Nokia Tees up 16GB N96 Slider with Wi-Fi, 3G

The just-announced successor to the feature-packed N95 arrives with a whopping 16GB of on-board memory, along with a bigger screen and support for the upcoming N-Gage gaming platform.

Set for release in the second half of 2008 (no pricing details yet), the jet-black N96 packs in many of the same features that made the old N95 so enticing, including HSDPA support (although it's not clear whether this particular model will support U.S. HSDPA networks), a 5-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss-designed optics, A-GPS (complete with turn-by-turn directions), Bluetooth, and built-in Wi-Fi.

The biggest change, however, comes in the memory department: a full 16GB of RAM, compared to just 4GB on the original N95. And if 16GB still isn't enough for you, just plug a microSD memory card into the N96's expansion slot.

Also new: a slightly larger display (2.8 inches, versus 2.6 inches on the N95).

Another cool new feature on the N96 will, unfortunately, be of more use to European chatters than for those of us here in the U.S.: a DVB-H receiver for mobile TV broadcasts. (Qualcomm's MediaFlo—already in use by Verizon Wireless and soon to be adopted by AT&T—is the dominant mobile video standard in the States.)

Still, the N96's video player can handle MPEG4, WMV, and Flash video files, and there's always the podcasting app and FM radio.

Finally, the new slider is compatible with Nokia's soon-to-be-relaunched N-Gage gaming platform (delayed from December) as well as Nokia's new music store.

Again, it's not clear when the N96 will make its way to the U.S., or whether it'll work with U.S. HSDPA networks (Nokia ended up releasing a U.S.-specific N95 that works with AT&T's HSDPA service). That said, I'm guessing the N96 will arrive here as an unlocked handset—and given that the unlocked N95 goes for about $700, I'd expect a similarly jaw-dropping price tag for the new slider.

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