London - iPhone haters rejoice. Those who have suffered under the evil rule of iPhone and have prayed for a rescuer, well, salvation is finally at hand - Nokia N900, a smartphone that promises to eat iPhones for breakfast, is finally arriving in January 2010, courtesy Vodafone.

But what's so great about N900, you ask (actually you have to be living in the Stone Age to be asking such a question, but I'll forgive you this time). Well, to begin with, unlike other smartphones which are designed as phones with "smart" functions added on top and around, N900 feels the opposite - like a teeny-weeny powerful, portable computer with a phone functionality added on top.

N900, which is being billed as the world's first internet tablet device with a phone built-in, is seen also as key for Nokia's future in the high-end of the market (smartphones are the most profitable segment, a key issue at a time when Nokia's margins in its mobile phones division are put under pressure).

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, video light and multiple capture modes); WVGA video recording (@25fps); secondary VGA camera for video calls; 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 audio jack; microUSB connector; and a nifty kickstand on the back.

N900's connectivity and networking features include 3G; GPRS; EDGE; WiFi and Bluetooth and an infrared port.

The smartphone is also an excellent messaging and emailing device, featuring a slide-out full landscape-oriented Qwerty tactile keyboard, full Qwerty onscreen keyboard and support for Mail for Exchange, IMAP, POP3, SMTP, Push Email and Instant Messenger (IM).

Thanks to Maemo platform, N900 also promises to perform "PC like" multitasking (unlike, say, iPhone), can keep lots of applications running at the same time, and switching between tasks and accessing content is as simple as navigating through the completely customizable dashboard that comes with four home screens.

Other features include 256MB flash memory; 32GB internal storage and 16GB additional storage (thanks to microSD card slot); FM transmitter; a media player with support for multiple audio and video playback formats; hands-free stereo speakers; accelerometer sensor (a crucial sensor that take advantage of tilting - and allows great gaming and use of the phone in landscape mode); proximity sensor; ambient light sensor; document viewer and photo editor.

However, the best thing about N900 is probably the revolutionary Maemo browser, which is Mozilla-based, can run Firefox 3.0 add-ons, and can handle any webpage with ease, including the extremely Flash-heavy Webkinz page. Simply put, it is almost a full fledged, touch optimized Firefox browser with complete HTML, Flash, Javascript and other web standard support. And, websites on N900 look the same (if only with a smaller symbols and elements) as they would look on a desktop PC with 800 pixel wide resolution display.

Nokia has also integrated its communications capabilities in N900 and when you select a contact, you're offered a choice of communication options such as Ovi by Nokia, Skype, Google Talk, Jabber and SIP (honestly, I haven't seen ANY other phone that integrates these services into the native phone application).

Simply put, the phone functionality on N900 may be the dark horse feature that pushes the device over the edge and makes it a must have for the mobile road warrior.

However, a word of warning - N900's got the look and feel of a solid phone but it's no lightweight device. In fact, it's a chunky and heavy device compared to most smartphones, measuring a good 110.9×59.8×18mm and weighing 181gm. The extra weight is, in fact, noticeable when you're on a phone call. Also, if you're one who loves wearing tight jeans, N900 may feel like a brick in your pocket (i.e. if at all it fits in the jeans pocket). But then, from the specs it seems N900 is an ideal companion for business executives on the go and not for those who like to hang their hair loose.