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.
Singapore will be among a number of Asian countries to have the phone, according to CNet Asia. It is, however, not going to be sold in the United States.
Back in June, the N9’s single-piece polycarbonate design surprised many industry watchers with its clean lines (we thought it’d bring Nokia’s mojo back). Along with the design, the 3.9-inch AMOLED screen is scratch-resistant and offers some of the best contrast in small screens.
There’s also an 8-meg camera, along with near-field communications (NFC), should any service provider decide to work with Nokia to enable the phone to pay for burgers or even train tickets, for example.
That’s, of course, a little far-fetched considering that Nokia is going on Windows Phone in the coming months and the N9 is likely the only smartphone you’d see running Meego (there’s another slider version, but only developers have it).
When we tested the N9 in June, we were impressed with the smoothness of the Meego OS, which was put together through a partnership between Nokia and Intel last year. The bad news is Meego probably arrived a year too late.
Should you buy the N9 then? We’d say it is a reasonably priced phone with great design and a whole lot of gear thrown in. But if you are into downloading the latest apps, as many smartphone users are, then Meego is clearly a dead-end for users.
You’d be better off waiting a few months for Nokia to launch similar-looking phone running Windows Phone. Or, if you can’t wait, perhaps a Samsung Galaxy SII or HTC Sensation might fit the bill better.
I would like to order the Nokia n9 64 gb in singapore! Is that even possible, because of the technical Deteil? But I think it is technically identical to the Schweitzer Land Model. Can someone give me a good address where I can order it. Wel it is not offered in Germany. Greetings from Cologne (Germany)
Not only HTML5 as peter pointed out also Qt that is core to meego project hoisted by Linux Foundation, now if Intel leaves or Nokia leave no matter its an open source project.
More over nokia agressively continues to push Qt , all symbian apps in Qt can be portrd to N9 … alos nokia has provided essential apps in N9 and partnered to provide thousands of meaningful apps . so if u are lookin for nonsenese apps in millions plz go to iphns but if u have a taste of classy and timeless design, gr8 hardware, camera and software with the planet’s best UI thst is so intuitive get an N9.
Also interesting fact is that Qt is now Nokia’s next billion strategy, symbian is still alive and healthy(belle launch) and meego is part of nokia’s future disruption and Nokia has promised countless updates for the phone in years to come. also nokia always said this is the only meego phone for 2011 they never said the last of the life time.
I just like the n9,because it’s running MeeGo…
nokia meego n9 supports html5 which means it is compatible with current and future latest apps.
author shows ingnorant or intentionally misleading readers.
Right. Waiting for the WP, because it looks similar?? What nonsense!
Its not the technical specs, but what you get at the end, the user experience, the innovative UI!
It’s also easy to burn all your battery energy on 1.2 Ghz dual core processors, but is this real necessary? Good SW design is efficient and does not require too much CPU power and thus energy.
It also does not matter if this is the last Meego phone. Support is guaranteed and given the life time of a phone of about 2 years, the N9 is a competitive and attractive device over the next 2-3 years. Unless you are interested to install hundreds of games, the available and upcoming apps should be sufficient.