Nokia N98 Slider Smartphone Gets Leaked [Successor of the N97, the Nokia N98 Fails to Impress Yet]

Tweet

When I first saw the Nokia N97 and got a hold of its official specs and features I was more than excited. For a few days I even thought we have an iPhone competitor on our hands. But soon after I realized that it was all smoke and mirrors. Yes the N97 has some impressive components inside, and yes it can be a dependable smartphone but it’s not the smartphone that we want Nokia to make.

This time around I won’t be fooled that easily. It looks like we have a N97 successor which is going to be called the Nokia N98. Clever name there, right?

The device has been conveniently leaked before MWC, an event where Nokia is not going to officially attend. The Finnish cell phone maker does have some official press event scheduled during MWC, only it won’t be included in the regular MWC proceedings. The N98 could be officially unveiled but we’ll take a look at it right now, a few days before the official start of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The N98 is apparently a slider phone featuring a large 4-inch touchscreen display and full QWERTY keyboard. Other features include 32GB on board storage and Symbian S60 OS.

The handset is rumored to arrive by the end of the year and it’s apparently going to cost you around $619. That’s a steep price to pay for a smartphone but then again the N98 might not be that popular with some carriers, and, just like its successor did a while ago, it will have to retail for the full, unsubsidized price.

We have no way of confirming the Nokia N98 yet so don’t get too excited about it. One particular thing that tells me this isn’t the real thing is the presence of Symbian S60 on board. I mean, shouldn’t we be running Symbian v3 or even v4 by Christmas 2010?