Here we go again, people. Albeit backordered until February 12, the black Nokia N82 has popped up on the Nokia USA’s distributor site and is available for purchase. Yes, it looks pretty sweet in black with a sleek face and matching black buttons. Yes, the phone itself is a dynamo; essentially an N95 in candybar form with a xenon flash-backed 5 megapixel camera. So what’s the problem? There’s one little spec on the N82 page that couldn’t possibly be more aggravating: “WCDMA2100”. Great, so here goes the song and dance all over again. Release the European version here in the US, rope in as many early buyers as possible and then drop the version equipped with US 3G / HSDPA. They did it with the N95, but we’ll cut them some slack on that one since it was the first newer high-end Nokia handset to be compatible with US (AT&T) HSDPA networks. Next came the N95 8GB which should be available some time this month. Now the N82 will surely follow suit. But hey, why not milk potential customers for as much as possible while you’re in the midst of attempting to revive your high-end device market share? Brilliant plan, the people will love it. As a side note, the included accessories list shows that the phone comes with a 128 MB memory card. 128 MB?! No worries though; if you do plan to play Nokia’s game and shell out $630 for the Euro version while a US version is no doubt on the way, the shopping cart shows a 2 GB card on checkout.
[Via IntoMobile]