Nokia's N9 is a curious creature; we don't to know if the impressive hardware will make it a hit, or if Nokia's public abandonment of MeeGo will be the nail in its coffin. Understandably, we're really excited to see how public perception of the smartphone fares as it's finally released. Some new insight into just where the N9 will be available, though, makes us all the less optimistic that the smartphone will be the hit it could be. On Nokia's website, the N9 now has a page where you can check on the phone's global availability, choosing from a list of countries and having the opportunity ...

Now that cellphone image sensors have evolved beyond the dark days of sub-megapixel blockiness, photo quality has become an important determinant when choosing among handsets. To that end, we've collected sample shots from some upcoming models, hopefully giving you a basic idea of what to expect when you release the shutter. Of course, as we've noted before, test shots from pre-release devices often don't represent the output from shipping products: camera firmware, which plays just as important a role as sensor quality, is often tweaked right up until the last minute. In situations where ...

The Nokia N9, the first "pure-touch" smartphone made by the Finnish manufacturer, was launched this week running MeeGo. The buttonless device, sporting a 3.9-inch curved glass AMOLED display and an eight-megapixel auto focus camera with Carl Zeiss optics will hit the markets soon. According to Colin Giles, Nokiass Executive Vice President of Sales, the price for an unlocked 16GB variant of the N9 will be around $660. The larger capacity-enabled N9, sporting 64GB of storage, will go for roughly $749. You might find these prices a bit high but these are unsubsidized and we're sure once a ...

Like a growing number of upcoming smartphones, Nokia's just-revealed MeeGo-running N9 will include a transceiver for NFC data. Users might end up using it to pay for groceries, unlock some new levels in Angry Birds, or quickly transfer files between phones. A short video is available to demo that last feature, and while we're not sure it will end up being as useful a feature as it has the potential to be, there's no denying it's a pretty smooth implementation. Once you find a file you'd like to share, be it photo, song, or document, the sender simply pulls up a menu and selects NFC as ...

Nokia has recently unveiled the N9 slate on June 21, a button-less smartphone running MeeGo with all the bells and whistles Nokia could fit in this unibody design. The Camera on the phone is one of eight-megapixels and it sports, just like the N8, Carl Zeiss optics. According to Jens Wilke, Nokia Product Manager, the N9 is the fastest camera-phone on the market. It allegedly only takes a tiny bit more than two seconds to capture an image. For comparison purposes, Nokia Conversations also supplied the graphic above where we can see some strong contenders on the market like the iPhone 4 and ...

Remember that Nokia QWERTY slider that popped-up in the leaked video teaser everyone thought was the N9? We suspected that it might be the N950 and indeed it turned out to be, powered by MeeGo just like the recently launched N9. The Nokia N950 is the Nokia MeeGo developer device and it looks just like the Nokia N9 prototype we've seen some time ago. Hardware-wise, the N950 is the same as the N9. Exceptions are the added slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 4-inch LCD screen with the same resolution -- versus the 3.9-inch AMOLED on the N9 -- and a slightly smaller battery, though sans NFC. The N950 ...

If you have a smartphone (and you do since you are reading our website) you know how smart these devices are: they can run tons of applications, keep you in touch with friends and colleagues, help you find your way around by knowing where you are and where you're heading. Well, your "smart" phone will become even smarter after some of these sensors will come out and manufacturers include them in your handsets -- and of course when platforms and applications will offer proper support. Benedetto Vigna, general manager of the MEMS division of STMicroelectronics, tells us what you can expect ...

Less than a week after we saw it unexpectedly pop up in the FCC database, the MeeGo-powered Nokia N9 (N950?) has appeared in a professional-looking teaser commercial (clip embedded below), further suggesting that not only is this handset still destined for release, but that a launch may actually be imminent. The latest report pegs next month as the likely window for an official debut; however, this is a phone which seems to have been fully-baked since the fall of last year, so we wouldn't take anything for granted here. Final specs on the N9/N950 are as nebulous as its release date: ...

LG has joined the MeeGo Handset Working Group along with names like China Mobile, Intel, ZTE, Huawei and Panasonic after Nokia abandoned the project and went Windows Phone. The Korean manufacturer seems to already have a prototype to show off. Next month's MeeGo Conference held in San Francisco between May 23 and 25 is the event where LG will show off its MeeGo powered smartphone prototype. The information comes from the session announcement below and according to that LG will show off MeeGo 1.2 ported to one of its own smartphone prototypes. While there are currently no exact plans ...

When Nokia got on-board the Windows Phone 7 train, it seemed like the company's other operating system projects would end up getting the short end of the stick. Symbian continues to receive developer attention, but it's running on borrowed time, with Nokia having a clear vision of transitioning smartphone production over to WP7. What, then, about MeeGo? Shortly after the WP7 news, Intel announced that it would be continuing its share of work on MeeGo, but we still needed a consumer electronics manufacturer to express interest if we wanted to see any MeeGo-based hardware actually come out. ...

When Nokia decided to partner-up with Microsoft to develop Windows Phone 7 smartphones, that meant the company would no longer be able to devote resources to some of its development efforts towards other smartphone operating systems. It had been developing MeeGo alongside Intel, which now has to rethink how it will continue to work on the open-source Linux-based OS in Nokia's absence. Since the news broke, Intel CEO Paul Otellini has reportedly chimed in on the Nokia-Microsoft partnership, stating that going with Android instead of WP7 would have been a smarter move for Nokia. We've looked ...

If Intel has its way, MeeGo won't be fading away as quickly as Nokia wants it to. The open sourced operating system, which has yet to make a retail presence, is still part of Intel's strategy, with or without Nokia. The company remarks: While we are disappointed with Nokia's decision, Intel is not blinking on MeeGo. We remain committed and welcome Nokia's continued contribution to MeeGo open source. Our strategy has always been to provide choice when it comes to operating systems, a strategy that includes Windows, Android, and MeeGo. This is not changing. MeeGo is not just a phone OS, it ...

Nokia may be planning to launch the first MeeGo smartphone, but it's not the only name in town when it comes to the burgeoning operating system. Aava has been working on putting Intel chips in smartphones since last year, and now it may be ready to show off the latest of what it's been working on, as the company is reportedly planning a demo of its Core platform, a dual MeeGo/Android solution, at this year's Mobile World Congress. While the thought of a manufacturer selling smartphones intentionally designed to support multiple operating systems, rather than leave it to phone enthusiasts ...