After wowing crowds at the CommunicAsia show in June, Nokia’s “all screen” smartphone is coming to a shop near you as probably the only one to run the Meego operating system.

The 16GB version of the N9 costs S$799, while the 64GB model will go for S$899 at all three telcos here – SingTel, StarHub and M1 – with “attractive” operator subsidies, according to Nokia Singapore today. It comes in black, cyan and magenta. …

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop’s presentation at this year’s CommunicAsia show was expected to be the event’s highlight, and he didn’t disappoint this morning by showing off a new smartphone that finally put a bit of the mojo back into the embattled phone maker.

No, he didn’t announce a new Windows Phone device, but instead the Meego-based N9 stole the show today in Singapore with a luscious screen and a quick, sleek touch interface that surprised many. It’s the device Nokia should have come up with a year, maybe two years, ago.

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This article was updated on Mar 19, 1100 SGT.

Nokia announced today that the N900 can be pre-ordered in Singapore from now to Mar 26 from http://www.nokia.com.sg/n900/preorder

Available for S$999, the Maemo-based device has a ARM Cortex-A8 processor, up to 1GB of application memory and OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceleration. It comes with 32GB of storage, which is expandable up to 48GB with a microSD card.

Local bloggers were given a quick hands-on with the device recently and most walked away impressed by phone, including the speed at which the phone handled multitasking and full Flash support from the phone’s Mozilla Firefox browser. …

A quick walk through the yearly Mobile World Congress – the biggest mobile phone show around – and you’ll realise you are actually gazing at a crystal ball that shows what people will tote in their hands in the coming months.

Here in Barcelona, as this year’s phone extravaganza kicks off today, the power is clearly with Google’s Android. With Sony Ericsson, Motorola and China’s Huawei showing off world-beating Android phones this week, it’s easy to think 2010 will be the year of the Google phone OS. (HTC has also launched two hot numbers in the Legend and Nexus One-lookalike Desire).

But very clearly, rivals are not going away quietly. Microsoft, Samsung and Nokia all have their sights aimed at the emerging powerhouse OS. …