Nokia N900 - an "internet tablet" that tries hard to be a phone

N900 is Nokia's first smartphone (Nokia calls it an internet tablet with a "phone built-in) to sport Linux-based Maemo platform and the company is still waiting for feedback from developers about the device's software.

According to Peter Schneider, who heads Maemo (Nokia's Linux version) Marketing, Nokia Corporation, N900 is a "game changer" and the company is closely working with open source developers and waiting to get feedback from them before the phone's official launch as Nokia was "committed to the best user experience."

Hence, its launch would be delayed till end-November or first half of December, he said.

However, the announcement of the delay has failed to subdue the interest generated about the device.

Why? Well, to begin with, N900, which is being billed as the world's first internet tablet device with a phone built-in, is seen as key for Nokia's future in the high-end smartphone market. Nokia has kept its overall market share stable, close to 40 percent, but it has lost share among more expensive models to the likes of Apple (maker of iPhone) and RIM (maker of BlackBerry).

High-end products are important for Nokia because the company has not only lost market share there, but its average selling prices have declined faster than the industry average.

N900, which is also Nokia's first smartphone to run on the latest version of open source Linux-based Maemo 5, is powered by the powerful TI OMAP 3430:ARM Cortex-A8 600 MHz processor and promises amazing multimedia performance, thanks to its dedicated PowerVR SGX graphics card with OpenGL ES 2.0 support.

The quadband GSM-based N900 also boasts of a 3.5-inch WVGA resistive touchscreen display with 800x480 resolution; a world-class 5-megapixel camera (with Carl Zeiss optics, Tessar lens, 3x digital zoom, autofocus, dual LED flash and multiple capture modes); WVGA video recording (@25fps); Adobe Flash 9.4 support; support for multiple audio and video playback formats; GPS with A-GPS support; Ovi Maps; geo-tagging; TV-out; 3.5mm AV connector; microUSB connector, a nifty kickstand and an infrared port.

N900's connectivity and networking features include HSPA 3G, Bluetooth 2.1, GPRS, EDGE and WiFi.