Get those credit cards ready, Nokia fans. According to a notice reportedly sent out to several US distributors, Nokia’s first Maemo phone is scheduled to hit Nokia distribution centers on September 27th — just under two weeks from today. Assuming the communique is real and Nokia can manage to stay on target, we could see the N900 begin to ship to customers via distributors within the first few days of October. Though it’s not a surprise, the lofty $650 MSRP is sure to leave a sour taste in some mouths but if you want to be among the first to own a T-Mobile 3G-ready Maemo 5 handset, the early adopter tax is unavoidable. Hit the jump for the alleged notice to distributors.

Read

Ahhh, the Nokia N900. You want it. You need it. You’ve got to have it. If you’re on T-Mobile you’re sitting pretty knowing that 1700 MHz is included in the N900′s three WCDMA bands, just waiting to gobble up T-Mobile’s 3G services. If you’re on AT&T in the US or Rogers up north however, the tears may still be streaming. A glimmer of hope found its way to light last week when rumors that a forthcoming 850/1900/2100 MHz WCDMA version were seemingly substantiated. We just spoke to Nokia however, and yeah… Not so much. Nokia’s official statement:

Regarding the Nokia N900, we have announced a tri-band WCDMA version that utilizes the 900/1700/2100 MHz networks. There have been no announcements regarding a version that supports the 850/1900/2100MHz bands.

As it turns out, The Nokia Blog’s tipster completely fabricated the last line of Nokia’s email — you know, the part that said, “An announcement will be forthcoming” — and the whole story is bogus. We suppose AT&T and Rogers subscribers might be able to keep hope alive considering Nokia still hasn’t flat out denied the possibility of a WCDMA 850/1900/2100 MHz version, but if you ask us it’s time to break out the Ben & Jerry’s and drown your sorrows.

Let’s face it — annoying, stale and overused references to a “desktop experience” aside, the N900 is probably one of the most exciting things to happen to Nokia in years… At least for technophiles. In a nutshell, Maemo 5 is the first fresh new OS to find its way to a Nokia smartphone since S60 3rd Edition first found its way to Fred Flinstone’s phone back in the stone ages. S60 3rd is still rocking relatively hard where global sales are concerned of course, but even the most avid Nokia fans will reluctantly admit to being bored with it at this point. S60 5th Edition is just more of the same and until Symbian^4 struts its stuff, Maemo is apparently where it’s at. The N900, Nokia’s first Maemo-powered smartphone, will drop some time in October so until then all we can do is watch painfully loud promo videos and yearn for the day when Nokia’s new kit finds its way to our pockets, and hopefully, our hearts. Video after the jump.

AT&T and Rogers customers may be able to breathe a sigh of relief in the coming months as rumors of an inevitable AT&T/Rogers WCDMA-compatible version of the N900 may have accidentally been confirmed by a Nokia employee. This is 100 percent hearsay for the time being, but the following is reportedly Nokia’s reply to a customer’s request for information about an AT&T 3G-ready N900:

Alvin,

You are correct, we’ve announced the Nokia N900 yesterday. We have not announced where it will be available but have just said that it will be released in select regions.

Regarding the network bands, you are correct – we announced a WCDMA 900/1700/2100 MHz bands. We have not made any announcements regarding an 850/1900/2100 MHz band device. An announcement will be forthcoming.

Thanks,
Joe

Hmm. Now, customer service reps at carriers and phone manufacturers alike do have a tendency to get, shall we say, confused. At the same time, ‘Joe’ didn’t really leave much room for interpretation when we wrote, “We have not made any announcements regarding an 850/1900/2100 MHz band device. An announcement will be forthcoming.” So boys and girls, while T-Mobile subscribers are already sitting pretty ahead of an AWS-ready N900 touching down in October, AT&T and Rogers subscribers might not have long to wait before they can join in on the celebration.

UPDATE: Nokia’s official statement with regards to a WCDMA 850/1900/2100 MHz version of the N900 can be found here.

