LGrsquo;s 8 megapixel ldquo;Renoirrdquo; touch screen smartphone has finally arrived in Australia, with an advertising campaign showing just how many features have been squeezed in to challenge the iPhone, Omnia and even the...

Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, has finally responded to the threat posed by touch-screen based smartphones such as Apple's iPhone with a model of its own. But it could be a case of too little too late, says Paul Taylor.

Rising out of the rich soil sprouts Gardening Mama, a new Nintendo DS(TM) gardening simulation that was announced today by Majesco Entertainment Company (Nasdaq: COOL), an innovative provider of video games for the mass market. Developed by Cooking Mama Limited, the team that created the award-winning Cooking Mama franchise that has sold 2.5 million units domestically, Gardening Mama brings back the beloved matron to cultivate a cornucopia of fruits, flowers and vegetables in her backyard.

"Mama has become a certifiable iconsince her original introduction in Cooking Mama DS," said Jesse Sutton, Chief Executive Officer, Majesco. "Her first brand offshoot captures those features that made the Cooking Mama series a best seller -- an innovative concept, full Touch Screen control, approachable gameplay for everyone and, of course, a charismatic mentor who pushes you in her own endearing way to give a gold medal performance every time."

Gardening Mama transforms the DS stylus into a universal gardening tool that players will use to plant, nurture and harvest flowers, fruits and vegetables. Gamers can manage their garden through the seeding, blooming and maturation phases, and then produce items from the plants they've grown (i.e. grow strawberries to make jam or raise pumpkins and then carve a jack-'o-lantern). A robust multiplayer mode lets up to four friends compete to grow the biggest harvest and Treasure Box mode lets players share items they've grown with online friends. Gamers can also decorate various gardens while creating goods like pergolas and hanging baskets. In addition, players can change Mama's outfit to their liking while customizing the screen design to their preference.

Just as millions of players enjoyed slicing and dicing with Mama in the kitchen, they can now move to the great outdoors -- planting, pruning, picking, and creating -- in Gardening Mama!

Gardening Mama for DS is expected to release in Spring 2009. For additional information about Majesco's exciting line of products, please visit www.majescoentertainment.com.

With a full slate of features and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, Nokia is positioning the N97 as a strong competitor to Apple's iPhone 3G and RIM's BlackBerry Storm.

stinkymountain writes "Writer John Brandon spent two days at Microsoft Research Labs in Redmond and got an inside look at some pretty interesting projects under development, including a robotic receptionist, a new type of touch screen for people with fat fingers, and an electronic table that allows multiple people to collaborate in real time. Brandon also talks about some of these research projects on this NPR podcast."pa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/02/1541220amp;from=rss"img src="http://hardware.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/12/02/1541220"/a/ppa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/02/1541220amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/KR_o8XDmQT7YsGEiX12eOs_6Ipk/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/KR_o8XDmQT7YsGEiX12eOs_6Ipk/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotHardware/~4/iG63LTGBITU" height="1" width="1"/

stinkymountain writes "Writer John Brandon spent two days at Microsoft Research Labs in Redmond and got an inside look at some pretty interesting projects under development, including a robotic receptionist, a new type of touch screen for people with fat fingers, and an electronic table that allows multiple people to collaborate in real time. Brandon also talks about some of these research projects on this NPR podcast."pa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/02/1541220amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/12/02/1541220"/a/ppa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/02/1541220amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/ypg7tD97XOOyG9Jv17fJlVN7a3M/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/ypg7tD97XOOyG9Jv17fJlVN7a3M/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/iG63LTGBITU" height="1" width="1"/

stinkymountain writes "Writer John Brandon spent two days at Microsoft Research Labs in Redmond and got an inside look at some pretty interesting projects under development, including a robotic receptionist, a new type of touch screen for people with fat fingers, and an electronic table that allows multiple people to collaborate in real time. Brandon also talks about some of these research projects on this NPR podcast."pa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/02/1541220amp;from=rss"img src="http://slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/12/02/1541220"/a/ppa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/02/1541220amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/ypg7tD97XOOyG9Jv17fJlVN7a3M/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/ypg7tD97XOOyG9Jv17fJlVN7a3M/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~4/tH7QxBRgTVc" height="1" width="1"/

