SlashGear

We’d suggest you dip into your handy pinch-of-salt bag for this one, since we’ve seen what can happen with Nokia shipping predictions before, but according to The Nokia Blog shipments of N900 handsets are expected to reach US distribution centers on September 27th.  The Maemo 5 smartphone – launched at Nokia World two weeks ago – went up for preorder on September 4th, and assuming the trucks turn up on time, the first units could be in buyers’ hands by early October.

The handset – which has a 3.5-inch resistive touchscreen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 3.5G and WiFi b/g – will only be compatible with T-Mobile USA’s 3G network, not that of AT&T, something worth noting before you slap down around $700.  A true North American edition (N900 NAM) is likely to follow on after, but there’s no timetable for that device’s launch.

We were reasonably impressed by what Nokia managed to pack into the N900’s compact casing, but we’re not 100-percent convinced by the hardware keyboard or the touchscreen.  For more on the Nokia N900, check out our hands-on video and gallery below, or follow the N900 tag for all our coverage.

Nokia N900 hands-on:

[via BGR]