Nokia N9 is so easy to use, even Steve Jobs would buy one

Nokia just announced Nokia N9 and it looks super awesome. Nokia might be in shambles but it sure can make great hardware. Nokia N9 now boasts of several firsts in the smartphone world. N9 is a pure touch screen interface. No button pressing nonsense. Going to the home menu or moving to a different app is all controlled by gestures. I hope Nokia has filed its patents for this technology. My guess is, quite a few manufacturers will be craving for this unibody touch-only feature.

Nokia N9 also has a the fastest camera available on a smartphone. Click-to-capture in a jiffy is what Nokia N9 promises. Something which I don’t have on my iPhone right now, but want it so badly.

Swipe only

Steve Jobs should be commended for being paranoid with iPhone design. That got us all to minimize stuff that can go on a phone. But Jobs has gotten away with all but three hardware buttons on the phone. He is so wishing now that he should have gotten away with the buttons at least on iPhone 4. It’s too late. Apple will not be credited for going with a all swipe phone. May be that should stop Apple from buying all the tech companies out there with the spare cash it has.

Nokia N9’s swipe only interface is done wonderfully well. A single swipe the current application will show a 3-way split screen with the open app, current app and the home screen. Thus avoiding the need to press the home button. More than the hardware it’s the software that makes it possible. And would you be surprised if I say, it was done by Meego? Yes Meego. Meego was a no-go only yesterday and everybody were talking about Mango. Not sure if this would make Meego a blockbuster but people will be talking about it for sure. It still has to deal with the app factor.

64 GB – no kidding

Nokia N9 also has a capability to read 64GB memory. The first of its kind. Kingmax has released the 64GB microSD in May to become the world’s first manufacturer to do so. Now Nokia has implemented the ability to read one. Nice.

Hardware

In the midst of dual core phones and 4.3 inch screens, how does Nokia N9 fare. Not bad. Actually not bad at all. Nokia has right sized the screen size at 3.9 inch. That’s a weird size because I haven’t seen anyone using it thus far. Yet it feels just right. Anything around 4-inch seems to be a good screen size for a smartphone.

Here are the detailed specs :

• Display: 3.9” WVGA (854×480) AMOLED display with curved Gorilla glass, no air gap, anti-glare polarizer
• OS: MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan
• Camera: 8Mpix auto-focus Carl Zeiss, wide-angle lens, 2x LED flash, Video capturing MPEG-4 SP 720p @ 30fps, 2nd camera for video calls
• Memory: 1024MB RAM, 16GB/64GB storage
• Processor: ARM Cortex-A8 OMAP3630 1 Ghz, PowerVR SGX530
• Networks: Pentaband WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 1700, 2100, Quad band GSM/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900
• Speed: HSDPA Cat10: 14.4Mbps, HSUPA: Cat6 5.76Mbps
• Size / Weight: 116.45 mm x 61.2 mm x 7.6–12.1 mm (L x W x T) / 76 cm3/ 135 g
• Connectivity: BT 2.1, GPS, A-GPS, WLAN 802.11abgn, NFC, 3.5mm AV connector,  micro USB connector, USB charging
• Audio: MP3 player, Audio jack: 3.5mm, Supported codecs: mp3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, FLAC.
• Battery: 1450 mAh
• Talk time: (GSM/WCDMA) up to 11 h / up to 7 hours
• Standby time: Up to 450 hours (WCDMA), up to 380 hours (GSM)
• Video playback (720P): up to 4.5 hours
• Music playback: up to 50 hours

Apps

Oh! don’t we love to talk about apps even in our dreams. Apps is the only thing which is separating a good smartphone from a bad smartphone. Nokia N9 has covered the ground quite well. And Nokia is calling them Applications and not apps, which means Apple can breathe easy now. Vimeo, Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Angry Birds, WiFi Hotspot, Foursquare, AP mobile and Accuweather are the default apps. Not sure about you but that’s pretty much 80% of my smartphone usage. The other 20% is split between email and any new apps. Of course, Nokia has email on N9. For new apps, ovistore will fill in. The store might not be as exciting as the Apple store, but seriously how often do you use all of them apps which you downloaded? I downloaded WolframAlpha – don’t ask why – and I hardly use it. Even though I have paid for it. Come to think of it, I am not using my iPhone for anything else. Are you?

Nokia N9 should usher in new trends in smartphone segment which is riddled with extra cores and larger screens. Nokia has shown the way with the only-swipe interface. That opens up a lot of possibilities.

Nokia N9 is a phone which will be on everybody’s wish list, including Steve Jobs. Jobs might print a Apple log at the back and use it secretively. When N9 comes out give it to a kid and see the kid’s reaction. I am sure the kid would look at any other smartphone with disdain. The kind of look now reserved for phones with buttons.