09/24/2008, 10:20am, EDT
Wednesday, September 24thNokia's iPhone rival shows in press shot
Nokia's first true touchscreen phone has been spotted today in a leak of an official press image for the device. The image matches earlier but much less distinct images and shows a significantly different interface for the Symbian operating system's music player with onscreen music controls and larger album art. Other interface changes are known to be coming and include an iPhone-like photo browser with swipe and rotate features as well as as a new control panel.
The phone has repeatedly had its specifications leak to the public and is positioned more as a high-end media phone than smartphone but with feature advantages over the iPhone and RIM's upcoming BlackBerry Storm, including a 640x360 3.2-inch screen, a 3.2-megapixel camera with flash and video capture, and removable microSDHC storage. GPS and Wi-Fi are also known to be present along with support for US calling, though the initial phone version follows Nokia's typical practice of supporting only European and some Asian 3G data with an initial phone model.
A launch is rumored for the 5800, nicknamed the "Tube," on October 2nd at a Nokia special event with actual shipment during the fall. The company has already confirmed similar plans for an event to formalize its Comes With Music strategy but hasn't provided clues as to whether it would tie the unlimited music service to the 5800. [via Unwired View]
Filed under: iPhone, mobile phones
Other story tags: Nokia, Symbian, XpressMusic, Comes With Music
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Crazy
Nothing like the iPhone existed before the iPhone. A year later there are iPhone "like" device coming out of the woodwork. Even last year, when the iPhone was released, before it was a proven success, cell phone manufacturers were trying to mimic the iPhone. My guess on that is some recognized Apple success with the iPod, though it was first blown off as a non-competitor. I think industry watchers take Apple very seriously now.
I think it's great. Apple just keeps trying to innovate, so I don't really thing competition is needed by Apple to keep from getting lax, but clearly the iPhone has motivated the rest of the industry to push their own development. So far, if Apple decides to going into a market, it's good for that market. Even the AppleTV, not the first, but it certainly has brought attention to the Internet media content to the TV and prompted providers, such as NetFlix and BlockBuster to jump in. Apple moves, people watch.