Spy shots of Nokia's "Tube" emerge

A smartphone blog claims to have the scoop on Nokia's mysterious, touch-screen "Tube," and coughs up some spy shots to boot. The good news (allegedly, at least): It's packed with features, including GPS and Wi-Fi. The bad news: We won't see it until next year.

According to Symbian Freak, the Tube (a code name only) will arrive with a 3- to 3.5-inch touch screen, quad-band GSM calling, HSDPA data access, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, built-in GPS (plus the ability to geotag photos), and an auto-focus camera that's "not as good as [those] on the latest Nseries devices" but "way better than the one...on an iPhone."

The bloggers also claim that the touch screen doesn't support multi-touch (so no "pinching" or multi-finger gestures), but note that it will come enabled with haptic feedback (meaning the phone will vibrate with each screen tap). There's also a stylus revealed in one of the spy shots.

Symbian Freak says the Tube (or whatever Nokia ends up naming it) should arrive in the first quarter of 2009—almost a full year from now—and that a more powerful version of the phone will follow shortly thereafter.

Anyway, that's the story—all unverified, of course, so take it with a grain of salt. Hopefully, we'll be getting some official details from Nokia in the near future. [Photo credit: Symbian Freak]

Related:
Exclusive: latest update on the hotly anticipated Nokia Tube [Symbian Freak, via Engadget Mobile]