It seems like Nokia’s recent plans for the N97 Mini and the 5530 XpressMusic touchscreen are not stopping the Finnish mobile giant from coming out with an all-new handset. Engadget found the company’s newly-submitted patents to the FCC and a Malaysian forum had a couple of leaked shots of the new device, dubbed the RX-51.
The feature that turned us on about this rumour was the introduction of the Maemo 5 Internet Tablet operating system that it is purported to carry. The biggest problem with the N97 and the 5800 XpressMusic has been the Symbian S60 5th edition, which is simply not an OS that can match up to its competitors. Tech pundits have long been talking about Nokia’s need to create a new OS from scratch that is meant for touch-based navigation, and the Maemo 5 might just fulfill that.
While all reports suggest that this is primarily an Internet tablet, the device does have a slot for a SIM card. Throw in a little bit of attention to call and messaging capacities, and Nokia just might have a winner on its hands here.
The multimedia capabilities of the phone seem to be quite impressive too, with the RX-51 packing a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens.
The screen seems to be a 3.5-inch touch-screen TFT, which slides up to reveal a full Qwerty keypad. Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth and all other such options should probably be included too.
In a market that is increasingly making Internet usage the primary function of mobile phones, with calling and SMSing relegated to secondary activities, could this be the handset that changes Nokia’s fortunes?
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