News

Nokia has pre-announced the 9500 Communicator, a smart phone with an impressive feature set, including built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, a keyboard, and a VGA camera. Nokia says this device has been designed to meet the demands of corporate IT departments.

The 9500 will run the Symbian OS 7.0 and it will have 80 MB of memory available to the user.

This smart phone will use a clamshell design. On the outside will be a screen, D-pad, and keypad. Opening the device up reveals a larger screen and a keyboard. The external screen will use the Series 40 User Interface on a 128-by-128-pixel display, while the inner one will use the Series 80 User Interface on a 640-by-200-pixel display.

This model will be a tri-band GSM device. It will also offer GPRS, E-GPRS (EDGE), and Wi-Fi 802.11b. If that weren't enough, it will also support Bluetooth for both audio and data.

Of course, it will be able to do web surfing and email (IMAP4, POP3, SMTP, SyncML), plus SMS and MMS. Nokia also says it will be able to work with documents, spreadsheet, presentations.

When closed, this device will be 5.8 inches tall, 2.25 inches wide and 0.9 inches thick and weigh 7.8 ounces.

The price (unsubsidized) of the Nokia 9500 Communicator is expected to be around 800 Euros. It is expected to be available in volume during the fourth quarter of 2004. Evidence suggests that it will be released in the U.S.

This announcement was made at the 3GSM World Congress 2004, going on now in Cannes.

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