stinkymountain writes "Writer John Brandon spent two days at Microsoft Research Labs in Redmond and got an inside look at some pretty interesting projects under development, including a robotic receptionist, a new type of touch screen for people with fat fingers, and an electronic table that allows multiple people to collaborate in real time. Brandon also talks about some of these research projects on this NPR podcast."pa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/02/1541220amp;from=rss"img src="http://hardware.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rssamp;op=imageamp;style=h0amp;sid=08/12/02/1541220"/a/ppa href="http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/02/1541220amp;from=rss"Read more of this story/a at Slashdot./p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/KR_o8XDmQT7YsGEiX12eOs_6Ipk/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/KR_o8XDmQT7YsGEiX12eOs_6Ipk/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Slashdot/slashdotHardware/~4/tH7QxBRgTVc" height="1" width="1"/

More than two years after Apple launched the iPhone, and months after its rivals launched their versions of touchscreen phones, Nokia today started selling a touchscreen phone (5800 XpressMusic) and announced the N97 superphone, which has touch screen and a keyboard and will be made available sometime in the second quarter of 2009. Maybe. Despite the collective oohs and aahs that can be found on the Internet, however, it would take a lot more for Nokia to beat its competitors, especially Apple and its iPhone.You can buy the Xpress device, which was first announced in October, for$314 unsubsidized, though in India and Russia the prices are higher. As for the 5800 Xpress, a friend of mine recently brought one to the U.S. and after I played around with it for an hour, my response was meh! The touch was OK, just like it’s OK on any other device, but it’s not as responsive as the iPhone. So no, it’s not an iPhone killer, not by any means.

The N97 however, seems, like a worthy competitor — in an Aston Martin vs. Infiniti sort of a way, at least. I am withholding further judgment until I’ve had some time to play around with it.

The N97 is a Symbian S60 touchscreen device with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 5-megapixel camera and 32 GB of on-board memory; it also features an upgraded version of Nokia Maps LG (the Prada II has similar touch-with-a-QWERTY keyboard approach). You can bump up the memory by adding a 16 GB microSD card. It features a large 3.5″ touch display with 640 X 480 resolution. And yes, it will be sold in the U.S., where it’s going to cost $650; it will go on sale in June 2009 (specifically June 29, 2009, according to the company). One of its more attractive features is this concept of “social location.”

With integrated A-GPS sensors and an electronic compass, the Nokia N97 mobile computer intuitively understands where it is. The Nokia N97 makes it easy to update social networks automatically with real-time information, giving approved friends the ability to update their ’status’ and share their ’social location’ as well as related pictures or videos.

They are taking a cue from other phone makers, like INQ Mobile, which have already released their version of Facebook phones and are already finding success with it. From the looks of it, this is an impressive entry. My frustration with Nokia phones is that they are either underpowered or are hampered by the S60 OS, which is not very reliable and makes the phones crash all the time. (Well, more than my iPhone and less than Windows Mobile.) (Related post: Symbian, iPhone and the New Mobile Reality.)

The very fact that Nokia is only now getting out touchscreen phones shows that as a company it is stuck in bureaucratic quicksand, with a culture of consensus that makes it difficult to respond to new challenges. Nokia — and I have been following them for a while — has become one of those companies that, much like Microsoft, is good with announcements, not so great with the follow-up.
There is word that Nokia has a whole arsenal of touchscreen phones coming in the latter half of 2009. Let’s hope they can get their mojo back and start coming out with great devices – especially ones that will make me go back to using Nokia devices on a daily basis. Until then Apple and its iPhone has the pole position all to itself. 

