It seems some lucky folks had the opportunity to spend some time with Nokia N950, the developer version of the N9, that also includes a sliding QWERTY keyboard as an extra. There’s also some bad news related to this unit: rumor has it that only 250 units will be made and the developers will get them as sort of a lease, so no selling on eBay this time.
When I say “this time”, I’m referring to those Google I/O Limited Edition Galaxy Tab 10.1 slates, that reached the web for sale soon after I/O was over. Back to the Nokia N950, those who tested it for hours/day say that it’s a “geekier N9”, with a design similar to the E7, including the hinge mechanism.
Of course, there’s a little bit of something belonging to the N900 lurking around, but it may just be the dark color. The N950 is also more grippy than the E7 and its keys are more comfy to use, while the slide keyboard is simply lovable. Built quality is incredible and this certainly looks and feels like a consumer device, in spite of its purpose.
The LCD screen has great viewing angles and the icons from MeeGo look great on the 4 inch capacitive touchscreen. Well, those of you sad about the fact that this is a developer only phone, should keep in mind that Nokia sometimes recycles designs, so we might see a similar phone with Windows Phone 7 in the future.
