NOKIA N90
Editor-in-Chief Jørgen Sundgot
offers up a glimpse of Nokia's new
N90 swivel handset boasting a 2
megapixel camera, autofocus and
high-quality video recording.
It's a bit big and a bit plasticky, but
who cares when it looks to become the
best cameraphone to grace western
shores this year? Nokia's N90 is a bit
of an unwieldy beast, but nonetheless
impressive: it's the first Series 60
smartphone to feature a 262K colour,
352 x 416 pixel display - double the
resolution of its venerable
predecessors, focusing heavily on
imaging with a 2 Megapixel integrated
camera.
Relying on Carl Zeiss optics, the N90
flips just about any which way you'll
want it to. Operating in three different
modes, the clamshell handset can be
used in shape of a regular phone, in a
video recording mode - held much like
a camcorder - and in a still shot mode
with the lens barrel rotating and the
external display acting as the
viewfinder. At 65K colours 128 x 128
pixels it's quite a bit smaller than the
internal display, but still works well.
Not only focusing on the megapixels,
Nokia also included more advanced
imaging functionality such as
autofocus and a macro mode in the
N90. Furthermore, the built-in flash
can be set to either on/off, automatic
or red eye reduction modes, with users
also able to adjust brightness and
white balance. Pictures can be taken in
resolutions up to 1600 x 1200 pixels,
however the N90 is also able to record
video in CIF format at 352 x 288
pixels, the quality of which is
impressive - and even more so when
viewed on the high resolution screen
of the N90; it's a must-see.
Naturally, the N90 also plays back
video content in formats including
MPEG4 and H.263, in addition to
supporting audio playback of among
other formats MP3, AAC and
RealAudio; WMA support, as found in
the Nokia N91, also announced today,
is notably absent. Also gone is the 4
GB hard drive of the N91, with the N90
instead relying on 31 MB of onboard
memory as well as RS-MMC memory
cards - one 64 MB of which comes
bundled with the handset - for
expansion.
The Nokia N90 is also well equipped in
the connectivity department, with tri-
band GSM/GPRS/EDGE
900/1800/1900 MHz complimented by
3G and all its bells and whistles such
as video calling and video sharing.
Also, Bluetooth 2.0 is included, as is
USB 2.0 connectivity, and with its
focus on imaging, it's not surprising
that the N90 also supports PictBridge
for direct-to-printer output of images.
Measuring in at 112 x 51 x 24 mm and
a hefty 173 g, the N90 also harbours a
few nifty upgrades over current Series
60 models. Among these are a five-
way joystick mounted on the right
hand side of the smartphone, which
compliments the five-way navigational
pad mounted atop the keypad. Also, in
addition to the standard suite of
messaging and PIM applications, the
N90 will according to Nokia feature an
improved browser with support for
HTML 4.01 that will make better use of
the increased screen resolution.

Sadly, only imaging applications can

be run in landscape mode on the N90,
but the improved resolution at least
mitigates this somewhat.

Claiming a talk time of up to three

hours and standby time of up to
twelve days, the Nokia N90 is
expected to be available in the second
quarter of 2005. Details concerning its
pricing were not available at the time
of press.