Nokia to join 12-megapixel club with N8

Nokia is set to join the rarefied world of 12-megapixel cameraphones, so far only inhabited by the two big Koreans and Sony Ericsson. Blurry pictures have emerged in the websphere, of the N8, which will be the new high end for Nokia’s smartphone range.

The phone is not really a successor for the N97, which has only been available for six months, but is in the same (rebranded) family of top end, multimedia focused models. Unlike the other big hitting Nokia phone, the Maemo-based N900, this one runs Symbian – in fact, it will be the first to run the latest release of the OS, Symbian3, which is now largely open source. It will also be Nokia’s first Symbian device to sport full multitouch.

A capacitive touchscreen of at least 3.5-inches, and possibly 4-inches, is expected, plus a heavy focus on images and video. Not just the 12-mp camera with the trademark Carl Zeiss optics of the N range, but 720p video capture, HDMI, autofocus, front facing webcam and Xenon flash. The screen is 480 x 800 in resolution and there is a 1200mAh battery that slides out, similar to the HTC Legend’s.

No release dates or pricing have been confirmed but midyear is likely. Other expected features – at least 16Gb of internal storage, and some are betting on a slide-out Qwerty keyboard too, though this might create too much overlap with the E Series and the N900.

The other 12-mp cameras that are available on the market are the Sony Ericsson Idou and the Samsung Pixon M8910, and LG has shown off its Louvre GC990, though not shipped it yet outside its homeland.