Ok, this one’s odd. In fact, we didn’t believe the images until a video just surfaced showing Nokia CEO, Stephen Elop, foolishly asking a crowd of people to “put away their cameras” for the unveiling of something “super confidential,” codenamed “Sea Ray.” Naturally, a few people ignored the plea for “no pictures please” and, indeed, someone leaked what appears to be a Nokia-produced video of the unveiling to the blogosphere. What is it? Why, it’s Nokia’s first Windows Phone. While it looks nearly identical to the just announced N9, the different LED placement on the back (in line with the same 8 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens) confirms it’s a new device as does the additional hardware button (for shutter release, we presume) along the side. And the fact that it’s running Windows Phone 7 Mango seals the deal. See a few more shots and the full uncut video (and relevant snippet) after the break.

It must be hard for Nokia to keep consumer interest in Symbian going while simultaneously developing a whole new ecosystem, so we’ll forgive the unimaginative move to just do a pink version of the N8. That handset already benefited from the widest set of color options among any smartphone flagships, and will soon be adding a very T-Mobile-friendly shade of light red to its anodized aluminum case. Judging by those curvy icons on its 3.5-inch AMOLED screen, the pink N8 will also feature the latest version of Symbian, dubbed Anna, though Nokia unfortunately fails to tell us when we may expect this mildly refreshed phone to arrive. Then again, we suspect it’ll be pretty hard to miss whenever it does show up.

We can imagine that the wait’s been an excruciating one for wannabe E7 owners who’ve been restraining themselves from buying an N8 instead… but the good news is that the wait isn’t that much longer. Nokia has announced on Twitter today that the 4-inch tilting QWERTY handset — a phone Espoo has labeled the true successor to the storied Communicator series — will start shipping out on the 10th of next month, though exact availability dates and times will undoubtedly vary a bit from market to market. The company has been quick to note that today’s wild Symbian Foundation news has no effect on the existing range of Symbian^3 devices being launched as we close out the year, so the question is: who’s buying?

Tapani Kaskinen is Nokia’s Senior Comms Manager, so it’s fitting that he’d be the first person from the company to communicate a solid release date for its long-awaited N8 handset. The gent in question told Finnish newspaper Kauppalehti that advance orders of the N8 will “begin shipping 30 September.” Bear in mind we’re chewing through a machine translation here, but that part’s pretty unmistakable. It also meshes perfectly with earlier speculation surrounding Nokia purchasing Google AdWords — that indicated a one-week exclusive starting on September 23rd for Nokia’s UK online store, which, if you do the math, again points to a wide release at the end of the month. We asked Nokia about it ourselves and they’re remaining mum on the matter, but chances are looking pretty good that October will start with the N8 finally in eager users’ hands.

We’ve heard the rumors, hell, we’ve even seen Intel reference designs (pictured) running the MeeGo OS. But now we seem to have confirmation that a proper MeeGo tablet built by Nokia is on the way. Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia’s newly crowned chief of Mobile Solutions, said the following in an interview captured by the Wall Street Journal

Due to the spread of cloud computing and new advances in electronics and network technology, mobile devices will increasingly move beyond smartphones to include other computer-like gadgets such as tablets, and the MeeGo platform will be an important asset for Nokia.

Remember, Nokia already makes a netbook and the smartphone qualifier would seem to remove any speculation that Anssi is referring to its Internet Tablet class of Maemo devices. So maybe, just maybe that rumored 7- or 9-inch Nokia tablet is real. Did we say maybe?

We know, we know, you were banking on taking an N8 with you when you go summering in Cape Cod in July, but that might be a tall order because we’re hearing from a trusted source that August 24 has been pegged as the big release date for Nokia’s Symbian^3-powered beast. Pricing had already been announced at €370 ($465), but if you’re interested in shedding an extra hundred for no apparent reason, Amazon Germany is now officially taking pre-orders for €469.50 ($590) in black — just one of the five N8 shades Espoo will be pushing around the world. We think we’d recommend holding off on signing up for Amazon’s enticing deal here, quite honestly — especially considering the magnetic attraction we’ve got to that totally unapologetic orange version.

Imagine our luck: we just happened to stroll into Nokia’s New York flagship store today on 57th between 5th and Madison Avenue, only to discover that it was practically torn down and set to close permanently today, a move that Nokia announced late last year. A representative approached us as soon as we entered and said, “the only phones we have are from this point forward; there’s nothing else in the store.” Interestingly, a call over to Nokia’s other North American flagship in Chicago confirmed that it isn’t closing today and no date has been set (at least, not a date that anyone is talking about) — so there’s one more outpost in the States if you want to get your Nokia on one last time. Needless to say, the overwhelming majority of Americans won’t be shedding any tears over the closure, but it’s always disappointing to see a neat and beautifully-designed place to geek out go belly-up. And where are we going to play with an N8 before we buy now, anyway?

This is totally out of the blue, but we were just hit up with a screen shot suggesting that T-Mobile USA will be launching a portrait QWERTY handset from Nokia on June 16 known as the E73 ‘Mode.’ As is evidenced with the Nuron, T-Mobile has a tendency to assign trademarkable names to Nokias in its lineup that are known elsewhere in the world by their model number only, so we imagine that this phone will end up launching globally simply as the E73 as it takes over the E72′s throne as Espoo’s top productivity beast. More on this as we get it, but in the meantime, check out a bigger shot of the phone after the break.

The anodized aluminum shell feels very well built and is remarkably light. So much so that our first instinct was to ask whether the battery was inside or this was just a hollow mockup. We’d compare it to the feeling of picking up the Zune HD for the first time, it’s a strikingly light device. Plopping it into our pocket also felt extremely natural, which might be attributable to the particular curvature of the N8′s sides. Attention to detail in the physical design, as Marko said, was of paramount importance to Nokia. That doesn’t come without sacrifices, however, with the user replaceable battery being substituted by an integrated cell, but to quote the man himself, the “overall design concept overruled” such considerations. We found the home button on the front a bit of a pain to press in, but it’s still very early to form conclusions about the experience on this device. For now, just go gawk at it below and look out for the in-depth writeup of our chat with Marko Ahtisaari later today.

Marko Ahtisaari will be a familiar name to Dopplr users, being both the CEO and one of the major investors in the startup’s social networking software. Having been acquired by Nokia in late September 2009, his team now works to help Symbian regain its world-conquering ways while Marko himself has returned to Nokia to helm its Design group — an outfit that, judging by the world’s disappointment with the N97 and other devices, is frankly in need of some fresh ideas. So, when we were invited to meet him this morning for a journalist get-together where Marko hoped to “begin the conversation” about Nokia’s future direction, we grabbed our pen, paper and DSLR and rushed off to go have a listen. The camera came in use when we got to handle a Nokia N8 prototype for the first time, but do join us after the break to see what else we learned.