Nokia N9 – swipe.nokia.com

Sleek-looking phone from Nokia. This is their first phone since the 8800 (from 2005!!) that I actually like the look of and could even want to own. A few thoughts:

It looks really nice. Even quite beautiful I would say. And the fact that they have made the face of the phone entirely button-less allows for more screen real estate. Interesting concept, but I wonder what the impact on battery life will be.

They have lots of icons for apps, I would be interested to see how many of these are third party, and the uptake from developers. Sadly this is a catch 22 for Nokia, if too many wait and see, then the platform dies. (Unless it’s Meego in which case it’s dead…)

They have a real product, if you look at the videos, it’s quite obvious the people are indeed interacting with the device. Why then are the pictures on the website NOT photos? I would prefer good photography to 3d renders. To me it would help solidify the fact the product is a “go” rather than a prototype.

This is a few years too late. I personally am so heavily invested into the iOS ecosystem that it would be difficult to move to anything else. But Nokia have shown that they can make nice devices. Like I said at the start, I wanted an 8800. I didn’t get one at the time, but back in 2005 Nokia were the brand to beat (for me) and the 8800 was as beautiful as it got. And besides, it had a glass screen, and the body was actual metal – not coated plastic. In 2005 the 8800 was the real deal. Can the N9 make such an impact? We’ll see. It’s certainly got the beauty thing nailed.

(via Daringfireball)