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Nokia Oyj launched a flagship phone to update its aging high-end offering, but analysts said the device would not be enough on its own to help the world's top mobile phone maker recover lost market share.div class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/technologyNews?a=8wWvwGCr"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/technologyNews?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/technologyNews?a=65qT0KaX"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/technologyNews?i=65qT0KaX" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/technologyNews?a=sDhcIiE0"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/technologyNews?i=sDhcIiE0" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reuters/technologyNews/~4/l0pjcuhab0Y" height="1" width="1"/

Introducing the Nokia N97, the next generation high-end mobile phone from Nokia. Described by Nokia folks as a "handheld computer" this device is a pretty comfortable high-end phone. It has a tilting (resistive) touch-screen display, and is the first N-series phone with a QWERTY keyboard. It has 32 gigabytes of memory, expandable to 42 GB via 16 GB memory card. It has a digital compass, a 1500 milliamp battery, and DVD quality video capture. It's extremely comfortable to hold, easy to use, and represents a solid solid evolution of the Nokia smarthphone line.

div style='float:right;'img border=0 title='Deals of the day' alt='Best Deals' src='http://www.uberbargain.com/photos/2008/208370463.jpg' hspace='5' vspace='5' //div p $69.99, a href='http://www.uberbargain.com/archives/2008/12/vtouch_8gb_mp3m.php' target='_blank'V-Touch 8GB MP3/MP4 2.8inch Touch Screen/abr $10.57, a href='http://www.uberbargain.com/archives/2008/12/kingston_4gb_mo_1.php' target='_blank'Kingston 4GB Mobility Kit - MBLY/4GB/abr $89.99, a href='http://www.uberbargain.com/archives/2008/12/fujifilm_72_meg.php' target='_blank'Fujifilm 7.2 MP Camera Finepix Z10FD/abr $12.99, a href='http://www.uberbargain.com/archives/2008/12/plantronics_aud_1.php' target='_blank'Plantronics Audio370 Headset/abr $84.99, a href='http://www.uberbargain.com/archives/2008/12/sony_cybershot_19.php' target='_blank'Sony Cyber-Shot 7.2 MP Camera/a/p pMore good deals at a href='http://www.uberbargain.com/' target='_blank'www.Uberbargain.com/a/p pPermalink: a href="http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2008/12/hot_tech_deals_12.html"Hot Tech Deals/a from Ubergizmo (a href="http://www.ubergizmo.com"US/a, a href="http://www.ubergizmo.com/fr"FR/a) | a href="http://www.uberbargain.com/"Good deals/a | Hot: a href="http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2008/11/blackberry_storm_review.html"Storm Review/a/p pmap name="google_ad_map_081202044836" area shape="rect" href="http://imageads.googleadservices.com/pagead/imgclick/081202044836?pos=0" coords="1,2,367,28"/ area shape="rect" href="http://services.google.com/feedback/abg" coords="384,10,453,23"//map img usemap="#google_ad_map_081202044836" border="0" src="http://imageads.googleadservices.com/pagead/ads?format=468x30_aff_imgamp;client=ca-pub-7335032025195922amp;channel=9684588219amp;output=pngamp;cuid=081202044836amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ubergizmo.com%2F15%2Farchives%2F2008%2F12%2Fhot_tech_deals_12.html"//p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/dtL4fH6hujgVanNLUIJaM-8dnc0/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/dtL4fH6hujgVanNLUIJaM-8dnc0/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/ubergizmo?a=nNnSXMkz"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/ubergizmo?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/ubergizmo?a=wHKltNPm"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/ubergizmo?i=wHKltNPm" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/ubergizmo?a=FYnMLl5w"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/ubergizmo?d=52" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/ubergizmo?a=mHqEt1ez"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/ubergizmo?i=mHqEt1ez" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/ubergizmo?a=XS7fqpXh"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/ubergizmo?i=XS7fqpXh" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ubergizmo/~4/kGHkCLdKzUg" height="1" width="1"/

