We knew it was coming and sure enough, the Nokia N97 is now available for $700 at Nokia Stores everywhere. 700 bones will net you Nokia’s flagship touchscreen device, unlocked and ready to make iPhones jealous everywhere. Well, maybe not the last part, but it’s still a solid device and worthy successor to the N95/N96.

But if the price still seems high – it is – wait until a carrier like T-Mobile or AT&T picks it up and subsidises the price. Who knows when that will happen or what carrier will pick it up, but chances are it’s coming. Other markets should get access to what Nokia calls a Mobile Computer shortly.

What is the N97? Well, it’s one of the most highly anticipated Nokias out there right now. The bugger comes complete with pop out keyboard, touchscreen, and 32GB of built-in storage. It also uses much of the same software found on my fave Nokia, the 5800.

Rock out to our full N97 coverage here.

Those keeping track should know that the pre-order price is nearly $250 off the MSRP of the US spec handset and just a few dollars more than the discounted N96. Oh, and Nokia is throwing in the $89.99 BH-703 Bluetooth headset to sweeten the pre-order. Any takers?

I’ve just left the Nokia World 2008 keynote, in which the new products and services were announced, like the Nokia N97, Nokia Maps, and Nokia Messaging. The presentation was interesting, and highlights Nokia’s vision for mobile communications. Read on for a quick summary and some thoughts.

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo — President and CEO of Nokia — said that the goal is to “transforming the way we connect.” It was stated that 75% of world’s people haven’t even used email yet.  Nokia’s expectation is that for these folks, their first email experience will be on a mobile device. To that end, Mail on Ovi provides an easy to use email service for millions of people using series 40 devices.  Mail on Ovi provides an internet identity for folks who don’t otherwise have one.  In addition to MS Exchange and major mail services, it supports “thousands of ISPs” (presumably via good ol’ POP3 and IMAP). Mobile email + instant messaging “in one simple package”. “Email for everyone” is the catchphrase that embodies Nokia’s vision of “Connecting People” by removing barriers between web, PC, and mobile devices,

Of the 6+ billion people on the planet, an estimated 4 billion will be using mobile devices by Q1 2009 (and currently, 1 billion are using Nokia phones). This is the largest consumer base for any consumer durable good. Nokia seeks to give the power of the Internet to more people in more places, and to “transform the internet into your internet.”

Annssi Vanjoki — EVP of Markets — introduced the Nokia N97 itself. He opened by talking about the N95, which he described as the “state of the art” mobile computer. It’s sold more than 15 million to date, and is one of the fastest selling Nokia products.

The N97 evolves upon the N95.  It has a  bigger screen (3.5″) with 640×360 pixels, 16 million colors, a real camera (”not a toy”), and seeks to “sense context” to make it a real mobile computer: AGPS, digital compass, accelerometers. Widgets on home screen allow you to personalize the device to be useful to your workflow.

One of the things that really piqued my interest was the claim that mobilizing social networks will change the way people communicate. To this end, mobile computers need continuous internet access. “I want to surf the ENTIRE internet, not just some pieces of the internet,” which is a statement I absolutely agree with. It was said that mobile computers need to support all forms of web pages, especially video. The N97 aims to be as capable of an Internet-connected computer as any desktop or laptop.

The other big thrust of the N97 announcement is that It’s not just a consumption device, but also a creation device. It needs input mechanisms, and while a touch screen is nice, it’s not sufficient according to Nokia (a clear dig against Apple’s iPhone here). “Nothing replaces the feel and accuracy of a real keyboard.”  The 35 degree tilt screen provides better ergonomics for real computing use.

At 550 euros, the big question becomes “why would I buy this as opposed to a netbook?”  Indeed, this question was asked several times of various Nokia employees at the blogger dinner last night. At twice the price of most netbooks, the N97 superficially doesn’t offer too much new functionality, especially for casual and budget-minded consumers.  When you look a bit deeper, though, you begin to see a pretty big distinction by way of the mobile services Nokia is ramping up. I think it’ll be interesting to keep an eye on these applications and services as the N97 gets closer to market.

On a totally personal note, Nokia did a great job on the keynote.  It was well paced, interesting, and informative, which says a lot since I knew going in what the big announcement was going to be. I’ve been to too many keynotes that were dry, laborious, and downright boring. Kudos to Nokia for doing it right.

