Nokia N96 Multimedia Computer Spotted On German Nokia Site

Someone messed up. Numerous blogs found pictures and specifications of Nokia's next darling superphone, the N96, spiritual successor of the N95, on Nokia's own German site. This phone has not been officially announced. Much of the information has since been pulled, but not before we were able to get a really good idea of what the N96 will feature.It carries over many of the same features found on the N95 but adds a few special touches of its own. It has the same basic radios, which are quad-band GSM/EDGE. This will let it roam in most places. This initial version of the N96 will have dual-band WCDMA 3G radios as well, in the 850/2100 MHz bands. That means Australia and Europe get 3G, the U.S. doesn't. Keep in mind, Nokia eventually created a version of the N95 specifically for the U.S. market. Will that happen in the case of the N96? Who is to say.

It also will have the requisite 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, full GPS, stereo Bluetooth, and an FM radio. In other words, if you want connectivity, it's got it.

One of the new features is that it will be able to receive DVB-H signals, which is the mobile TV system that is becoming standard in Europe. It is different from Qualcomm's MediaFLO technology, but the end result is the same, mobile TV access. It's a good thing, then, that the screen has been increased from 2.6-inches to 2.8-inches in size. This makes it slightly better for viewing video content.

Rounding out the feature list, it still has a 5-megapixel camera that records video at 30 frames per second, but it adds a second LED flash to help with video capture. It also has an iPhone-busting 16 GB of internal memory that can be expanded to 24 GB for an additional $80.

Lastly, it is all tied together by the S60 3rd Edition platform with Feature Pack 2. This means the browser supports Flash Lite 3 for richer browsing.

In all, a crowning achievement of a device. Now we'll have to sit back and see if Nokia actually announces it next week during Mobile World Congress.