Last year we thought Nokia was going to release several MeeGo-based smartphones. But later we learned that the Nokia N9 was going to be the only MeeGo device of the company. Before it’s released, I would like to write a Nokia N9 preview to understand what specs, what advantages and what shortcomings this upcoming Nokia smartphone has.

Design

The Nokia N9 comes with an innovative design. So far all Nokia devices had at least a few buttons on the display, but the Nokia N9 is an exception — it comes with a blank screen totally relying on the touchscreen capabilities. I think this was a good chance for Nokia to work over the Swype technology to make it as perfect as possible.

Anyway, there are still three buttons on the side of the device, one of them is definitely for the camera, but the functions of the other two are yet unknown.

The homescreen menu gives a chance to store more icons, so it seems to be rather good. The color versions of the device are rather interesting, too. Instead of the classical green and silver, we get black, magenta and cyan versions.

Display

The Nokia N9 is equipped with a 3.9-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of  480 × 854. It’s rather small — a blank screen with no buttons should’ve provided a larger display… Still this is a good choice for those who enjoy watching videos on their handsets. The device comes with ClearBlack technology, which makes the colors look even brighter. Besides, the display is protected by the famous Gorilla Glass Technology.

Hardware

The CPU packaging of the handset is going to include 1GHz Cortex A8 CPU, PowerVR SGX530 GPU, TI OMAP 3630 chipset, which will allow the users to get most out of their device, including such features as fast web-browsing and high-quality display.

The most disappointing thing in the device is perhaps its battery. There’s a rumor that it will be a standard 1450mAh battery, which will not be strong enough to support a long run of the device, so the users will have to get an additional battery.

There are two versions of the Nokia N9 — 16GB and 64GB, while the RAM and ROM capacities are going to be correspondingly 1GB and 512MB for both of the versions. And there’s unluckily no chance for expanding the memory due to the absence of the microSD card slots.

Camera

The camera of the Nokia N9 is going to be 8MP with a list of improvements and nice features. Instead of the previous 3MP usage for the widescreen mode, the users will now sacrifice only 1.6 megapixel of it. You are getting 8.7 million active pixels supporting 1.45:1 aspect ratio, which is ideal for shooting in 4:3 and 16:3 modes. The second optimization is not only the use of the Carl Zeiss lens, but the idea of having it with its largest aperture.

That’s why the shots of the Nokia N9 are expected to be around 75 percent brighter than those of the Nokia N8. And finally we have the Xenon LED Flash with a 20 percent improved performance.

Software

The Nokia N9 comes with a list of interesting and useful applications and features. Most of them come available straight from the display with interesting and elegant icons. This makes the applications even easier to use with a quick access.

Homescreen

MeeGo OS allows to have 3 different options of homescreen — “Events,” “Applications” and “Open Apps.” The first one is designed to demonstrate the social networking alerts (including pre-installed Skype, Facebook, GoogleTalk and Twitter) and system notifications. The second one is for those who are spending most of their time on apps, allowing the user to customize various apps on the homescreen in a desired order. And finally, the “Open Apps” feature is rumored to deal with a list of third-party apps, which didn’t get the chance to get placed among the basic applications of the handset.

Apps

RSS Feeds

This application will help the customers to be updated about what’s goin’ on around. The system of the features is as simple as in case of the typical PCs. You should head to the websites you want to get the updates from and subscribe. Then all of these news will appear on your screen in the chronological order, similar to one for Facebook news feed.

Email App

This is an ideal option for all those who have multiple email accounts. Sometimes it’s too hard to have a quick shift between them. This application allows to use your email accounts simultaneously. You just need to head back to the homescreen and go to the account that you need at the moment. The application also seems to be good for working with the email attachments.

Notes

The idea of making notes for not forgetting your duties is really fun in this application. Here you can use various font styles and colors for different events. The application has an icon on the homescreen, which means that you can always have quick notes if required.

Availability

The Nokia N9 was rumored to come with a “worldwide edition.” But afterwards Nokia changed its mind removing the device from a list of countries, including even such territories as the U.S., Germany, the UK, Switzerland and Austria. Those countries are going to wait for Windows Phone devices from Nokia. Meanwhile such countries as Russia and Khazakhstan are going to get the device! Still both in the UK and U.S. some retailers will offer the unlocked version of the handset.

