Hands on with the Nokia 9500

Nokia USA was nice enough to loan me an early prototype of the upcoming 9500 for a week. The unit was very far from being complete; it was just a prototype, after all.

As such, anything I comment on in this story has to be taken with the knowledge that anything could change 100% by the time the 9500 actually hits the retail shelves. But with that said, it is still worth taking a look at things as they are now, since most things will probably resemble what you see in this prototype - to varying degrees.

First, some history. I was a big 9210 user. The device aided me greatly when I first moved to Germany, since the Symbian OS and the full keyboard and huge display made for a great platform for my German-English dictionary app. I used the 9210 day to day for about 8 months, so I have some experience with it and am pretty familiar with the OS.

So with that said, I was very pleased to hear about the 9500. Not only was it to have the GPRS/EDGE and Bluetooth that I so sorely missed in the 9210, but it was to be equipped with WiFi/WLAN support, too. Sweet. They also reduced the weight, shrunk down the size, and turned the phone portion into a regular Series 40 device.

I'll write a bit more about some other aspects of the device, such as the keyboard, where the appropriate photos are later in the story. Keep reading.

Nokia 9500 (prototype)