Nokia to launch E7 and N8 smartphones next week

Struggling firm pins hopes on new kit to boost high-end market share

Nokia is to unveil its E7 and N8 smartphones at Nokia World in London next week in a bid to gain a foothold in the high-end mobile phone market.

Details of the E7 are thin on the ground, but it will come with a large touch screen and a slide-out Qwerty keyboard, according to a Reuters report.

It is unclear which operating system the E7 will run, but reports suggest that it will be Symbian^3 or Nokia's own MeeGo.

V3.co.uk contacted Nokia to get additional details on the E7, but the manufacturer declined to comment.

The N8, meanwhile, is a high-end handset designed to compete with Apple's iPhone 4 and Samsung's Galaxy S.

The 3.5in capacitive touch screen has a 640 x 360 pixel resolution, and the handset comes with a 12-megapixel camera which N8 product manager Esa Alonen claimed will be the "best camera in a phone".

The N8 can play and record in 720p HD, and has two dedicated speakers which Alonen said allow "greater ambience and cut out wind noise".

The phone supports Dolby Digital Plus Surround Sound, which could be very handy when watching movies from the phone on a larger screen.

Nokia is still the market leader in worldwide phone sales, but has fallen behind Apple, HTC and Research in Motion, among others, in the high-end smartphone market.

It remains to be seen whether Nokia's decision to concentrate on its own MeeGo platform and ignore the popular Android mobile operating system was a fatal mistake or a wise investment.