Finland’s Nokia might be hard at work laying off employees, passing off Symbian to Accenture, and cranking away on a future family of Windows Phone devices, but the company still has to keep its current product line fresh an active if it wants to remain the top handset maker in the world. As part of that effort, the company has introduced a new version of the Nokia N8 smartphone: the device still sports a 12-megapixel camera with HD video capability and Nokia’s range of Ovi services, but now it will some with Symbian “Anna,” an update to Symbian^3 with improvements based largely on customer feedback. And it’ll be available in pink.
“Following the fantastic response to the range of colors we launched for the Nokia N8, it seemed a natural step to extend this choice,” said Nokia senior designer Rachael Bell. “The Nokia N8 in pink complements the original line up well with its expressive, intense hue.”
Nokia began shipping the N8 back in mid-2010, and the new version of doesn’t change the hardware: the device still sports a 12-megapixel camera (with HD video capability), HDMI output, a 3.5 AMOLED screen, 16 GB of onboard storage (plus microSD removable storage), integrated Wi-Fi, assisted GPS navigation, and the full gamut of Ovi services (like Ovi Maps) to help people get through their complicated lives.
The Symbian “Anna” update features “real” home screen scrolling, an onscreen QWERTY keyboard that works in portrait orientation, an improved Web browser, a significant update to Ovi Maps (including predictive search), and “new iconography.”
Unfortunately, while Nokia is touting the pink edition of the N8, the company hasn’t offered any details about pricing or availability. If pressed, we would guess it would appear in markets where Nokia already has the N8 in channel with carrier partners…which means the United States would be low on the list.
