Nokia Unveils New Multimedia Phones

In a press event in New York Tuesday, Nokia announced several new phone models, focusing on multimedia. Three of the phones are special black music editions of previously released models, while the other two highlighted at the event are completely new devices.

Nokia said it will release black versions of its N70, N73 and N91 models. In addition to the new color scheme, capacity has also been increased to 1GB, 2GB and 8GB respectively. The devices include support for podcasts, FM radio, and a music recommendation service.

The N70 and N73 are expected to become available in October at a price of 350 ($448 USD) and 450 euros ($576 USD) respectively. The N91 is expected to be available by the end of this year at a price of 550 euros ($704 USD) before any carrier subsidies.

"Music is an essential part of our daily lives and it has the power to evoke memories and change moods," said Tommi Mustonen, Director, Multimedia, Nokia. "With our new Nokia Nseries Music Range, we hope to enhance those personal experiences and make them even more special."

In addition to the device refreshes, two new "multimedia computer" phones have been released. The first, the Nokia N75, is the smallest Nseries device to date. The device sports a clamshell design, and includes play and pause plus rewind and fast forward buttons on the front of the device.

The N75 will support MP3, M4A, AAC, eAAC+ and WMA music formats, and has a microSD slot to add additional capacity. Also included is FM radio functionality, and a 2-megapixel digital camera. Support for W-CDMA, EDGE, and standard GSM/GPRS networks is included.

Although no price point was announced, the N75 would be available initially in the United States during the fourth quarter of this year.

Finally, the N95 has seemed to take the spot as Nokia's top-of-the-line Nseries model. A candy bar slider phone, included in the device is integrated GPS functionality, 5-megapixel camera, and support for high-speed HSDPA networks.

Unlike normal slider phones, the N95 slides two ways. One way will reveal a telephone keypad, while sliding the other way would reveal dedicated media keys.

"This single device - which fits easily in your pocket - can replace stand-alone devices that you no longer need, whether it's your music player, your digital camera, PDA or navigation device. Most importantly, the Nokia N95 is with you and connected when you want to use it," said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President of Multimedia at Nokia.

The N95 is expected to start shipping in the first quarter of next year at a price of 550 euros ($704 USD) before any carrier subsidies.