Nokia and the N8 with everything on it

Nokia unveiled the N8 today and by the looks of it, the touch screen phone has some potential. The N8 comes with so many features that it feels like the brief to the design team was inspired by a hot dog – “we want a phone – with everything on it!”

The N8 is equipped with a 12 megapixel Carl Zeiss camera which includes a Xenon flash. Nokia claims that the camera’s sensor compares to those found in point-and-shoot digital cameras. But that’s where the usual feature set stops.

The phone displays HD quality videos and provides Dolby Digital Plus surround sound. Using an HDMI cable, it can be plugged in directly to a home theatre system. The home screen is the location of two key features. Web TV services can be directly accessed & viewed from here and a combined Facebook & Twitter app is also found here. The phone also comes with navigation support; it has global Ovi maps free of charge, with support for over 70 countries.

The N8 comes with 16GB of built-in storage and supports expansion up to 48GB via Micro SD card. It will also be the first phone that shows off the new Symbian 3 OS. The new OS supports single & multi touch, pinch-to-zoom, screen flicking, 2D & 3D graphics, better memory management and multi tasking.

The phone is slated to hit stores in the next calendar quarter. With projected price tag of under $500, the phone looks like it could be the iPhone killer – at least on paper. However with the iPhone 4G coming out soon and Android phones building up steam, the future and success of the N8 model is a difficult one to predict.

Apple’s Latest Lawsuit

Elan Microelectronics, the Taiwanese touch screen maker is suing Apple for patent infringement. They claim that they have the patent for the multi touch technology that Apple is using on many of their products. Elan has also complained to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) about the infringement. The ITC in turn has ordered an investigation into the matter.

This is where the news gets worse for Apple. If the ITC find Apple guilty of the charges, they can ban the import and sale of all products which contain that technology. This would essentially mean the end of iPods, iPads, iPhones, Mac book Pro’s, etc. If a cease and desist order is given, then even the existing stock cannot be sold.
Controversy is nothing new for Apple, it has always been in the middle of a lawsuit – either being sued or suing someone else. Recently, in what was seen as a masked attack on Google and its Android software, Apple sued HTC for touch screen patent infringement. Eastman Kodak sued Apple over the iPhone and Research in Motion over the Blackberry, for patent infringement. However, the touch screen lawsuit and investigation by the ITC will be a tough hurdle to get over.

Elan, unlike its Taiwanese counterpart HTC, is extremely confident of winning the lawsuit. History is on their side; in a similar lawsuit in 2008, the company successfully settled against Synaptics. The same result is expected in California, where Elan has filed the lawsuit. Even the ITC’s investigation is expected to be sorted out amicably, with Elan probably reaching a licensing agreement with Apple.