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At the same time Nokia introduced the N93 camera phone in April, the company revealed actor and director Gary Oldman would shoot a DVD-quality short film with the new smartphone. The purpose: to promote the N93 in addition to a new site called the Nokia Nseries Studio, itself designed to promote mobile movie making.

In addition to Oldman's picture, entitled “Donut" - a two minute short featuring a round reflection of an inner tube in rippling water set to a soundtrack by a composer named Tor - the site features the work of number of other directors, whom Nokia somewhat over-seriously refers to as "creative visionaries." (This from the same company that wants its handsets to be referred to as multimedia computers.)

"Mobile video devices like the Nokia N93 allow us to capture the extraordinary moments in our ordinary days and share them with the world," according to Oldman. "The image in "Donut" is one such fleeting moment I happened upon that inspired me to grab my mobile video device out of my pocket and record it to share with others."

In addition serving as a reservoir for works by professionals, Nokia Nseries Studio takes the democratic YouTube approach by giving everyday folk the chance to login and share their own clips, either from a PC or a mobile device. Nokia senior VP Tapio Hedman explains, "With the Nokia Nseries Studio we're hoping to encourage more people to shoot and share their life experiences."

"I hope my film encourages people to do the same and I look forward to seeing the results on the Nokia Nseries Studio," Oldman says.

While Nokia is emphasizing using its camera phones as a way to take and share short movies (or even helping to improve your golf swing), a pair of Italian filmmakers had something decidedly more ambitious in mind last year, when they filmed a 93-minute movie using the predecessor to the N93, the N90.

Directors Marcello Mencarini and Barbara Seghezzi said the smartphone came in handy because it was light, not invasive, easy to use and - best of all - cheap. This allowed them to shoot a movie without having to follow rules of a traditional production.

Mencarini and Seghezzi filmed “ Nuovi Comizi D'Amore” (New Love Meetings) for a few thousand dollars. It is homage to a 1965 documentary that interviewed people about their love lives. The new film features the directors talking to people to find out how attitudes have changed in the intervening forty years.

"The phone was always in our pockets, easy to use and sufficiently performed not to require a troupe, a director of photography nor professional lighting,” according to the filmmakers. “We always used the internal microphone of the camera phone, the natural light and only in very rare occasions we used a pocket flashlight made in China cost a couple of euros."

And the Award Goes to...
The European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA), Europe's largest multimedia press organization with a membership of 52 Audio, Mobile Electronics, Video and Photo magazines drawn from 18 European countries, recently awarded the N93 Media Phone of the Year 2006-2007.

EISA commended the still image and video capture quality of the Nokia N93 plus the extensive internet and connectivity options, dubbing the device the "perfect example of a multimedia computer that can fit in your hands," even embracing Nokia's exaggerated two-word substitution for the word smartphone.

The judges also singled out the Nokia N93's video editing and printing capability and its digital music player.

More on N93
Nokia started shipping the N93 late last month. Although the FCC approved the smartphone for release in this country, it isn't expected to become available through traditional carrier channels. Rather, you should eventually find it in the Finnish phone giant's new Chicago and upcoming New York flagship stores, as well as through online importers.

The highlight of the large tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE(900/1800/1900 MHz), UMTS 3G (2100 MHz) smartphone is its 3.2 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens that enables it to take video with 3x zoom at 30 frames per second with stereo audio recording and digital stabilization.

Nokia's N93 runs on the latest Symbian, 9.1, and S60, 3rd edition, platforms.

It also has flash and an active camera toolbar to display all available capture features, from exposure value to color tones and white balance. There are dedicated keys for shutter, zoom and flash and also a camera mode key that enables you to switch quickly between image and video capture as well.

While the N93 integrates 50 MB of memory, its miniSD card slot enables users to add up to 2 GB more storage for up to - Nokia asserts - 90 minutes of DVD-quality video or close to 2500 high-quality photos.

Additional specifications include a 2.4-inch QVGA display that supports up to 262,144 colors and a wide 160 degree viewing angle. There's also 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, a digital music player, FM radio with visual radio, Universal Plug and Play, and TV-out.

While it looks a lot like the earlier N92, it doesn't have DVB-H (mobile TV) tuner like that model.