As I confirmed earlier, Gadgetnutz had received an official invitation from Nokia’s WOM World to take part in a virtual event. WOM World is a Nokia- sponsored resource providing latest news, comment and feedback on all things about the Nokia Nseries from the world of social media. It’s the first time Nokia organized such an event where invited attendees could virtually witness the launch of several devices and discuss it with Nokia product manager through a custom created website for each attendee.
This particular reviewer had to wake up early, and I do mean early, to witness the event as it all took place in London. Due to the obvious time difference this meant that some of the invited guest had to stay up really late or wake up really early. It was a long day, but was well worth it. But what did really happen at the event? 
Nokia N81,N81 8GB, N95 8GB and XpressMusic 5610 and 5310
No surprises here as they unveiled not one, but two versions of the N81 in the form of the N81 and N81 8GB. The N81 is the device behind the mysterious floating keys at the 070829.com site and is aimed as both a music and gaming oriented smartphone featuring the Symbian OS. The device features: dedicated music and gaming keys, 3.5 mm headphone connector and 3G and WLAN connectivity. The phone has a unique polished surface and keys that light up according to the content being accessed: open music and the music keys light up, play games and these go away and gaming oriented keys appear. The Nokia N81 is configured to find, buy, manage and play music and games purchased from the Nokia Music Store and N-Gage games service. Here a few extra details based on the Q and A session I had with the Nokia product manager during the event.
From my previous review it was quite clear that I wasn’t very happy with the lack of RAM on most Nokia devices. The product manager revealed that N81 will have a total of 90MB of free RAM, which is more then plenty and should solve all memory problems. The device also seems to be the official replacement for the N91 as it has the same audio quality, but enhances the music story in terms of a music store, podcast client. Their will be two versions of the device: one with an 8GB internal flash memory and another with a microSD card slot that includes a 2GB card inbox. This can of course be upgraded with larger memory cards, while the 8GB model does not have a memory card slot. The N81 still sports a 2 megapixel camera and many asked how such a device could sport ‘only’ 2 megapixels when other Nokia phones already had 3 and 5 megapixel cameras. They explained that the main focus of the device is music and games so they decided to put a good camera in, but not focus too much on this feature. The more advanced picture taking abilities it seems are left for the N95 and N95 8GB. As for the more technical side, the device has a single 369mhz processor (same as N76) and supports Windows Media DRM and OMA DRM 1.x and 2.0. Sadly no TV-out though.
The event also introduced us to the N95 replacement in the form of the N95 8GB. Same features, except for a much larger 2.8” screen compared to the previous 2.6, 1200mAH battery as apposed to 950 mAH used in the first N95, removal of the memory card slot and the use of 8GB internal flash memory. The N91 8GB luckily will also have about 90MB of free RAM! The devices look a lot like the recently announced US 3G N95: black color with redesigned media keys. The Lens cover has been removed? (Why Nokia?) Other announced devices include the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic and the Nokia 5610 XpressMusic.
Ovi by Nokia
Nokia introduced Ovi, the company’s new Internet services brand name. With the introduction of Ovi, Nokia is expanding from a focus on mobile devices to offering a range of Internet services. Ovi, meaning ‘door’ in Finnish, enables consumers to easily access their existing social network, communities and content, as well as acting as a gateway to Nokia services. As part of Ovi, Nokia announced the Nokia Music Store and N-Gage, two services that make it easy for people to discover, try and buy music and games from a blockbuster range of artists and publishers, including exclusive content only available through Nokia. Also under the Ovi umbrella is Nokia Maps, a navigation service that offers maps, city guides and more directly to compatible mobile devices. Nokia aims to bring more Internet based services to Ovi in the coming months.
Expect to see reviews of the N81 and N95 8GB right at Gadgetnutz.com!
Written by Devin