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Nokia officially announce the N9 Meego smartphone

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After much rumour, speculation and delay, Nokia have officially announced the first smartphone to run their MeeGo OS – the Nokia N9.

The N9 is a super slim, super bright and very colourful smartphone which certainly looks the part from the initial press shots released. The casing of the handset is made of coloured polycarbonate which is coloured all the way through; meaning any scratches or dings won’t show up. So far we’ve been treated to pictures of black, cyan and magenta models.

One thing you might notice from the shots posted of the N9 here is the distinct lack of buttons. On the front of the handset you’ll find nothing but a 3.9-inch AMOLED screen (which is apparently very bright and crisp, according to Engadget).On the right side of the phone you’ll find the volume rocker button and on the top a power button, but that’s it. Everything else is smooth, flush and minimalistic.

The MeeGo OS is powered by an OMAP3630 1GHz processor and 1GB RAM, coupled with a PowerVR SGX530 GPU for the graphics processing. There’s also Bluetooth 2.1, NFC (Near-Field Communications), GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS and Quad-band GSM connectivity.

The new Nokia N9 - Available in 3 colours

Nokia has a history of making cracking camera phones and the N9 doesn’t disappoint. There’s an 8MP rear wide-angle camera with Carl Zeiss Tessar lens, capable of aperture F2.2 shots, meaning low light pictures will turn out great, unlike with many other smartphones. There’s also support for true 16:9 HD video recording at 720P quality.

To round up the specs sheet we’ve also got an ambient light sensor, compass, orientation sensor, Micro SIM compatibility, 3.5mm audio and video jack, support for tethering and between 7 and 10 hours call time on the battery.

MeeGo is compatible with the new format of HTML5 meaning you’ll get speedy web browsing and easy access to the biggest sites such as YouTube and Facebook. The browser is based on WebKit 2, meaning you’ll have pinch-to-zoom and your Facebook, Twitter and RSS Feeds can be pulled into a unified view in the “Events View”.

From what we’ve seen, the MeeGo OS is based on three separate home screens – events, applications and open apps. With there being no home or back buttons, a major part of the OS is based on touch gestures. Gestures are built in to enable you to close apps, switch apps or get back to the home screen, for example.

Both OVI Store and OVI Maps (soon to be known as Nokia Store and Maps) will be preloaded, as well as apps such as Angry Birds Magic, Galaxy on Fire 2 and Real Golf 2011. We expect Nokia to be expanding on MeeGo apps within the OVI Store at a fast pace as of now, so keep checking if you’re interested in the N9.

Coincidentally, don’t you think the N9 looks similar to the supposed Nokia Windows Phones here?

What do you think of Nokia’s first MeeGo smartphone? We think it looks and sounds great, though we’re still a bit dubious on how well MeeGo will enter the smartphone market which is already run by iOS and Android. Share your thoughts on the N9 and MeeGo by leaving a comment below, or tweet us @Gadget_Helpline.