Nokia's iPhone killer, N96

Nokia is all set to steal Apple's iPhone thunder. In a first global launch in India, the world's largest cell phone maker, Nokia has unveiled its 'killer product' N96.

Touted to be an iPhone killer, the high-end Nokia N96 has been launched two days before the official launch of Apple iPhone (August 22).

Nokia N96 is the successor of Nokia N95. The phone which was tipped to see its global launch in October will be available in the market from the first week of September.

Here's looking inside Nokia's iPhone rival.

Here's a phone sans touchscreen, however, still billed as the toughest iPhone rival. Nokia's N96 is seen as a hot competition to iPhone, though the company is also reported to be working on a touchscreen rival reportedly called Tube.

With a large 2.8-inch screen display, the phone packs 16GB of internal memory, expandable up to 24GB. According to Nokia, the phone can store up to 40 hours of video.

The phone supports talktime of up to 3 hours and 40 minutes. Nokia N96 offers support for Symbian S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 Operating System.

Nokia N96 boasts of a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, flash and video light. The video camera captures at 30 frames per second. The images can be stored in both JPEG and EXIF format.

With the integrated A-GPS, users can geotag their pictures with location data.

The dual-slider Nokia N96 supports standard video formats including MPEG-4, Windows Media Video and Flash Video. The phone offers support for high-speed USB 2.0 connection, WLAN and HSDPA.

N96 has a 'kickstand' on the back cover that allows for hands-free viewing.

For music lovers, the phone has media keys, 3.5 mm headphone connector and built-in 3D stereo speakers. The phone offers music playback time of 14 hours and video playback time of 5 hours.

The phone supports Nokia Maps application which offers maps with urban details and satellite views and has upgrade options such as City Guides, turn-by-turn pedestrian mode and voice-guided car navigation.

The phone is expected to be priced around Rs 35,000. The handset is likely to be available in the market from the first week of September.

In comparison to Nokia N96, iPhone is likely to cost about Rs 31,000 for the 8 GB version and between Rs 35,000-37,000 for the 16 GB. But if the iPhone is bundled with a carrier's service, the price could be half this amount.

For corporate users, the iPhone packs a punch with its encrypted Push-mail with Microsoft Exchange, which the Nokia N96 lacks. Apple has also put in a 3-axis accelerometer that senses motion much better than N96's basic motion sensor.

However, there are things one would miss in the iPhone like being able to transfer data using Bluetooth, which N96 allows. iPhone also lacks regular FM and offers users streaming Internet radio.

Also, while the iPhone offers the popular Google maps, the drawback is that these maps do not offer voice directions in India. The N96 offers Nokia Maps 2.0 with voice directions for India as well.