Here’s the handset that inspired a lot of Nokia generations

Dec 15, 2014 09:02 GMT  ·  By

Last week we told you a prototype of Nokia’s defunct N950 developer edition was spotted being made available for sale on eBay. The smartphone was a limited edition variant of the Nokia N9 slider, which was a highly appreciated handset back in the day.

The best part about the N9 was that it ran on Nokia’s own proprietary software known as MeeGo, a combo bringing together Intel’s Moblin platform and Nokia’s own Maemo.

The Nokia RM-137 never made it to the market

Well, this week we bring you yet another piece of history from the Nokia garden. This time we're going to show you an unreleased prototype of the Nokia E80, which goes by model number RM-137 (as seen at Maemo).

This model runs on Nokia’s extinct Symbian platform and features a really cool look and interesting color scheme. It’s quite a shame the prototype never got released into the wild as a real-life product.

In terms of design, the RM-137 looks pretty reminiscent to the N97 series, in the sense that it takes advantage of a full sliding QWERTY keyboard.

As for specs, the device bundles a 2MP camera, mini USB, microSD card, iRDA and maybe Wi-Fi. The handset ran Symbian 9.X (maybe 9.1/9.2) out of the box.

Anyway, we didn't bring up the N97 resemblance for naught, as it turns out that later developments of the RM-137 were use in the Nokia N97 / N97 Mini / E7 / N970 smartphones.

Reminiscing the Nokia N97

At this point a trip down memory lane would be advised, so here we go. The Nokia N97 was introduced back in December 2008 as an iPhone killer. Nokia has a long history in trying to compete with Cupertino’s products and the Finnish company put in quite a lot of work and thought in the N97.

The smartphone arrived with a 3.5-inch touch display with 360 x 640 pixel resolution (210 ppi), 16GB of storage (expandable via microSD card) and a 5MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus and LED flash. The handset ran Symbian 9.4 out of the box, making for a sweet product judging by 2008’s standards.

Today, the Nokia RM-137 is a relic so sadly even if you’re sitting on some cash, you can’t pick up one of these models.

That wasn't the case for the N950 last week, which popped up with a few limited items on eBay. The developer unit sold for a relatively affordable $500 / €403, but if you didn’t hurry to pick one up, we’re sorry to tell you the items have already been sold out.

Nokia RM-137 prototype (16 Images)

Nokia RM-137 prototype surfsaces
Nokia RM-137 back viewNokia RM-137 showing apps
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