Nokia has been teasing us–the public–for awhile now about its new touch screen, slider cell phone, and its finally here… not. Nokia announced on Tuesday that The N97 will not be released until the early half of 2009, and only in Europe. Everybody else, including the U.S., will have to wait even longer.

This phone has been compared to the expensive Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 (to see Chaim’s review click here) because of it’s 3.5 inch tilting touch screen and slide out QWERTY keyboard.

The Nokia N97 will also feature:

• A gigantic 32 GB memory on the phone, and you can add even more with a 16 GB memory card.
• A 5 Megapixel camera for taking extra sharp photos.
• Nokia’s Ovi internet services which include Nokia’s music store and maps, and the N-Gage gaming (this is not yet released in US, though judging by how this phone isn’t coming till sometime next year, it might be by the time we get it!)
• Built-in WiFi

Now the problem that all us teens have? Money. The Nokia N97 will cost a whopping $695! And since it is currently not on a carrier, it might cost you even more to buy it unlocked (though compared to the Xperia X1, the N97 is cheaper ).

So will you wait and shell out the money when it finally arrives, or will you get a different phone right now? Sound off in the comments.

Info and pix from Cnet.com