pimg class="float_right" src="/~~/f?id=49352914796c7a080066cac9maxX=411maxY=319" border="0" alt="N97.jpg" title="N97.jpg" width="411" height="319" /Nokia (NOK), the world's largest mobile phone-maker, put out a new one: the N97, which features a touch screen and costs $693 before taxes and subsidies. It'll hit the market during 2009's first six months, said CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo in a news conference./p pThe WSJ a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122818681467471495.html"calls/a it an all-in-one phone:/p p style="padding-left: 30px;"The N-97 has the touch screen popularized by a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/quotes/main.html?type=djnsymbol=aapl"Apple/a Inc.'s iPhone, a real keyboard that appeals to users of BlackBerrys and Nokia's own E-Series devices, and fast Wi-Fi Internet access to complement third-generation broadband access./p pThe phone also has an accelerometer, a widget-friendly OS, a still and videocamera and a 3.5 inch screen./p pBut other analysts don't think the phone will do much to help Nokia avoid what's expected to be a 1% to 9% industry-wide decline in sales next year./p pspan/span/p p"[Nokia] tried to cram in lots of different technologies such as a touch screen, full qwerty keyboard and plenty of memory, but it had to make trade-offs in its size and features," CCS Insight's Research Director Ben Wood a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE4B128V20081202?sp=true"told Reuters/a. "It has ended up with a relatively thick device that lacks some of the benchmark features expected in flagship products in mid-2009."/p pSaid Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi: "It might give Nokia a little edge, but it's six months until this reaches the market."/p pa href="http://gizmodo.com/5100707/nokia-n97-unveiled-the-first-high+end-n+series-touch-phone?skyline=trues=x"Gadget blog Gizmodo's take:/a/p p style="padding-left: 30px;"The model we briefly handled tonight in NYC was, of course, the Euro version, with no U.S. 3G (and, sadly, no Wi-Fi). Its handlers were keeping it close to the vest, and with no connectivity there wasn't much testing to be done, but we can say that the hardware is indeed pretty-befitting a $700 Nokia piece. The desktop Symbian widgets look nice, but the drawbacks of a resistive touchscreen (there, as always, to ensure character recognition via a stylus for Nokia's Asian market) were immediately noticeable when dragging widgets around the desktop./p pThose desperate to see the N97's every angle should check out a href="http://www.engadget.com/photos/nokia-n97-hands-on/1196877/"Engadget's slide show/a./p pstrongSee Also:/strongbr /a href="../../2008/12/nokia-to-show-off-iphone-killer"Nokia To Show Off iPhone Killer This Week? Another Tablet? (NOK)/a/p p /p p /p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/BBYnaX3EFXHFHdERXzX_eK-PmWc/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/BBYnaX3EFXHFHdERXzX_eK-PmWc/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=2HLnYy9f"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?i=2HLnYy9f" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=4uS9PF2f"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=52" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=1F2qzTw5"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=80" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=6YHV2dT3"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?i=6YHV2dT3" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=SiNw2qXX"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=131" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=ku6QLnyF"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=336" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=6ry2Pn1v"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?a=lEXZXMCv"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider?d=50" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider/~4/iGFZF-l5su4" height="1" width="1"/

Category: Games
Released: Nov 28, 2008
Price: $1.99

Description:
iJiggle - Christmas Edition, is a highly realistic jigsaw puzzle game which has everything you need to play great-looking puzzles during this Christmas seasons. The game provides a very comfortable puzzling environment and superb graphics. Intricately shaped pieces have slick outlines, and beveled edges, and cast real shadows. Whilst solving a puzzle you have some help at your disposal which make solving the puzzle easier. (For expert player, you can try the "hard" mode). But that is not all. If you complete a puzzle, you can exhibit your timing in our online scoreboard, and peruse your successes with due pride. The goal is to arrange and fill the empty board with the correct jigsaws from the tray. This is the biggest Jigsaw game on AppStore (4x12). This game comes with 5 different jigsaw boards. You can even share your high scores online by sending them to our site directly from you mobile (using WIFI/3G connections). 1. GAMEPLAY - singleplayer, �- over 5 different boards, �- touch screen �drag&drop�, �- accelerometer support, - multiple game mode (easy/normal/hard) support, - Automatic save game for each board. 2. HIGH QUALITY 2D ENGINE Amazing graphics and visual effects including: - shadows, �- dynamic lighting. 3. MULTICHANNEL AUDIO SYSTEM Multichannel audio system with high quality original soundtrack and sound effects. 4. ONLINE HIGHSCORE SYSTEM �You can compete against other people from all over the world. Let you submit your highscores to our website and compete them with other player. 6. TOUCH SCREEN GAME CONTROLS �Simply use you finger �drag&drop� the pieces across the screen. To reset, just shake your iPhone/iPod. � 7. CONFIGURABLE SETTINGS From the Device General Setting, user can set the following preferences : - Sound on/off, �- 3D sound on/off, - Game Mode Easy/Normal/Hard�- Edit/Edit username for scoreboard, �- Edit/Delete email for scoreboard.

