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Details trickle out on Nokia's answer to iPhone

The Nokia Tube will be available later this year, and will use some sort of touch-screen interface along with a GPS chip that supports geotagging.

Tom Krazit Former Staff writer, CNET News
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom.
Tom Krazit
Nokia Tube, with touch-screen display
This is Nokia's answer to the iPhone, and it's expected later this year. Symbian-Freak.com

More details about Nokia's upcoming Tube phone have surfaced, days after its existence leaked out at a developer conference.

Nokia's apparent answer to the iPhone will arrive in the second half of this year, according to Symbian Freak. A Nokia spokesman confirmed the timing to Computerworld but didn't offer any further details other than the obvious notion that the "Tube" will use Symbian's S60 operating system. Nokia owns a large stake in Symbian.

According to Symbian Freak, the Tube (real name TBD) will come with 3G, Wi-Fi, and GPS chips and use a screen sized between 3 inches and 3.5 inches. The site's report compared the size of the Tube to a Nokia N73, but perhaps a bit wider. There's a built-in camera that can also support geotagging of photos taken with the camera, the report says.

The iPhone will probably be available in a 3G version by the time the Tube makes an appearance. It's not totally clear what type of touch-screen interface Nokia will be using for this phone. The report says that the Tube won't use "multitouch," but will have "tactility feedback."