When Nokia announced its latest flagship mobile device, the Nokia N97, it gave a shipment date of somewhere in the first half of 2009. This weekend, it appears that UK online retailer Play.com posted the release date and pricing a bit too early. While the information is no longer posted on the site, Play.com had indicated that the N97 would be released on March 31, 2009. It also listed the price at GBP479.99 (about US$700) for the unlocked version.
Sharing a form factor very similar to that of the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1, the N97 comes with quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and HSDPA connectivity, a 3.5-inch 16:9 widescreen (640 by 360) touchscreen display that tilts above a slide-out QWERTY keyboard (virtual touch input also supported), 32 GB of internal memory, integrated A-GPS, Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth, an electronic compass, a 5MP auto-focus camera with dual LED flash, a microSDHC card slot (supporting cards up to 16GB), and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
There is no word on if and when a North American variant will follow.
Source: UnwiredView.com