We’ve just hot footed it from Nokia’s London offices, where we got to grips with the Nokia N9, a MeeGo smartphone that the company appears to be treating like a red headed step child. It’s a crying shame, because what we’ve seen is nothing short of delightful.
Why’s that bad? Allow us to explain.
Remember that MacBook Air inspired Asus netbook unveiled at Computex in May? According to DigiTimes, the Asus PC X101 will be available in July with the MeeGo and Windows 7 models priced at $199 (£124) and $310-$350 (£194-£219) respectively.
Under the hood of the Asus PC X101 is an Intel low-power Atom N435 1.33 GHZ single-core processor. While not the fastest chip on the block, the addition of a small SSD should make up for its shortcomings.
Despite what you’ve heard the Nokia N9 is not the only MeeGo smartphone in town. Nokia has quietly unveiled the N950, but with it one small caveat — it will be a developer-only device. Though it’s not destined for retail consumption, our inner N900 fanboy has us itching for a fix. Let’s take a look at what’s inside the Nokia N950, shall we?
At first glance the only difference between N9 and the N950 appears to be the addition of a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Upon further inspection you’ll notice the N950 features a 4-inch TFT display while the N9 packs a more vibrant 3.9-inch AMOLED set.
Seen the news? CEO Stephen Elop just showed off the Nokia Sea Ray, the first Windows Phone from the struggling Finnish phone giant. And man, was the whole event odd.
But those shaky clips hitting YouTube are exactly what Nokia intended to get out however – and they give you some idea of how cursory this week’s Nokia N9 MeeGo launch really was.
Nokia has just released an availability checker for its upcoming MeeGo-powered N9 smartphone. Unfortunately the UK, US and India are not listed in the group of 23 countries on the pulldown. While this alone does not rule out launches in these countries, it may suggest a phased roll out with smaller markets leading the launch.
A Nokia smartphone launch without the UK is quite a shock. India has been sidelined before with Nokia device launches. Looking back at the Maemo-powered N900, it took ages for the device to launch. The US has also suffered similar setbacks since carrier support it limited and Nokia phones are sold almost exclusively SIM-free.
As predicted, Nokia has finally pulled the covers of the Nokia N9 during the Nokia Connection event in Singapore. While the Nokia N9 is the company’s first MeeGo phone it shares more than a little bit of a resemblance with the Windows Phone 7 concepts the Finns have flaunted in photos. Certainly the same range of wild colours is on the cards.
If you’ve been eagerly waiting to see what Nokia would do with Linux-based MeeGo OS, you can find the full specs and a handy video guide after the jump. The big question is: will you go for MeeGo or wait for Nokia’s love-in with Windows Phone 7 to make its debut later this year?
The roller coaster of emotion for die-hard Nokia fans could hit an all-time high next week as Nokia plans to unveil a ‘new market disrupting device’ on June 21. The announcement will be followed by a live broadcast from Singapore where the company’s head honcho, Stephen Elop, will deliver the keynote at Nokia Connection 2011.
There’s no telling what this ‘market disrupting device’ might be, but as TheNokiaBlog points out, Mr. Elop previously described MeeGo as the company’s “future disruption in mobile ecosystem”. Based on that reference alone we may be looking at a Nokia MeeGo announcement.
Asus may have hit a home run with its latest creation — the Eee PC X101. This ultra-thin netbook will be offered in two flavors, a Windows 7 and £120 ($199) MeeGo edition. With styling reminiscent of an 11-inch MacBook Air, Asus is bringing world-class design to the affordable entry-level netbook market. Let’s take the Eee PC X101 for a spin, shall we?
