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PDAStreet.com > Features > Nokia Enters Netbook Arena; Preps New Tablet, Touch Smartphone

Nokia Enters Netbook Arena; Preps New Tablet, Touch Smartphone

By James Alan Miller
August 27, 2009

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Cell phone and smartphone giant covers all the bases with trio of upcoming devices—its latest Internet Tablet, the N900 with Wi-Fi and 3G; first netbook, the Windows-run Booklet 3G; and a smaller version of the N97, feature packed touch-display smartphone.

Nokia uses three different mobile operating systems—Maemo Linux, Windows, Symbian/S60—for three different mobile platforms.

First, Nokia today unveiled the N900 Internet Tablet. It is the first of the cell phone giant's Linux-based Wi-Fi handhelds to support 3G (HSPA) wireless technology.

Due to ship in unspecified select markets in October, the N900 looks a lot Nokia's previous tablets—the N810, N800, and N770—the latter, the first model in the series, shipped way back in the fall of 2005. It runs on the latest version of Nokia's open source Maemo 5 Linux platform.

The N900 sports a WVGA touch display with a slide-out keyboard, a 5 megapixel camera with (as is Nokia's usual practice) a Carl Zeiss lens, 32GB of internal memory, Bluetooth, and a microSD slot to expand storage capacity to as much as 48GB.

It uses a ARM Cortex-A8 processor and includes up to 1GB of application memory and OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceleration.

The new tablet has a Mozilla-based browser and features full Adobe Flash 9.4 support. Flash is the most widely used platform for videos and animations on the Internet. Alsok, Maemo software updates occur automatically over the Web.

Nokia Messaging service supports up to ten e-mail accounts. Text message or IM exchanges with friends are shown in one view and all conversations are organized as separate windows.

"The Nokia N900 shows where we are going with Maemo and we'll continue to work with the community to push the software forward, said Nokia executive VP Anssi Vanjoki in a statement. "What we have with Maemo is something that is fusing the power of the computer, the internet and the mobile phone, and it is great to see that it is evolving in exciting ways."

See video below for a brief overview of the N900 and Maemo 5.

Nokia says the N900 will go for EUR 500, excluding sales taxes and subsidies.

A Wireless Netbook
The introduction of the N900 follows the news the other day that Nokia would enter the netbook market with a new device called the Booklet 3G. Unlike the Maemo-run N900 or Nokia's smartphones, which leverage its Symbian/S60 platform, the Booklet 3G uses Microsoft's Windows operating system.

This is the second time Nokia's turned to Microsoft in the last few weeks. Back on the August 12, the two giants announced a deal to bring support for Microsoft Office Mobile, Office Communicator Mobile, SharePoint, and Microsoft System Center—followed by other Office applications and related software and services—to Nokia's smartphones.

nokianetbook3gb.gif

Specs for the Booklet 3G includ high-speed HSPA cellular-wireless broadband—after all, it has 3G in the name—with the ability to hot-swap SIM cards, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, three USB ports, a 10.1-inch HD screen, HD video out, an HDMI Port, a headphone jack, GPS, a camera for video conferencing, and support for SD cards to expand storage capacity.

The netbook is small and light at 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) and a mere .9 inches (2 centimeters) thick.

It promises up to 12 hours of battery life with normal daily use. Whatever that means.

Noki executive VP for Device Kai Oistamo said his company is entering the netbook arena because "a growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility. We are in the business of connecting people and the Nokia Booklet 3G is a natural evolution for us."

Oistamo added, "Nokia has a long and rich heritage in mobility and with the outstanding battery life, premium design and all day, always on connectivity, we will create something quite compelling. In doing so we will make the personal computer more social, more helpful and more personal.”

Oistamo did not say how much the Booklet 3G would cost or when and where it would ship.

Expect to learn more about it and the N900 Internet Tablet at the upcoming Nokia World Conference on September 2nd in Stuttgart, Germany.

See below for a short video overview of Nokia Booklet 3G.

Here you'll find more pictures and details about Nokia's new netbook.

A Smaller, Lighter Uber Smartphone
Last but not least is the N97 Mini, which was recently approved by the FCC for release in the U.S.

This is an important (though not guaranteed) step toward possible release of the N97 Mini in this country. All devices that use U.S. airwaves must receive a thumbs up from the FCC before shipping here

Nokia has not officially announced the N97 Mini yet, so it isn't known when it will release the smartphone or exactly what markets is will be available in. I'm placing my bet on AT&T carrying the smartphone should Nokia release it here. If not, it almost certainly will make the N97 Mini available unlocked.

One question: So shy a smaller version of the N97 anyway?

Well, the N97 is, perhaps, the most powerful smartphone on the market-at least in terms of overall feature set. It picks up right where Nokia's old Communicator model left off.

In addition to tons of features, this also means the N97 is a rather large; hence the advent of the N97 Mini, which, like its predecessor, supposedly doesn't skimp on features.

Consequently, even though its display drops from 3.5 inches to 2.9 inches, the N97 Mini's will still run at a 640 x 360-pixel resolution with 16 million colors and automatic brightness control. The mini will also maintain the sliding QWERTY keyboard and dual-LED 5 megapixel camera of the standard model, although it may lose the lens cover.

Reportedly, the mini will come in 8GB and 16GB variations, down from the N97's 32GB of storage. It will also lose the D-pad of the larger N97 model.

Otherwise, the N97 Mini should be a quad-band GSM with 3G (UTMS, HSPA) phone like the N97. It should include the same GPS, microSDHC card, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and electric compass of the former as well.

To get a good idea of the difference in sizes between the two N97s, check out the leaked image above. It shows the N97 Mini (right) sitting right next to the N97 (left).

See here for more details on the Nokia N97 Mini.

Rumor has Nokia will officially unveil the N97 Mini at Nokia World.

 
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