixels and comes with Carl Zeiss lens. And it is superb in low lighting condition with F2.2 aperture.
Top
The top has 2 compartments. One is the MicroUSB port for charging and data transfer. The other is the MicroSIM card slot. Yes, you hear it right, it uses Micro SIM card.
Here are the compartments when opened up.
Here is the Micro SIM card after pulling out the adapter.
Here is the Micro USB port in close up.
Bottom
Strangely, Nokia built the speakers at the bottom. I guess Nokia wants us to use more of the phone horizontally to view video and etc using the speakers.
And another evident that it flavors using the phone horizontally is the location of the front facing camera. It is next to the speaker. Which means, it is at the bottom.
So, since Skype is one of the applications, this camera will definitely come handy.
Sides
Here is N9 in Cyan color.
I did get Nokia representative to give me a run through on the features of the phone. Here is the video.
Some other things that was not mentioned in the video. One of the features of this Nokia N9 is messaging. Similar to Windows Phone Mango, it actually blurs the line between social chat function and SMS.
Surprisingly, there is no Windows Live Messenger incorporated into the chat. One way to find out which chat you are on is a small icon at the bottom.
The QWERTY keyboard looks nice too. Very 3D. I have not tried typing on it. So not sure how well it works.
Saw this Battery usage application on the phone. Not sure if it is part of the UI or an app develop for this phone. Anyway, it is super cool.
All phones should have this app. It shows you the remaining battery charges and more. It actually indicate the usage on individual program running and also shows you the usage time after the last charge.
And that is NOT all. Click on the program, you can see more details.
Here are some information on the Nokia N9 that you will not find on their website (at least for now). I copied them from the Factsheet provided for the Media.
Key Features
- Bold all-screen design
- Body made of one piece with smooth shapes
- Maximum screen for the product size
- Vivid 3.9” AMOLED screen brings brilliant colors and content right to the surface
- Range of beautiful colors: black, magenta, cyanSimply ingenious: everything a swipe away
- The finger moves smoothly along the curved glass and curved shape of the device
- Hardware and software were jointly designed to ensure that they fit together seamlessly
- A simple swipe in any application takes you back to the home viewThree home views and live multitasking
- Each designed for a specific purpose
- Applications –start tasks quickly
- Open Applications -see all your running apps and multitask between them
- Events –your people, news and events in one view
Additional Features
- Excellent camera
- 8MP autofocus camera with high performance Carl Zeiss optics
- Touch to focus, shoot quickly and move smoothly between stills, video and gallery
- Capture more with wide-angle lens and true 16:9 imaging
- Great low light performance with large lens aperture (f/2.2) and dual LED flash
- Easy sharing to internet services and via NFC to the people close to youFree maps and navigation
- Free turn-by-turn drive and walk navigation with voice guidance
- The dedicated Drive app is optimized for in-car use
- Maps are displayed in high resolution on the 3.9” AMOLED display
- Public transport routingFast web browsing
- High responsiveness through latest mobile browser technology (Webkit2)
- Multiple websites can be conveniently viewed in Open Applications
- Wide HTML5 support offers access to rich web applications and fast video playback
Technical Profile
- Networks: Pentaband WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 1700, 2100, Quad band GSM/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
- Speed: HSDPA Cat10: 14.4Mbps, HSUPA: Cat6 5.76Mbps
- Display: 3.9” WVGA (854×480) AMOLED display with curved Gorilla glassTM, no air gap, anti-glare polarizer
- OS: MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan
- Memory: 1024MB RAM, 16GB/64GB storage
- Camera: 8Mpix auto-focus Carl Zeiss, wide-angle lens, 2x LED flash, Video capturing MPEG-4 SP 720p @ 30fps, 2nd camera for video calls
- Size / Weight: 116.45 mm x 61.2 mm x 7.6–12.1 mm (L x W x T)/ 76 cm3/ 135 g
- Connectivity: BT 2.1, GPS, A-GPS, WLAN 802.11abgn, NFC, 3.5mm AV connector, uUSB connector, USB charging
- Processor:ARM Cortex-A8 OMAP3630 1 Ghz, PowerVR SGX530
- Audio: MP3 player, Audio jack: 3.5mm, Supported codecs: mp3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, FLAC.
- Battery: 1450 mAh
Operating Times
- Talk time: (GSM/WCDMA) up to 11 h / up to 7 hours
- Standby time: Up to 450 hours (WCDMA), up to 380 hours (GSM)
- Video playback (720P): up to 4.5 hours
- Music playback: up to 50 hours
Services and applications
- Free maps and walk & drive navigation, public transport routing
- Ovi Store & Music
- Mail for Exchange for corporate email. Private email support with easy activation.
- Facebook and Twitter
Nokia Standard Sales Package includes
- Nokia N9
- Nokia Fast USB Charger AC-16
- Nokia Charging and Data cable CA-185CD
- Nokia Stereo Headset WH-901
- Get started guide
- Product information leaflet
Nokia Original Accessories (outbox)
- Nokia Play 360°wireless speaker
- Nokia Protective covers CC1020, CC553, CC3015
- Nokia Wireless Music Receiver MD-310
- Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-111
And talking about the accessories, here is the protective cover.
Here is when I tried to take it out.
The cover is actually very soft and smooth. And from what I see, it fits the phone like a glove. Not sure if the shape will last if it goes on prolong usage.
Here is another accessory. It is the headset with matching colors.
Summary
The Nokia N9 is something refreshing in the current phone market. It utilizes the swipe gestures very well. For example, a long swipe across the screen will rotate the 3 main screens. And a short swipe will activate functions within an app (e.g. viewing pictures in Gallery, you can use the short swipe to go to next pictures.)
The hardware design and quality is one of the winning factor. However, I do have concern. For example, to charge the phone, you will need to ply open the compartment on the top to access the Micro USB port. Over long use, it might have issue.
The protective cover is nice. However, I have doubt over long use as it needs to be taken out to access the charging port. Too bad, Nokia did not incorporate induction charging to this phone.
The software is very new and that means application will be limited. It is the chicken and egg story. If no one uses this platform, developers will not be interested. And vice versa, consumers will not be interested too, if there is limited application.
Hopefully, the QT platform which is very versatile is able to attract more developers.
Finally, the Nokia N9 is certainly going to make heads turn. Nokia must spend a lot more effort to attract top developers to develop applications for it.
However, since N9 is so new and not even available for the masses, we will not be able to assess how this phone will perform in our daily life (which I think is important).
Click Here to Nokia N9 Website
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