Just gaze upon those curves up above and tell us
what they remind you of. Yes indeed, the
Nokia N98 -- which seemed so futuristic we were inclined to dismiss it as the product of a hyperactive imagination -- is today looking all too credible thanks to the obvious design similarities it shares with the
officially released N8. Starting with the distinctive tapered edges with contrast coloring, moving through the black bezel-sporting display, and jotting down the positions of the Nokia and N00 logos as well as the Options menu, the viewer can't help but be convinced that this February leak came with no small portion of truthiness to it. Now, we don't live anywhere near Espoo, so we can't tell you whether this was just a precursor to the N8, which lost its physical keyboard and N9x naming scheme to become the
beastly media phone we know today. But wouldn't it be lovely to believe Nokia's working on all cylinders and planning to introduce a 4-inch QWERTY variant of its new flagship?
posted May 2nd 2010 4:53AM
@LeanDRO
in the large camera module, good tactile keypad, removeable battery, dual LED flash, and a robust camera lens cover.
@christexaport DUAL LED? *dead*
Better no flash than a led flash. The only thing a led flash does is drain your battery and still make crappy pictures.
Xenon flash ftw :)
@LeanDRO
How is this phone thick?
I don't thick they have relased any specs on the next N9XX series of phones yet.
@LeanDRO
Good luck recording video with a Xenon Flash.
@Hamaki
Video with LED is crap anyway. You need much more light for that to actually give decent footage. Cant have Xenon on all the time. It could have been included, but they didnt find the space. Personally, I think that is not really a problem.
@JFH
If you're recording video in a situation in which you need something brighter than dual leds to get a decent footage, you probably shouldn't be using your cellphone for that anyway.
In which case, i would prefer a flash that won't kill the battery in about 5 minutes. But that's me.
I'm glad engadget is embracing the nonamerican readers, every other headline doesn't have to be about android,apple. Keep up the good work and every now and then have a global mind - reporting about a global brand from Europe is a good step forward :)
ah, It looks nice in any color including bubblegum pink. Alas, looks don't do any good to any device if it crashes mid email writing, mid call, or just simply has a battery live of 3hrs, or so. Looks are nice, it's contents we need! Contents speaks louder than I do.
My personal super-phone for Q3/4 2010 - if it runs Maemo or a highly optimized version of Symbian^3.
@zyborg
MeeGo phone is a different and is announced in Q4. This will run S^3.
i really dont understand the hate, why hasnt engadget emphasized on one really imporatant fact, SYMBIAN IS NOW OPEN SOURCE, and like android it will take sometime- if you dont like a feature, i am sure someone will come out with a tweaked OS. The platform, the customer base is already there, and their SDK is out. Nokia is on to something.
add 1 ghz cortex 512mb ram and its all set...
Of COURSE they are working on a qwerty slider, they always are! The real question is: Will it be as shitty as their last one (N97)?
@hated one Too bad that Nokia still sells more phones than all American Phone manufracturers combined, in just 1Q.
USA is outdated pretty outdated in technology, despite it's huge effort to be a leader in technology, it still falls short when compared to Japan, or most West-European countries.
So I doubt that Nokia loses sleep over the US of A, where most of the people still use dumbphones.
That first picture somehow reminds me of T-Mobile's Sidekick...
I'm intrigued by Symbian^3... here's hoping for a good contender to the mobile phone OS fray...
@hated one
"Keyboards r so 2006,
get with the times nokia.
No wonder America has literally ousted your brand in this country.
Memeory cards r so 2005.
Removable batteries r so 2006,
agree?"
And you are so misinformed....
If Nokia would jump on the Android bandwagon, they'd kill on the market once again. No other produces better hardware.
@Straycat
Why do you think Android is any better then Symbian or Maemo/Meego?
@Straycat
Try reading some of the other comment for this article, they explain pretty well why they should not do this.
@Straycat
Android would mean laggy non-hardware accelerated UI. I'd take smooth 60 fps UI in Symbian^3 over Android any day.
@Straycat
If Nokia decided to chose Android they would just shoot themselves in the foot.
I want that hardware.
You can keep the software, though. Blech.
@Chefgon
Yeah, so that is the second time you say this in this articles comments, but you havent really explained why. Blech why?
@Chefgon
@2nd what JFH said. I'm starting to wonder if there is trolling go around here. A lot of baseless bashing.
@hated one
My first reaction was, screw hated one. Now I just do not understand what you were saying. So, can you elaborate on what you just said. What is it that you really want to say?
Thank you Vladislav Savov! I've been asking the same question since I first saw the N8. I'm glad I'm not the only one that noticed. The N98 is the Nokia that I really wanted. Hopefully they would have a camera cover on it too?! Because, you know I really want a nifty 12MP camera with no cover so the lens can get scratched my first week of ownership.
@EretsiM
As per a Q&A with the responsible Nokia managers I witnessed online, the N8 does not have a cover because they feel most damage actually comes from the cover (and it would make the package to thick). They have opted for highly scratch resistant material so you shouldnt be having any issues with that. I think they tested it in a device called a tumbler, that really punishes the device in every way, and it came out pristine. So, even though I do not know from first hand how it will behave, I would be confident it is executed properly.
@JFH
Makes sense I guess. I'm just being a little anal. I suppose filth gets behind the cover easily enough anyway. Still I want my qwerty keyboard.
@EretsiM
Lens cover can possible ruin the lens, if your unlucky. It's a mixed bag feature, if some sand or something else gets between the lens cover and the lens, we all know what will happen. On the other hand, I have been using my N80 for three years and there's not a single scratch on the lens.
@JFH : Just to give you a citation:
"there is no camera cover. The materials are highly scratch resistant, and also, we wanted to make the use of many social applications as seamless as possible"
Read more here:
http://blogs.nokia.com/nseries/2010/04/28/the-first-nokia-n8-qa-session/
http://blogs.nokia.com/nseries/2010/04/28/our-second-n8-qa-session/
but it's released in September that's like 3 lightyears from now (wonders how many desires and heroes HTC will spit out)
I would not mind meegoo running on the N8 hardware with a flip out keyboard. Especially, if it run within $50-100 bucks of what the N8 is supposed to cost. IIRC, about 400 euros unlocked.
@JFH
I think is something like "iPhone rulez"
Thank you God! N8 with a QWERTY = best phone ever.
Oh! It is just what I had thought!
I wrote about it last week:
http://goponygo.com/blog/nokia/%C2%BFexiste-un-nokia-n8-con-teclado-qwerty/
Let's hope Nokia throws a 1Ghz processor in this colorful beast. I wud so totally go for a Red...