Nokia unveils price and release date of N8 smartphone

Nokia has unveiled official price and release date information for its highly anticipated N8 smartphone, as well as the operators and retailers that will offer the device.

The phone will sell for £429 SIM free or from £35 a month on contracts. It will be available on the Nokia Online Shop from the last week of September, which would most likely mean a release date of Monday 27th.

From 1 October, O2, Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Tesco, Phones4u, Three, Virgin Mobile and Carphone Warehouse will all begin offering the device as well.

Nokia also confirmed several key performance specifications of the N8, including the use of a 12-megapixel camera, the ability to record and edit HD quality videos, and touch-screen capabilities including flick scrolling and pinch-to-zoom.

Mark Loughran, the general manager of Nokia in the UK, talked up the phone's capabilities, focusing in particular on its ability to generate and share content.

"The Nokia N8 is a great multi-tasker, packed with market leading innovations, which include the best picture and video capability available on a smartphone," he said.

"It's perfect for creating and sharing great content in high-definition, using HDMI out to connect to your TV as well as hot-USB swap."

Nokia will be hoping that the N8 can turn its fortunes round in the smartphone market, but analysts have been cool about its potential.

Operators have been keen to push the N8, offering it on pre-order from as early as July when little was known about the device.