Website: http://www.gamepea.com
Support Website: http://www.gamepea.com

Note: The description above is the official one supplied by the application developer and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of this site or its staff.


Get it on iTunes: iJiggle - Christmas Edition

Category: Games
Released: Nov 23, 2008
Price: $9.99

Description:
The most explosive shooting experience on iPhone! Described by the press as "incredible"; "an achievement", "it looks and sounds absolutely fantastic". Play as a soldier of the 101st Airborne in the most intense WWII battles: - The iPhone version of the world-famous Brothers In Arms franchise. - 14 missions in 3 campaigns: Normandy, Ardennes & Tunisia. - Unbelievable 3D graphics recreating the atmosphere of a real Hollywood WWII blockbuster. - Drive a 4x4 vehicle or a Sherman tank and use a wide range of weapons (bazooka, sniper rifle, machine guns, etc.) - Use the accelerometer function to launch grenades & the touch screen to shoot at enemies. Soldier, defeat is not an option! For fans of shooters & action games like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed & Kroll.

Website: http://www.gameloft.com/iphone-games/brothers-in-arms/
Support Website: http://www.gameloft.com/iphone-games/brothers-in-arms/

Note: The description above is the official one supplied by the application developer and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of this site or its staff.


Get it on iTunes: Brothers In Arms�® Hour of Heroes

Category: Games
Released: Nov 24, 2008
Price: $1.99

Description:
In this his game. it may be avoided from the flying bullets and getting items by the control of the aircraft with using the touch screen.

Website: http://naver.com
Support Website: http://naver.com

Note: The description above is the official one supplied by the application developer and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of this site or its staff.


Get it on iTunes: AVOID

Category: Games
Released: Nov 27, 2008
Price: $0.99

Description:
Welcome to the world of the Arkanigon, a race of super-humans with mystical powers that can be used for good or evil. In this high-action game your chosen character will compete for the ultimate prize in an Arkanigon Duel tournament. Choose from 8 complex characters with diverse backgrounds, abilities and motivations for participating in the tournament. Challenge your rivals (either the CPU or another player playing on the same iPhone/iPod Touch) to one-on-one duels as you follow your character's unique story from the beginning of the tournament to the end. Play involves characters positioned at opposite ends of the playing field (the iPhone/iPod Touch screen in landscape mode). Characters attempt to defeat their opponent by launching projectiles of varying destructive capabilities at them. Characters can avoid, absorb and/or reflect their opponent's projectiles in order to survive. A well-fought duel is a plethora of exciting action and sound. Each duel is accompanied by rich music and scenery. Each duel is also preceded and followed by portions of your character's story line making play even more interesting. Features: ------------- - Story Mode - Human vs CPU - CPU vs CPU (on the same iPhone/iPod Touch) - Two Player (on the same iPhone/iPod Touch) - Save/Load Game - Choice of 8 characters - Music Player

Website: http://www.arkanigon.com
Support Website: http://www.arkanigon.com

Note: The description above is the official one supplied by the application developer and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of this site or its staff.


