Nokia Officially Joins the iPhone-Rival Wars with the N97

What comes after the Nokia N96? The N97 of course. And what could Nokia possibly offer to their fans after the rich features of the N96? Definitely a touchscreen feature which the company just did as it unveils the Nokia N97 - Nokia’s official entry into the iPhone-rival Wars. Thus joining RIM, HTC/Google, Samsung and other mobile phone manufacturers who tried and are still trying to beat the iPhone for being the coolest touchscreen mobile phone ever to hit the mobile phone market.

Realizing that it has definitely a full load of features and specifications to beat with its latest entry into the touchscreen market, Nokia has peppered the N97 with possible the best features that it could ever think of putting into the N97. The phones key features is highlighted by a full QWERTY keyboard and a large touchscreen features with a tilting display. The phone’s homescreen can also be customized by using widgets plus a slew of mobile web applications which can be toggled alternately. These applications include email, IM, maps, music, videos and photos.

The N97 also boasts great features including, 3G, GPS and built-in compass, 32GB internal memory, 5 megapixel camera, N-Gage support, handwriting recognition, physical keyboard and a built-in compass to support its GPS function. It runs on the latest Symbian OS, the S60.

In addition, the Nokia N97 also boasts of Flash and Flash video support. A feature which lacks on the iPhone. Pending official press release from Nokia, other features mentioned by Engadget includes, a 3.5-inch 640 x 360 pixel screen with 16:9 aspect ratio, microSD support, 5 MP camera with Carl Zeiss glass, and DVD quality video capture at 30fps.

Of course with a specs as powerful as those, the N97 will definitely retail for such a high price. Although not as expensive as the Xperia X1 though at around $693. The N97 is slated to be available in the first half of 2009.