Nokia N900 available after Christmas

The N900 is Nokia's first Linux-based smartphone

Nokia has announced that its eagerly awaited N900 mobile device will be available from Carphone Warehouse retail stores from 26 December, and from Vodafone stores from 7 January.

The N900 is the latest in Nokia's line of Linux-based mobile devices, but the first to feature cellular voice and data capabilities, effectively turning it into a smartphone, while previous models had Wi-Fi only.

With the new Maemo 5 platform, the N900 packs a PC-like computing experience into a mobile handset form factor, Nokia said.

The device has a 3.5in high-resolution touch screen as well as a full slide-out Qwerty keyboard, plus Mozilla web browser, Nokia's Ovi Maps and Adobe Flash Player 9.4.

It is based on an ARM Cortex-A8 processor with up to 1GB of memory for applications and 32GB of storage, expandable to 48GB via a microSD card slot.

Nokia said that the N900 will be priced from £35 per month on a 24-month contract, and both Carphone Warehouse and Vodafone are now taking pre-orders.