2008 Nokia Device Rumors
Ricky has already made a wish for Nokia not to make any single device in 2008 and focus plainly on software improvement, a wish that I totally sympathize with. I don’t want Nokia to stop making devices for a year, that’s a blogger’s daily bread, but I want Nokia to put 70% of its resources this year into software and not hardware. That seems to me a very realistic demand.
Well it seems that our requests came a little bit late. It’s only been 2008 for a few days and already the rumors are flying. Plausible rumors, might we add, but still rumors. Jump after the break for the full juice and some personal thoughts.
N96 - When N95 has a one night stand with the N81
We first thought it was a remake of the oh-so-fake N96 that made the web rounds a month and so ago, but when we looked at the pictures, they seemed realistic, even too realistic. So we file this yet unborn baby of the powerful N95 and the smooth N81 under “very likely to hit the shelves”. The N96 should sport a 5MP cam with dual flash (no Xenon *yawn*), GPS, WiFi, 3G, S60 3rd Edition FP2, 16 GB of memory (8GB of internal memory and 8GB microSD) and from the pictures what seems like a good 2.6″ or 2.8″ screen. Due date: end of Q1.
N78 - When the N73 screams “who’s your daddy?” and means it
This one has no picture leak yet, so we don’t know how true it is. It is supposed to be a follow-up to the N73 with a candybar form with 3MP cam and 369MHz processor. The innovation over the N73 lays in the WiFi option and the S60 3rd Edition FP2 system under the hood. Due date: Q1.
E71 - When Nokia tastes like a Blackberry
The leak of the E71 came from BoyGenius some days ago (but it seems that the posts have been retrieved now), along with a lot of other devices, so since the source is trusted and the leaked specs don’t claim 100GB of internal memory and 10MP cam, we will file this one rumor under “very likely”. Looking at the pictures, this is one piece of human art that I would like to get my hands on. Sure there are devices that look bad in pictures but really good in real life (hint: N95 8GB, personal opinion) but there are devices that even in the photos look too sexy, and this one falls under that category. I have held an E61i at a Nokia shop for seconds 6 months ago, and I still remember now how good it felt. The E71 is supposed to cram the usual E-Series package (WiFi, HSDPA, S60 3rd and more) along with an improved 3MP camera, GPS and a smaller size than the E61i. Due date: Q2.
E66 - When Style and Business meet in one sentence
It is quite nice to look at Nokia’s business line-up and see a device that doesn’t look so WallStreet’ish. The E65 was that device and the E66, which was leaked along with the E71, carries the flame with a couple of updates like GPS, HSDPA and 3MP camera. We also file it under “likely” for the same reasons stated above. Due date: Q2.
Nseries with a QWERTY - When I scream YaaY!
We have all complained about Nseries not having QWERTY, and that dream is about to hit reality as Zach has claimed on BGR and repeatedly confirmed. We love Zach and we trust that he wouldn’t come up with a rumor nor post something he just accidentally heard of. We will still file this under “rumor” though for the good reason that we don’t have anything to feast our eyes on, but are still confident that an Nseries Qwerty is in the labs. Apparently it will be a candybar and launch in the second half of the year, in the USA before or simultaneously with Europe. It will sport 5 or 6MP camera, with all the goodies of the Nseries that we know of now (GPS, WiFi, 30fps video recording) but also some other that we’re about to discover. Being a writer, I have always wanted to have a qwerty device for fast and efficient writing, and this one might be the device for me. I am so excited about it!
For even more juice, you can check the thread held at Mobile-Review where a member who goes by the name sms has posted a combination of all rumors about future Nokia devices. What do you think of these rumors? Which do you believe is true and which not? And what were you expecting Nokia to release that hasn’t been leaked yet?
Nice roundup Rita; thanks for doing so.
In terms of whats there, it would seem that the hardware refreshes are minimal; so we should hope that there is a considerable upkick on what happens on the software side. I would hope that FP2 not just does new things, but addresses long standing issues in user experience for the devices.
Nokia has repeatedly said they are working on a new UI for the N Series (initially), plus all the focus on Ovi etc. So things they are achanging.