Nokia debuts N9 smartphone with MeeGo OS and NFC technology

World's first 'buttonless' device, claims Finnish manufacturer

Nokia has announced its first fully gesture-based, NFC-capable device running the MeeGo operating system as the ailing manufacturer attempts to reverse its fortunes in the smartphone market.

The Nokia N9 features a 3.9in WVGA Gorilla Glass Amoled display with 854x480 resolution and is powered by a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor with 1GB of RAM.

Users will be able to use NFC functionality in a number of ways, explained Marko Ahtisaari, senior vice president of design and user experience, at the Nokia Connections 2011 event in Singapore.

Bluetooth headsets only have to be paired once and can then be synced to the N9 simply by tapping the hardware at the back of the device to connect, which Ahtisaari demonstrated on stage.

Users will also be able to share content such as business cards, images and videos between devices by touching them together.

N9 handsets will come with a choice of 16GB or 64GB of internal storage and will incorporate HSPDA connectivity as well as an eight-megapixel rear-facing camera with dual LED flash.

The Finnish manufacturer is also claiming the N9 to be the "world's first buttonless device" as the MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan interface relies entirely on touch and swipe-based navigation and has three home screens.

The 'Applications' screen allows users to organise and launch apps while the 'Events' screen provides notifications on calls, texts, calendars and social networks.

The ‘Open app' page showcases the most recent apps that have been used for quick access.

Nokia debuts N9 smartphone with MeeGo OS and NFC technology

World's first 'buttonless' device, claims Finnish manufacturer

"With the N9 we wanted to design a better way to use a phone. [We found] two basic things. One is that people want more screen on their phone and secondly they want to use their phones while fully mobile and that means better one handed use and glance-ability," Ahtisaari said.

Swiping from the edge of the screen while using any application will always take users back to the homescreen, he demonstrated.

Nokia touted up to 11 hours of talktime and the device will be able to play around four and half hours of video as well as 50 hours of music playback.

The web browsing applications run on Webkit 2 technology and can support HTML5 content, while favourite web sites will be displayed as visual thumbnails and can save a user's entire browsing history.

Nokia will also improve its maps applications, offering 3D maps together with free voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation for walking and driving.

Although Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop maintained that the Windows Phone platform is the firm's primary focus, many of the features from the N9 will be used in future Nokia devices.

"Many innovations of the N9 will live on [such as] the industrial design, the user interface and focus on Qt [application development platform]," he said.

Judging by the specifications, the N9 is shaping up to be a serious rival to popular devices such as the iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S, and despite being relegated by the Finnish manufacturer in favour of the Windows Phone platform, the operating system looks impressive.

The MeeGo platform has a minimalist interface similar to the Windows Phone operating system and could be enticing for business users as well.