Nokia has just launched its first proper attack on the Apples iPhone with the Nokia N97. The N97 has a 3.5-inch, 640 x 360 pixel (16:9 aspect ratio) screen, a resistive touch screen display with tactile feedback and a QWERTY keyboard like the Google G1 Phone.

Nokia calls it the “world’s most advanced mobile computer.” To help back up the claim they’ve added HSDPA, WiFi, Bluetooth radios, A GPS, a 3.5-mm headjack, 32GB of onboard memory with microSD expansion (for up to 48GB total capacity), and a battery capable of up to 1.5 days of continuous audio playback or 4.5-hours vide, a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss glass and “DVD quality” video capture at 30fps too.

The specs are certainly impressive, the Nokia N97 will launch with a retail price set at around €550 ($693) excluding subsidies and taxes, phone to ship in H1 2009.

Robert Scobel had a look at the Nokia N97 pre launch and he reckons its better that the iphone.

1. It has 16:9 video. The iPhone doesn’t even do video, So how can you go to a Daft Punk concert and record it to taunt your friends?
2. It has a 5 megapixel camera. The iPhone only has a 2 megapixel camera – and the quality isn’t even close. The Nokia N97 camera also has a dual LED flash, so you can take pictures in the dark where the iPhone can’t.
3. I can type three Facebook status messages on the N97’s nice QWERTY keybord in the time that I can type two on the iPhone.
4. It does copy and paste, so you can copy URLs to send to your friends. The iPhone can’t do that.
5. It has replaceable batteries so you can charge up three batteries and Facebook for days, while the iPhone needs to be hooked back up to the wall for recharging after a few hours.
6. The GPS device does turn-by-turn and has a built in compass, so you’ll get to your parties faster than with the iPhone, which doesn’t have a compass and doesn’t do turn-by-turn.