Introducing the Nokia N97, the next generation high-end mobile phone from Nokia. Described by Nokia folks as a “handheld computer” this device is a pretty comfortable high-end phone. It has a tilting (resistive) touch-screen display, and is the first N-series phone with a QWERTY keyboard. It has 32 gigabytes of memory, expandable to 42 GB via 16 GB memory card.  It has a digital compass, a 1500 milliamp battery, and DVD quality video capture. It’s extremely comfortable to hold, easy to use, and represents a solid solid evolution of the Nokia smarthphone line.

• Size: 117.2 x 55.3 x 15.9 mm* *18.25 mm at camera area
• Weight: Approx. 150 g
• Memory: Up to 48GB (32 GB on-board memory, plus 16GB expansion via microSD memory card slot)
• Display: 3.5 inch TFT with up to 16 million colors nHD 16:9 widescreen (640×360 pixels)
• Talk time: Up to 320 min (3G), 400 min (GSM)
• Standby time: Up to 400 hrs (3G), 430 hrs (GSM)
• Video playback: Up to 4.5 hours (offline mode)
• Music playback: Up to 37 hours (offline mode)
• Image capture: Up to 5 megapixels (2584 x 1938) JPEG/EXIF (16.7 million/24-bit color)

Desktop. Laptop. Pocket: The era of the personal Internet dawns with the Nokia N97

Tilting touch display, QWERTY keyboard and personalized home screen – a true mobile computer Barcelona, Spain – Nokia today unveiled the Nokia N97, the world’s most advanced mobile computer, which will transform the way people connect to the Internet and to each other. Designed for the needs of Internet-savvy consumers, the Nokia N97 combines a large 3.5” touch display with a full QWERTY keyboard, providing an ‘always open’ window to favorite social networking sites and Internet destinations. Nokia’s flagship Nseries device introduces leading technology – including multiple sensors, memory, processing power and connection
speeds – for people to create a personal Internet and share their ‘social location.’
“From the desktop to the laptop and now to your pocket, the Nokia N97 is the most powerful, multi-sensory mobile computer in existence,” said Jonas Geust, Vice President, heading Nokia Nseries. “Together with the Ovi services announced today, the Nokia N97 mobile computer adjusts to the world around us, helping stay connected to the people and things that matter most. With the Nokia N97, Nseries leads the charge in helping to transform the Internet into your Internet”.
Sensing your ‘So-Lo’

The Nokia N97 introduces the concept of ‘social location’. With integrated A-GPS sensors and an electronic compass, the Nokia N97 mobile computer intuitively understands where it is. The Nokia N97 makes it easy to update social networks automatically with real-time information, giving approved friends the ability to update their ‘status’ and share their ‘social location’ as well as related pictures or videos.

Widescreen – Internet and entertainment

The home screen of the Nokia N97 mobile computer features the people, content and media that matter the most. Friends, social networks and news are available by simply touching the home screen. The 16:9 widescreen display can be fully personalized with frequently updated widgets of favorite web services and social networking sites. The Nokia N97 is also perfectly suited for browsing the web, streaming Flash videos or playing games. Both the physical QWERTY and virtual touch input ensure efficiency in blogging, chatting, posting, sending texts or emailing.
The Nokia N97 supports up to 48 GB of storage, including 32 GB of on-board memory, expandable with a 16 GB microSD card for music, media and more. This is complemented by excellent music capabilities, full support for the Nokia Music Store and continuous playback time of up to 1.5 days. The Nokia N97 also has a 5-Megapixel camera with high-quality Carl Zeiss optics, 16:9 and DVD quality video capture, and support for services like Share on Ovi for immediate sharing over HSDPA and WLAN.

The Nokia N97 is expected to begin shipping in the first half of 2009 at an estimated retail price of EUR 550 before taxes or subsidies.

The N97 is comfortable to hold, and the prototype model we examined was easy to operate. It’s not a revolutionary addition to the N-series product line, but offers a decent evolution to Nokia smartphones.

Hold the phone Nokia (HA! Finally I made that joke work), are you really releasing the N97? Seriously, rumors are flying around that Nokia’s new N97 phone is real and slowly making it’s way into people’s hands as a prototype. Mobile Whack has some hot pictures of one sexy phone, but are they real? The rumored specs on this baby are insane: huge 3” display, 20GB internal memory w/ miniSD card slot, and a 5MP camera with 20x zoom. Impossible? Certainly not. But we’ll take this one with a grain of salt until we see some concrete evidence. If these photos are indeed real, the phone seems to have a keypad similar to the N93 and dedicated music playback buttons. Keep dreaming folks, move along, nothing to see here…yet.

Nokia N97 Phone [Mobile Whack]