In late 2005 Nokia released the N770 Internet Tablet, the first device in a new line of portable internet devices. From then on the line would be carried on by the N800 (2007), N810 (2007) and N810 WiMax(2008) successors. All of these are internet-centric devices, to which Nokia would give no cellular radios, meaning they they are not capable of regular cellphone functions and must rely on actual cellphones to establish their connections when a WiFi signal isn’t readily available.

Today, access to the “real” internet has become the main objective for the latest crop of mobile devices. After the iPhone showed everyone that a faithful and reliable internet experience was possible on a cellphone everyone else has been trying to step up. The HTC Touch HD and Max 4G, the Nokia N97, and now the Palm Preall hold certain similarities in their approach to this situation, an expected evolution from the previous generation and mostly from the iPhone. All of these devices offer screens larger than 3 inches, and resolutions over QVGA, which has proven to be a minimum for an acceptable experience. Eventually, enjoyable-internet cellphones will converge with all of the ultraportable netbooks, internet tablets and WiFi-enabled portable media players out there. The resulting form factor is very likely to be an optimization of the current pick of devices, namely as large as possible a screen while remaining pocketable, with some form of sliding keyboard underneath (at least until someone gets haptic feedback right on on-screen keyboards).

Both the Nokia N97 and Palm Pre follow this configuration, and the as-of-yet-unannounced-but-inevitable HTC Touch HD Proshould follow the same formula. It comes out as sort of amusing then that it was Nokia who were the first to come up with an enjoyable internet experience on such a form factor with their Maemo-basedInternet Tablets. Which begs to make the following question: How far ahead in the cellphone game would Nokia currently be if they had included a cellphone radio within their Internet Tablets?

As mentioned, HTC has yet to announce a device with a full screen face and an underlying keyboard. Since the original iPhone’s launch it has taken them to go from the original Touch, to the Touch Diamond, to the Touch Pro, to the Touch HD… and they still don’t have their competitor for this generation. Palm is breaking into new ground with the Pre, they have had nothing similar before it. And Nokia instead has jumped from the E90 Communicator (2007) all the way to N97 with only a small step in between on the 5800 Tube to incorporate touch into their OS.

The Nokia N97 is Nokia’s flagship for this generation of cellphones. Press reception was only mildthough, because even though it is a great form factor some specs are already behind the competition. And the jury is still out on the phone’s performance in regards to web browsing. The phone doesn’t have the iPhone’s interface, or the Touch HD’s resolution and screen size. Nokia also still sells the E90 Communicator, another internet-capable cellphone which arguably will still hold some advantages over N97. All in all, the bar has been set very high for N97, and interestingly enough it seems to be Nokia trying to play catch-up with itself on their new device’s primary attraction.

Clockwise from top left: Nokia N770, N800, N810 Wimax (which also has a sliding qwerty keyboard), N97, E90, N810.

Click here for a Sizeasy size comparison between N770, N800, N810, E90 and N97.