Nokia Tube rumour round-up

Yes yes, blah blah blah, Nokia touchscreen phone blah blah, iPhone killer blah blah blah. We’ve heard it all before but that doesn’t mean we aren’t excited about Nokia’s forthcoming Tube phone which was unveiled the other day.

Indeed, if anyone can genuinely challenge the iPhone’s wizz bang pulling power with any sort of stamina, it’s Nokia. Details about the device have been less than forthcoming so far but various blogs seem to know some things we don’t which we will report here, but not before warning you to take them all with a pinch of salt until Nokia makes good with an official press release.

So the story according to Symbian Freaks is that the device has a high resolution 16:9 touchscreen that is between 3 and 3.5 inches in length. The site also claims that the device includes uPnP, GPRS (with geotagging support), EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA and WLAN. There is of course a camera and apparently Tube is not the final name of the device and neither is the device to be a flagship handset but rather an introduction to the S60 touch interface before a bigger brasher device is unleashed. Lastly, Symbian Freaks claims that the device does not have a multi-touch screen but that it does have tactile feedback.

According to The Boy Genius Report the tactile feedback is pretty special as the screen yields about 1 mm of give when pressed. Apparently the glass display cover is spring mounted and when you press a virtual button on the screen, your finger sinks in ever so subtly as the haptic response is issued simultaneously. The result a touchscreen that feels remarkably like it has real buttons.

Sounds very cool indeed and does support Symbian Freaks’ claim that the device doesn’t support multi-touch as the tactile feedback tech and the multi-touch tech may well be incompatible with each other.

Either way, it’s hard to know when we will be able to confirm or deny these details. Some sources are claiming that the Tube will be launched late this year, others are claiming early 2009. Hopefully Nokia will issue a press release soon, though we are guessing that such a big announcement might be made in the same week as the 3G iPhone (which will undoubtedly be during the WWDC) to try and counter some of the inevitable media hype. Place your bets on that one now folks.

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