Digital camera technology has gone a long way since the very first digi-cams have been introduced to the consumer market. These days, it seems all too easy to slap on a camera on almost any handset. The average laptop and netbook comes with a built it webcam, even handheld gaming consoles such as the PSP and the DSi have cameras (in the case of the PSP, it is an external accessory; the DSi has it built in.) Naturally smart phones also have digital camera technology as well.

Nokia is already promising the industry a massive 12 mega pixel camera on the upcoming N8 and N9 smart phones (which use the Symbian^3 and MeeGo operating systems respectively). Sony Ericsson’s Vivaz and the Motorola Milestone XT 720 each bring an 8 mega pixel camera to consumers everywhere.

These days, taking a high resolution image of anything basically means simply pointing a phone at a subject and taking a quick snapshot. But for the more discerning graphic artists, the concern does not stop with the mega pixel count alone, having zoom, autofocus, LED flash and other additional features are also important.

For users who like to upload straight from the phone to a Flickr account or in Facebook, a smart phone with integrated social networking features are recommended, as well as having pre-loaded image editing software (which would really help a lot when it comes to sizing down images to make them viewer friendly as full resolution images shot with an 8 mega pixel camera takes a while to load).

In both cases, it pays to have hot swappable micro SD cards. While 32GB cards will take a while to fill up, they eventually will. And having other media such as music and videos are certain to fill up the cards as well (most phones are also capable of recording video in 720p, 30FPS, which is also pretty space consuming).

With all the fuss with high end smart phones and newer technology, it is still nice to see some concept devices being shown to the public. Nokia’s very own Kinetic smart phone is one such handset and it comes with an incredibly novel concept.

The device is a simple looking touch screen smart phone. The front face looks like your average large screen handset with a slim form figure. The only stark difference is that the lower portion of the device comes with a slightly large bulk. This bulk is actually a closed compartment that houses an electromagnetic device that alters the weight distribution on the lower half of the mobile phone. From a prone, lying position, the kinetic handset can be made to stand upright.

The device will do this to inform users of an incoming call or text message. It is nifty and quirky, though in the end, still a concept design. As impressive as the technology may be, it is only applicable for times when users are either at home or working on an office desk. Users on the go would not be able to appreciate the extra feature. Still, it would be interesting if the technology is somehow applied to Nokia’s handsets.

Nokia has also made a public stand regarding the issue of antenna problems which was made quite controversial by Apple. In order to quell the rumors that Apple is spreading about mobile phone antennas (or antennae), Nokia has stated that all of their device’s antennas are fully tested and are well designed to work even when held normally.

Also, next week is the expected launch for the upcoming Nokia N8 Symbian^3 N-series handset. Vodafone UK has announced that they will start offering the device when it comes out next week while T-Mobile has already opened up pre-registrations on their official website.

Details regarding the upcoming Nokia N9’s operating system are conflicting as the official news stated that the N9 will be using the new MeeGo mobile platform contradict the leaked video demonstrations of the handset that clearly show the Symbian^3 user interface.

According to some experts, the demonstration video was meant to show off the hardware for the upcoming device and not the OS it was running. It is believed that the N9 would still be a MeeGo handset.

If this is true, then the Nokia N8 would really be the only Symbian^3 smart phone in the N-series lineup. Nokia’s new head of mobile solutions however, is not ruling out the possibility of another Symbian handset on the N-series –which is most likely to happen when the Symbian^4 comes out.

Should the Nokia N9 come with the Symbian^3 OS the device is expected to get re-designated to another Nokia phone series. The demo videos already label the handset as the C0-00 (as seen printed on the device’s casing), which hints at the possibility that the device might be adapted to the C-series.

Still, many believe that the n9 is destined for the MeeGo operating system. It has already been announced that the new mobile platform will be ready by October –which means that it would not be long before the OS is installed in the N9. According to Intel, the MeeGo OS has been designed to work with both Intel Atom and ARM processors. So even if the N9 was using an ARM based CPU, it would still be able to run the OS without any problems.

The MeeGo operating system is the new OS that officially replaces Nokia’s previous Maemo and the Intel Moblin (which is based on Linux). The technology for the two operating systems has been combined to bring the uniquely named MeeGo mobile platform.

It is finally out, the developer version of MeeGo has finally become available and it looks like Nokia and Intel managed to create a very solid contender for the smart phone industry with their latest operating system.

The MeeGo is a combined effort of the teams that handled the creation of Moblin (an Intel made, Linux based operating system) and the Maemo (Nokia’s proprietary operating system which was used in the N900 smart phone). The combined product is the MeeGo, a sleek looking user interface that brings together simple controls, a basic user interface and what might be the easiest platform to developer for. According to Intel, the new OS will not be exclusively tied up to their processors. This means that the MeeGo will still work on devices that make use of ARM made processors.

The developer copy has been released quite early in order to entice developers and enthusiasts to try out the new mobile platform, and from the looks of it, Nokia’s plan is going to succeed. They had quite the large community support for the Maemo despite the low public profile that system had during its development. It is likely that the same devs will also try out the newer MeeGo OS. So far, it has not been confirmed if the N900 will be upgradeable to the MeeGo OS –Nokia has yet to announce if MeeGo is new version of Maemo or a completely new system.

As for upcoming handsets, it seems that the very first Nokia phones to make use of the MeeGo will be popping up by October (alongside the launch of the Windows Phone 7). The Nokia N8 is still a Symbian handset but the Finnish manufacturer announced that after the N8, all other N-series devices will be using the MeeGo operating system.