Three eagerly-awaited Nokia smartphones may soon be headed our way. Two, the N95 and N76, have already been introduced, while the third, the E90, has thus far only been spotted in the shadows of the Internet rumor mill.

Our favorite leaky-faucet government agency, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has approved both the N95 and N76 for release in the U.S. All devices using U.S. airwaves must receive a thumbs up from the FCC before shipping.

N95
As with all Nokia NSeries smartphone models, the N95 is built on the Symbian OS and S60 interface. It features a unique 2-way slider design that reveals media controls when moved one way and a keypad when moved the other.

When the N95 is in media mode, the 2.6-inch 240 x 320 pixel (QVGA) and 16 million color display is automatically placed into landscape mode. Built-in stereo speakers offer a 3D stereo effect, plus there's a standard 3.5 mm audio jack for headphones, a microSD slot for storage expansion, and mini USB for data transfers. Bluetooth with A2DP allows users to leverage wireless stereo headsets as well.


Photos from FCC

Users can record and playback VGA video at 30 fps with digital image stabilization. There's also TV out and support for MP3, AAC, M4A, and WMA audio files.

The N95 is also Nokia's first smartphone with a 5 megapixel digital camera for picture and video (the previous generation of Nseries models topped out at 3 megapixels) and integrated GPS for mapping and navigation. Tele Atlas provides the digital map data and dynamic location content for the handset, which includes free basic mapping and routing functionalities to initiate local searches for more than 100 countries and over 15 million points of interest.

There's also Wi-Fi, 160 MB of memory, and support for high speed HSDPA networks with the GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UTMS N95. As with all recent Nokia smartphones, including the N75 below, there's the new Nokia Web Browser with Mini Map for an improved Internet experience. We'll be publishing a detailed review of this browser in the near future.

  

The N95 weighs a mere 4.2 ounces (120 grams) and measures 4.0 x 2.0 x 0.7 inches (99 x 53 x 19 millimeters). It is slated to go for 550 Euros (about $702).

N76
The 4.2 x 2.0 x 0.5-inch (106.5 x 52 x13.7- millimeter) N76 clamshell weighs in at a mere 4 ounces (115 grams), but it doesn't skimp too much on features.

There's a 2.0 megapixel camera for picture and video, 2.4-inch, 16 million color QVGA (240 x 320 pixel) internal display, 160 x 128 pixel resolution external screen, support for industry-standard 3.5 mm headphones, dedicated music and volume controls, 26 MB of RAM, and a microSD slot for memory expansion.

It runs on the S60 3rd Edition interface on top of the Symbian OS. And the quad-band GSM/EDGE smartphone supports the 2100 MHz UMTS 3G band, which is not available in the U.S, unfortunately. Rumor has it, however, a version of the N76 that nixes UMTS could be available later this year in the States.

E90
While the E90 is a member of Nokia's business-centric ESeries, the device is really the latest in its long line of communicators. The most recent members, the 9500 and 9300, are getting quite long in the tooth. So Nokia is do for a refresh.

Here's what we think we know about the E90, which may get introduced at 3GSM next week, so far:

The Symbian-based S60 smartphone features a GSM/EDGE/HSPDA radio. There's Wi-Fi and Bluetooth as well. It has a 3.2 megapixel camera.

E90's external display is a QVGA (240 x 320 pixel) resolution type, but inside there's a large screen with a resolution of 800 x 352 pixels. Users can run application on either of these 16-million color displays.

A dual-hinge allows the E90 to open lengthwise or fold up flat.

No decent images of the E90 have appeared yet. We'll report more as we learn additional information.