Symbian Anna coming this July, update for existing Symbian^3 devices in August

Nokia announced Symbian Anna this April along with the Nokia E6 and X7. Today at Nokia Connection in Singapore they have announced that Symbian Anna would ship with new Symbian^3 devices this July and the update for existing Symbian^3 devices like N8, C7 and C6-01 would be available at the end of August.

Symbian Anna would bring some of the new features like split screen and portrait QWERTY keyboard, faster browser, new photo gallery and updates for OVI maps that includes new public transportation routes and Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare sharing. The updated social client would let you view the tweets of your followers in the phone’s contacts.

Some of the features have also been included for business users like Microsoft Communicator Mobile, E-mail enhancements with full meeting request support, hardware accelerated encryption for better security and intranet access.

Nokia N9 Launch Countries – India , USA missing

The Nokia N9 was announced in Nokia Connection 2011 event in Singapore. Nokia also released a check availability page which indicates the countries in which the Nokia N9 is available. Sadly India is missing from that list and even USA. We might wonder that Nokia is working on carrier deals for USA but for India looks like it might be same story like the N900.

The list of countries Nokia N9 will be available are

• Austria
• Bulgaria
• China
• Croatia
• Finland
• Greece
• Hong Kong
• Hungary
• Malaysia
• New Zealand
• Portugal
• Poland
• Romania
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia
• Serbia
• Singapore
• Slovenia
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• UAE
• Vietnam

You can signup to a email notification in Check Availability page if you live in any one of the above listed countries. Anyone from India who interested to buy the N9 ?

The Nokia N9 uses a microSIM Card Slot !

While we are still summing up details about the Nokia N9, one thing we wanted to share ASAP. The N9 uses a microSIM card slot similar to the iPad 3G and iPhone 4. Here is what we found on the official specs page of the N9. It mentions Micro SIM card. No wonder the device is so thin at 12.1mm at the maximum and 7.6 mm at the edges.

Looks like the rumours about more manufacturers jumping on the microSIM ship turned out to be true. Now can we expect Apple to reduce this even further and come up with a nano SIM card in the iPhone 5 ?

Nokia N9: A savior or delusion

So, Nokia finally announced its MeeGo-powered N9 and all of a sudden we're getting all the more excited about the phone, the OS and the company's future as a whole. After today's announcement, we don't doubt that many have already gotten their hopes high for the Nokia N9. While this might be justified indeed, we wouldn't rush it just yet. There are still too many questions that need to be answered, before we know if the Nokia N9 will be ready to serve its purpose as a contemporary feature-packed high-end smartphone (that's what we want, right?), or simply turns out to be a sweet delusion with its attractive unibody construction and competitive spec sheet, but sub-par user experience.
All-touchscreen concept

It goes without saying that what has helped build most of the interest in the handset is its concept of having absolutely no keys to clutter the front. It's just you and that 3.9” AMOLED touchscreen. This, of course, makes the handset look somewhat innovative and intriguing, and we're totally in for it. Whether navigation will be comfortable though is another story. It depends on how it'll be implemented with the interface of the MeeGo OS. From the available demos so far (not much info), we can only say that it looks mostly straightforward. Whether this will be the case with the finalized product still remains to be seen.

The screen plays a vital role when it comes to the positioning of the device on the market. In that aspect, the Nokia N9 seems well-prepared to us with its 3.9” display, which is pretty close to what some of you recently quoted as their most desirable screen size. We also find 3.9 inches to be a good balance between size and comfort. Nokia has been opting for AMOLED tech in its high-end smartphones ever since the N8, and we wouldn't blame it for the most part. AMOLED screens are indeed pretty impressive with their popping colors and high contrast levels, so the Nokia N9 is surely being competitive by counting on this particular screen technology.

One thing we should all be thankful to MeeGo for is that it finally brought Nokia out of the 360x640 world. The N9 will sport a contemporary resolution of 480x854 pixels, but it should be noted that for this screen res to stay relevant (at least in the high-end world), the handset should be released right about... now. Or at least very soon, because qHD phones are already popping up here and there.

We wouldn't waste time discussing the device's build and execution. Nokia has showed us many times that it is capable of crafting beautiful and unique-looking handsets, and as it seems it won't disappoint us with the N9. It's not the hardware that we're uneasy about though, it's the software.