Is the Nokia RX-51 (N900) living up to expectations?
It looks like all those months of speculation and leaks about the rumored Nokia N900 (Rover), long overdue successor to the N810 Internet Tablet, weren't spent in vain. Recently discovered FCC docs and a slew of in-the-wild shots (via Engadget) both confirm a new 3G-enabled device called the Nokia RX-51, which not only looks almost exactly like the image produced by CellPassion a few months ago but seems to be in keeping with previously reported specs as well.
That means that it's probably safe to expect a 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen, OMAP3450 500MHz/600MHz processor, Maemo 5, 5-megapixel Carl Zeiss camera, 32GB internal storage, 1GB virtual runtime memory, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, 3G, and possibly phone capabilities through T-Mobile to all be part of the Nokia RX-51's feature set.
Assuming this is all true and the device shown above is indeed the N900/Rover, is it everything you hoped for?
I'm glad that it will put an end to the incessant "is it a phone?" questions that were asked of the earlier Nokia tablets and I certainly can't complain about the internals, but the smaller screen and three-row keyboard are a disappointing downgrade from the N810. It makes sense that the hardware was made smaller (rumored dimensions: 4.37" x 2.35" x 0.72") if the device is to be embraced as a phone, but this seems to me to be the end of the company's Internet Tablets as we've previously known them.
I know there are more people out there who don't need or want a "tweener" device that's neither smartphone nor laptop, but I'm still holding on to gadgets like the Samsung Mondi and other non-phone MIDs and naively hoping for their success.
What about you? Is the Nokia RX-51 your dream device? What, if anything, would you change about it?
