14 DAY TRIAL // Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has announced today that the highly anticipated Nokia N97 mobile phone will come to the market as soon as this month, and that it should become available for purchase in more than 75 countries. Earlier reports pointed towards June 2 as the release date for the handset, and it seems that something did happen after all.
“The Nokia N97 is an important step towards our vision of delivering a highly personalized Internet experience,” said Jonas Geust, vice president and head of Nokia Nseries. “Fuelled by a multitude of music, maps, games, media and applications via Ovi, the Nokia N97 transforms the Internet into an experience that's completely tailored to the tastes and interests of its owner.”
The new Nokia N97 is the first handset that the company brings to the market with a home screen that allows personalization, via the use of a range of widgets. In addition, the device comes with instant access to the entire range of Ovi services, as well as with a 3.5-inch touchscreen display that has been coupled with a QWERTY keyboard.
The series of widgets available for the device include social networking destinations like Facebook and Hi5, news services (Associated Press, Bloomberg and Reuters), not to mention shopping and weather information, all brought together directly on the mobile phone. In addition, this is the first Nokia phone that comes with Ovi Store, the portal that enables users to access applications, games, videos, podcasts, productivity tools, web and location-based services, and more.
According to Nokia, the N97 is meant to offer users much more than what it comes with in the box. The company plans to offer users the possibility to constantly improve and refresh it by adding new features, functions and fixes, so that the device would be able to deliver more and more to them. Basically, Nokia plans to release new features and functions for the handset during the second half of the ongoing year. Those who would like to take a look at the specifications of the phone can find the entire list here.