Nokia spills its N8 smartphone price and release date

FINNISH PHONE MAKER Nokia has at last revealed the price and release date for its much anticipated N8 smartphone, along with the operators and retailers that will carry the device.

The N8 smartphone will sell for £429 SIM free or from £35 a month on contracts. It will be available on the Nokia Online Shop from the last week of September, which most likely means a release date of Monday 27 September.

From 1 October, O2, Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Tesco, Phones4u, Three, Virgin Mobile and Carphone Warehouse will all begin flogging the phone.

Nokia also confirmed several features of the N8, including a 12-megapixel camera, the ability to record and edit HD quality videos, and touchscreen capabilities including flick scrolling and pinch-to-zoom.

Mark Loughran, the general manager of Nokia in the UK, talked up the phone's capabilities, focusing on its ability to generate and share content.

"The Nokia N8 is a great multi-tasker, packed with market leading innovations, which include the best picture and video capability available on a smartphone," he said.

"It's perfect for creating and sharing great content in high-definition, using HDMI out to connect to your TV as well as hot-USB swap."

Nokia will be hoping the device can turn around its fortunes in the smartphone market but analysts have been cool on its potential to do so.

Operators have been keen to push the N8 to punters, offering it on pre-order from as early as July when little was known about the device. µ