The price for the unlocked version from Amazon is rumored to be $650 and $500 correspondingly for the 16 GB and 64GB options.

Pros

• Swype technology
• Gorilla Glass technology
• 8MP camera

Cons

• Small display
• No physical keyboard
• Limited availability

Conclusion

The Nokia N9 is a great device featuring MeeGo “Harmattan” build. This is the first buttonless device from Nokia coming with great Swype technology and great features. It comes with interesting color options and seems to be cheaper than most of the other smartphones with the same features. Nokia has promised to release updates for its only MeeGo-based device, so you shouldn’t be afraid that the smartphone will be forgotten.

So… I guess the Nokia N9 is a good device worth being bought when it’s released!

The Nokia N9 features an 8MP camera, and some people think it’s not as cool as the N8’s 12MP one. If you’re one of those who think so, check out the interview with Damian Dinning — Nokia Senior Manager for Solutions Planning.

Dinning played an important role in developing the cameras of a number of Nokia devices including the N95, N86 8MP and the famous Nokia N8. Now in his recent interview he spoke about the Nokia N9’s camera and revealed some of its secrets…

First of all, he mentioned that the camera of the Nokia N9 isn’t exactly 8MP – it actually has 8.7 million active pixels, and its unorthodox aspect ratio is 1.45:1, so it is optimized to shoot in 4:3 and 16:9 modes, sacrificing only 1.6 megapixels instead of 3 (as in case of the Nokia N8) for the widescreen mode. The pic below will explain how this works:

The next thing about the Nokia N9 camera worth mentioning is that it’s equipped with great Carl-Zeiss lens with the largest aperture (f/2.2) ever created for a smartphone, which makes them 75 percent brighter than the lens of the Nokia N8. This allows the Nokia N9 to shoot better-quality images in low light (since more light reaches the sensor).

The flash unit of the Nokia N9 also deserves some attention. It’s not xenon, of course, but it’s a LED flash 20 percent more powerful than the flash units of other, even the most powerful smartphones.

More info about the Nokia N9′s camera, Damian Dinning’s words about it and some photos made by the N8 and N9 (if you wish to compare them) can be found on Nokia Conversations.

Source 1, source 2.

Nokia N8 is the latest flagship of N series smartphones, and it has gained a great authority. The smartphone provides such features that other gadgets are not even close to it like 12MP camera or HDMI port. But as we know the mobile world doesn’t stop, and day-by-day more and more manufacturers offer “smarter” or nicer handsets, so I believe Nokia will do its best to save its current positions and maybe one of thus steps would be the Nokia N9.

So guys from NokNok have their own thoughts about this case and present the 5 things that they want to see improved in alleged device.

When Nokia announced the N8 will be their last smartphone in N series, many users were happy and the other not, but as MeeGo brings better impression in leaked videos and features lists, we tend to think this new platform would be a good competitor to OS giants like Android and iOS.

Agree, N8’s 3.5 inch touchscreen is a little small in comparison with other smartphones like the HTC HD7 or the Motorola Droid X that sport 4.3 inch display. So we hope the company will pack its new flagship with a higher resolution screen with ClearBlack technology that seems to be put on more Nokia devices.

And what you think about a larger camera, I guess 12MP one is quite enough as this camera is equipped with Carl Zeiss optic. The Nokia N8’s camera allows users to capture HQ photos and record HD videos, so I think if nothing revolutionary happens in mobile market, the Nokia N9 will launch maximum 12MP camera.

Probably every smartphone user needs a removable storage, so it would be good for all Nokia fans if there would be a microSD slot to expand the memory up to 32GB.

At least, there were many responses showing that users would be pleased if the Nokia N9 sports a physical QWERTY keyboard. So we hope it will come with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard but this deal won’t affect on the phone’s thickness.

Several days ago I have been referred to the leaked details of the upcoming Nokia N9, I’ll recommend you to take a glance on it and leave your comments what you like or not, or what other features would you like to see in the N9.