The Web is buzzing about Nokia’s announcement of the next in the Nokia Nxxx series, the N900. I found it odd that Nokia had chosen to make this version a phone when the previous three versions, the 770, N800, and N810 were all “internet tablets”. The only reason I even believed this one would be a phone is because of all of the buzzing, with numerous tech news sources reporting it as Nokia’s new phone.
After looking at the website for the device for a few minutes this morning, however, I found absolutely no mention of it being a phone. They have pictures of its interface but never show a dialing pad. The specs mention mobile broadband but not mobile voice.
It does run the new Linux-based version of Nokia’s Maemo operating system, which will probably not be compatible with previous versions of the tablet, since this tablet will finally introduce a 3D graphics chip with iphone-ish effects (as if that’s important).
But no, it is not a phone, unless Nokia just really wants to minimize the significance of it being a phone. According to Nokia’s own website, it is the “Nokia N900 mobile computer”.
UPDATE (2009-08-27): The features site now mentions “phone” as one of the features. It actually looks pretty cool. Let’s just hope they don’t tie customers to a 2-year contract with a crappy service provider like a certain other company who shall remain a nameless red fruit.
KWin
