With conflicting reports from various sources, it is currently difficult to pin down the exact OS that the Nokia N9 will have. Between the Symbian^3 OS and the MeeGo, it originally seemed more likely that the handset would be using the Intel and Nokia made MeeGo. This became particularly the point when Nokia announced that the N8 would be the last Symbian^3 smart phone for the N-series.
However, recent images and leaks of the N9 showed that the device was running the Symbian^3 OS –a direct contradiction of Nokia’s original statement. Many believe that this is only being done in order to test out the handset –the MeeGo mobile platform will be used when the OS is ready.
If this is true, then the Nokia N9 is expected to be on shelves sometime this October when the MeeGo OS finally launches. The MeeGo OS is a combined work of the Maemo team from Nokia and Intel’s developers for the Moblin operating system.
Aside from sporting a new operating system, Nokia’s fans will love the N9 for its impressive balance of media and hardware. The phone focuses heavily on HD media playback and recording. The screen is announced to be a 4 inch nHD capacitive touch screen display with a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels. This makes the handset directly a third of a 1080p display –preserving the aspect ratio for video playback. This means that playing HD videos on the N9 will not require any stretching when scaled to full screen view.
The 8 mega pixel snapper comes with autofocus, LED flash and of course, video recording capabilities at 720p HD quality (at 30 FPS). Playback options for videos will not be limited to the nHD display; according to reports, the device will come with its own HDMI output port for large screen video playback.