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As Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia's chief executive, told journalists at the Nokia World conference today, "By putting together your location, your contacts, you get mashups. I love this idea. Imagine what can happen when we mash up social networking and your location, when your device knows where you are, where your friends are and what they are doing. Your social location, or SoLo will become your here-and-now-identity."

A new, souped up version of Nokia Maps, which will include terrain and satellite maps, will allow users to plan their journey on their PC and then synchronise it straight to their phone. Because your phone knows where you are it can then suggest the best route to take, or, if you use it while driving, help you avoid traffic jams.

"Today, we are at the threshold of another profound change in the way we connect and interact with each other and with our world," Mr Kallasvuo said. "This is a world where you will have the power to tailor and personalise your internet how and when you like, to make your day-to-day life easier and more fulfilling."

The N97 will also sport another new Nokia service: "Point and Find". By using both the phone's camera (a 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens) and its inbuilt virtual compass and GPS, Point and Find means you will be able to point your mobile at a landmark, such as Big Ben, and immediately receive information about it from the internet. "It's combining the real world with the virtual world in real terms," Mr Vanjoki said.

In another dig, this time at Google, Mr Vanjoki said: "There's a company that says they can index the world. We are going to go deeper. We are going to coordinate the world. We are going to coordinate everything on a map. Not just a map that is standard like a Google Map, but a map that is dynamic, driving all the roads of the world, making sure we have coordinates for everything there is."

Nokia was the last major handset maker to launch a fully touchscreen phone and analysts had worried that it would lose out to rivals such as Apple and Samsung, as the N97 enters a crowded marketplace, and that its reliance on low to mid tier phones would weigh on its profit margins.

The N97 is Nokia's second touchscreen phone, following the 5800, also known as the Nokia Tube, which went on sale last month, and the group said today it would now introduce touchscreen phones across its portfolio. Some analysts fear the N97 may not be enough to re-establish Nokia's position in the high-end market.

"[The N97] might give Nokia a little edge," noted Carolina Milanesi, analyst at Gartner, the technology specialists, "but it is six months until this reaches the market."

Ben Wood, CCS Insight's research director, said: "Nokia tried to cram in lots of different technologies such as a touchscreen, full Qwerty keyboard and plenty of memory, but it had to make trade-offs in its size and features. It has ended up with a relatively thick device that lacks some of the benchmark features expected in flagship products in mid-2009."

But other analysts were more upbeat.

"With the N97, Nokia has produced the first phone that will truly challenge, and even transcend, Apple's best," said Robin Landy, of mobile phone review website Omio.com. "Nokia has brought together a lot of common smartphone features, such as GPS, wifi and 3G internet, in one gorgeous device. Crucially though, they've combined the standard stuff with features that really matter to users, but are often missing from rival handsets.

"A proper Qwerty keyboard will make a huge difference to the everyday user experience, and the huge amount of memory means that even people with large music collections can leave their iPods at home. The N97 lacks the in-your-face dazzle of the iPhone, but it does strike a balance between understated good looks and functional practicality."

The N97 wil cost 550 euro, or £470 but is expected to be subsidised by operators.

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