Nokia finally unveils a smartphone model running on Intel's MeeGo OS-- the N9, which some describe as the Nokia's take on the iPhone, at least in the looks department.
It's also Nokia's first device lacking in actual buttons buttons-- not even a home button. Instead, one goes back and forth between the home screen and apps by swiping their fingers on the 3.9" touchscreen.
Looks-wise it's very Apple-inspired, with a minimalist unibody design (made out of one piece of polycarbonate) and a slightly curved AMOLED display.
The minimalism extends to the OS, which is actually an amalgamation of MeeGo and Maemo (official spec sheets list it as "Meego 1.2 Harmattan", where Harmattan is Nokia's latest Maemo iteration).
Powering it is an OMAP3630 processor. The phone also carries an 8MP camera (with Carl Zeiss optics) and NFC connectivity.
The most obvious question, however, lingers on-- why now? While the N9 appears to be an impressive piece of hardware, it will most probably lack anything akin to an app ecosystem (Nokia says customers will be able to buy apps from the Ovi store-- but isn't it phasing out the "Ovi" brand name?), while Nokia itself is phasing towards the Windows Phone 7 OS.
Then again some believe it could be perfect for customers who while have no interest in apps but still want a slick phone with a decent camera.
Nokia disrupt its Microsoft partnership with slick new hardware running on a different OS? Probably not, but we might find out once the N9 hits the market later this year.
