Nokia N9 announced

Nokia has officially unveiled the N9, the first smartphone to run on the MeeGo operating system.

The N9 is the most powerful handset ever produced by Nokia and runs on a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor. On the front of the phone is a 3.9-inch, 854×480 pixel AMOLED display, and on the back is an 8Mp autofocus camera with dual LED flash. This can record 720p video at 30 frames per second.

The phone can access the Net at high speed thanks to its HSDPA and wi-fi connectivity and comes with 1GB of RAM plus 16GB or 64GB of non-expandable memory. It has a 1450mAh battery which Nokia says will give seven hours of talktime on the 3G network and is equipped with Near Field Communication technology (NFC). This means you can easily share images and videos by touching the phone to another NFC-compatible device.

The N9 runs on the MeeGo operating system, which Nokia developed in partnership with Intel. There’s no ‘home’ button, instead users just need to swipe their finger to the right or left to return to one of the three homescreens – Applications, Events and Open Apps.

Applications shows all the apps you have downloaded on the phone, Events shows all your notifications and upcoming events, while Open Apps displays all the apps currently running on the device.

Nokia N9, key specs

• MeeGo OS 1.2
• 1GHz processor
• 3.9-inch AMOLED display
• 8Mp autofocus camera
• 720p video recording
• HSDPA and wi-fi connectivity

According to Nokia, the N9 has a polycarbonate body that improves antenna performance (a possible dig at Apple?) and an updated version of Nokia Maps.

It will be available in black, cyan and magenta, and is scheduled to arrive in shops later this year, though there’s no information yet on price or network availability.