Get it on iTunes: Arkanigon

Nokia today announced the launch of the Nokia N97. It is the first touch-enabled Nseries device and has a horizontal tilt-slide form factor. It transforms from a touch slate to a landscape QWERTY device. The device, which has an Internet and entertainment focus, runs on S60 5th Edition, has a customisable, widget-based, home screen and full support for Ovi services.
It features a 3.5 inch (360 x 640 resolution) touchscreen with haptic feedback, 5 megapixel camera (with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash), A-GPS and compass sensors, comprehensive connectivity options (WiFi, tri-band HSDPA, Bluetooth and USB), and 32GB of internal flash memory. Read on for more.
The N97 is the most feature packed Nseries device to date and, by adding touch, it moves Nokia's high end Nseries into direct competition with touch devices such as the Samsung Omnia, LG Renoir, Apple iPhone and G1 Android Phone.
Here are first few hand-ons impressions: In the hand the N97 feels pleasingly solid, with an extremely impressive slide mechanism - it is obvious a lot of testing has gone into the hinge mechanism. In slide closed mode it is equally solid, with no give. The keyboard, while limited by design constraints, feels good, though as ever it's difficult to come to any final conclusions with prototypes. Subjectively, the 'feel' and the design of the handset screams high end with materials that can not be fully appreciated in pictures (it has that caress-ability x-factor).
It is a relatively large device, especially length-wise, but that's inevitable given the size of the screen and the inclusion of a QWERTY keyboard. There's the usual plethora of hardware features, including sensors (accelerometer, compass sensors and proximity sensors), integrated A-GPS, and connectivity options (tri-band 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth and USB). The large screen is a definite highlight - its widescreen 16:9 resolution is ideal for watching videos, but also works well for browsing the Internet. The touch screen is very sensitive, and there have been further refinements to the home screen to enable easier finger touch usage (the larger physical screen also helps with this). The UI can also be driven from the keypad using the D-pad on the left hand side of the keyboard, together with the on-screen softkeys and home key.
S60 5th Edition has been updated to Nseries specifications for the N97. Extras include UPnP, Internet Radio and Nokia Photos applications and we can expect to see a lot more in this area before the phone is released.
We'll report in greater detail in due course.

Key features of the phone:

Software:

• Runs S60 5th Edition. You can read more about S60 5th Edition in our Nokia 5800 preview. However, the N97 will have the Nseries version of S60, which means there will be a number of extra applications including Internet Radio, FM transmitter, Home media (UPnP) and Photos.
• The home screen can be personalised with Internet-aware widgets (based on WRT technology). Examples included in the press photos include weather forecasts, social networking (Facebook, Friendster, My Space) status summaries, and media collections. There are also indicators for time, profiles, email, application shortcuts and so on.
• Text input is via on screen keyboard (full screen QWERTY, pop-up QWERTY and alphanumeric), as is standard on S60 5th Edition, or handwriting recognition or via the QWERTY keyboard.
• Fully compatible with Ovi services including Maps, Music, Share and Games. Nokia Music store can be accessed from the device (touch optimised version) or from Nokia Music for the PC (an iTunes -Windows application). Nokia Maps now supports high resolution satellite imagery, 3D buildings (selected buildings) and richer map meta data. Pedestrian route finding and turn by turn, voice guided car navigation, are available as premium services.
• Internet focus with WebKit based browser, comprehensive RSS feed support and runtime technologies including Flash, WRT (widget).
• Introduces the social location (So-Lo) concept; the N97 has software that allows you to automatically update and share your location with friends and popular social networks.
• 'N-Gage compatible' device, which indicates that the N-Gage platform will be touch enabled by the release date of the N97.

The devices being demoed at Nokia World are running an early version of the software. In the six months leading up to the release date it is likely to evolve considerably.
Hardware:

• Physical dimensions: 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm (18.25 mm at camera area), and weighs approximately 150g.
• Tilt form factor with horizontal slide to reveal full QWERTY keyboard. The upper half of the device slides away from the bottom half and moves upwards in a diagonal direction. The slide is impressively smooth and when closed feels very solid in the hand (so much so its not immediately apparent it is a horizontal slide device).
• There are three keys on the front of the device: send and end keys and a home/menu key. On the left side of the device there is a slider lock and a microUSB port, on the top of the device is the power and 3.5mm audio jack and on the right hand side are the volume keys and the camera capture key.
• 3.5 inch, 360 x 640 (nHD) resolution resistive touch TFT screen with 16 million colours. The device can be driven using finger touch or stylus, or from the QWERTY keyboard.
• Haptic feedback for screen touches. This is provided via general vibra feedback, as on the Nokia 5800.
• 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash. The camera is covered by a sliding lens cover similar to that found on the N85 and N79.
  
