14 DAY TRIAL // Nokia "Tube", the full-touchscreen handset designed by the Finnish company, is indeed a real device, as recently rumored. Said to be a direct competitor for Apple's iPhone, the new Nokia will apparently not be as highly featured as many mobile users would want, but it still packs enough goodies to be considered better than the iPhone.
After a "secret" presentation of the Tube, which took place on Monday, in California, now real images with the handset appeared on Symbian Freak, together with info about the phone's specs.
Nokia Tube (this will not be its final and official name) is Nokia's first Symbian S60 phone to come with a full-touchscreen interface. The handset looks less wide than the iPhone, hence it apparently has a smaller display. However, the display is larger than 3 inches and comes with a 16:9 aspect ratio. The device's thickness is unknown, but Symbian Freak says the Tube is, overall, smaller than Nokia N73. We don't know why a comparison with this particular Nseries phone was made, but since the N73 is 19 mm in thickness, the new Nokia might not be as slim as we would wish. Sure, about 17-18 mm is not that much for a high-end device, but it's a lot when compared to other touchscreen handsets (including the iPhone).
Unlike Apple's wonder, Nokia Tube has three hardware keys that probably have the role to ease the control over its functions. Among the unveiled features of the Tube, we have 3G connectivity (HSDPA and UMTS) as well as GPRS and EDGE, Wi-Fi, GPS with geotagging, UPnP (Universal Plug and Play), Bluetooth, advanced audio capabilities and "tactility feedback", which probably means haptic feedback. Apparently the Tube does not come with multi-touch support, nor with a photo camera comparable to the ones of N82 or N95 (still, the camera is said to be a good one).
All the above details are, of course, not confirmed, so the Tube could in fact bring different features. There's no info about a release date for the phone, and not even about when Nokia will come with some official details. Anyway, if it's to believe Symbian Freak, the Finnish producer is already preparing another touchscreen handset to succeed the Tube, which will be Nokia's real touchscreen flagship. Truth or not - we shall see.
