14 DAY TRIAL // If you were around three years ago, you might recall one of Nokia’s more peculiar projects which materialized in the form of the Nokia N9.
The handset was basically a slider, which means it had a mini keyboard tucked in underneath users could pull out every time they wanted to write faster.
The smartphone also had a touch-screen display so the keyboard offered an alternative scenario for composing text.
Anyway, most of you probably don’t remember what this device was all about, so we’re going to take a few moments now in order to take a trip down memory lane.
Nokia N9 spec roundup
The Nokia N9 arrived with a 3.9-inch AMOLED display sporting 480 x 564 pixel resolution and 251 ppi. It also had 5-point capacitive multi-touch and Gorilla Glass coating for protective purposes.
The smartphone ran on a Texas Instruments OMAP 3630 chipset (1GHz Cortex A8 CPU) combined with PowerVR SGX530 and 1GB of RAM. The slider had an 8MP rear camera with autofocus and dual-LED flash on the back which was pretty advanced for that time, plus a 720p video recording module on the rear.
But one of the coolest things about the Nokia N9 was the fact that the slider ran a proprietary software known as MeeGo, a combo bringing together Intel’s Moblin platform and Nokia’s own Maemo efforts.
Sadly, not long after the Nokia N9 was announced, Nokia’s then CEO Stephen Elop decided the company might benefit from adopting Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS for its handsets. The decision ended up deeply affecting the N9 sales.
Nokia N9s are pretty mainstream and with a bit of luck you might be able to find one such item in the wild now.
But once there was also a rare developer edition of the device known as N950. The limited edition device was pretty similar to the N9s minus the QWERTY keyboard.
Back when it was released, the N950 was extremely hard to come across, as it was made available only to select developers. So folks wanting to get their hands on one were forced to keep a lookout on auction sites or try to find somebody willing to sell their model.
The N950 resurfaces
Well, fast forward a few years later to find a bunch of these rare handsets up for sale on eBay. Those interested should know they can pick up an item for the relatively affordable $500 / €403.
So now is your chance to grab this unique Nokia handset and own a piece of history. Granted, it might have come a little bit too late.