  The camera is also used to record videos at VGA at 30 frames per seconds, but I've seen a demo of it recording and playing video back in a 16:9 resolution mode (also as on the 5800). The usual Share online application is present for uploading images and video to online services such as Flickr and Share on Ovi (available services likely to be expanded before launch).
• Integrated A-GPS and compass sensor (magnetometer) means that the N97 'intuitively knows where it is' and this is used by Nokia Maps, and for social location; also embeds location information into images and video.
• 3.5 mm audio jack (also used for TV-Out) and built in stereo speakers. Music playback time of one and half days (36 hours). There's also an FM radio and FM transmitter.
• microUSB jack (USB 2.0 HiSpeed) and supports charging over USB
• 32GB of internal flash memory
• microSD card slot with support for SDHC cards upto 16GB in size (giving total potential memory of 48 GB)
• WiFi, 3.5G (tri-band HSDPA - 900, 1900 and 2100 Mhz), quad-band GSM and Bluetooth connectivity (various profiles including HID, SAP, A2DP and AVRCP).
• 1500 mAh battery (BP-4L - the same monster as that used in the E71, E90, 6650 and N800).
• There is no stylus built into the phone, but one will be included in the box.
• The Nokia N97 is expected to ship in the first half of 2009 (presumably in June) with an estimated price of 550 Euro before taxes and subsidies.

The N97 (117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm) is larger than the 5800 (111 x 51.7 x 15.5 mm). Compared to the iPhone (112 x 56.9 x 12.5 mm) is a little taller, but slightly mm narrower. Quite impressive given the incluion of a QWERTY keyboard. N78 also shown.

Press release extract:

Nokia today unveiled the Nokia N97, the world’s most advanced mobile computer, which will transform the way people connect to the Internet and to each other. Designed for the needs of Internet-savvy consumers, the Nokia N97 combines a large 3.5” touch display with a full QWERTY keyboard, providing an ‘always open’ window to favorite social networking sites and Internet destinations. Nokia’s flagship Nseries device introduces leading technology – including multiple sensors, memory, processing power and connection speeds – for people to create a personal Internet and share their ‘social location.’
“From the desktop to the laptop and now to your pocket, the Nokia N97 is the most powerful, multi-sensory mobile computer in existence,” said Jonas Geust, Vice President, heading Nokia Nseries. “Together with the Ovi services announced today, the Nokia N97 mobile computer adjusts to the world around us, helping stay connected to the people and things that matter most. With the Nokia N97, Nseries leads the charge in helping to transform the Internet into your Internet”.


More...

Nokia today announced the launch of the Nokia N97. It is the first touch-enabled Nseries device and has a horizontal tilt-slide form factor. It transforms from a touch slate to a landscape QWERTY device. The device, which has an Internet and entertainment focus, runs on S60 5th Edition, has a customisable, widget-based, home screen and full support for Ovi services.
It features a 3.5 inch (360 x 640 resolution) touchscreen with haptic feedback, 5 megapixel camera (with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash), A-GPS and compass sensors, comprehensive connectivity options (WiFi, tri-band HSDPA, Bluetooth and USB), and 32GB of internal flash memory. Read on for more.
The N97 is the most feature packed Nseries device to date and, by adding touch, it moves Nokia's high end Nseries into direct competition with touch devices such as the Samsung Omnia, LG Renoir, Apple iPhone and G1 Android Phone.
Here are first few hand-ons impressions: In the hand the N97 feels pleasingly solid, with an extremely impressive slide mechanism - it is obvious a lot of testing has gone into the hinge mechanism. In slide closed mode it is equally solid, with no give. The keyboard, while limited by design constraints, feels good, though as ever it's difficult to come to any final conclusions with prototypes. Subjectively, the 'feel' and the design of the handset screams high end with materials that can not be fully appreciated in pictures (it has that caress-ability x-factor).
It is a relatively large device, especially length-wise, but that's inevitable given the size of the screen and the inclusion of a QWERTY keyboard. There's the usual plethora of hardware features, including sensors (accelerometer, compass sensors and proximity sensors), integrated A-GPS, and connectivity options (tri-band 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth and USB). The large screen is a definite highlight - its widescreen 16:9 resolution is ideal for watching videos, but also works well for browsing the Internet. The touch screen is very sensitive, and there have been further refinements to the home screen to enable easier finger touch usage (the larger physical screen also helps with this). The UI can also be driven from the keypad using the D-pad on the left hand side of the keyboard, together with the on-screen softkeys and home key.
S60 5th Edition has been updated to Nseries specifications for the N97. Extras include UPnP, Internet