We have talked about the Nokia N900 a few times already and we know most of the details of the device. The N900 will be the first Nokia mobile phone to run Maemo, which is Linux derived. I can say that the N900 is the first Nokia handset that I have found particularly appealing in a long time.
In the face of an early review and leaked press shots, Nokia have decided to officially announce the N900 together with its Maemo 5 OS. Set to get their official unveil at Nokia World next week, the N900 packs HSPA, WiFi and 32GB of storage into a 3.5-inch WVGA resistive touchscreen device powered by an ARM Cortex-A8 with 1GB of RAM, while Maemo 5 supports desktop-style multitasking, Nokia Messaging and a new “cloud” UI.
Video demos after the cut
Looking surprisingly like UMID’s mbook M1 MID, Sharp have unveiled their newest clamshell ultraportable and – thank goodness – it’s not just an e-dictionary. The Sharp NetWalker PC-Z1 has a 5-inch 1024 x 600 touchscreen, full QWERTY keyboard with optical mouse, and Ubuntu 9.04 as the OS; connectivity includes WiFi b/g, both a USB and mini-USB port, and a headphone jack, but there’s no integrated 3G.
More images – plus size comparisons – after the cut
We knew the Nokia N97 Mini was only mildly smaller than its full-sized sibling, but Mobile-Review’s Eldar Murtazin has – thanks to his early access to the QWERTY smartphone – confirmed it with a full review. Unfortunately for Nokia, he’s not impressed: a combination of insufficient price differentiation between the N97 Mini and the N97, mediocre looks and, most damning, a keyboard that’s actually worse than that of the original add up to a handset that’s yet to answer the original question of “why bother?”
MIUTech’s HDPC smartphone/MID hybrid looked, frankly, a mess in its first iteration, and a subsequent redesign or two did little to improve things. Happily the company have returned to the drawing board and come back with this slick little monster, freshly updated with some appealing specifications – full QWERTY, a 4.8-inch 1024 x 600 touchscreen and Intel Atom 1.6GHz Z530 processor – and a promise that, distributors aside, it’s all go for a release.
Leaked live images of the upcoming Samsung Omnia Pro B7330 smartphone have emerged, complete with a specification sheet. An update to the B7320, the B7330 still packs a QWERTY keyboard and Windows Mobile, but this time steps up to version 6.5 of the OS. There’s also a 3.2-megapixel camera and HSDPA connectivity.
Samsung and T-Mobile USA have officially released the Gravity 2, their latest budget slider. First announced last month along with the Samsung Comeback, the Gravity 2 has both a QWERTY keyboard and a numeric keypad, and will retail – initially at least – for $29.99 with a two-year agreement and following a $50 mail-in rebate (boo hiss!)
What you’re looking at – behind phoneArena’s dare-we-say-it slightly “overenthusiastic” watermark – is Samsung’s upcoming U450 QWERTY slider, the phone tipped by Best Buy to land on Verizon come August 23rd. The U450 apparently has both a QWERTY keyboard and a front-mounted numeric pad, together with a 1.3-megapixel camera according to their source.
Samsung Rogue U960 leaked shot after the cut
Importer Dynamism have announced that they will be selling the matte black version of UMID’s mbook M1 MID, with preorders kicking off today and deliveries expected to begin from August 25th. The compact clamshell has a 4.8-inch 1,024 x 600 touchscreen, together with the same Intel Atom Z520 1.33GHz processor as in Viliv’s popular S5 and X70 MIDs, and will retail from $599.
Modu’s modular-jacket cellphone may already be on sale in Israel, but don’t expect to see it land in the US or the UK any time soon; according to the company, “the device just isn’t good enough for demanding Brits and Americans who like to surf the internet and stay connected.” CEO Dov Moran followed up that slice of honesty (or was it a snub against the other locations the first-gen Modu will see a release in?) with the news that the Modu 2 will arrive in 2010 offering both a touchscreen and a full QWERTY jacket.
SlashGear Japan
