The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Launching on
the Middle East markets in a few weeks, the Nokia N9 Smartphone is going head
to head with the edgiest, funkiest smartphones out on the market by offering a
stylish, sleek design, a lightweight body and an innovative new design.

Cairo 360
got to play with the yet-to-be-launched swanky new smartphone, and found that
the N9’s home key is replaced by a swipe. If you’re a BB or iPhone user, you’d be
used to pressing the home key to return to the main menu, right? Well, Nokia N9
has made it a whole lot simpler; now you just swipe the screen to the left,
right, up or down, and you’re immediately back at the home screen.

This action
may take getting used to if you’re a fan of BB/iPhone software, but Nokia N9
takes it a step further with three home views of the user interface, designed
to give you fast access to your most important phone functions: using apps,
staying up-to-date with notifications and social networks, and switching
between activities.

Undeniably,
one of the Nokia N9’s best features is its industrial design, with a body
precision-machined from a single piece of polycarbonate, which actually enables
superior antenna performance, meaning better call reception and voice quality.
So you can no longer blame your phone for your crappy reception or your call being suddenly cut.

The smartphone
has a seamless, slightly curved glass shape to it with a 3.9-inch AMOLED screen
made from scratch-resistant curved glass. At first sight, the design reminded us of the
iPhone 4, but this design is lighter with more curved edges, making it easier to
hold and – honestly – prettier to look at.

Another perk
of the N9 is that instead of being fixated on that irritating and constantly blinking
red LED light on their smartphones, users will receive all their notifications on
the N9’s dark screen. Nothing blinking, or lighting up; instead the phone
screen quietly shows the time, date and the notifications that you’ve
received.

This tiny,
subtle innovation is Nokia’s way of giving people ‘more time to be present’
according to Nokia Global head of Design Marko Ahtisaari. Ahtisaari explained
that the subtle elements in the phone’s design aim to keep user’s heads up
instead of constantly buried in their phones.

The fact that a smartphone has been
created to make us less addicted to the smartphone is a very interesting idea; one
that could attract many phoneaholics to try out the new N9. Ahtisaari
refers to it as ‘two-mobility’; a phone that lets you use it with one hand
without constantly staring at it. All you need to do is swipe, and you’re done.

Aside from
its spectacular camera quality with its 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss autofocus
sensor, the phone captures really clean, HD-quality videos. Its large lense aperture enables
great photos even in low-lighting conditions, which means no more murky,
fuzzy-looking photos. For any snap-happy users, this camera will be an
excellent addition.

Even better,
you can watch your videos in true 16:9 widescreen format by turning the phone
horizontally. Notice the amazing sound quality? That’s because the N9 is the
first smartphone to use Dolby® Digital Plus decoding and Dolby Headphone
post-processing technology. So your ears are definitely in good hands.

The cool
thing about the N9 is that it offers a slick design but with such easy
functionality and simplified steps that the Smartphone makes your life simpler
and lighter without forcing you to become addicted and frantically checking it.
Out in Middle East markets in early October 2011, the Nokia N9 is expected to
retail at between 4449LE for the 16GB and 4999LE for the 64GB version.