Read

Our favorite Finnish phonies haven’t exactly been building a mystery in the months and weeks leading up to today, but the countless Nokia fans waiting for Rover to sit and stay have cause for celebration nonetheless. Behold… the Nokia N900! Nokia’s first Maemo 5-powered handset — in fact, it’s the company’s first Maemo-powered phone, period — is indeed looking like a beauty in its official press renders. Specs are exactly what we’ve known for quite a while:

• Maemo 5 OS
• 3.5-inch WVGA (800 x 480) resistive touchscreen display
• 110.9 × 59.8 × 18mm, 181g
• Portrait-orientation sliding QWERTY
• Mozilla-based browser, full Adobe Flash support
• ARM cortex A8 processor
• 32GB internal memory
• 5.0 MP Carl Zeiss camera with dual-LED flash, auto-focus and sliding cover
• MicroSDHC support up to 16GB
• FM transmitter
• Quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA 900/1700/2100, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth with A2DP
• GPS
• 1320 mAh battery

The N900 will launch in “select markets” in October with an expected retail price of €500. We’re still expecting it to drop with T-Mobile here in the US of course, but no word on whether or not we can look forward to an October release. Anyone excited to see it on display next week at Nokia World? We know we are. In the meantime, hit the jump for a couple of marketing videos including one that shows off great features like multiple desktop support and a Palm Pre card-like task switcher.

Read

If there is still doubt in anyone’s mind that Nokia plans to officially unveil its next-generation Maemo 5 handset at the modestly named Nokia World show next week, behold: The first official press render of the N900 has leaked. Call it the Rover, call it the RX-51 or call it whatever else you want — the bottom line is that it represents Nokia’s first step in moving away from an old busted UI and toward a somewhat modern interface. Somewhat. Last week we all enjoyed a ridiculously thorough preview of the N900 and, upon first viewing of the many screenshots included in the post, it’s clear that the Maemo 5 UI is a giant step forward compared to S60. On the other hand however — in terms of looks — it doesn’t appear to be all that different compared to the previous version of Maemo. It’s more flushed out of course, since the N900 packs a lot more out of the box than previous Maemo devices, but we’re not really seeing anything revolutionary here — just evolutionary. Again, we’re talking looks and not function; we still haven’t played with the handset ourselves and we’re not jumping to any conclusions. Getting excited yet, T-Mobile fans? We know we are.

Thanks, Ben!

UPDATE: Hit the jump for another shot obtained by the same source.

Read and Read

We want it, we need it, we must have it. Russian phone God Eldar Murtazin of mobile-review fame has just treated phone fanatics everywhere to an extensive preview of Nokia’s N900 aka RX-51 aka Rover. This review comes just one day after we were treated to some nice shots of the Maemo 5 interface found within the N900. Overall, Murtazin is thoroughly impressed with the new Nseries handset but what exactly is the deal with that resistive touchscreen? Who needs a stylus when you have a large 3.5-inch display and a full QWERTY keypad? Certainly not us. Anyway, we bet there are more than a few T-Mobile users who are going to be having trouble sleeping tonight. What do you guys think — is Maemo 5 looking like a step in the right direction compared to S60 or is it too little, too late?

Thanks, Bryan!

Read

Russian mobile maestro Eldar Murtazin comes through again, this time with the first reported screenshot of Nokia’s highly, highly anticipated upcoming Maemo 5 OS. Did we mention it’s highly anticipated? After referring to S60 as “obsolete junk”, Murtazin lays down a screen capture of Nokia’s new Linux-based beauty. As we all know, this time around Maemo is destined for a whole lot more than just a few Internet Tablets that are filling a hole that isn’t there — that’s right, a whole range of next-generation handsets are in the pipeline and due to be fueled by Maemo 5. First up of course, is the T-Mobile-bound Nokia Rover we spied earlier this month and it certainly looks like a gem. As for what’s next, Nokia’s track record with leaks suggests it won’t be long before we have a good idea of some more handsets to come. Not much can be gleaned from Murtazin’s image unfortunately, though we can at least take solace in knowing that a modern looking OS is soon to be found on Finnish phones. Let’s hope at least one of them has a QWERTY keypad with a centrally located space key — that’s not too much to ask, right? Oh Nokia World, you can’t get here soon enough…

UPDATE: Hit the jump for a screenshot of Maemo 5′s on-screen keyboard, complete with off-center space key. Ugh.

