It was always going to be hugely expensive, but £600 still seems a little excessive for Nokia's N96. That, however, is what you'll be paying for the privilege of owning Nokia's next flagship handset when it launches on July 31st.
Online retailer, Play.com, now has the sim-free device available for pre-order and is, we believe, the first retailer to offer Nokia's highly anticipated handset.
If Play.com's pricetag is accurate, we wouldn't expect the handset to be free when mobile operators begin to bundle it with hefty contracts.
The N96 packs 16GiB of built-in memory (8GiB more than the N95) and a DVB-H tuner for digital TV. A few other additions aside, there isn't a whole lot more to offer a compelling reason to upgrade from Nokia's current N95. New buyers, too, might be tempted to opt for the N95 - it's available sim-free for £399.99 from Play.com, and will no-doubt soon be free with various mobile contracts.
Related reading
Nokia N96: the new daddy in the Nseries range
Useful links
Play.com - Nokia N96 pre-order
