The Nokia N9 will surely forever be known as the MeeGo phone that didn't launch at Mobile World Congress, allegedly pulled at the last minute in the wake of Nokia's decision to align itself with Windows Phone 7.
So what, then, is a handset looking for all the world like the N9 doing passing through the FCC approval process, the final stage before a phone usually launches to the world at large? The N9, it seems, is back.
The handset that has just been stamped with FCC approval isn't actually called the N9, let's be clear. It's known only by the model number RM-680, but it's clearly the same phone – helpfully, PocketNow reveals a side-by-side comparison of the FCC label schematic and a leaked N9 component, and they're all but identical.
What else do we know? Well, the handset boasts support for an incredible six cellular frequencies, making it a true “world phone” if ever there was one, while it also boasts all flavours of Wi-Fi, along with Bluetooth.
And that's all we know at this stage, leaving the two main questions unanswered: what will this Nokia handset be called, and what OS will it have on board? It's almost certainly just too early for a Windows Phone 7 handset to be this close to finished, but then again Nokia is said to be pushing ahead with plans to launch one single MeeGo device before focusing purely on WP-based handsets.
Could this be it?