[Via Engadget]

Read

Well look what finally decided to grace us with its pictorial presence: Nokia’s Rover aka N900 aka RX-51. With the T-Mobile version having just passed through the FCC, the Rover just made its first live appearance and we have to say that we really like what we see of the upcoming Maemo 5 smartphone with apart from the fact that the Z key is not offset — oh and yes, Nokia’s design team is still smoking space key crack. Just in case you don’t recall, it was way back in May when what appeared to be the entire specs for the Rover leaked out. It looks like May’s leak was pretty accurate as here’s what we have today:

• 3.5-inch resistive touchscreen
• 800 x 480 pixel resolution
• 32GB internal memory
• 5.0 MP Carl Zeiss camera with dual-LED flash, auto-focus and sliding cover
• MicroSDHC support
• FM transmitter
• Quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA 900/1700/2100, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth with A2DP
• GPS
• CPU: ARM cortex A8 @ 600mhz up to 1Ghz (similar to iPhone 3GS and palm pre)

Yes, we wants. Hit the jump for some more pics.

Thanks to everyone that sent this in!

Read

Having apparently (finally) given up on the Internet Tablet strategy of old, we’ve been anxiously awaiting more confirmed news with regards to Nokia’s forthcoming Maemo-powered handset codenamed Rover. As it were, a not so mysterious handset just popped up in the hallowed pages of the FCC website — that’s right people, the Rover is confirmed and it looks to be destined for T-Mobile. To be clear, this is not an Internet Tablet a la 770/N800/N810 — this is the first in a series of Maemo 5-powered smartphones Nokia has in store for us. Here are a few specs gleaned from FCC documentation:

• Quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE, tri-band WCDMA (900/1700/2100)
• Bluetooth + EDR
• Wi-Fi
• FM Transmitter
  
• Slide-out QWERTY keypad
  
• Nokia BL-5J 1320 mAh battery

[Via Cellphone Signal]

Read

Leave it to our eagle eyed readers to dig through the depths of YouTube and emerge with some sweet eye candy. During a purported presentation last October from Axel Meyer, head of Nseries design at Nokia, the upcoming Nokia N900 Internet Tablet was given a bit of face time in a promo video. Granted, plenty of time has passed since this video was recorded so odds are good that the finished product will end up looking more like it did in the leaked mock up than in this video. For a quick reresher, reported specs at this point include a 59.7mm x 111mm x 18.2mm body, 3.5-inch 800×480 (WVGA) touchscreen, OMAP3430 500/600 Mhz processor, 5.0 MP Carl Zeiss camera with dual-LED flash and auto-focus, 1GB total virtual runtime memory, Wi-Fi, HSPA, GPS and an accelerometer. Hit the jump for the video.

Thanks, CanisMajor!

• Maemo 5
• Dimensions: 59.7mm x 111mm x 18.2mm
• Weight: 180g
• 3.5-inch 800×480 (WVGA) touchscreen
• OMAP3430 500/600 Mhz processor
• 5.0 MP Carl Zeiss camera with dual-LED flash, auto-focus and sliding cover
• 1GB total virtual runtime memory
• Wi-Fi, HSPA, GPS, accelerometer

The official N900 announcement will reportedly come in June — a period of time where it will easily and quickly be overshadowed by everything else going on next month — and target launches are scattered throughout 2H. We’re certainly anxious to play with Nokia’s new tablet but that’s really all we can expect from it… Play. Nokia continues its attempt to fill the space between smartphones and netbooks but for the time being, it’s a hole that the market doesn’t seem to want filled. Will the N900 be more successful in filling this imaginary gap? A few reported carrier deals might help spread sales out a bit more but we’re not sure why anyone would want to pay for a second data plan; any capable smartphone can likely take care of the bulk of tasks the N900 would be used to perform. Anyone excited for it or are we looking at another IT destined to be lost in a retail wasteland?

Read