Nokia's N-Gage platform available NOW NOW NOW!

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The news that all the N81, N82 and N95 handset owners has been waiting for has rocked up on the internet, a little late to the party, but looking good nonetheless.

The software is available for download from the N-Gage site for your N81, N81 8GB, N82, N95 and N95 8GB phones, after two delays last year. The official announcement is due out this Monday, which should contain some more secrets. With EA, Gameloft and Glu Mobile all having signed up to…

Nokia reveals UK price of N81, and us Brits are paying extra!

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Yesterday, I reported on Nokia’s announcement that its new N81 handsets were shipping, including the whizzy N81 8GB model. The press release gave the estimated retail price as 430 Euros (around £300).

However, Nokia’s been in touch to confirm the actual UK SIM-free price of the N81 8GB, and it’s going to set us back £394 including VAT. Ouch! I’m not sure where that extra £94 has come from, but it’s probably the government’s fault *shakes fist at taxation injustice*.

Nokia N81 8GB music phone ships… for £300

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Nokia has announced that its Nokia N81 8GB mobile is now shipping, alongside the slightly runtier N81 (and really, if you’re going to buy a top-spec music phone, you want the 8GB version…).

The N81 8GB has an unsubsidised price of 430 Euros (about £300). Normally, I’d ignore that, given that operators generally slash a huge chunk of that price for contract users. However, the N81 has been controversially missed out of some operators’ Christmas handset lineups, meaning that for some networks, you’ll have to pay the unsubsidised price to get one.

Vodafone to sell Nokia Music Store handsets, alongside its MusicStation deal

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Earlier today, I wrote about Vodafone’s deal to launch Omnifone’s MusicStation service before Christmas, offering a £1.99-a-week subscription deal for unlimited music downloads. And I also suggested it would compete with Nokia’s own recently announced Nokia Music Store.

Nokia’s press office has been in touch and pointed out that the two music services won’t necessarily be direct competitors: “Vodafone UK have chosen to range the Nokia N81 and N95 8gig and these devices will be embedded with the Nokia Music Service and N-gage Games Service as well as Vodafone’s other service offerings.”

Video: Nokia's new N81 music phone in action

As you’ll know if you ready our Nokia Go Play liveblog yesterday, alongside its launch of the Nokia Music Store, the company unveiled its new N81 8GB music phone.

Well, there were plenty of ’em available for demoing at the event, so I grabbed one to shoot a quick video, showing its neat multimedia user interface that sees one button take you directly to your music, videos and other content.