Nokia N96 delivers the goods, Tube 5800 iPhone-clone awaits

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 07 October 2008 10:26

IT Industry - Market

There’s also the allure of the 5800 XpressMedia “Tube” iPhone-clone, which is coming to Australia, the US and Europe in 2009, even though it will be available in India, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Russia and Spain by the end of this year.

Although not an N-Series phone, it will come with a Carl Zeiss 3.2 megapixel camera, and the “touch enabled” S60 5th edition operating system, while a true N-Series model is surely in the labs and (hopefully) being readied for a later in 2009 release.

The world of mobile smartphones is certainly accelerating – surely Steve Jobs has some amazing surprises in store for any iPhone 3.0 to be released in (presumably) mid 2009, and Microsoft is due to launch Windows Mobile 7 in the next few months as well, hopefully really taking that platform to the next level.

Nokia must be working on an N-Series iPhone clone and an “N97” upgrade as well, something that will surely have to be much more revolutionary than the evolutionary upgrade the N96 presents over the N95 models.

But with 10 touch-screen smartphones due from Nokia in 2009, smartphones from all the vendors must be getting set for the next quantum leap.

The next couple of years will see massive upgrades for smartphones, making them far smarter “multimedia computers” than the already impressive models on offer today.

Given the “credit crunch” the world is going through, getting more from older technology will certainly be a top priority for many, while for others, as always, the need for the latest and greatest will override everything else.

So, if you’re hankering for a new phone, there are more choices than ever right now, or you can hold onto that older model a bit longer, and enjoy even more choice and power in 2009.

Which way will you go? iPhone, N96, HTC Touch Pro, something else, or your current phone for now? Share your thoughts in our forum.