Shaped like a mobile handset, the N900 is based on Maemo 5 software, has a touchscreen plus slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a Mozilla-based web browser, an ARM Cortex-A8 processor and up to 1GB of application memory.

Users will also be able to purchase games, utilities, themes, wallpapers and service plug-ins for photo-sharing and messaging through Ovi Store and Maemo Select, starting later in the year.

Developers can use Qt software to target the N900 -  Nokia says this means apps can be easily ported to all Qt's supported platforms, including the next Maemo 6 release as well as Symbian.

The Nokia N900 will initially be available in Europe, Middle-East, Russia and North America. It is also possible to order the device from the Nokia Online Store.