Anyone out there remember this device? It was first announced in December 2008, and will be Nokia's second touch-based phone with S60 5th Edition to hit the market. According to reports, it should be available in mere weeks.The Nokia N97 is headed for the U.S. sooner than previously expected. Nokia hadn't been very clear about the availability date, but The Nokia Blog has received word that U.S.-based suppliers are expecting shipments of the N97 on June 2. I can't say how accurate that date is, but the site claims it nailed the availability date of the 5800 XpressMusic.

The N97 is an interesting blend of the N Series multi-media phones along with its business-focused communicator series. It features a large touch screen that tilts up to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard underneath. It runs the same operating system as the 5800 XPressMusic, S60 5th Edition.

It comes fully loaded with nearly every feature you can conceive to cram into a phone. Some of those features include a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and video capture; Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth and GPS; music and video playback; 32 GB of built-in memory, with support for another 16 GB with the addition of a microSD card; on-board accelerometer and compass; and support for Flash Lite 3.0 and Flash Video in the browser.

Along with those features comes a hefty price tag. The MSRP is $699. If you pre-order the N97 via the Nokia Web-site, you can get it for as low as $525 depending on the right set of promotional codes. Many expect the street price to be about $600.

That's a lot of money for a phone, but you're getting a lot of phone for the money.