Nokia N9: a video hands-on

In this video of the Nokia N9 smartphone, Nokia’s Marketing Manager Jussi Mäkine takes us on a four-and-a-half minute video tour of the MeeGo user interface.

While it looks pretty slick, there’s nothing terribly groundbreaking here. Still, Nokia have I think always made pretty decent hardware, so matched with a responsive, more user-centric interface, that’s great news for fans of the Nokia brand. It will be interesting to see what Nokia’s reaction is should the Nokia N9 be successful. Will it see a resuscitation of the MeeGo OS? Did the deal with Microsoft and the adoption of the Windows Phone 7 operating system dictate the MeeGo be dropped?

What the case may be with MeeGo, the big news this year for Nokia is to see what it does in partnership with Microsoft and the Mango version of Windows Phone 7. There’s been no release dates for a Windows Phone 7-powered Nokia as yet, but September is looking like a distinct possibility, which puts it right about the time the Apple iPhone 5 is rumoured to launch.

It’s been a timely release of information for Nokia, with the news that for the first time since around 2001 Nokia has lost its crown as Australia’s most popular mobile phone maker. Until now Nokia’s low-end phones have propped up Nokia’s lack of a killer smartphone, but smartphones now represent around 70% of the type of mobile phone Australians are buying. The Finnish company desperately need the Nokia N9, and any forthcoming Windows Phone 7 smartphones, to begin the company’s fightback in the smartphone market.

For more information, including the Nokia N9’s specifications, and a video showing the N9’s new user interface read Nokia announce the N9 smartphone. Available… sometime. Along with the Nokia N9 itself, there’s also a range of new accessories built for the phone, including the Nokia Play 360 wireless speaker, using Near Field Communication and Bluetooth to wirelessly play music, plus audio from video and games.